The Angel of the Owl House

by OwlHouseAngel

Luz Noceda is a young half-angel girl living with her angel mother in the Human Realm. Her attempts to be good always backfire, and after one too many mistakes, her mother sends her to Camp Reality Check. But a chance event leaves Luz in the Demon Realm, where she meets the Owl Lady, who teaches her that in a chaotic world like the Boiling Isles, Luz might be the perfect angel.

28. EP 7: Burden of Beasts

The Angel of the Owl House

Season 2: The Human Realm

Chapter 7: Burden of Beasts

When Luz, Gus, and King finally returned from Titan Cradle Island (as the Bat Queen decided to call it), arriving in the Bat Queen's old den in her forest, they found themselves being met by the newly arrived Lilith and Rasiel, who were extremely worried by how late they were. Thanks to the fight with Hunter and Silver, and then the Ash Moth, they'd been delayed by almost 24 hours, and it was already early evening by the time they got back to the Boiling Isles. Lilith and Rasiel escorted them back to the Owl House immediately, where they found quite a large group waiting for them. Eda had hugged the daylights out of Luz and King, while Perry had done the same to Gus. When the kids were finally released, they found themselves being embraced by Amity and the rest of the Hexsquad too, who'd been worried when they didn't show up to school. Luz's absence had also meant it was impossible for the CATTs to come and go from Digale Island for a full day, which Luz had apologised for profusely, though everyone was too relieved that she and the others were okay to get mad at her.

After giving the kids some dinner and a chance to catch their breath, Eda told them what had happened on the Isles while they were away.

The Owl Lady had stayed up on Thursday night to welcome them back, but had fallen asleep and awoken the next day to discover they still hadn't come home. She had been worried and immediately used her scroll's parent/child tracking feature (which Luz was aware of and had consented to) to find out where Luz's scroll was, finding her in the Ash Moth Desert. A frantic Eda had wanted to call her, but feared it might alert the Ash Moth Larvae or the Ash Moth itself, so had instead called Perry to let him know what was going on, and gather the CATTs still on the Boiling Isles to mount a rescue. Eber had talked them out of going to the desert, claiming more people would just turn it into a buffet for the Moth, so they had instead been forced to anxiously watch where Luz went on the tracker.

When they saw Luz finally leave the desert and head west, they'd calmed down (though they'd also been annoyed, since Luz and Gus hadn't called them to let them know they were safe and were out of range once they left the isles), and Lilith and Rasiel had gone to the Bat Queen's forest to wait for them at the Teleportation Circle, though they'd ended up delayed by a squad of Coven Scouts guarding the forest and had only arrived shortly before Luz returned.

Luz and Gus both apologised for forgetting to call, but they were forgiven since they'd been more than a little focused on other things. They'd then finally given a full account of what happened; the battle with the Elites in the sky at night, the attack of the Ash Moth, their separation and reuniting after their adventures in the desert, and the reveal of Hunter's name, his bonding with Flapjack, and then his decision to abandon his mission like Lilith had once done. Darius had gotten a strange look on his face when he heard that part, but he'd made no comments.

When the kids had finished their story, Raine and the other CATTs leaders had congratulated them on a successful mission, before the kids' parents decided it would be best to get them all to bed for an early night; King had conked out almost right after eating, and both Luz and Gus were clearly exhausted. Perry took Gus home and escorted the rest of the Hexsquad home too, while Luz tiredly operated the Teleportation Circle so Amity could return to her family on Digale Island (with plans to ask her father to expand the range on their scrolls) and everyone else who'd been waiting all day could come or go as they needed.

The poor girl was practically asleep on her feet by the time Eda carried her up to her nest, but even as her Mom cast a spell to change her into her Pajamas and tucked her into her nest, Luz wouldn't drift off completely.

"Mom?" she whispered, not wanting to wake King; "Are you mad at me? For messing up today?"

Eda blinked in confusion; "Messing up? You didn't mess up. The crash was those EC Brats' faults, not yours."

Luz shook her head sleepily; "No, I mean for not calling. I didn't mean to forget…"

Eda smiled and leaned down to kiss the girl's hair; "Owlet, I swear I'm not mad. Sure it was silly to forget, but you had your mind on other things. And you all came home safe and sound; that's all I can ask for."

"B-But you looked upset all evening." Luz said in an impossibly small voice. Sure enough, Eda had been quiet and sullen whenever she wasn't fawning over her returned children, and it was unlike her to be so moody.

Eda winced, then said; "Owlet, I was worried and I was upset, but I wasn't upset at you, I promise. Don't worry. Now you should get some sleep; you've got to go back to your Mami tomorrow and you'll need your strength."

Luz's tired eyes searched Eda's face for signs of a lie, before finally nodding and closing her eyes. "G'Night Mom. I love you."

"I love you too, Owlet." Eda smiled, kissing her hair once again. Luz was asleep before her Mom's lips left her hair, and continued to sleep soundly as Eda sighed and frowned. "You're getting too perceptive… or I'm getting too transparent." she whispered to herself.

She stopped to kiss King on the skull too, then left her kids to sleep.

[The Next Day]

Eda was not in a great mood at all the next day. She forced a smile on her face as she helped Luz pack her things to visit her Mami (or more accurately, she haphazardly stuffed some of Luz's clothes in her satchel) and made sure to shower Luz and King with love, before sending them both through the portal to the Human Realm to spend the weekend with Camila and Vee. King had always planned on going along for the weekend, but both he and Luz were a little weirded out by how eager their Mom was to get them on their way.

As soon as the portal door shut behind the kids, Eda had flopped gracelessly onto the couch and glugged down an elixir, much to Lilith, Rasiel, and Raine's concern. Eda remained in a foul mood for the rest of Saturday, refusing to talk much and making excuses whenever the others pressed her for answers. Rasiel wrote it off as her still recovering from the fear of the previous day, and Lilith decided to stay out of it since Eda never talked to her when she got like this in the past. Only Raine continued to press Eda for answers, but found themselves being stonewalled just like Eda used to do when they asked about her curse.

Something was clearly wrong, and it wasn't until she and Raine lay down together in their nest that night that Raine was finally able to get an answer out of her. They laid their arm out beside Eda and invited her to snuggle against them, which she did quite happily, then Raine told her a little about some of their misadventures with the CATTs in the last week.

"… and then of course, Amber decided that she couldn't be out done, and decided to deliver more paperwork even faster than Katya… which she did by enchanting the paperwork to fold itself into origami throwing stars and launching them across Digale Village. No one was hurt, but Darius was not happy to see a thousand paper throwing stars embedded in his office door." Raine chuckled. "Darius called me just to whine about it! I told him I couldn't get to Digale Island to "reprimand my reprobate" until Luz gets back, and he actually insisted I take Luz out of classes to so I could get there before he threw Amber to Eber's beasts!"

Eda cackled; "Oh man, I wish I could have seen Darry-Boy's face! What happened when you didn't show up like he wanted?"

Raine smirked and summoned their scroll, showing a selfie that Katya had sent them. It showed Amber stuck in a cage of abomination goo outside Darius' office in the CATTs HQ, with a sign that read "Idiot Baby Jail" over the top. Amber was gnawing on one of the bars to try and get out while Derwin was posing beside her and Katya was grinning in the corner of the selfie.

Eda cackled even louder and wiped a tear from her eye; "Oh Raine Storm, your kids are great!"

"I'd hardly call them my kids. They're my apprentices!" Raine retorted; "Though I suppose they did sort of become like my kids over time."

"How'd you end up with those three anyway? I figured apprentices weren't your thing; you get too much performance anxiety around others… except for me of course." Eda wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Raine blushed and playfully pinched her cheek; "I'm not that bad! As for how I became their teacher… well it was originally because I was the only one who'd take them. Derwin had lost his passion for music and couldn't use Bardic Magic any more, but since he'd already joined the coven, that meant he was effectively magicless. I was the only one to help him work through it; it turned out he just felt lost in life and was looking for a purpose, so I helped him find one."

"What was it?" Eda asked, enamoured by the wistful expression on her lover's face.

"To enjoy every moment of life. That you don't need some big important mission or destiny; that there is pleasure in every breath of life. It's one of the lessons I learned from you." Raine winked.

Eda blushed and snuggled closer; "Dork. What about Amber?"

"That girl is pure chaos. She's almost too full of life, and other people didn't know how to handle all that energy. Said she was more trouble than she was worth. Luckily I was used to that from a certain someone…" they tapped Eda's nose, making her snort, "… and was able to teach her at her pace. Turns out she's also crazy loyal too, so she stuck by me even when she didn't need a teacher any more. She's also the one who directed me to Derwin and Katya."

"Reminds me a little of Luz." Eda said wistfully; "So what's Katya's story then?"

Raine frowned sadly, and Eda knew this one would be unpleasant; "Katya's an orphan and ran away from the orphanage in Manubrium. After she finished witch puberty, the guy that ran the place started creeping on her and threatened to kick her out if she didn't do what he wanted."

"That scum!" Eda growled.

"You've got that right! Instead of agreeing, Katya decided to run away. She was a Bard Track student at Glandus, so she was pretty tough already and lived on the streets for a year. She graduated and joined the Bard Coven, but the guy she'd run away from was a member of the Emperor's Coven and bad mouthed her, so she ended up doing grunt work for months, until Amber found out and told me about it. I took Katya in and reported the guy who ran the orphanage…" Raine said, their expression darkening greatly.

Eda knew that look and said; "The Emperor's Coven refused to do anything about it, right?"

Raine nodded; "They wouldn't believe Katya, who was seen as a troublemaker because of that monster, over one of their own. I even tried to talk to Lilith herself, but after you and I broke up, she wouldn't even give me the time of day."

Eda sighed; "Lily's way of having my back even then, I suppose. So what happened?"

"I took Katya in and we became a little family, with plans of rebelling against the Emperor. We had plans to go after the jerk who victimised Katya first, but one of his buddies from the EC arrested her on trumped up charges and sent her to the Conformatorium." Raine growled, before their smile returned; "Where she was saved by an Angel, a Titan, and a Wild Witch, who showed her that she deserved to be free and that there were others who were on her side."

"Well I don't know who they could be, but they sound like a band of beautiful and dashing rogues!" Eda smirked, wagging her eyebrows again. Raine laughed and kissed her lovingly.

"Oh, they were! They inspired Katya so much that when she came back, she had a real fire in her! Her motivation is what finally evolved our organisation from the BATTs to the CATTs! She brought along a lot of other escapees too, and we formed a plan to take out that creep! It was our first mission as the CATTs!" Raine said proudly.

The Owl Lady chuckled; "And the birth of Raine Storm the Rebel Leader! So, what happened to that guy?"

"We kidnapped him with help from the other orphan kids, who'd loved Katya for helping take care of them. We drugged him with Blabber Serum to make him confess his crimes, then dumped him on the doorstep of Lilith's favourite coffee shop in the capital. She found him, took one look at the evidence, and absolutely threw the book at him. He's still in a cell in the Emperor's Dungeons if what Darius told me is true." Raine explained, smiling victoriously.

Eda sighed with satisfaction; "Couldn't have happened to a more deserving jerk!" she said.

Raine nodded; "You got that right, and the new caretaker is a nice guy by all accounts too! Katya, Amber, and Derwin may not actually be my kids, but I guess they're as close as I got, before we started dating again and I became "Titi Raine". They were the only family I had after you and I broke up and my parents passed away."

Eda frowned at that; Raine's parents had passed away in an accident a year after they'd graduated Hexside, and Raine had moved in with Eda in the Owl House until they got back on their feet.

"Well, you've definitely got a big family now. We both do." Eda said, kissing Raine on the cheek.

Raine returned the favour, then said; "You've got that right. Now, care to tell your family why you've been so bummed since yesterday evening? I know you were worried about Luz and King, but we know they're okay now, so I'm confused why you still seem so upset."

Eda sighed and rolled over so she was staring up at the ceiling; "It's complicated. I'm still not good with the whole feelings thing, you know? It's just… I feel like I'm letting Luz down."

Raine blinked in surprise; "Seriously? How can you possibly think that? You're an awesome Mom! Even Camila said so, didn't she? Luz and King love you!"

"A great Mom wouldn't let her hang ups deprive her daughter of a Palisman!" Eda complained.

Suddenly, everything snapped into place for Raine. So that was what this was about; Luz needed to carve a Palisman of her own, but the only places to get Palistrom Wood without attacking the Emperor's Coven were supposedly the Bat Queen's forest and Eda's father, Dell. With the Mandragora destroying the tree in the Bat Queen's possession, Dell was now Eda's only option and she still couldn't bring herself to face him.

"Eda, just talk to Luz. She'll understand. She's not upset with you anyway!" Raine pointed out.

"I know she's not, but she should be! Luz came so, so close to dying or being captured yesterday! If that Hunter Brat hadn't saved her from the Ash Moth and then refused to capture her, Luz would have been dead or worse!" Eda cried, sitting up in frustration; "On her own, she's tough enough to go toe to toe with Belos, but if she had a real bonded Palisman, she'd be stronger than him! There'd be no one on the Isles who could hurt her! And I can get one for her so easily, but I just… ARGH!"

Eda grabbed an Elixir, chugged it, then tossed the bottle across the room, where it shattered against the wall.

"I'm keeping my kids from their grandpa and keeping Luz from getting a staff all because I don't have the guts to talk to Dad!" Eda groaned, covering her face with her hands. "I keep trying to work myself up to talk to him, especially since I'm talking to Mom again and Lily is living there, but every time I pick up the scroll or crow phone, I choke!"

Raine sat up began softly petting her mane of hair; "You know he doesn't blame you, right? He didn't blame you even back then."

"He should. I ruined his life… Carving Palismen was his passion, and I took that from him. How can I face him? Especially with the Owl Beast still inside me… what if it happens again?" Eda whispered fearfully.

The Owl Beast had been calmer since the incident in the Human Realm, but it was still there and still made attempts to take control, which Eda forced back with elixirs.

Raine wanted to argue, but they opted not to; they'd had this discussion with Eda a lot over the years, and she'd never budged. Her current self was at least willing to try, but now it was her fear and not her stubbornness holding her back. There was no argument they could make that they hadn't already tried, and which would erase Eda's worries.

Instead, they pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her softly. They then said; "It'll work out, Eda. Just give yourself time. For now, let's sleep on it; Luz and King will be back tomorrow evening and you don't want to be all down in the dumps when they see you."

Eda nodded; "You're right, Raine Storm. Maybe some rest will clear my head a little…"

The two lovers then lay back, and while Raine fell asleep easily, Eda just couldn't drift off. Luz had told her how having the Bat Queen as a staff had helped her against the Ash Moth, and Eda remembered how it had saved all their lives against the Mandragora. If only Luz could just get a staff of her own! But short of facing her father, which she still wasn't ready for no matter how much she hated herself for it, Eda had no other options.

Actually, she did have one other option…

The Emperor's Coven were the only other people with Palistrom Wood… Eda smiled to herself as she finally began to fall asleep; maybe it was time for her to indulge in some good old fashioned larceny?

[The Next Day]

Eda awoke bright and early, and in a far better mood after her talk with Raine. Now that she actually had a plan to focus on (and one that didn't involve having to face a twenty year old trauma), she felt a lot better! She actually managed to get out of bed before Raine or Rasiel, who were both infamous early risers, and began making breakfast with Hooty.

When Raine and Rasiel came down, they were surprised to find Eda so chipper. "Wow. You really worked your magic on her, eh Raine?" Rasiel smirked, making Raine blush and swat his arm.

"Oh hush! We just had a nice talk before bed." Raine retorted, before smiling at Eda; "Good morning, Edamame. Glad to see you smiling!"

Eda laughed; "What can I say? I'm excited for the day!" she said, dishing up their food.

"Oh? Something planned? It's a weekend so I'd have thought you'd open your market stall for human garbage." Rasiel said, before giving his thanks and digging into his meal.

"Nope, I've got something better in mind! Speaking of the stall though, will you run it for me today?" Eda asked the Ancient Angel as she put a plate in front of Raine and then kissed them breathless.

Rasiel chuckled; "Sure. I can't go to Digale Island without Luz, so I'll just be lazing around all day otherwise. Besides, I'm fascinated by some of the things Camila gave you to sell."

Raine, recovering from the kiss, said; "Hold on Eda, what exactly are you planning?"

"You'll see!" Eda said in a sing-song voice, which made Raine very nervous.

"I know that tone! You only talk like that when you're about to cause a lot of trouble!" Raine yelled. The first time they'd heard it was right before Eda stole Mrs Jenkinmeyer's teeth…

Eda just gave them a sultry wink over her shoulder and waltzed out of the kitchen, having already eaten while cooking. Raine hurriedly gulped down their own meal (feeling a little bad, since it tasted great) and rushed after her. They caught up with her just as Eda was stepping into the front yard and summoning Owlbert in staff mode.

"Eda, seriously! What are you going to do!?" Raine cried.

"Remember the talk we had last night? About me wanting to get Luz some Palistrom Wood so she can finally have a staff?" Eda asked.

"Of course I do." they replied, before gasping; "Oh Eda! Are you finally going to go see your Dad!?"

Eda felt almost bad wiping the smile off their face; "Nope! I'm gonna rob the Emperor's Coven!" she said with a big smile.

Raine gave her such an unamused look that Eda almost laughed. They sighed heavily; "Of course you are… why do the easy thing and talk out your problems when you can just commit a crime? You haven't changed as much as I thought you had."

Eda flinched; Raine's tone wasn't angry or disappointed, but the words did give her pause; "Look I-I'm just not ready to talk to Dad yet. I promise I'll-"

"I know, Eda." Raine put their hand up to silence her, then smiled softly; "That wasn't a criticism. I love you as you are, faults and all. And I know how hard this is for you. However, I do insist on one thing!"

"What is it?" Eda asked.

Raine grinned; "I'm coming with you!"

"You are!?" Eda asked, breaking into a wide grin; "But you haven't wanted to do something like this since you graduated!"

"I may have lost my taste for pranks, but this is more than a prank. Stealing Palistrom Wood from the Emperor's Coven is CATTs business. Not only does it weaken the Emperor, but it strengthens Luz! As leaders of the CATTs, this is a worthy mission." Raine said with a sly smile.

They were telling the truth, but Eda could tell they were also just making excuses; they wanted to come along with Eda on an adventure! The two hadn't had a real adventure together since going after Luz and King when they went to Titan Cradle Island with Rasiel, and both were eager for it.

"By the Titan, I love you!" Eda yelled, grabbing her lover and hugging them tight. "Just wait until Luz sees that her Mom and Titi got her some Palistrom Wood!"

"I'm sure she'll be ecstatic. But where are we going to steal it from? I don't actually know where the EC grows or keeps it." they replied.

Eda blinked; "Aw farts, I don't know either… I was just gonna go raiding EC precincts until I found some."

The two stared at each other with deadpan expressions, until a voice piped up; "I know where you can find some."

Eda and Raine turned towards the path leading towards Bonesborough, and found Willow stood there with Clover sitting on her shoulder. The girl had her scroll pointed at them, having taken some pictures of their cute hug and banter, while her other hand held an unfamiliar book.

"Oh, hey Flowers. You look a little different." Eda said, noting the girl's hair. Willow's hair had grown enough that it had now been tied into pigtails that hung over her shoulders, and she had a dyed green highlight on the right side of her face.

"Thanks for noticing! Amity did my hair during our sleepover. That's actually why I came over; she forgot her diary and I didn't notice until this morning. I figured I'd bring it over and Luz could return it when she gets back. But it looks like I came at just the right time." Willow said happily. "Because I know where to find Palistrom Wood, and I happen to owe Luz like a thousand favours at this point."

Willow was eternally grateful to her angel friend, who'd helped her find her confidence, rise beyond the label of Half-a-Witch Willow, stand up to her worst bully, and regain her old friendship with Amity. Even though Luz would claim they were even or that no favours were ever owed, Willow wanted to repay her best friend somehow.

Eda and Raine exchanged curious looks, then Raine said; "You know where to get Palistrom Wood?"

"That's right. In fact, until the Petrification Ceremony I was helping grow some! I'm a member of the Bonesborough Gardening Club, which was affiliated with the Emperor's Coven. They were growing a Palistrom Sapling and if I'm right, it should be big enough to harvest enough wood without killing it." Willow explained.

Eda's eyes shone; "Perfect! We can just stop by and nab some!"

"We can't steal from inside Bonesborough, Eda! It'd break the agreement with the town if a member of the CATTs stole from the Coven here!" Raine argued.

The Owl Lady pouted, but Willow just waved their concerns off; "Don't worry; I said "until the Petrification Ceremony", remember? After that happened and the truce was declared, the Emperor's Coven took all its stuff out of town. Since the sapling was provided by them for us to grow, they took it too, and I know where; our sister club, the Latissa Gardening Club!"

Now that had the CATTs grinning again. There was no truce or deal with Latissa, which was still firmly in the grip of the Emperor's Coven, so they didn't need to worry about causing problems by stealing there!

"Great job, Flowers! We'll be sure to tell Luz that you pointed us in the right direction!" Eda said, ruffling the girl's hair. "But delete those pictures, or I'll turn you into a frog."

Willow put her scroll away; "I can learn to love flies." she said teasingly, making Eda cackle.

Raine took Amity's diary from Willow and put it back in the house, then stepped out to stand beside their lover; "So, we know the destination and the objective, we just need a plan."

"I'd like to help too, if I can." Willow said.

Eda nodded, but Raine looked doubtful; "I don't know about that Willow. You've helped a lot already, and this could be dangerous."

"Please let me help, Raine!" Willow pleaded; "I haven't been able to do much to help the CATTs, while the rest of the Hexsquad has been involved in missions already!"

"Flowers has got a point. Boots went against her Mom, Goops helped Luz with the Ash Moth, and Ponytail exposed Treble. Plus Steve's kid brother is helping out a lot with construction. I say we let the girl help; there's no way this is more dangerous than the Ash Moth!" Eda reasoned.

Willow beamed at her, then shot Raine a pleading look, giving her best puppy dog eyes in hopes of convincing them. Raine wasn't moved, having grown used to the tactic from Amber, but they relented either way, if only to stop Willow from trying to tag along in secret. At least if they agreed, they could limit what she did and how much danger she got into.

"Alright, you can help. But you've got to listen to whatever Eda and I say, alright?"

"Got it! You won't regret this!" Willow beamed.

Eda slapped her on the back with a wide smile; "Then mount up; we'll get to Latissa first, then start planning!"

Eda, Raine, and Willow then each summoned and got on their staves, and began the short flight to the Titan's Right Armpit and the port town of Latissa. When they arrived, Willow lead them directly to the Latissa Gardening Club, which was held in a large greenhouse on the end of a stone pier. It was a lot larger and grander than the club in Bonesborough, and was guarded by the Emperor's Coven.

As they found a hiding place nearby to scope the place out, Willow explained the reason for the difference between this club and the Bonesborough one; the presence of Amber Pustules. The town and its surrounding areas were coated in Amber Pustules, which looked like disgusting mounds of pus and flesh, but were actually a kind of fungus. The stuff had a few uses in potions and would be worth a fortune if it wasn't so abundant, but Willow knew that in the right humidity and climate, the spores would rapidly spread and could grow on anything that didn't move, though with magic it'd grow on even living things. In fact, a full time job in Latissa was clearing away the Amber Pustules that grew over important parts of the town, which was taken care of by the Gardening Club. The increased importance meant increased funding as well as more security.

Still, a few scouts were no match for the three of them!

"We can bust in and take the wood easily!" Eda grinned; "I say we run Plan Slitherbeast!"

Raine frowned; that plan was one of Eda's old Grudgby plays and was basically "Everyone charge in and take no prisoners". It might have been a good enough plan, if it weren't for three small problems…

"First, if we're reckless we could destroy the wood. Second, you and I going full throttle could put Willow in danger. And third, if we use up our magic by going too hard, too fast, we'll need to rely on Willow to save us AND have to wait for Luz to come back to recharge." Raine said; "We need something with a touch more finesse."

Eda pouted; "Fine, fine. What's your plan?"

"We run Plan Bait and Switch." Raine replied. They looked to Willow and said; "One of us will "attack" the club to draw the attention of the guards, then the other will sneak in while everyone's distracted and steal the wood. In our Grudgby Days, it usually involved Eda running wild on the pitch with an illusion of the ball, while I, Lilith, or one of the others snuck around with the real ball to score a goal."

Willow looked impressed; "Clever plan! Maybe I can make it better; I'm a member of the sister club, remember? I could go in and ask to look at the plants I helped cultivate; they shouldn't have a problem with that. Then I can find the wood and message you with where it is! Then while Eda is rampaging, you won't need to search around. It'll be a lot faster!"

"Great idea, Flowers. See Raine, told you it was a good idea to bring her along! These Hexsquad kids are sharp!" Eda grinned, ruffling Willow's hair.

Raine nodded; "Yes, it is a good idea. And it shouldn't expose you to any danger since you're not doing anything wrong. But one minor correction; Eda will be the one doing the sneaking in while I make the distraction."

"What!? But you're the sneaky one!" Eda protested.

"I'm also the one who can hold back. If you're the distraction, it'll be the same problem as if you just attacked the place for real; you don't know how to hold back and we can't afford to waste your magic." Raine explained, poking a finger at the pearlescent Bile Monitor on her chest.

The Owl Lady pouted but couldn't really argue with her lover's assessment, so just crossed her arms with a huff; "Fine! I'll do the stealing. I do have more experience with it than you do."

Raine rolled their eyes, making Willow giggle, before they both nodded in agreement and got started on the plan. Eda hopped on Owlbert and flew just above the water as close as she could get to the stone pier, using it as cover to sneak around to the back and wait for Willow's message and Raine's signal. Raine remained hiding behind the Amber Pustules on the coast, which was the closest cover they could get to the front door, and Willow hid Clover in her satchel of gardening tools (which she'd summoned as soon as the plan was decided on) and walked down the pier to the entrance of the Gardening Club.

The Emperor's Coven Guards flanking the entrance crossed their spears as soon as they saw her.

"Halt. Entrance is for Latissa Gardening Club Members, Plant Coven Members, and Emperor's Coven Personnel only." one of them said gruffly.

Willow smiled politely and curtseyed; "I'm sorry, but I'm a member of the Bonesborough Gardening Club. I was hoping to visit our sister club and see the plants I helped grow before those awful rebels came to town."

The Guards exchanged looks, then one of them went inside the club while the other stayed outside to keep an eye on Willow; "My partner will check with the gardeners. In the mean time, how are things in Bonesborough? We've heard the rebels are running wild all over the place."

"It's not so bad. The Council is feigning neutrality to keep the rebels from causing too much trouble, but we're all looking forward to the return of the Emperor's Coven." Willow lied easily.

The Guard sighed; "Sorry to say kid, but it might be a while. Last I heard, the Coven was giving up on Bonesborough until after the Day of Unity. Head Witch Mason is even supposed to be visiting the town soon to tear down the old Precinct there. If you and your family are in any kind of trouble, it might be better to high tail it out of town; we won't be coming to the rescue for a while."

Willow hummed; so the EC was leaving Bonesborough alone for now? That could be useful information, and so could the idea of Mason coming to town. She'd have to pass that along to the others later. A moment later, the club doors opened and the other guard returned, along with a Spider Biped Demon dressed in gardening clothes.

"Oh, Miss Park! I had a feeling it might be you." they chittered, making a pleased hand gesture since their spider-like face couldn't smile.

"Madam Lilneral! It's nice to see you again! I thought you ran the club up in Manubrium now!" Willow smiled, shaking her hand.

"I did, but the Plant Coven took it over and kicked us all out. I would have returned to Bonesborough, but those rebels scare me so I came here instead." she said. Madam Lilneral was a member of the Gardening Coven, which was one of the smaller offshoots from the Plant Coven, who preferred growing plants with their own hands rather than magic.

"Please come on in." she said.

Willow nodded politely to the guards, who nodded back as the one who'd stayed outside with her said; "Hang in there, Kid!"

Lilneral escorted Willow into the greenhouse, giving her a short tour along the way. The entrance hall was filled with lockers and shelves of tools, as well as special airtight suits that had to be worn when clearing away the Amber Pustules so the spores didn't get on the gardeners. There was also a door leading to a shower room for decontamination, and another that led to a small cafe and break room. However, past the entrance hall and its off-shoots was the rest of the greenhouse, which was a single massive room with multiple levels, similar to the Hexside Atrium. Plants of all kinds were being grown in large planters and soil beds all over the place, and Witches and Demons of all kinds were running about, dressed in the same muddy brown pants, grey shirts, and green aprons and gloves as Lilneral. Some also had large sun hats, which were surprisingly necessary as the morning sun was magnified by the greenhouse walls, making it rather hot and muggy inside the club.

Despite the humidity, Willow felt right at home amongst all the plants and practically skipped around behind Lilneral, who took special care to show the eager girl everything. There were Silk Spider Lilies, Ornery Oaks, Curious Chrysanthemums, and all manner of weird and wonderful flowers, trees, and other plants. It was like the Hexside plant track home room and the Bonesborough Gardening Club multiplied by each other! However, as Willow happily looked around, she did not forget her mission; she was looking for the Palistrom Sapling.

However, after an almost hour long tour (in which she had to send text messages to Eda and Raine so they wouldn't worry), Willow had seen not a single leaf nor scrap of bark from the tree, nor could she see signs of it anywhere! It likely wasn't that big, but a blue barked tree should still stand out fairly strongly amidst the greens, reds, and yellows of the other plants.

Eventually, she decided to just ask; "Madam Lilneral, what happened to the Palistrom Sapling we were growing in Bonesborough? I thought it had been brought here, but I don't see it."

The woman's pincers began to click irritably; "The Plant Coven took it." she said with a huff; "We'd barely gotten the poor thing replanted when the Coven came in and said that all Palistrom Trees were being taken to the Headquarters of the Plant Coven by order of the Emperor. Head Witch Snapdragon came and took it personally, saying only she was trusted to cultivate them now. Every sapling on the isles is likely in her possession now."

Willow's eyes widened; Terra Snapdragon was not a popular woman, even in her own coven. She was without a doubt the best plant user on the Isles, but she also had a reputation for cruelty and sadism. If she had the saplings, then their mission had just gotten a lot tougher!

The girl sent a subtle message to the adults, telling them that the sapling wasn't there and they needed to abort. Raine responded by calling Willow, using Bardic magic to change their voice and impersonate her Papa, telling her to come home. This gave her an excuse to politely leave, saying her farewells to Lilneral before casually walking. As soon as she was outside the club, she called Clover to her and flew away to the outskirts of Latissa, where Raine and Eda soon met her. Once they reunited, Willow reported what she'd been told and both adults cringed.

"Oh great, we've got to deal with Sadistic Snapdragon! That crazy plant lady is a real piece of work!" Eda complained.

"You don't know the half of it! Aside from Belos, I'd say Terra Snapdragon is the evillest person on the Boiling Isles! She's a monster!" Raine shuddered, rubbing their arms as a chill coursed through them; "The Plant Coven was seen as the most peaceful and pleasant of the Main Nine Covens before she took over! Now it's considered one of the most stressful and dangerous!"

Stories of Terra Snapdragon's antics were common, especially amongst the Rebels and the Hexside plant track, as Professor Phil was sure to warn all students about her before they take his class and set themselves up for the Plant Coven. Most plant track students ended up joining other covens under the purview of the Plant Coven instead, so only the desperate and the deranged still joined the main Coven itself, making it a perfect seedbed for monsters, tended to by those too terrified to try and leave.

Raine was unlucky enough to be one of the people Terra had taken an interest in, being one of her "Little Sprouts", which were basically her pets that she particularly enjoyed playing with. Those that earned her favour were lucky… those that didn't experienced hell. Raine had avoided being under her direct control since they were in a different coven, but now that they were a rebel? If Terra ever got her hands on them, it would be a living hell.

"Should we abandon the plan?" Willow asked fearfully, really not wanting to mess with Snapdragon.

Raine looked to Eda; "We still have another option. We can just go talk to your Dad."

Eda bit her lip, but as scared as Raine and Willow were of Terra, Eda was just as scared of facing her father.

She shook her head; "No. I'm getting that wood and kicking Snapdragon's decrepit backside! You two don't need to follow me; I'd originally planned to get the wood alone anyway."

Eda then began to march off, before Raine and Willow followed her.

"Eda, you can't go on your own! What if you run out of magic?" Willow argued.

"Whatever happens, happens. I'll blast my way in, grab a log, then burn the place to the ground!" Eda said, not slowing her pace.

Raine grabbed her hand to try and stop her. Unfortunately Eda was stronger and she pulled her hand away, accidentally pulling her Lover's hand off entirely. Willow shrieked, forgetting it was a symptom of the curse, and Eda cursed.

"Sorry Raine Storm." she said, putting their hand back on, "But I need to do this! Ever since Luz saved me at the Petrification Ceremony, I've been next to useless! I want to help my daughter, no matter what!"

Raine kissed her on the cheek with a sympathetic smile; "I understand, Edamame. I'm not going to stop you, I already told you that. But I AM going to stop you going without me! We're partners, right?"

Eda blinked; "But I thought you were terrified of Snapdragon!"

"Oh I am! I can't imagine anyone sane who wouldn't be! But that just means I can't leave you to face her alone. We're in this together." Raine promised.

"I-I'm in too!" Willow declared.

Eda had been supportive of Willow joining them before, but now she joined Raine in being doubtful; "That's nice of you Flowers, but this might be a little beyond you. Snapdragon won't hold back against a kid."

"I don't care! I faced down Odalia and the Mandragora under Hexside! No old hag is gonna be worse than those two!" Willow said stubbornly, "Besides, my plant magic is even stronger now thanks to Clover! I can use her to help counter Snapdragon's magic!"

The adults exchanged looks; a strong plant witch would be helpful, especially one who wasn't as limited in how they could use their magic. Willow saw them considering it and added; "Plus with me there, you can use the same plan!"

"I don't think being a member of a Gardening Club will be enough to get you into the Plant Coven Headquarters." Raine pointed out.

"No, but being the top student in the Hexside plant track might! If I tell them I'm interested in joining, they're sure to let me in! I've heard how hard it is for them to get recruits, so they won't turn down someone like me!" Willow said confidently.

Willow was right; the Plant Coven would jump at the chance to recruit someone like her, especially once she showed off her magic. There were full grown adult witches who couldn't match her talent with plants! Raine was sure she'd end up one of Terra's "Little Sprouts" in an instant if they met! But that was incredibly dangerous.

"Are you absolutely sure you want to do this, Willow?" Eda asked, switching to the real name to show how serious she was; "It'll be a lot more dangerous and if something goes wrong, we might not be able to reach you fast enough."

Willow nodded, frightened but determined; "You heard me at Palisman Adoption Day, Eda! I want to be strong and wise to protect everyone I love, and defeat anyone who gets in my way! So I'll help protect everyone on the Isles by supporting the CATTs, and I'll protect my best friend by getting her a Palisman! Right Clover?"

The Bee Palisman buzzed around her head and nestled on top of her hair, looking proud. Eda and Raine grinned; "Alright then!" the latter said, "We're off to the Plant Coven HQ! Next stop, the Navel Woods!"

The three of them got on their staves and once again took to the skies, now flying southward towards the Navel Woods. This was a large stretch of woodland in the Titan's abdomen, only a short ways north of the Hips. Unlike the Forearm Forest, the Navel Woods were an almost idyllic country woodland, that was easy to pass through and had plenty of green foliage. Thanks to it being the home of the Plant Coven, it was the healthiest greenery on the Isles, and also the safest; no carnivorous plants lived there, having been removed to keep the crucial roads between the north and south of the Titan clear and safe. A side road in the middle of the woods led into the deepest part, where the Plant Coven Headquarters could be found; a place known as Spriggan Manor.

Spriggan Manor was a very old, sprawling estate almost the same size as the Emperor's Castle, and was made entirely of trees that had been carefully cultivated and woven together as they grew in order to become an elaborate country estate. It had been built before the Deadwardian Era by a Spriggan; a tree-like species of Biped Demon that had immigrated from one of the Demon Realm's non-Titan landmasses (since Spriggans weren't native to the Titans like other Demon species). The Spriggan was very old and powerful, and extraordinarily wealthy, filling his mansion with treasures. When he passed away, the plants that served as a defence mechanism for the manor ensured no one could get in and claim those treasures, until a powerful cabal of Plant Witches came along to conquer it. One of the lesser members of the last generation of the cabal teamed up with Belos during his unification of the Isles and ousted the rest, who were destroyed by Belos' forces. As a reward, the traitorous member was made the first Head Witch of the Plant Coven, and Spriggan Manor was made into the Plant Coven's HQ.

Willow had always wanted to visit it and see its collection of rare plants and gardening-related treasures, as it was said that there was a full living encyclopedia of every breed of plant in the Demon Realm inside, as well as urban legends of plants from the Human and even Divine Realms being in the collection! Raine had visited the place before; Coven Head meetings rotated which HQ they were held at, and they'd had to attend with Scooter a few times, leading to them being thoroughly disturbed by Terra Snapdragon and having to deal with the uncanny feeling of being watched. Lastly, Eda had visited the place once to try and steal Goldwort years ago, but her plan had failed and she'd never returned, nor had she cause to; all the treasures she'd cared about had been sent off to the Emperor's Castle or given as rewards to some noble or another, and she wasn't interested in fancy plants. Even the best ones weren't worth the effort of sneaking into Sadistic Snapdragon's little garden.

Raine directed them all to land in the trees a good kilometre away from the entrance to the grounds, and they hid amongst the trees.

"We can't afford to get closer than this yet. Terra has Spying Spores all over the woods from this point on, so the moment we pass one, she'll know we're here." Raine warned.

"So how do we get closer? Can we just whip out the weed killer?" Eda asked.

Willow shook her head; "Spying Spores are a breed created by Terra Snapdragon. They're supposed to be the only way for a plant witch to use something like scrying magic! If you kill the spores, they're creator will know and the only person I know who can make them is Terra herself."

Eda scowled; "That's a no to the weed killer then… Do we wear disguises? Maybe we could illusion ourselves to look like Harvey and Gilbert?"

Willow giggled at the idea of the two impersonating her Dads, but that wouldn't work. When they sprung their plan, the Plant Coven would immediately know Willow was an accomplice and she would be in danger; they needed to make the timing of the attack and visit look like a coincidence, at least until Willow was far away.

"I only brought us down here to drop off Willow. It's a cloudy enough day, so you and I will go above the clouds then fly down directly onto the roof of the manor. Terra once told me that the spores don't come into the estate grounds, and coming in from above the clouds will keep the guards from seeing us." Raine explained. "Then when Willow finds the wood and pings us her location, I'll launch the fake attack while you come in from the other side to snag the wood. Willow, try to run away in the confusion; only fight if you've got no choice. Even take pot shots at Eda and I if it'll keep your cover, but do try not to hit us."

Willow nodded obediently, and Raine patted her shoulder while Eda ruffled her hair, before using a spell to make herself and Raine invisible as they soared up to the clouds so they wouldn't be seen. Willow watched them go for a moment, then backtracked a little to the path. Once she found it, she pasted a pleasant smile on her face and began to skip down the path towards the estate's front gates, acting like an excited young girl. Like the manor itself, the estate's walls and gates were made from plants, specifically Porcelain Yew Bushes (bushes with leaves that were as hard and tough as ceramic plates, which fit together to make tough walls) and Iron Vines respectively.

Like the Gardening Club, the estate's entrance was guarded by two men, though they were Plant Coven Members. They wore a uniform similar to the Coven Scouts, only with green cloaks made from leaves, and wooden masks and armour, the former of which was a smooth face mask with a flower carved into it, but no eye holes. Each Plant Scout had a different flower to identify them, and they wielded long halberds instead of spears. They did not react to Willow as she approached, though she noticed their masks had a Petunia and a Daisy on them.

"Um, excuse me?" Willow began politely, "My name is Willow Park, Top Student in the plant track at Hexside. I wanted to visit the Plant Coven and see if I can join!"

The two slowly looked at each other, their bodies creaking like old wooden furniture, then after a minute of silent communication, they looked back at Willow.

"Recruits are welcome." The Petunia Scout said in a deep, slow voice.

"Follow the path to the manor door. Do not stray." The Daisy Scout said in the same tone.

They tapped their halberds on the ground and the Iron Vine gates swung open, allowing Willow passage. She thanked the Scouts and skipped inside, pretending to not be totally unnerved. Something was very wrong with those Plant Scouts, and as she skipped down the path, she noticed the same problem with ALL the Plant Scouts. They roamed around the grounds (which were all immaculate lawns of green and red grass) throwing what looked like birdseed down on the ground. The purpose for this became clear when a bird landed to eat some birdseed, only for the grass to roar up, forming a bestial head, and chomp the bird down in one gulp before disappearing back into regular grass.

"That's… probably fine." Willow told herself, "Happy thoughts Willow! Stick to the path!"

She then steadfastly ignored everything but the path in front of her, until she reached the large front doors of the manor. Trees of all different kinds were carved into their surfaces, and a large knocker shaped like a seed was attached to each one. Willow grabbed one and knocked hard, before the door opened and revealed a witch dressed in a maid's uniform. The uniform was pink and the skirt looked like the petals of a peony, while the witch who wore it was pale faced and looked surprised and nervous.

"Y-Yes, how can I help you, Young Miss?" they asked. Their tone was fearful, and their voice was distinctly masculine, much to Willow's surprise.

"Um, yes; I'm here because I'm interested in joining the Plant Coven and wanted to take a look before I made a decision." Willow replied.

The Maid grew even paler and leaned down to whisper; "Get out of here, little girl! You do not want to join this Coven! Leave before-"

"Peony, who is that guest?"

The sudden voice called out from a landing overlooking the manor foyer, making the maid (Peony), freeze and turn ashen. The voice sounded like a young woman's, and when Willow looked up to the source, she found a girl only a bit older than her, being a similar age to Viney and Emira… at least in looks. The girl was extremely pretty, with golden blonde hair and a very elaborate and lacy yellow dress, the kind that looked more at home on a ceramic doll than a person. She appeared to be a Macaque Demon with some witch ancestry, so while she had some Macaque-like features, her face was that of a beautiful witch. Her fur was the same yellow as her hair, and she had a long tail that peeked out from a hole in the back of her dress, but most of her other monkey-esque features were hidden by her dress.

"M-Miss Hanu! This guest has yet to introduce herself. I was just welcoming her to the manor." Peony said hastily, bowing.

The woman, Hanu, narrowed her eyes dangerously and Peony gulped and instead curtseyed, making Willow frown. So it seemed Peony really was a man, but was being made to play the role of a woman? That was unusual… things like that were rare in the Demon Realm, but it did suit the disturbed reputation of Terra Snapdragon.

Seeing the "correct" gesture from Peony, Hanu giggled girlishly and conjured a vine from the ceiling and used it to slide daintily down to the ground floor of the foyer, where she gave a polite curtsey to Willow. She shooed Peony away, and he hurried off to attend to his duties.

"Forgive our poor first impression; some of the maids can be so dreadfully slow. He's new, but he'll learn." Hanu smiled, "My name is Manuella Hanu, one of Lady Snapdragon's personal Aides. Please call me Hanu, I much prefer it. Might I know your name?"

"Willow Park." the nervous girl replied.

"Willow! What a wonderfully appropriate name! People with plant names are well loved here! We do cultivate plants after all!" Hanu tittered, "Now what can we do for you, Willow?"

Willow gulped and repeated what she'd told the scouts and Peony, making Hanu's face light up even more.

"The top student of the plant track at Hexside! Marvellous! Truly Marvellous! And you're interested in joining our little garden? What a wonderful idea! Please, let me show you around! I'm afraid Lady Snapdragon is out at the moment, but I'm sure she'd love for you to see what you're "getting into" as they say!" Hanu giggled. She went to Willow's side and linked arms with her; "Right this way!"

Willow was practically dragged out of the foyer of the manor and into the nearby hall as Hanu started giving her a very enthusiastic tour of the place. The inside was largely like the outside, with everything being made from plants of some kind, and all in a very expensive and extravagant looking style. It was all very old-fashioned, but Willow found herself loving it. The ground floor was filled with rooms that had been enchanted to mimic specific biomes with the intention of growing plants from those biomes. There was a muggy swampy room to mimic the Swampy Toes, a snowy room to mimic the Knee and the Snowy Rib Cage, and even a desert room to mimic the two different Palm deserts. That one had Fire Melon Cacti growing in it, making Willow think of the adventure her friends had just gone on. Not that she had to worry about it exploding; several of the more dangerous species had strange rings of green magic floating around them, keeping them docile.

However as she enjoyed the tour of the plants, Willow found herself disturbed by the actual Coven's members. The gardening seemed to be done by the Plant Scouts, while each Biome Room was overseen by another of Terra's attendants like Hanu (though none seemed to be present at the moment), but the rest of the Coven's members seemed to be dressed up as servants. The maids all wore uniforms based on different flowers, with the skirts matching the petals of the flower and the colour of the outfit matching too. Then there also butlers that wore green suits with tree emblems stitched onto their backs and a crest on their left breast that was shaped like a tree leaf, with each butler having a unique tree theme. Strangely though, whether a person was a maid or a butler seemed to be random; there were muscular men dressed as maids and dainty women dressed as butlers and vice versa. Gender identity, appearance, race, species; there was no indicator as to why some were butlers and some were maids, but given their expressions, it wasn't their choice. It left Willow with an eerie feeling, like the whole coven was playing some kind of bizarre game of dress up.

Excluding that disturbing fact, the place really was a paradise of plants! There were even the fabled plants from the Human Realm to look at, after which Hanu gave Willow a knowing look and said; "You attend Hexside with the Angel, don't you?"

Willow was thrown by the question, but didn't bother lying; "Yes, we share a few Gen-Ed classes, though we're in different tracks."

"Then you might be interested in this! Come this way!" Hanu said excitedly, not actually giving Willow a choice by pulling her along. She dragged her towards a large greenhouse that was attached to the back of the manor's ground floor, and which was absolutely thrumming with green magic. The door into it was chained shut with at least five different kinds of vines and ivy that knotted together over the door handle, but Hanu stroked it and the knot came undone and the vines and ivy moved aside, allowing her to open the door and let Willow inside.

The bespectacled girl gasped at what she saw; there were several long planters and a few small pots on pedestals, and each one had climate enchantments placed around them to maintain the extremely rare and valuable plants contained within. These were all plants so important that they'd been kept in this secure greenhouse rather than in the proper biome rooms elsewhere in the house. Among these extremely valuable plants was a row of Palistrom Trees; most of which were barely more than saplings. One stood out however, as it was almost a full tree! It was certainly big enough to harvest wood from it!

Hanu noticed Willow staring at it and smiled; "You're looking at all the Palistrom Wood on the Isles. We're growing more, but it's a slow process. The Gardening Clubs we entrusted them to did a lousy job… well, except Bonesborough and Latissa." Hanu said, somewhat annoyed as she nodded to the maturest tree; "They did a good job… too bad Bonesborough is full of rebels now, huh? It must be hard going to school there."

"It's not so bad. The people of Bonesborough are keeping the rebels at bay." Willow lied.

That made Hanu giggle girlishly; "How wonderful! Some flowers really can thrive even when weeds try to strangle them! But enough about these silly old trees; I wanted to show you this!"

She dragged Willow towards the centre of the room, where a very ornate white and gold pedestal stood, holding up a small golden pot of soil. Growing inside the pot was a flower Willow was quite familiar with thanks to Luz; it was a green, rose-like flower that appeared to be made entirely from crystal, and had a gem-like texture when touched despite being as soft and malleable as any other rose. The stem and leaves were clear crystal with green veins of chlorophyll running through them, and it had sharp, white crystal thorns along the stem.

"A flower from the Divine Realm!" Willow gasped; "The rumours were true! You really do have one!"

Hanu nodded proudly; "I'm the Overseer of this garden of legendary plants and have been since Lady Snapdragon recruited me five years ago! That flower, which we've taken to calling an Angelic Crystal Bloom, was naught but a seed buried in dirt before I arrived! Cultivating it and making it grow was why Lady Snapdragon put me in charge!"

"It's amazing. Luz had to teach the plant track at school how to cultivate Divine Realm flowers, and it's hard work. You need to carefully blend magic in just the right way for each flower." Willow said, saying a bit more than she'd intended due to her fascination. "How did you even find the seed?"

"Well, this is a little secret between us, but we actually got it from Hexside!" Hanu whispered with a wink; "There was another angel who went there almost twenty years ago! You might have heard of her; her name was Cassiel."

Willow gulped; Luz had told her about Cassiel, though according to Bump, she hadn't actually been a student at Hexside, just a visitor. So she must have left some plants behind…

"I don't know what happened to her; she apparently disappeared 15 years ago after a fake angel tried to kill the Emperor!" Hanu scowled, then perked up again; "Without her, most of the plants she made withered and died, but this one seed remained! But you know how to cultivate more, right?"

Willow nodded; "I do. I can make a few with magic; watch."

She drew a spell circle and carefully focused her mind, causing another of the green crystal roses to appear in her hand. "Luz told me that this flower is called Rosen Emeralia."

Hanu gasped with delight; "Marvellous, just marvellous! Oh, you'll be welcomed as one of Lady Snapdragon's elite aides for certain! She'll put you in charge of a new garden for Divine Realm Plants! It'll be wonderful! Oh, I cannot wait to see her reaction to this! Tell me, do you think you could convince the Angel to show you how to grow more angelic plants? We'd love to have a full set!"

"I can try." Willow forced a smile. She wanted to alert Eda and Raine to the location of the Palistrom Wood, but Hanu was so focused on her that she couldn't do so without being caught. So instead, Willow came up with an idea.

"Hanu, could we take a selfie with the Palistrom Tree? My friends at the Bonesborough Gardening Club would love to see how well it's doing after all our hard work! Especially compared to the other saplings." Willow asked, showing her scroll.

The Monkey Girl grinned widely and nodded; "Of course! A gardener's plants are like their children! It's only natural they'd want to see them thriving… and better than other people's kids!"

Relieved, Willow stood with Hanu in front of the tree and smiled as she held up her scroll to take the selfie, making sure that the door (and its security) were in the picture so Eda could recognise it. She then took the selfie and immediately posted it on Penstagram, hoping Eda and Raine would see it.

As she was posting the picture and Hanu was gushing over how cute they both looked, Willow almost flinched as she noticed something extra in the background of the picture. A face was peering in through the glass door of the greenhouse, smiling into the camera. It was a face Willow recognised, and she immediately turned around to see its owner had now joined them.

Terra Snapdragon.

The woman smiled down at Willow, brushing some of her long green hair away from her face so she could get a proper look. "Well well well, what do we have here? A new flower in the garden. But is it a nice flower, or a nasty weed?" Terra said, leaning down so her face was inches from Willow's; "Hmm, I definitely sense some strong plant magic. Delightful."

She straightened up and turned to Hanu, who smiled brightly and curtseyed, before looking at Willow and urging her to mimic the gesture, which she did.

"Good day, Lady Snapdragon! I didn't know you'd returned!" Hanu said politely.

"I only just got back. Whatever my spores detected in the woods appears to be gone now, and I naturally sensed this little seedling walking down my garden path, so I thought I'd come and see." Terra said, eyes never leaving Willow's. "Who is this little seedling?"

"Lady Snapdragon, allow me to introduce Miss Willow Park, the Top Plant Student at Hexside! She's interested in joining us!" Hanu explained.

Terra's eyebrow rose; "Is that so? Given your excitement, Sprout, am I to assume she's quite impressive?"

"Definitely, Lady Snapdragon! Look at this!" Hanu held up the Rosen Emeralia Willow had grown; "She made this with just her magic! The Angel has taught her and several other Hexside students how to grow Divine Realm plants!"

Terra's eyes gleamed; "How wonderful! That is truly a great achievement! Perhaps you'd have a place in my Coven after all! You could become one of my Sprouts… assuming you aren't better suited to being a Scout or Servant."

"Thank you for the compliment, Lady Snapdragon." Willow said, trying to hide her nerves.

"Not at all! Am I right that this was the last stop on the tour?" Terra asked.

Hanu nodded, so Terra clapped her hands; "Delightful; then let us have some tea and discuss your future in my Coven, little seedling. Hanu, please inform the servants that I want refreshments brought up to my parlour, then feel free to join us; you've done good work yourself today."

"Thank you, Lady Snapdragon! I'll see it done at once." Hanu beamed. She curtseyed again, then gave Willow a wink as she hurried off to complete her task, leaving Willow alone with Terra Snapdragon.

The poor girl's heart was beating a mile a minute, and she could sense Clover shuddering in fear in her bag. If Terra noticed, she didn't let on and instead gestured for Willow to follow her. Terra led Willow to a staircase that led up to the Manor's third floor, chatting idly as she went.

"The first floor is obviously where we keep our precious plants. The second floor is where my aides and attendants live; they are the elites of the coven, like dear Hanu. My own chambers are on the third floor; the finer the plant, the higher it grows after all!" Terra explained. "Perhaps you'll have chambers in the upper floors too, if you prove to be as amazing as dear Hanu thinks you are. I'll confess to being impressed so far."

"Thank you, Lady Snapdragon. If I may, do the rest of the coven members live here too?" Willow asked.

"Of course! I like to keep my lovelies close to hand. The scouts and servants live in the sub-levels below the manor. They've yet to bloom enough to deserve a room in the sun. Seeds thrive better beneath the ground." Terra replied. It seemed she really did think of people as plants…

They soon arrived in Terra's parlour, which took the form of a greenhouse built on top of the manor, with a spiral staircase leading up into it. The room had a great 360 degree view of the entire estate and was the highest spot in the manor. It was also full of the most dangerous plants on the Boiling Isles, all of which were being kept docile by rings of Terra's green magic. Willow looked at them nervously as Terra escorted her to a fancy table set up in the middle of the room, then as she was seated on a comfy pink stool, Willow looked out the windows and tried to spot Raine or Eda. There was nowhere on the rooftops of the manor that couldn't be seen from the parlour, so either Raine and Eda had made themselves invisible, or they'd found a different place to hide, much to Willow's relief.

Terra, sitting in the only full chair; a high-backed armchair, smiled at Willow and asked; "So, how do you like the Plant Coven thus far?"

"Oh, it's amazing! I love it! Though I'm a little confused by the hierarchy here." Willow said, deciding to see if she could probe the woman for information. It was clear a lot of the members were unhappy, and if Willow could learn the full truth, it might help the CATTs even further!

Terra chortled; "No need to be coy, seedling. You're wondering about the scouts and servants! Well, all people have their place in life, just as all plants have their place in nature. I just help my coven members find the place that suits them best, while ripping out the nasty weeds that don't belong at all! Most Witches and Demons don't appreciate my methods, but as you can see from my lovely manor, they are quite effective!"

Terra cast a spell, causing a trio of mandrakes to hop out of their pots nearby and run over to a basin of water to wash the dirt off of themselves, before they hurried over and jumped onto the table between Terra and Willow. A second spell had the three mandrakes shrivelling up; their fat, baby-like plant bodies shrinking until they looked like a Plant Scout, a Maid, and Hanu respectively. The Plant Scout Mandrake then stepped forward.

"My scouts are members who are strong in magic but not so much in mind. The kind that really can't be trusted to think for themselves. The special masks I give them have little roots on the inside that creep into the wearer's brain and stimulate it a bit, making them a lot more useful." Terra explained with a casual smile while Willow's skin crawled. The masks didn't make the wearers smarter, it just made them into obedient puppets of Terra!

The Maid Mandrake then stepped forward as Terra continued; "Those who are smart enough to do as they're told, but not very magically powerful are my servants. I give them a purpose, serving as the roots and foundations that live in the dirt so the truly beautiful may grow in the sun. I simply dress them as maids and butlers because I enjoy the aesthetic. The Snapdragons are a noble family after all."

Willow nodded slowly; so the members who weren't very strong magically basically got turned into slaves… no wonder Peony had looked so frightened earlier! They were probably petrified of becoming brainwashed Scouts or worse, meeting whatever fate Terra had in mind for "weeds".

"Um, if I may ask; why are some of them maids and some of them butlers? I couldn't see any rhyme or reason to it." Willow asked.

"I simply picked which plant I thought would suit them best. If they suited a flower, I made them a maid. If they suited a tree, I made them a butler. I don't see the need to divide them by gender; in plant life, both male and female are just parts of a single whole! They don't pointlessly divide themselves into different creatures like we beasts do… they are more refined." Terra laughed.

She then stroked her chin as she peered at Willow; "You though… you'd be a difficult one to place. You definitely give me a flower vibe, but your name is too perfect! If I made you a butler, you'd keep your name. Decisions decisions… though, if you really are powerful enough to be a Top Student, you probably wouldn't suit the life of a servant anyway. Speaking of which…"

The Hanu Mandrake now stepped forward and Terra said; "The elites of my coven, my Little Sprouts, are both intelligent and powerful! They rise above the dirt that others wallow in and begin to bloom! They are all my personal aides, like Dear Hanu. They are the people I take a personal interest in, and often the ones I go out of my way to recruit. Sadly not all work out; some join other covens, and one even became a rebel… a shame, I had such high hopes for that one." Terra said, shaking her head wistfully.

Willow gulped; Terra had to be talking about Raine! She wondered what Terra had in mind for her "Sprouts" that ended up in other covens…

Before she could get the courage to ask, Hanu finally arrived, followed by a pair of maids (Jasmine and Daffodil) who were carrying trays of tea and snacks. Hanu happily took a seat and the maids prepared to serve the tea, before Terra stopped them and excused them to go back to their other duties so she could serve the tea herself. This put Willow immediately on guard; she wouldn't put it past the old crone to try and spike her drink with something! Her fears seemed to be reinforced when Terra handed the cup to Willow and watched her carefully.

"Please, do try it. It's my own special blend! I grew the tea leaves myself." Terra said, smiling a little too widely.

Willow's mind raced; she couldn't cast a spell without it being obvious and drawing the ire of Terra and Hanu, but she also couldn't just drink the tea! Who knows what Terra put in it!? Refusing to drink could also land her in trouble too! She needed a way of casting a spell without it being obvious!

As she stirred her tea and wracked her brain, Willow remembered back to the day she met Luz; specifically the battle with the Mandragora. Luz had blasted it with a light beam from her tongue! It was possible to draw spell circles with more than just the fingers, so Willow decided to try it! Focusing carefully, she used her tongue to draw a spell circle inside her own mouth, casting a herbicide spell on herself so that any plant life that entered her body would die immediately. She then slowly drank the tea and immediately felt her magic reacting to it, destroying whatever Terra had put inside it. Terra smiled even wider, clearly unaware of what Willow had done, and the girl felt her heart leap with relief.

"How do you like it, little seedling?" Terra asked.

"It's wonderful." Willow replied.

"Isn't it just? Lady Snapdragon has fine taste for the finer things!" Hanu beamed, also taking a sip of her (presumably untainted) tea.

Terra had some too, then looked Willow in the eye; "Now, I think it's time for a bit of truth, don't you? I shall go first; as a Head Witch and someone who works closely with the Emperor, I enjoy a certain level of trust, so I get access to all kinds of privileged information. Part of that includes reports on our enemies, such as the Owl Lady…"

Willow forced herself not to flinch, "… and the little Angel she has infested. Those reports include things like their known associates and friends. Imagine my surprise when one of those associates comes walking straight into our midst."

Terra's smile became sharp, while Hanu gasped and looked warily at Willow; "You are friends with the Angel!? Was this all a trick!?"

"No! I won't deny being friends with Luz, but nothing I said was a lie." Willow (ironically) lied. "I really am just in a few Gen-Ed classes with her, and I really did come here to see about joining the Plant Coven! It was my dream for years!"

Hanu eyed her suspiciously, while Terra looked surprised. "My my… it appears she is telling the truth." the old woman said. "That tea was spiked with Liar's Lament; a naturally occurring poison from the Truthful Tulips I grow. It causes liars to suffer terrible pain, yet our little seedling is quite unhurt. How interesting!"

Willow smiled, relief filling her chest; that herbicide spell had destroyed the plant-based poison, saving her from the anguish it would cause! Now Terra would believe everything she said!

"I wouldn't lie to you, Lady Snapdragon. Though I understand the need for the precautions… Luz is a dear friend, but she is being terribly mislead by the Owl Lady! I want to convince her that the Emperor isn't the monster Eda claims he is, but I'm afraid she'll refuse to talk to me any more!" Willow lied easily.

Terra tutted sympathetically; "How awful for you. Still, such loyalty should be rewarded; the Emperor will be pleased." she hummed, then smiled creepily; "Hmm, I might have an idea that could please him, bring that wayward child back to the right side, AND ensure your place in my coven as one of my little Sprouts!"

"Oh? If I can help the Coven and become one of your Aides like Hanu, I'd love to try!" Willow said eagerly, making Hanu grin too.

"Excellent! Then here's what you have to do…" Terra leaned forward conspiratorially; "Kiss up to the Angel. Stay on her good side, no matter what you have to say or do. If you can, get her to let you join those nasty rebel weeds! Then when you're in the midst, you can spy on them for us!"

Willow blinked; shouldn't Terra know that new members of the CATTs took oaths to prevent them revealing their secrets? Kikimora was aware thanks to Treble… had she not told anyone else? From what Lilith and Raine had said about the diminutive demon, that honestly shouldn't have surprised Willow.

"I'm not sure how good of a spy I'd be, but if it'll help the Emperor and the Coven, I'll do it!" Willow said determinedly. Maybe she could prove her usefulness by becoming a double agent and spying on the Plant Coven!

Terra and Hanu both looked delighted; "Oh this is marvellous! Absolutely marvellous! We get to have a new member AND a spy!" Hanu said.

"Indeed! In fact, it's such good news that I don't see why we can't skip straight to giving young Willow her reward." Terra said, snapping her fingers. The mandrakes from before (who were still sat on the table, having been nibbling on sugar cubes) suddenly jumped off the table and swelled back up to their normal appearances, before scurrying over to an ornate looking chest in the corner of the parlour. They worked together to open it, then one jumped inside and emerged with a glove of some kind, which it promptly delivered to Terra. The old woman slipped the glove onto her hand and Willow watched as the sigil of the Plant Coven appeared on its index finger.

"With this, you'll officially be a member of my coven. Give me your arm, Sprout." Terra smiled.

Willow suddenly felt her heart beating a little faster as she hesitated. Getting branded with a Coven Sigil had NOT been part of the plan! But could she even refuse at this point? If she did, surely Terra would see something was wrong. Then again… did it matter if she accepted the sigil? Aside from some Water Elemental Magic which she'd only been learning to strengthen her Plant Magic anyway, Willow didn't use anything but Plant Magic so it wasn't like she'd be giving much up by accepting the sigil. And worst comes to worst, Luz was able to get rid of the sigil the Emperor had branded her with; surely Willow could just ask her for the same treatment? With pain-killing potions, it wouldn't even hurt!

"Something wrong, Sprout?" Terra asked when Willow still hadn't presented her arm.

"N-No. I'm just nervous! I came to look around; I didn't expect to join up already!" Willow said quickly.

"Not having second thoughts, right?" Hanu asked.

Willow shook her head; "I'm not. Let's do this."

She pulled up her sleeve and with one last moment of hesitation, offered her right wrist to Terra. The Old Crone's lips stretched into an even wider smile as she lifted her finger and prepared to brand Willow with the sigil.

However, just as she was about to touch Willow's wrist, the glass walls of the parlour all suddenly began rattling hard in their frames, before they suddenly shattered. Willow and Hanu both screamed, while Terra scowled and snapped her fingers, removing the green rings of magic that kept her plants docile. They began to snap and snarl and search around for the cause of the shattering glass, only for said source to suddenly fly in on a staff, before jumping off and landing on the table, breaking most of the tea set and spilling the tea itself.

The intruder was wearing black clothes and a cloak, under which was a bat-themed face mask that covered their head completely, leaving no visible ways of identifying them. Even their Palisman was disguised, being hidden from view by a black cloth. However, their staff transforming into a violin gave Willow a pretty big clue as to who it was!

"Picking your prey younger and younger with every passing year, are we Snapdragon? Compensating for your own ageing perhaps? Or do you prefer the term wilting?" Raine demanded, their voice slightly distorted by Bardic Magic.

Terra narrowed her eyes, thankfully not recognising them; "Another annoying bard, hmm? Are you one of the traitors that fled with Whispers, or are you perhaps a new one? I really should have Cadence clean house one of these days." she said, slowly getting to her feet. She tossed the branding glove to Hanu then said; "Be a dear and take young Willow to safety, then give her the sigil. I'll take care of this fertiliser."

Hanu nodded and grabbed Willow's hand to begin pulling her towards the spiral staircase. Raine whistled sharply, creating a high-pitched noise focused on Hanu to make her flinch and cover her ears, but before they could do anything more, Terra set her plants on them. Two carnivorous ones chomped at their arms, forcing them to split them in half with a sound blade, while a poison spitting one began spewing thick purple goo, making them dodge out of the way. They ended up dodging all the way out onto the roof of the manor, while Terra and her mandrakes followed, allowing Hanu to once again grab Willow and drag her down to the floors below.

They ran all the way down to the second floor landing that overlooked the foyer, so Hanu could shout down to the servants and scouts running around in a panic, looking for the intruder.

"Lady Snapdragon is fighting up on the roof! Get outside and climb up from there! And make sure the perimeter is locked down! If that intruder escapes, you'll all be mulch!" she ordered. None but Terra's Sprouts were allowed beyond the first floor without permission, and Hanu wasn't about to have the whole coven traipsing through their private spaces. The coven members, including a few of Terra's other Sprouts (who'd returned with Terra and stood out since they lacked the scout, maid, or butler uniforms) all rushed outside, leaving the manor itself virtually empty. Willow smiled, knowing this was just what Eda needed to sneak in and grab the wood.

Once she'd given her orders, Hanu turned back to Willow with a smile; "Silly question I'm sure, but you wouldn't know anything about that intruder, right?" she asked, assuming Willow was still effected by Liar's Lament.

Willow smiled right back; "Of course not! That was as much a surprise to me as it was to you!" she said, only half-lying. She genuinely hadn't expected Raine to burst in through the glass like that! They must have been spying on the meeting and attacked like that to save Willow from being branded.

Hanu sighed with relief; "Marvellous! Follow me to my room, I'll keep you safe and get you inducted into the Coven before Lady Snapdragon finishes up with that crummy bard."

She grabbed Willow's hand again and led her to a large bedroom that was overflowing with stuffed toys and frilly furniture; the kind one would expect from a rich little girl or young princess. It seemed a bit odd for an adult witch, though Hanu did admittedly look to still be school age. Hanu must have understood the look on Willow's face, because she explained herself.

"I'm actually only 16." Hanu explained, "Lady Snapdragon raised me from the time I was about 10. I was the child of a noble and his mistress, and when my father's wife found out, she made him throw his mistress out. My mother couldn't care for us both, so she sold me to Lady Snapdragon. Luckily I was skilled in plant magic, so she gave me everything I ever wanted growing up. I used to be so jealous of my father's legitimate daughters, and now I have everything they do and more! Lady Snapdragon is very generous to those who earn her favour!"

"And just as cruel to those that don't…" Willow thought, even as she felt some sympathy for Hanu. She'd obviously been groomed and twisted by Terra… well, Willow had no intention of letting herself be twisted too!

As Hanu walked into the room, she let go of Willow's hand and walked over to the window to see if she could see any signs of the battle happening outside. Seeing her chance, Willow subtly summoned Clover into her hand in staff form and crept up behind her, using plant magic to grow a wooden hammer head around Clover, ready to smack Hanu over the head and knock her out. Once Hanu was unconscious, she'd be able to run and meet Eda in the greenhouse with the Palistrom Wood, or perhaps even steal it for herself so Eda could go and help Raine while she escaped!

Unfortunately, the subtle glow of green magic that came with creating the hammer head drew Hanu's attention, causing her to look up and see Willow's reflection in the window right before she could bring her weapon down. Hanu shrieked in surprise and dove to the side, causing Willow's strike to miss and break the window.

Willow cursed and tried to strike Hanu again before she could stand back up from her dive, but Hanu rapidly drew a spell circle that caused a pair of vines to whip down from the ceiling, one grabbing her and pulling her to safety while the other grabbed Willow's staff before she could bring it down. As quick as she could, Willow withered the wood around Clover and turned her back into Palisman mode to free her from the vine, then back into staff mode so she could shoot a trio of green spells towards Hanu. The monkey demon girl ducked under two of them and blocked the third by kicking the chair from her dressing table into its path. The chair, and the two spots on the wall that Willow's spells had struck, suddenly grew long tree roots that tried to grab Hanu.

With a monkey-like shriek, Hanu leapt high into the air and grabbed a vine hanging from the ceiling while throwing off her lacy yellow dress to reveal what was underneath. Beneath it was a green sports bra and spats, making her look almost like an Olympic athlete and she effortlessly swung around on the vines that she'd begun growing from the ceiling, using her feet and tail as dextrously as she used her hands.

"Traitor! You're with that invader, aren't you!? This was all a trick!" Hanu growled.

"Sorry, but yeah. I've got nothing against you personally, Hanu, but Terra is crazy and needs to go down! You've got to see that turning people into mind controlled drones or dressing them up and enslaving them is pretty evil!" Willow yelled, careful to keep the other girl in her line of sight.

"Shut up!" Hanu screeched; "Lady Snapdragon is always right! She knows best, she told me so herself! I won't let you bad mouth her! I'll make you pay for lying to us! And I'll start by making you tell me how you did it!"

Hanu twirled her finger and caused a flower to appear in her palm. Willow eyed it warily, wondering what it could be, but instead of using it on her, Hanu pulled it close to her face and inhaled deeply. Hanu's yellow hair and fur darkened from golden to a deep bronze as her eyes went from brown to green and her nails elongated into claws. As soon as the effects appeared, Willow knew what it was Hanu had inhaled, just as the girl suddenly lunged at her claws first.

"Time to see what we can really do together, Clover!" Willow said, spinning her staff and creating a giant green spell circle, which resulted in a thick oak tree spawning in front of her, protecting her from Hanu's attack. Since the manor itself was made of plant life, Willow didn't need to use magic to create the plant from scratch, and combining that fact with Clover's power made it almost effortless.

Hanu collided with the tree, almost managing to smash all the way through the trunk but falling just shy, instead ending up stuck in it and struggling to pull herself free. Willow ran around the tree and pointed her staff at the trapped girl.

"I imagine it's hard to move when your body is as heavy and hard as iron!" Willow declared; "That flower you inhaled the pollen from… that was an Iron Iris! Anyone who inhales it gains the properties of iron for a short time; great for attacking and defending, but not for moving!"

"This isn't my first fight, Traitor!" Hanu spat as her hands began to glow green inside the holes they'd punched into the oak tree. Little red flowers began to grow on the bark around her head, which Willow immediately recognised as Blood-Boiling Buttercups; a flower that produced a psychedelic pollen to drive the inhaler into a furious frenzy. One sniff had Hanu's skin turning blood red as her eyes glowed green, her chemically-induced rage triggering a Bile Overload.

"I'll grind you to mulch!" Hanu screamed in a fury, effortlessly ripping herself out of the tree and leaping at Willow.

Willow leapt back, sitting on Clover as she did so, and began to fly around the room to avoid Hanu's iron-hard strikes and slashes. Thanks to the weight of her iron body, Hanu couldn't use the vines on the ceiling to climb any more, so she instead climbed up the walls and onto the ceiling by stabbing her fingers into them like climbing spikes. Seeing this, Willow flew back over to her oak tree and cast a spell, causing it to wrap one of its branches around each of her wrists, then snap off, allowing Willow to manipulate them into wooden bangles. She then used these bangles to grow plants with, starting with a pair of vines that she used like whips, lashing at Hanu to keep her at bay. The cracking of the vine whips did little to hurt Hanu's currently iron body, but the sound did make her flinch, giving Willow the chance she needed to grow a very long, razor sharp leaf from a Perforating Palm Tree, which she used like a sword to slice apart the door to Hanu's room and fly back out to the more open area around the foyer of the manor.

Hanu followed hot on her heels, and upon seeing Willow flying in the middle of the foyer, too high to reach from the ground but too far from the ceiling to reach from there too, she breathed some spores onto the ground, creating a massive mushroom that she used to launch herself at Willow. The younger girl prepared to fly out of the way, but noticed Hanu's hair beginning to lighten again as the Iron Iris pollen wore up, giving her an idea. Channelling magic from Pollen, Willow instead drew a large spell circle and caused the bark on her wooden bangles to spread over her entire body, creating wooden armour. Hanu's claws slashed the chest of this wooden armour, penetrating just far enough to leave shallow cuts in Willow's shirt, but otherwise not doing any damage. Without her iron body, she simply didn't have the strength to smash through. Realising she was now lighter, the Monkey Girl clung to Willow and her staff to stop herself from falling, but Willow swung one of her arms out, thickened the bark coating it, then caused a coating of thin, short cactus needles to grow all over it.

"You might wanna back off!" Willow growled, swinging the needle-coated arm at Hanu with all her strength. Hanu panicked, but the Frenzy she was in impaired her judgement and so she didn't flee in time, instead taking Willow's attack right to the chest. It struck her with enough force to crack a rib and sent her smashing down into the first floor of the foyer, leaving a small crater in the wood.

Willow winced in sympathy for her, then cast a spell so roots would grow from the floor and gently bind the prone girl, keeping her from attacking again.

"Sorry Hanu, but Terra has to be stopped!" Willow said.

"STAY AWAY FROM LADY SNAPDRAGON!" Hanu screeched, still in the middle of her pollen-induced Bile Overload. Her fingers were still free enough to cast magic, so she drew a spell circle that covered the ground around her with a myriad of sweet smelling flowers. She then inhaled deeply, ignoring the pain of her ribs, and the pollen of all the different flowers began to blend together as she breathed them in, causing her body to glow as she began to heal.

Willow prepared to stop this, but ended up mesmerised by it; this was the famed Aromatherapy Healing Magic of the Plant Coven. Since the sigils prevented them from learning normal healing magic, or casting the spells needed to brew the more advanced healing potions, the Plant Coven had developed their own form of healing that involved combining the minor positive effects of a myriad of different flowers, which their Plant Magic carefully blended together, suppressing negative effects and enhancing the positive ones, all while ensuring no bad reactions from two particular pollens mixing together. It was a hideously complex method of healing, and only very skilled witches could do it, but it allowed a Plant Witch to heal all kinds of injuries.

"Incredible…" Willow whispered.

Hanu's injuries healed, and as the flesh mended itself, the needles that were left in her skin were forced out, leaving the girl in top condition again. The redness of her skin was also fading as the Blood-Boiling Pollen would wear off soon, so Hanu made use of the Bile Overload while she still had it to grow large red flowers that resembled some kind of blend of orchids and lilies, known as Acidic Amaryllis. As the flowers bloomed, a pair of nostrils could be seen inside each one, which promptly sneezed out red pollen that began to burn away Willow's roots.

Seeing this, Willow had her bark armour retreat back into her bangles, then had them grow a Shooting Seed Pod, which she used to fire seeds at Hanu at high speed. Each seed was the size and hardness of a walnut, so anyone pelted by them would really feel it, but Hanu cast another spell that caused Cushioning Cotton plants to grow around her, allowing her to manipulate their soft, cotton-like pollen into a barrier that absorbed the impact, giving her acidic pollen enough time to eat through the roots binding her. Now free, Hanu used her tail to push herself back onto her feet and begin growing more plants under the blanket of cotton spores.

Willow felt like she was suddenly transported to the Knee, as the entire area was covered in white, snow-like cotton. As she cast a spell to regenerate the seeds in her Shooting Seed Pods, Willow began to notice little red, spiky looking flowers appeared on the walls and ceiling all over the room, producing a silvery powder that she didn't recognise. Hanu then suddenly climbed up the wall and clung to the ceiling not far from Willow, her skin now back to normal and her eyes no longer glowing from an overload, but her hair once again darkened from an Iron Iris.

"This'll be your funeral pyre!" she declared, suddenly revealing a small Fire Melon Cactus, which she threw like a grenade. Willow didn't want that exploding anywhere near her, so she shot it with her Shooting Seed Pod, causing it to explode well out of range to hurt her.

Or at least it would have, had it not ignited the silvery powder, which Willow realised almost too late was the pollen of a Flashing Fairy Duster; the plants Hanu had grown everywhere from beneath the cotton. The powder went up in a huge gout of flame, blasting Willow with the full force of the explosion. She had just barely enough time to bring her arms up to cover her face and coat Clover in a layer of bark before she was blown out of the sky. The cotton spores were all burnt up too, so Willow had nothing to cushion her fall and she hit the ground hard, making Hanu grin. She'd been protected by her iron skin, and now hopped down and walked over to the dent in the floor that Willow had left when she landed.

The girl appeared unconscious; her glasses were cracked and her clothes were singed, but she was otherwise surprisingly unscathed, and her Palisman was buzzing around inside the wooden casing Willow had protected her with, trying to get out to help her partner.

"Lady Snapdragon is going to make you into a seedbed for her latest experiments. I actually feel sorry for you, little traitor." Hanu said, stooping to pick Willow up. As soon as she grabbed the front of Willow's shirt to pull her up, the Monkey Girl was shocked by how much she weighed! There was no way a girl this size should weigh this much!

Suddenly, before Hanu could react, Willow suddenly swung her fist at the girl's face. It was covered in bark and had a pair of flowers growing on it; one of which Hanu recognised as an Iron Iris. Hanu was struck hard, but thanks to her iron skin she was knocked back but not hurt, while Willow pulled herself to her feet and snapped her fingers, freeing Clover.

"Ugh, you're quick with your plant magic!" Hanu complained, "You grew an Iron Iris to tank the explosion at the last second!"

Willow nodded with a smile. Since her hair was already dark and the pollen didn't effect hair dye, it hadn't darkened noticeably enough for Hanu to see as she approached. The result had let Willow take her by surprise.

"That's not all I did." she said, lighting petting Clover on her shoulder; "You're an amazing Pollen Plant Witch; I've never met one who can use it as well as you, so I thought I'd whip out my own speciality."

Hanu looked confused, until she suddenly found herself sweating a lot. It was like her body was heating up from the inside! Even stranger, the sweat was coming out pink and unusually thick, like some kind of sticky syrup.

"W-What is this!?" she cried, trying to move as her own sticky, syrup-like sweat began to bind her like gum, rapidly sealing up her entire body below the neck. "What did you do!?"

"That other flower I hit you with just now was one I cultivated myself." Willow explained, showing the other flower that had been on her wooden gauntlet; it resembled a miniature sunflower, but with the centre of the flower full of thick, powdery yellow pollen of some kind. It was very fragrant though, and Hanu's sharp nose could detect some of it on her cheek.

"You see, I have a bully at school… or rather, a rival now I guess. She made my life hell for years, so I fantasized about putting her in her place with her own power! But I'm no good at Potions Magic, so I decided to find a way to use Plant Magic to do the same things. This is what I came up with; Grafting Plant Magic!" Willow declared.

Hanu's eyes widened; grafting was the act of attaching parts of two or more different plants together so they would grow together, and potentially even become a hybrid plant! It was extremely hard to do with magical plants, yet Willow had not only done so, but she'd manage to grow a grafted plant from scratch! Similar to how Aromatherapy Healing Magic used different pollens to produce healing effects, Willow's Grafting Plant Magic used fused plants to produce different potion-like effects!

"I grafted a Sweating Sunflower with a Gummy Goldenrod, and the result was a topical pollen that can be absorbed through the skin and induce sweating, while also turning that sweat into sticky goo that binds the body. It's a plant version of the sticky sweat stimulant!" Willow declared with a victorious grin. Boscha had once used the same potion to prank her, so Willow had been preparing for this day for years! She never expected to use it on someone else though.

With her iron-enhanced strength doing nothing to help her escape the stretchy, sticky syrup that she was still sweating, and her fingers too gummed together to draw spell circles, Hanu was completely helpless.

"With Plant Magic like this, you could have become Lady Snapdragon's successor! Why betray the Empire like this!?" Hanu cried as Willow approached her.

"Because the Emperor hurt my friend. Any one who hurts my friends will feel the wrath of nature! Now sleep tight; I've got a job to do!" Willow declared. With that, she grew some sleeping nettles from her wooden bangle and held them under Hanu's nose. The Monkey Girl tried to hold her breath but soon found herself needing to breathe, inhaling the pollen and swiftly falling asleep. Even in unconsciousness, she remained gummed up and left in a standing position. Once Willow was certain she was fast asleep, she used her very limited water magic to wash the residue of her flower (which she'd decided to call her Syrup Sunrod) off of Hanu's face, so she'd soon stop sweating and thus be free of the goo… eventually.

With that done, Willow thought about what to do next. She'd originally planned to go to the greenhouse with the Palistrom Wood instead of helping Raine so as to keep her cover, but now that Hanu had fought her, Willow's cover was blown anyway, so she might as well go and see if she could help the Bard. She might just be able to take a few of them by surprise, before they realised she wasn't on their side!

She dashed outside, and was immediately surprised to find dozens of servants and scouts lying unconscious all over the manor's front yard. Most seemed to just be sleeping, lulled to sleep by one of Raine's songs, but others (all of them scouts) looked like they'd fallen unconscious after Raine broke their masks and the mind-controlling roots within them. The sounds of battle could be heard on the rooftops above her head, so Willow rode her staff until she could climb onto the vines that hung from the roof, then sent Clover away.

"Terra doesn't know I have a Palisman, so you'll be my ace in the hole if I need an escape! Hide somewhere nearby and I'll summon you when I need you, okay?" Willow whispered.

Clover nodded, and the voice of a young woman entered Willow's mind; "I'll do as you ask. Be careful though, my Queen. That woman is very powerful."

Willow blinked, still not used to hearing Clover's voice in her head, nor her insistence on referring to Willow as her Queen. However she smiled all the same and gave the Palisman one last pat before sending her to hide, then slowly peeking up over the edge of the rooftop.

She saw Raine, still masked and hooded, playing their violin with great skill and speed, sending sonic blades to destroy plants while dodging lunges from Plant Scouts and facing down two of Terra Snapdragon's Elites, all while Terra herself watched from nearby, sitting on a throne made from a giant flower.

Seeing Raine fight really did put into perspective the difference in skill between a Coven Head (or at least a would-be one) and a regular witch for Willow. Raine moved to the beat of their own internal rhythm, never stopping their playing no matter what was sent there way. They didn't rely solely on magic either; despite being a fairly slender witch, Raine used their legs to great effect, dancing around the battlefield and dealing devastating kicks that were often enhanced by bardic magic. It took Willow a moment to realise that they were basically casting spells with the rhythm of their kicks too, tapping the ground and the enemy to make a song that accompanied their violin.

A trio of Plant Scouts shot vines at Raine and a single note had the vines charmed like snakes, turning back to bind their creators, then coat them in bardic magic as they rolled down one of the rooftops' slants and to the ground below, where the bardic magic slowed their fall. Five more tried to surround Raine, but they kicked one in the face hard enough to break their mask, whistled sharply to cast a spell of dizziness on two others so they bumped into each other, then used Bardic magic to make the remaining two do a ballroom dance together, sweeping and twirling into their three companions until all of them were tumbling off the roof, landing safely in a water feature down below. A duo of scouts tried to grow tree roots to bind Raine's legs, but they were moving so much that they couldn't manage it, and with a magic enhanced jump, Raine sailed through the air above them and cast a trio of sonic blades around them, cutting a triangular hole in the roof that had them falling down into Terra's bedroom below, landing safely on her bed (much to the woman's chagrin).

Willow watched as a similar pattern repeated itself a couple more times, until it looked like every scout currently stationed at Spriggan Manor had been defeated, leaving Raine alone on the rooftops with Terra and two of her elites. Raine's face was still covered, but their posture seemed a little winded (unsurprising considering they'd taken on pretty much the whole manor) and Willow couldn't help but worry. She was tempted to jump out and start helping immediately, but that didn't appear to be necessary…

The Elites were on odd pair; one was a red-furred Dog Lycan wearing only loose fitting white pants and a head wrap, with no shirt or shoes of any kind, making him look like he'd just stepped out of the desert. The other was a flamboyant Avian Demon of some kind, with brightly coloured pink, purple, and cyan feathers, though Willow couldn't tell the exact species due to the thick (and highly fashionable) winter furs they wore, giving him a look like he belonged on the Knee. Willow assumed they were the keepers of the Desert and Snowy Biome Gardens down below, especially when they began using their magic. The Dog Lycan attacked by conjuring Fire Melon Cactus grenades (similar to what Hanu had done to ignite her final attack) and Artillery Azaleas, having them blast Raine with cannonball-like seeds and explosions of needles, while the Avian Demon attacked by using bladed plants like Pike Pines, Daggerdils, and Slashing Snowdrops, all of which were native to the colder regions of the Isles.

Despite this onslaught, which Willow was sure she'd have been shredded by, Raine still didn't buckle. They ran right at the Avian Demon, staying close and using their sense of rhythm to avoid the bladed plants he was sicking on them, and thanks to how close Raine was sticking to the Avian Demon, the Dog Lycan couldn't as easily use his explosive plants without harming his partner. However, Willow could see Raine was starting to get tired and the irritated look on Terra's face made it likely that she'd soon join the fight too, so she decided to offer a little subtle help. While Raine had the Avian Demon between them and the Lycan's Artillery Azaleas, Willow cast a spell that sent a pulse of green magic through the plant-life of the rooftops, taking control of one of the Azaleas that was currently useless due to the Avian Demon being in the way. The Lycan didn't even notice what was going on, until the Azalea suddenly shot at his partner's back, making the Avian Demon squawk in pain and allowing Raine to swiftly knock them out with a sonic blast, sending them barrelling into the Lycan and off the roof entirely.

"It looks like your "Dog eat Dog" manner of running your coven has come back to bite you, Snapdragon." Raine declared, voice still distorted so she wouldn't recognise them. The Bard had no idea Willow was there, so they just assumed Terra's so-called Elite had just taken out his own teammate in an attempt to take them out too.

Terra narrowed her eyes sharply, sensing something was off as she stood up and turned her throne flower into a large platform. She glared down at the masked Bard causing her so much trouble, even as she sent a pulse of plant magic through her flower platform and into the plants of the manor itself, allowing her to momentarily sense all life forms in contact with them. Her eyes and ears might be fooled by the Bard's disguise, but the magic-sensing plants she created could not be fooled so easily, revealing their true identity. Terra wasn't too surprised; she had suspected after all, but it wasn't their presence alone that she sensed. She growled when she sensed a familiar, cursed presence down in her Rare Plant Greenhouse, as well as when she sensed Hanu bound and unconscious in the foyer… She'd have to deal with the girl's failure later, as well as the betrayal of yet another of her would-be Sprouts.

The thought of Willow made Terra's eyes flicker over to where the girl was hiding just below the lip of the rooftop. The Head Plant Witch hid a smirk; the foolish girl had just won this battle for her.

"Failures tend to fail. It is the way of things, unfortunately. I'll be sure to whip them all into shape later… Allow me to give you a demonstration!" Terra declared, suddenly causing hundreds of vines to sprout from the rooftop surrounding Raine.

They all whipped towards them, some trying to lash at them and others trying to bind them, while Raine spun on their heel as they used their over heel to draw a large spell circle, which they promptly activated to create a massive sonic ring-blade that expanded outwards to cut all the vines short. Unfortunately, the vines that were cut down soon regrew, and even the parts that were removed took root in the rooftop and began attacking again, effectively doubling the number of vines. Raine couldn't keep up with all of them, and while they were able to begin playing the Burning Ballad to ignite the vines and burn them to ash, one was able to sneak through their guard and lash them across the face.

Raine winced in pain as the lash left a bleeding cut on their cheek, but was more bothered by their mask, which was ripped in half by the strike and knocked from their face. In a panic, Raine tried to pull their hood down further to hide their face, but Terra just chortled at them.

"Oh my dear Sprout… did you really think that mask would hide you from me forever? I'll admit, you had me fooled for a bit there. But I have ways of rooting out all the little weeds in my garden and identifying them. It was quite an amazing show however; you put your whole body into it and not just your magic! It's why you always fascinated me so much more than the wretched little girl who grew into the Owl Lady." Terra smiled as Raine glared up at her, the tattered remains of their mask at their feet.

"I should have known you'd get it eventually. You always did spend a creepy amount of time watching me! Guess it's a good thing I'm already a wanted criminal, or else exposing me might have been a problem!" they spat.

Terra laughed coldly; "Oh trust me, finding out who you are is the least of your worries. But I'm afraid this little show is over now, so let me make you an offer; come back to my garden, Little Sprout. I'll keep you as my own personal songbird; a secret from the Emperor. I'll forgive your crimes against my coven and take excellent care of you! And in return, you'll obey me and bring me the Angel. If I hand her over to the Emperor, I can enjoy even higher status than the other Coven Heads!"

Raine looked at her like she was nuts; "And why would I even think of betraying Luz like that!? I'd sooner die than give her to you!"

Terra's smile grew wider as her eyes glimmered cruelly; "Oh no, you won't die… but she might."

Before Raine could react, there was a shrill female scream from behind them and they spun around to see Willow being hoisted into the air by a tree root that had wrapped around her tightly. Raine couldn't help but cry out; "Willow!?" before turning back to glare at Terra; "Let her go!"

Terra smirked; "Let me think… no." she then cackled; "I'm quite surprised you and the Owl Lady involved this little Sprout in your mischief. Not that I blame you; she's rather talented! I'll need to figure out how she got passed my Liar's Lament, and how she escaped Hanu. I'll be sure to enjoy getting the truth from her." she said ominously, making Willow whimper with fear.

"Now I think we both know you don't have much of a choice. In truth, even without the girl as a hostage I could end this fight in an instant, but I'd like to give you a sporting chance. So get on your knees and swear to obey me, or else…"

The root around Willow began to squeeze a little tighter, making the girl wince in pain. Raine hissed; this was no bluff! Terra was cruel enough to kill Willow if Raine refused to surrender! It was humiliating, but even if Terra captured them, so long as Eda was free, she could save them, and if Terra wanted to control Raine, then she'd keep Willow alive as hostage. Surrender was the only sure-fire way to ensure Willow got out of this alive.

With a bitter sigh, Raine turned his violin back into his Palismen Rena and sent her away as they kneeled.

"Fine. You win, Snapdragon." they growled.

Terra laughed, "Oh, I know."

She snapped her fingers and the root holding Willow tossed the girl into Raine's arms. For a moment, both looked confused as to why Terra would give up her hostage without restraining Raine first, but the answer soon revealed itself as bulbous yellow fungus began to grow over Raine's and Willow's bodies.

"Amber Pustules! From Latissa!" Willow cried as her hands were rapidly covered, leaving her unable to make spell circles.

Raine tried to whistle and get them off, but the moment they inhaled, their airway became clogged with more of the fungus, effectively choking them into unconsciousness. The terrified Willow soon followed them, and Terra only destroyed the fungus once she was certain both were down for the count. Looking down at the unconscious duo, Terra shook her head in exasperation; if she'd used her plant detection spell earlier, she'd have noticed the Amber Pustule spores on them from their trip to Latissa, and could have ended the fight in an instant! Now she had to deal with all her unconscious minions…

"Well, they can wait for a moment. I've got a bigger bird to fry…" Terra grinned sadistically, snapping her fingers to cause large flowers to swallow Raine and Willow and take them elsewhere, while her own flower took her to meet their third intruder.

[Meanwhile]

Breaking into Spriggan Manor and the Rare Plants Greenhouse was barely even a challenge for Eda. She'd done it once before, years ago when she tried to steal Goldwort to brew her own Elixirs. She'd been discovered by one of Terra's creepy "Sprouts" and chased off without her prize, but with Raine now off keeping them all busy, breaking in was child's play.

The Owl Lady used a spell that conjured a blade of intense heat to slice open the glass roof of the Rare Plants Greenhouse and float straight in with Owlbert. Naturally there were magical plant alarms, but Eda had already wafted magic-nullifying gas (something she'd picked up from the lab she'd invaded with Lilith back before their Mom's visit) into the greenhouse's ventilation system, effectively rendering all the plants useless until it wore off.

As soon as she was inside, she flew over to where the Palistrom Saplings were and found the largest of them, which was basically a tree already. "One Palistrom Log coming right up!" Eda grinned, grabbing a pair of pruning sheers. She snipped off the thickest branch and pruned it into a short log, easily big enough to carve into any shape Luz's heart desired! Eda could hardly wait to see her little girl's face when she handed it over!

"Should I grab a log for King too? Nah, he's still years away from needing a Palisman and with how big he'll grow, I think I'll need more than one measly log. I'll start growing a giant tree once Belos bites the dust!" Eda said to herself, stowing the log away in her hair.

With her part of the mission complete, Eda prepared to leave, but the eerie silence gave her pause. She'd been hearing the sounds of battle from outside until just a moment ago, but now it was as silent as the grave. Raine couldn't have taken them all out already, could they? Eda had no doubt most of the coven would be no threat, but surely Terra had put up a fight! Raine had been pretty worried when they'd seen her in that picture Willow had taken…

Before Eda could think on it further however, the hole she'd cut in the greenhouse roof was suddenly sealed shut by Iron Vines, and the actual door to the greenhouse opened on its own. The smug face of Terra Snapdragon appeared as she waltzed casually into the room.

"Ah, and there's the thieving little magpie now. Come to steal some twigs for your nest, Owl Lady?" Terra asked with a mocking smile.

"Snapdragon!" Eda narrowed her eyes; "Don't you have bigger problems to be worrying about!?"

"Oh, do you mean my little sprouts? I'm afraid Raine and Willow are currently occupied. But don't worry; I'll be sure to reunite you with them." Terra's eyes gleamed.

Eda brandished her staff; "If you hurt one hair on either of their heads, I'll burn you and your tacky manor to the-ack!"

The Owl Lady's threat was cut off by the sudden growth of Amber Pustules in her throat as Terra triggered the spores clinging to her. She tried to cast a spell with Owlbert, but a vine had already reached up and bound him while Eda was distracted, and she soon found herself too coated in fungus to move, and blackness crept into the corners of her vision as she struggled to breath. The last thing Eda saw before the darkness took her was Terra's cruelly smiling face looking down at her.

[Later]

When Eda awoke, it felt like someone had gone at her throat with sandpaper; it was sore and every breath burned as it worked its way to her lungs, yet the Owl Lady relished every inhale regardless, just thankful she could breathe at all! When Terra had made the Amber Pustules begin to grow in her throat, Eda had been half-afraid she was about to die! That was the last time she went from Latissa to anywhere else without a shower and a regiment of herbicide potions! Taking a moment to collect herself, Eda found herself chained to a wall with heavy manacles around her wrists. She was in some kind of alcove that was built onto the side of a large, empty circular room, with an Iron Vine gate in front of her. Since the alcove was quite shallow, Eda could lean forward and see more of the larger room; it appeared to be a massive circular arena built atop an ancient, massive tree stump, which now made up the floor of the arena. A dozen other alcoves, some with closed gates and some without, lined the edge of the arena, and at the very top of the arena was a viewing box, in which Terra was sitting on a plant throne, looking like the cat that got the cream.

Eda narrowed her eyes on her, and the old woman seemed to notice she was awake.

"Ah, Edalyn Clawthorne AKA the Owl Lady. You're finally up! Now the show can truly begin!" Terra smirked.

"You crazy witch! Let me go!? And where are Raine and Willow!?" Eda demanded.

"You'll see little Willow soon, and as for Whispers… just look straight ahead, dear." Terra smiled condescendingly.

Eda looked to the alcove directly opposite hers and sure enough, Raine was inside it with their hands chained just like Eda's, but with a vine gag in their mouth to ensure they didn't talk. Eda called out to them, only to find a vine suddenly gagging her too, and with the Anti-Magic manacles binding them, neither Eda nor Raine could cast any spells to escape.

Smiling with satisfaction, Terra addressed Raine; "You know Whispers, I always knew you had a soft spot for this wretched girl… but I confess to being disappointed that you actually took a piece of her curse!"

Raine's eyes widened; so Terra had found out about that!? They knew rumours had spread, but there had never been any confirmation outside of Raine and Eda's closest friends, who would never spread those rumours themselves.

Terra saw their surprise and commented; "I attempted to place one of my Scout Masks on your precious Owl Lady while she slept; she'd have made a powerful puppet after all, but the curse decayed it before it could work its magic. Imagine my surprise when the modified version I'd planned for you met the same fate… Alas, I can't have a cursed Songbird so I'm afraid you've rather wasted my time today! Not to worry though… I'll squeeze some entertainment out of you!"

Raine and Eda both gulped as Terra snapped her fingers and two bound figures were lowered from the ceiling into view. It was Willow and Hanu, both wrapped up tightly with their hands bound behind their backs with some kind of sap gumming up their fingers to stop them casting spells. They were hanging from vines wrapped around their waists, and both were gagged. Willow was looking around fearfully, while Hanu was sobbing and looking pleadingly at Terra.

Seeing this, Eda felt feathers begin to poke out from the back of her neck as her curse raged. She bit down hard on the vine, biting through it so she could talk again.

"TERRA! LET THEM GO!" she roared, struggling hard.

"Hmm, how about I let just one go? Eenie meenie miney… mo!" Terra snapped her fingers and Hanu was dropped to the ground, the vines releasing her. It was only a short fall so she wasn't hurt, though her hands remained bound by sap.

"Lady Snapdragon!" she sobbed; "Please, I'm sorry! Don't do this to me!"

Terra rolled her eyes; "You failed me, dear. You, one of my elites, lost to a school girl! Not to mention the mess you made in my foyer! I could have forgiven that if you'd won, but losing on top of that mess? Unforgivable! But by all means, if you survive I'll forgive you." she cackled cruelly, before snapping her fingers and raising the Iron Vine gate in front of Raine's alcove, while also removing their vine gag.

"What are you doing, Terra!? I thought you wanted to keep me around! You can't do that if you hurt Willow or Eda… or this girl!" Raine yelled, adding that last part as an afterthought, seeing how devastated the poor child looked.

"Did I put vines in your ears too, Whispers? You're cursed! That little infection makes you no more than a high maintenance weed! When it comes to disease, an infected flower must be plucked out at the root before it infects the rest of the garden." Terra retorted. "I'll have my fun with you and your precious Owl Lady, then hand you over to the Emperor! And if I have to host you for a bit, I might as well make sure you're both well-fed! Your first meal can be a nice juicy Macaque Demon!"

Hanu stared up at Terra with heartbroken eyes, while Raine paled.

"Y-You're joking!?" Raine cried.

"And why would I do that? That curse makes you a monster now… might as well feed you like one." the Evil Crone grinned.

Raine shook their head vehemently; "I won't do it! I won't hurt some innocent girl so you can get your sick kicks!"

"Oh Whispers, what makes you think I'll give you a choice?" Terra said, eyes darkening as her smile grew bloodthirsty.

She cast a spell that caused two flowers to appear directly in front of Raine's face, growing down from the ceiling of the alcove. The flowers were black rose-like flowers with red rings on each petal, and jagged thorns along the stems. With another spell from Terra, they began to almost inhale, then puff out fiery red powder from their petals, which made Raine begin to cough and splutter as they were forced to breathe it in. As soon as the pollen was in their system, Raine began to thrash as their entire body tensed up and a deep, fiery anger filled them from the pits of their stomach to the very marrow of their bones. It was a fury like none Raine had ever experienced, and Eda, seeing them grit their teeth and begin growling like a beast, gasped.

"Those are… Wrathful Roses!? Snapdragon, you moron! If you stress out someone with our curse, they'll transform! You'll get ALL of us killed!" Eda yelled.

Terra rolled her eyes; "I know what they do, brat. I am quite safe. You lot… less so."

An anguished roar drew everyone's attention back to Raine, and they gasped with horror as Raine's body began to sprout patches of mint fur, almost like some kind of werewolf transformation. Raine's eyes turned black and the glasses fell from their face as their body swelled and transformed, until finally, Raine's transformed state ripped free from the manacles holding it back and roared into the arena itself, snarling in it's rage-filled state.

Unlike Eda's Owl Beast or Lilith's Raven Beast, Raine's curse didn't manifest as a bird at all, but instead a Bat. The Bat Beast resembled a massive Flying Fox Bat, with its arms sporting huge wing membranes and razor sharp claws, and its face being a monstrous, enraged version of Raine's. The Bat Beast was covered in mint-coloured fur, just like Raine's hair, and its exposed claws and legs were pitch black, while its wings were the same colour as Raine's skin. The Bat Beast screeched loudly, making everyone in the arena wince at the sound, then turned to glare up at Terra, who actually looked a bit frightened by it. With another loud screech, the Bat Beast flew up at Terra and tried to slash at her with it's claws, only for them to bounce off a magic green barrier that suddenly appeared around the evil woman.

Terra smirked with relief; her viewing box was made from Barrier Birches, ensuring only the strongest magic or force could break it. The Bat Beast was strong, but it wasn't that strong, so it could only screech and roar impotently as it slashed and clawed at the barrier, unable to pierce it. After a few minutes, the Beast seemed to get the message that it wouldn't be feeding on the object of its wrath, so it turned to the next best thing; the little meal that was whimpering and crying down below.

The Bat Beast landed back on the ground and began stalking slowly towards Hanu, who was backing away in terror, her hands still bound in sap and leaving her helpless.

"L-Lady Snapdragon, please! I'm sorry I failed you! I'll make it up to you!" she begged. "I'll rebuild the foyer! I-I'll work overtime!"

The Bat Beast stalked closer, and Hanu grew more desperate; "Please! Demote me to a servant or a scout! Do anything you want to me! Just don't let this thing kill me! Please, I loved you like a mother!"

"And yet you still failed me. If you want to worm your way back into my favour, you only need to do one thing." Terra grinned mockingly; "Just kill that monster! Surely one of my elites can manage that?"

Hanu stared up at Terra with a look of pure shock and heartbreak; Terra knew her hands were bound and helpless… this was all just some sick show to her. She began to sob even harder as she turned and stared into the empty black voids that had become Raine's eyes, as the Bat Beast grew even closer, toying with its meal. Her life flashed before her eyes… a life in which she had been discarded by her father, then her mother, and now even her surrogate mother.

Eda yelled out in horror as the Bat Beast reared up to rip Hanu open with its claws, but Willow, still bound and gagged high above the arena, hadn't given up yet. Her hands were bound and her mouth was covered, but she could still move her tongue! From the instant Willow had seen what Terra intended to do, she repeated her trick from earlier by using her tongue to draw a spell circle inside her mouth and create a Herbicide Spell that killed the vine blocking her mouth. To keep this fact hidden from Terra, she held the dead vine in place with her teeth as she prepared another spell inside her mouth, and as the Bat Beast reared up to attack Hanu, Willow let the vine drop and cast the spell, which fired a trio of seeds at high velocity directly at the Bat Beast and its surroundings.

One seed slammed into the back of the Bat Beast's head, making it cry out in pain and turn its attention on Willow instead, just in time for the second seed to strike its eye. It screeched in pain as its eye was damaged (though thankfully not destroyed), and began to writhe on the ground as it covered its head with its wings to protect itself from the third seed. However the third seed instead impacted the ground directly in front of Hanu, and began to bloom.

Hanu gasped as she saw the seed bloom into another of Willow's Grafted Creations; this time mixing an Iron Iris and a Blood-Boiling Buttercup.

"BREATHE IN THE POLLEN! IT WON'T LAST AS LONG OR BE AS STRONG, BUT IT SHOULD GIVE YOU BOTH BOOSTS!" Willow cried, just as the Bat Beast was unfurling its wings and turning its wrath on her.

Hanu didn't need to be told twice, she practically dived on the flower before Terra could interfere, and inhaled the pollen. Instantly, her hair began to darken and her skin began to redden as the effects of both plants filled her. The increased strength of her iron body, and the power of the Bile Overload granted by the Blood-Boiling Pollen allowed the girl to shriek like a rage-filled monkey and rip her hands free from the sap that was binding them. Now free and able to use her magic, Hanu wasted no time in repaying Willow, and just as the Bat Beast was about to leap up and attack the girl, Hanu leapt onto its back and began punching the back of its head with her hardened fists.

The Bat Beast roared in pain and the weight of the girl on its back caused it to topple over. It then forced itself back onto all fours and began bucking wildly to shake Hanu off. The girl held on for dear life, but the effects of Willow's Grafted Plant (which Willow decided to call Iron Blood Iris Cups) really didn't last as long as the individual plants, and Hanu soon lost her boosts. Without the added weight of her iron body, the Bat Beast was able to take flight and try to smash her against the ceiling of the chamber, but Hanu was able to leap off at the last minute and grab onto the vine holding up Willow.

Terra, surprised by the display, actually applauded; "Well well, you might actually earn back my favour after all! Kill the Bat Beast, Hanu. I shall forgive your failure if you do."

Hanu's only response was a hateful sneer, before conjuring some Acidic Amaryllis to burn away the vines binding Willow, and the sap keeping her from moving her hands. Once both were gone and Willow was free, Hanu grew some Cushioning Cotton on the ground so they could both jump down safely as the Bat Beast lunged at where they'd just been hanging.

"We need to get out of here!" Hanu said, helping Willow to her feet after their landing. "We could beat that thing, but Snapdragon will probably interfere!"

Clearly any affection Hanu had for Terra had died a fiery death, but that was something to be discussed later. Willow frowned up at the Bat Beast; "We need to give Raine some Elixir!"

"Can you make some!?" Hanu asked.

Willow shook her head; "The ingredients are just plants and it doesn't need any complex spells, but we don't have time! And I can't make Grafted Plants with more than two components yet!"

"Willow, get that girl and get out of here! Raine will never forgive themselves if they hurt you!" Eda yelled.

"We can't just leave you!" Willow cried, before suddenly growing a massive oak tree to block the Bat Beast as it lunged at them. "Besides, how do we even get out!?"

"Only Snapdragon can let us out… this arena is where she pits us against each other to decide our hierarchy in the coven, so she controls every root and branch that makes up the walls, floor, and ceiling!" Hanu yelled, growing some of her Flashing Fairy Dusters to cover the Bat Beast with explosive powder, which she promptly set off with a tiny Fire Melon Cactus grenade, blowing the Bat Beast into the nearby wall.

"We're about 10 metres underground, beneath the manor's front lawn. So unless Snapdragon plans to use her plants to swallow us and spit us up back outside, you'll need to blast a hole in the ceiling!" the girl finished.

Willow scowled, nothing she had could do that much damage fast enough to stop Terra from trapping them again, and from the look on Hanu's face, she was having the same thought. Terra knew this too and was just wearing a bloodthirsty smile as the Bat Beast recovered from the explosion and screeched loudly, hitting the girls with a sonic blast that had them both covering their ears. Hanu just barely had time to grow some more Iron Irises to give herself and Willow some protection before the Bat Beast then swiped at them, cleaving shallow cuts into their iron skin instead of outright dismembering them.

Eda watched with horror and struggled in her chains, desperate to get to Willow and get her out of danger! Willow was only in this mess because Eda had come up with this hair-brained scheme, so it was up to Eda to save her! But how!? None of her magic worked while she was cuffed!

'Think Owl Lady! Maybe I should try and bait Raine into coming over here and attacking me? The curse doesn't seem to be stopped by the chains, so maybe their claws can-!'

Realisation hit Eda like a ton of bricks; the chains stopped her magic, but not the curse! If Raine could transform while bound by them, then the other side effects most surely still work too!

Putting her theory to the test, Eda yanked her wrists down hard, and sure enough, her hands popped off and she fell to the floor, leaving her hands in the manacles while the rest of her was free.

"Yes! That has got to be my favourite side effect!" Eda cheered, getting back up and putting the stump of her right wrist into her right hand so she could pull the hand out from the other side of the manacle. She then reattached it and easily retrieved the other hand and reattached that too, freeing her and more importantly, freeing her magic!

She immediately tried to summon Owlbert, but the spell was met with resistance, meaning Owlbert was probably trapped somewhere. Still, Eda could sense him somewhere nearby, so she'd beat his location out of Terra once she'd freed the others! In the mean time, she'd save Willow and the other kid!

"Sorry about this Raine Storm!" she yelled, running at the Bat Beast while drawing a large spell circle. A giant owl made of golden magical energy emerged from the circle and blasted through the iron vine cell door, then slammed into the Beast just as it was rearing up to attack the girls again, sending it careening once again into the wall, leaving a giant bat-shaped dent right next to the last one. Still, Eda knew the durability of the Curse better than anyone and knew that wouldn't keep them down for long, so she quickly drew the biggest spell circle she could and created a monstrous blast of fire that roared upward, burning all the way through the ceiling of the arena and out into the open sky.

Terra sneered and tried to regenerate the plants that Eda had destroyed, but the fire had seared them to the point that she couldn't grow them fast enough.

"Go! Now!" Eda ordered.

"But I-" Willow tried to argue, only to be cut off by Eda.

"No buts! This was my screw-up! I'll fix it! Now go!"

With a moment of hesitation, Willow sighed and summoned Clover to her, the little Palisman having escaped capture since Willow had sent her away before. She switched Clover to staff mode and hopped on, pulling Hanu on with her, and began flying up through the hole Eda had made.

"You and Raine better follow us soon! Or I'll come back and get you!" Willow yelled over her shoulder.

Eda smirked; "You got it, Flowers."

Terra growled in anger as she watched the two girls fly away. She tried sending vines to restrain them, but with Clover in her hands, Willow's plant magic was enough to repulse them long enough for her to fly out of range, leaving Terra seething.

"That little weed! Where did she get that staff!?" she spat, furiously.

"She got it from Nunya," Eda answered with a cheeky grin as the Bat Beast pulled itself out of the wall.

Terra blinked; "Nunya?"

"Yeah, Nunya business!" the Owl Lady cackled.

Terra snarled in response and began unleashing as many vines and roots as she could, flooding the arena floor with them in an attempt to bind Eda and trap her in place so the Bat Beast could tear her apart. Eda dodged, dived, and blasted fire in all directions, burning up the vines and roots all while evading Raine's beast form. The sheer number of attacks, combined with Eda's limited magic, meant she couldn't afford to do anything big and fancy; she just had to avoid the attacks while trying to think up a plan. She had Elixirs in her hair, but while her own Owl Beast tended to roar a lot, Raine's Bat Beast usually only opened its mouth to blast out a sonic screech, which would make throwing a glass vial into its mouth next to impossible…

Unfortunately, Terra had no intention of letting Eda have the time to come up with a plan.

"You always were a beastly little girl, dragging Whispers down to your level! Well fine, I'll let you both wallow like beasts together! I'll let you rip one another to shreds then give your pelts to the Emperor!" Terra declared, drawing a massive spell circle that caused a wave of plant magic to spread across the room. Suddenly, Wrathful Roses began to sprout on all the vines and roots Terra had been growing, and each one puffed out pollen, soon flooding the room.

Eda gasped, then held her breath as she tried to burn the flowers while using wind magic to keep the pollen away from her. However the sheer amount of them, combined with her need to breath and Raine's relentless attacks (made worse by the fact they were also effected by the pollen), made it impossible for Eda to hold out for long, and she was soon forced to take a breath, inhaling some of the pollen.

Feelings of rage filled Eda, and the feathers that had already been beginning to sprout due to the stress of the situation grew worse. Eda reached into her hair for an Elixir, but found herself clenching the bottle so hard that it shattered, as her pollen-induced rage overcame her. With one last baleful look up at Terra, Eda succumbed to the pollen and fully transformed into the Owl Beast, which promptly roared out its fury.

Feeling like she'd regained some control of the situation, Terra smiled as she withdrew her plants and watched as the Owl and Bat Beasts circled each other for a moment, before lunging forward and attacking. The two beasts roared and snarled, clawing and biting at each other, while flapping their wings and flying around the arena, each one too big to fly out through the hole Eda had made and too focused on fighting to even want to. It was a territorial death match between two feral beasts, with Terra watching it like an Empress at the Gladiatorial Games.

But while Eda's body, warped into the form of the Owl Beast, raged out of her control, the woman's mind was trapped deep inside herself, in a black void that she had become far too familiar with. She stared up at the pitch black sky above, then down at the black ocean that she stood on, before looking to the horizon, where a strange grey light marked the border between sea and sky.

"Dang it! That crazy crone got me! Not having magic of my own really makes this a lot harder! If I could just use my own powers like before, I'd have been able to whack that weed and save Raine!" Eda cursed, kicking the water and making a little splash.

She heard a grumble behind her and turned to see the Owl Beast staring at her from about 30 feet away. Eda braced herself, preparing to flee from it as she often had to during her transformations, but unlike the last time, the Owl Beast made no effort to chase her. Instead, it just stared at her as a shining white light sat on its back. Eda tried to get a good look at the shining object, but it just looked like a blob of white, shining too brightly to be more discernible, especially in this dark void.

"So, just me and you, eh Birdbrain? What, not gonna attack me this time? No big battle for control?" Eda asked, stepping forward as her temper began to rise. She didn't know if it was the situation, her insecurities, or the residual effects of the Wrathful Roses, but the Owl Lady felt her temper flaring. "You know what, maybe this is an opportunity to finally face you down! You're the reason I dropped out of school and ran away! You're the reason my family fell apart! You're the reason I was alone until recently! And you're the reason I'm stuck being a leech on my own child just to be useful!"

Eda stepped forward with every sentence, glaring furiously at the Owl Beast; "You rotten Curse! I'll-"

She reached out to grab a fistful of feathers, but the instant she touched the Owl Beast, the world around her shifted and Eda suddenly found herself in her childhood bedroom, looking down at her empty hands, which had become much more youthful. With an equally youthful gasp, Eda turned and looked in her bedroom mirror and saw her 15 year old self staring back at her, with her mane of orange hair and her face unblemished by age or stress. Luz's Super Elixirs had rejuvenated her into looking like the 35 year old woman she actually was as opposed to the old lady the curse had left her looking like, but that was still a far cry from this! She was even wearing her old potions track uniform from Hexside!

"Well this is a development…" Eda muttered.

The voice of her mother called to her from outside her room; "Edalyn, come downstairs please!"

Confused, Eda decided to see where this was going and headed down to the dining room of her childhood home. She saw Gwendolyn and Lilith, both 20 years younger, setting the table for dinner while Lilith showed off her napkin folding. It was a strangely domestic scene, and one Eda hadn't experienced for a long time.

"Edalyn, come help us set up, won't you?" Gwen asked.

Eda sighed and began walking towards the woman; "Sorry Dream Mom, but I don't have time for this. I've got a lover to save."

Gwen just laughed; "You're going to say that on the night your Dad leaves for the Mandible?"

Eda froze; "Dad?"

This was a memory of the day before her father's big trip to the Mandible, where a group of witches had finally been granted permission to study some ruins in the Titan's lower jaw. Eda remembered that Belos had dragged his feet on granting permission for years (likely so he could clear out anything worth finding first), but had finally allowed it. Eda's father Dell was a friend of one of the explorers, who owed the man a favour for helping him and his child carve their own Palismen, and so to repay that debt, they'd offered Dell a place on the expedition. Dell would be going away for a few weeks… but that trip never ended up happening.

"Oh no… I need to get out of here!" Eda gasped.

But she was too late; the front door opened and the familiar face of her father walked in. He looked just like how Eda remembered him; a handsome man in his early forties, with long fiery orange hair tied back into a ponytail, a full beard of the same colour, and golden eyes. His nose was slightly hooked, and his eyebrows were pitch black, while his clothing was a simple grey tunic and black pants, over which he wore a slightly tattered long blue jacket.

"Hey Pumpkin! Here to see me off?" Dell smiled.

Unable to stop herself after seeing her father whole and healthy, Eda ran at him and hugged him tightly; "Dad! It's so good to see you again!"

"Aw, I was only gone for an hour! Hey, I know I won't be home for a while after tonight, so that's why…" he reached into his pocket and pulled out a party popper.

Eda paled at the sight of it, remembering what happened next. She tried to stop the man from pulling the popper's ribbon, but she suddenly found herself unable to move.

"…I thought I'd leave in style!" Dell finished, yanking the party popper's ribbon and setting it off, causing a mini-fireworks display to burst out of it.

Eda suddenly found herself once again in her adult form, now watching as an outside as her child self transformed into the Owl Beast in response to the fireworks and attacked her father. Eda could do nothing but watch as the Owl Beast slashed her father's left eye and bit into his arms as he tried to defend himself, never once casting a spell at his cursed daughter. The Young Eda eventually wrestled back some control, but the damage was done and the poor child could do nothing but pant on the floor as Gwen rushed to help her husband and Lilith ran to call the Healing Coven. The Adult Eda stared at the scene with a burning feeling in her chest as she struggled not to cry.

"The first person whose life I ruined because of you, you damn curse!" Eda growled, clenching her fist.

She heard a scratching sound and turned just in time to see a trail of white feathers leading to the kitchen door of her childhood home, and the ends of a feathery wing disappearing behind it.

"Owl Beast! Get back here!" Eda growled, chasing after it.

The moment she passed through the kitchen door, she found herself suddenly stood on a mountain cliff. She blinked in confusion and looked around, seeing unfamiliar landscapes around her, including a colossal Titan's skull off in the distance. A Titan's skull that was very different from Orion the Boiling Isles Titan.

"What? Where am I?" Eda wondered aloud, walking along the narrow mountain path she'd found herself on. It was a bit of a treacherous route, but she heard the shrieks of the Owl Beast ahead and hardened her heart, chasing after it as quickly as she could. However as she rounded the bend, she found a strange sight.

There was an entire pack of Owl Beasts; all far bigger than the one Eda was used to, and some with extra wings or elaborate crests of feathers atop their heads, as well as different colours. At the head of the back was a beast almost three times the size of Eda's cursed form, with black feathers and a scarred face, as well as six massive black wings. It was glaring down at a smaller Owl Beast… Eda's Owl Beast. Her curse looked tiny, pitiful, and dully coloured compared to the rest of the pack, especially the big one that Eda mentally thought of as the Alpha.

"What is this…?" Eda whispered to herself. She watched her Curse caw up at the Alpha, sounding almost pleading, but the Alpha just snarled back and struck the smaller beast, knocking it to the ground. The Curse started to cry, and Eda gasped. The Alpha had no mercy though, and Eda watched as it raised its claw and slashed at the Curse, sending the creature falling down the mountain with a cry of pain. The instant the blow landed, rapid images flashed through Eda's head; depicting Gwendolyn, then Camila, then herself.

When the images ended, Eda found herself suddenly alone on the mountain top; the Owl Beasts had all vanished, and only a trail of white feathers marked the path that the Curse had been knocked down.

"Something is weird here… is it leading me somewhere?" Eda wondered. With no other options, she carefully climbed down the mountain side, following the trail of the feathers, until she reached a plateau that suddenly changed into hill in the middle of a field of flowers.

Eda looked around, recognising this as her favourite date spot with Raine. Bracing herself for another memory, Eda looked down at herself and saw she was now in the body of her 20 year old self, and sat on the hill beside her was the 20 year old Raine, back when their hair was a little longer, fully mint, and they lacked the age lines they'd picked up in the last 15 years. Raine looked up at Eda, who couldn't help but stare at them gormlessly.

"Eda, is something wrong?" they asked.

"Uh, no! Nothing at all! All fine here!" Eda chuckled nervously.

Raine's face fell; "You're lying to me again… It's like I don't even know you! I want to be there for you but you just won't let me! So… I've made a decision."

Eda's heart sank; she knew what was coming. "Okay, I know how this plays out! I-I won't break! I don't know what you think you're doing Birdbrain, but it won't work!"

Raine apparently didn't hear her as they continued; "I'm joining the Bard Coven…" they showed the sigil already on their wrist.

"No, no, no, I hate this part…!" Eda whispered, trying to calm her weeping heart.

"… and I think we should see other people. I'm sorry Eda. It's over."

Even knowing the words were just a memory, and the real Raine had become her lover once again, and they now shared each other's burdens, Eda still felt her heart break. Suddenly, Eda was her 35 year old self again and was looking at her younger self, just like in the last memory. She watched as her 20 year old self began to lose control of the curse in her grief and begin to transform.

Raine noticed and rushed to their feet; "A-Are you okay!? Is this the curse!?" they asked worriedly.

"Tell them, you little fool! Let them in!" the real Eda said, shaking her past self's shoulders.

But her words fell on deaf ears and her past self just gave a fake laugh and said; "It's fine! Everything's normal! You can leave now!"

Raine looked at her with heartbreak, then turned and walked away, saying "I can't do this any more."

They then vanished, and so did Eda's younger self, leaving Eda once again on her own. She rubbed her arms as a chill overcame her; "It's in the past! I fixed things with Raine! I-I can fix things with Dad too! I just need a little more time… What are you trying to pull, Birdbrain!?"

Eda blinked and another trail of white feathers appeared, which she naturally followed down the hill. Once she reached the bottom of the hill, she suddenly found herself on another cliff, though this one was much wider and overlooked the sea. It was on the same foreign land as the last strange vision, as Eda could see the unfamiliar Titan skull in the distance.

"Another vision?" Eda whispered, looking around for a glimpse of feathers. She soon spotted them in the form of two Owl Beasts resting in a nest together. The nest was huge and reminded Eda of her own, yet even larger, and as Eda walked closer to it, she witnessed the Owl Beast she knew form her curse placing a dead rabbit in front of the other, which was noticeably smaller. Eda also noticed a clutch of eggs off to the side of the nest. Both Owl Beasts were skinny and looked weak, but the one being offered the rabbit was nearly skeletal. It was curled up and unmoving, no matter how much the Curse nudged it.

Eda felt a knot in her stomach as the Curse began to nudge the other more and more, trying to force the rabbit into its beak, as its eyes began to fill with tears. It began to cry as it desperately tried to feed the other, but it was already too late. The other Owl Beast was dead, and Eda watched as her Curse finally realised that fact and let out a loud, keening wail. Images flashed through Eda's head again, this time depicting Raine, then Amity, and finally Eda herself again, though it was her 20 year old self rather than her current self like the last vision.

When the vision ended, Eda was alone again and there was no sign of the nest or its inhabitants. Only a white feather marked where they had once been, and another trail leading along the cliff. Steeling herself, Eda followed it into another memory.

This time, Eda found herself in the living room of the Owl House, which was currently dark as a storm raged outside. To her horror, she found herself in the form of the Overloaded Owl Beast and realised this was a memory of when Luz had accidentally botched her Elixir and sent her into a frenzy. Eda looked down and saw Luz, still a maturing Angel, stood in front of her with King holding a glyph behind her.

"Luz, get out of the way!" King ordered.

Luz obediently dived out of the way and King activated his glyph, creating a pillar of thorny vines that hit Eda in the stomach and sent her flying out into the boiling rain. Eda didn't feel a thing from either the vines or the rain, though that was partly because she'd seemingly been knocked out of the Owl Beast and was now herself again, stood inside the Owl House while her cursed form was outside the barrier that protected the house from the rain.

"King really is good with those glyphs!" Eda commented proudly, admiring the pillar of vines. But as she was admiring it, King had run outside (but still within the barrier) and was blowing a raspberry at the Owl Beast.

"King, don't goad it just yet! The potion isn't done yet!" Luz warned.

Eda watched as King turned back to his sister without concern. "Aw, don't worry Luz! What can the Owl Beast possibly do against us now?"

Knowing where this was leading, Eda gasped as the Owl Beast began approaching the distracted King from behind.

"King, run!" Luz and Eda both cried.

King heard only his sister; "Huh?" he said with a blink, before the Owl Beast grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and tossed him into the air.

Eda's heart nearly stopped as King screamed "Weh!?" before disappearing down the Owl Beast's gullet. Luz shot a light beam at it, and Eda roared in rage and ran at the beast, aiming a punch directly at its face. However as her fist made contact, the Owl Beast suddenly vanished and Eda stumbled to the ground.

"Damn you! I know Luz saved him… but you ate my son you damn Curse!" Eda roared furiously. She got back to her feet and turned around, and just as she'd expected, Luz was gone and there was a trail of feathers leading back into the Owl House.

The Owl Lady stomped towards the trail and followed it, her mood growing darker with every step. When she finally caught the Owl Beast, she was going to wring its neck!

Passing through Hooty's (disturbingly lifeless) door, the world around Eda shifted again and she was back on the same cliff as last time, with the same nest in place. Everything was identical, at least until Eda took notice of a thin layer of snow that seemed to have blanketed just about everything around them.

Curiously, Eda turned to the nest and frowned as she saw the Curse nestled inside it, shivering and whimpering. She hated how the sounds of those whimpers made her heart fill with sympathy, but knowing that this wouldn't end without seeing the memory through, Eda walked towards it and peered inside. The Curse, as skinny as last time, was curled around the clutch of eggs, which had lost their previously pale blue colour and become a cold white that blended in with the snow. The Owl Beast was crying silently as it nestled them to itself, and Eda reached into the nest and brushed a hand over the eggs. Each one was ice cold, like a stone… they would never hatch. They were dead, just like the other Owl Beast from the last memory.

"Why are you showing me this!?" Eda growled, looking at the whimpering Curse; "What's the point, huh!? Is this just to torment me more!? What's with these nightmarish visions!?"

The Curse did not respond, and instead looked up at the sky as an ominous shooting star landed in the ocean just behind the Titan's skull. The resultant flash of light triggered more images in Eda's mind; the first was of King, then of Luz, and then of Eda again, though this time her 15 year old self. As expected, when the images stopped, Eda was alone with only a feather to guide her.

"How many more of these…?" she whispered to herself, wondering how much more her heart could take. Was she even still alive? Or was this some kind of ironic hell her mind had been trapped in while her Cursed Body was murdered by Terra out in the real world? Eda had no idea, so she did the only thing she could and followed the trail into the next memory.

When Eda arrived in the memory, she immediately felt dread and terror as she was again in the form of the Owl Beast (thankfully without the Overload this time) and flying in the sky above the Emperor's Castle. That alone would fill her heart with horror, but it was the being across from her that began to truly convince her she was in Hell; it was the form of Luz, transformed into some kind of Titaness by Belos.

"No! Anything but this! Please!" Eda cried. It was to no avail, as her body moved on its own to clash with Luz over and over until finally, Eda's claw was raised high and she suddenly found herself in her witch form again, watching her cursed self from the outside just like in the last memory.

She watched as the Curse's claw came slashing down on Luz's face, snapping off one of her Titan form's horns and slashing through her eyebrow, inflicting the scar that Luz still bore to this day, and sending her careening down into the bridge below. The present day Eda floated down to be by Luz's side and felt like vomiting as she saw the golden blood leaking down her daughter's face, and the hateful sigil of the Emperor's Coven on her wrist. Eda remembered what Luz had been forced to do to free herself from that sigil, and her heart burned with self-loathing.

"Is this what you want, Birdbrain!? To make me realise all the horrible stuff I've done!? To make me see the people I hurt and the lives I ruined because of you!? Let met tell ya, you're a LITTLE DAMN LATE! I ALREADY KNOW WHAT I'VE DONE!" Eda screamed, tears in her eyes.

But she got no response, and when she wiped her eyes, Luz, the Owl Beast, and everyone else disappeared just like with every other memory. Eda stood up, her fists clenched as her shoulders shook. She turned around, looking towards the entrance to the Emperor's Castle, where she predictably saw a trail of feathers, as well as the end of a white wing disappearing behind the gate.

With resignation, Eda followed the trail and as she passed through the gate, she had a feeling this was going to be the last of them.

The world around her vanished, and was replaced by another vision of the other land, with the foreign Titan skull off in the distance. However unlike the other visions, Eda was in the form of the Owl Beast and was staring out from its eyes as it stood on a cliff overlooking the ocean.

"What's going on now?" she thought, unable to even control her mouth to speak.

As soon as she thought those words, a trio of purple magic flares hit the ground in front of her and began to spark and burn, startling her. She backed off in fear, only for a net seemingly made from shadows and darkness to leap up from the ground and ensnare her, then begin dragging her away from the cliff. She cried out, her Owl Beast body screeching in the process as mist began to creep in around her. The shadows that made up the net stretched into the mist, and a tall figure rose out of it, cackling in a childish voice.

Eda struggled hard as the figure towered over her, but they just cackled more; "Don't bother, Beast. You can't run away any more. It's over!"

Eda looked back at the figure, taking in their appearance. They were completely hidden by the two tone hooded robe they wore, which was grey on the left side with black suns, and black on the right side with white stars and grey moons. The being's face, hidden entirely in shadows, was covered by a glowing, golden crescent moon.

"It was a good hunt. You'll make a fine addition to our Archives!" the Being said as Eda struggled.

Internally, Eda felt her mind race as she remembered back to the day she and the others had learned King was a Titan, and Zachael's final message.

"-a mysterious being known as an Archivist came to our world from beyond the stars. The Archivist, calling themselves "The Huntsman" began capturing creatures from our world for some unknown purpose."

Eda gasped in realisation; this was the Archivist! This was the Huntsman! Her Owl Beast body struggled even harder, and as the Huntsman's purple magic began to envelop her, she stretched out with all of her strength and ripped the net away, then took flight off the edge of the cliff and over the Boiling Sea, desperately flapping her wings to get away from the Huntsman, who watched impassively.

She flew hard, but not for long, as something caused her wings to suddenly burn away and Eda found herself falling from the sky, her body burning to cinders until she finally hit the water. She screamed in terror as she disappeared beneath the waves and suddenly witnessed herself, or rather the Owl Beast, transform into a small sealed scroll with an Owl face on its wax clasp. Eda, now in her own body again, watched like a phantom as the scroll, glowing red, washed up on the beach of the Boiling Isles thousands of years later and was found by a scavenger. Eda then watched as the Scavenger took it to the Night Market, where he sold it to a young, hooded girl with large round glasses.

"That's how Lilith got the curse scroll…" Eda whispered to herself, watching the whole scene play out. She collapsed onto her backside and just sat their numbly, mentally registering everything she'd just seen and putting the pieces together.

A white feather fluttered down from the sky and Eda instinctively caught it and held it in her hands. A golden light glyph appeared on it, and promptly erupted into a flash of light that blinded Eda for a moment. A final set of images flashed through her mind, showing her Belos, then Terra, and lastly herself once more, wearing a face of hatred and holding a bottle of Elixir like a weapon.

Once the images faded, she blinked hard to get the spots from the flash out of her eyes, and once they were gone, Eda saw she was now on a grey beach on the edge of the black void she'd first awoken in.

She watched the waves for a moment, then looked down and saw a red thread tied to her ankle. She followed the thread with her eyes until she found the other end, tied to the ankle of the Owl Beast just a few feet away. The Beast was watching her silently, with the glowing white blob from before still on its back, giving of light that formed a kind of halo effect around the Owl Beast's head.

"It's you…" Eda said, slowly getting up. She cautiously walked towards the Owl Beast, which made no move to flee or attack, instead choosing to just watch her. Eda carefully reached up to touch the beast, and felt its surprisingly soft feathers beneath her hands.

"All this time… I thought you were just a curse. Like Lycanthropy or something… I thought you were just my beastly wild side, giving form and a mind of its own… but I was wrong, wasn't I?" Eda said softly.

"Those visions… they weren't visions at all. They were memories, just like mine. That Alpha Owl Beast…" Eda remembered the images that flooded her mind; Gwendolyn, Camila, and herself as Luz and King saw her; "… that was your mother! You were the runt of the litter, so she drove you out!"

The Owl Beast lowered its head a little, and Eda gasped softly as more realisations hit her. "The starving Owl Beast…" she remembered the images of her lover Raine, Luz's lover Amity, and herself as Raine saw her, "… they were your mate. They starved to death before you could find food for them."

The Owl Beast's black eyes began to glisten and Eda continued. She thought of the Owl Beast's clutch of cold eggs, and thought of the images she'd seen; her kids, King and Luz, and herself as a child, how her parents saw her. "You lost your children before they could even be born… and then…!"

The Owl Beast began to cry silently as Eda's own eyes filled with tears; "… you were victimised by a villain!"

The image of Belos flashed through her mind; the villain who'd hurt Luz. Then the image of Terra, who'd hurt Raine.

Then the image of herself, as the Owl Beast saw her.

"Titan…! I was wrong about everything! You're not a Curse at all!" Eda began to cry, "You're just some innocent creature! Abandoned, rejected, and left all alone in the world, then captured by some supernatural freak and stuffed in a scroll! The Huntsman must have dropped you in the sea when it was driven off by the Titans! You spent thousands of years sealed away, until you were found!"

Eda pressed her head against the Beast's neck, embracing it; "You weren't a curse inflicted on me! I was a curse inflicted on you! A new prison cell! A body that could give you a taste of freedom before cruelly ripping it away over and over! I'm so sorry!"

The Owl Lady continued to sob as the Owl Beast leaned its head down and curled their neck around her a little, embracing her. The two sat there together crying for quite some time, until Eda eventually wiped her eyes and pulled away.

"I finally understand. I guess I should be glad I was petrified; it I wasn't, Luz might have used that Panacea Mirror on you and who knows what could have happened to you!" Eda smiled. She then scowled down at the red thread binding the two together. She knelt down and tried to snap it, then when that failed she lifted it to her teeth and gnawed at it, but that too failed. The Owl Beast snorted with amusement, and Eda huffed.

"Yeah, I guess if it was that easy, you'd have escaped already. Is there really no way to free you from me?" Eda asked.

The Owl Beast shrugged, making the white blob on its back ("her" back, Eda said in her head) giggle. Eda blinked and turned to look at it in confusion.

"Uh, what is that thing?" Eda asked.

The Owl Beast gave a funny little snuffling snort, as if she was laughing at her, then reached back and gently plucked the blob from her back with her beak, and carefully deposited it onto the beach in front of Eda.

Eda narrowed her eyes as she tried to make out what the creature before her was, until the light began to dim and the blob's true form became apparent.

"Luz!?" Eda gasped.

Standing before her was Luz, looking almost exactly as she had in one of the pictures Camila had gifted to Eda. She looked to be about five or six, with long curly white hair, golden eyes, and little Cherub wings. She was wearing a white dress with a little pocket/pouch on the front of the skirt, and a purple snake stitched onto the chest, as well as little white shoes and socks. She was an adorable little thing and Eda immediately hugged her, making the little Cherub giggle. But then Eda pulled back, confused.

"Wait a second… Luz never had white hair or golden eyes as a Cherub. What are you?" Eda asked, still petting the Glowing Luz's head. The little girl's pointed ears fwipped up and down adorably just like the real Luz's did whenever she was happy, and the Owl Beast leaned down to nuzzle the girl too, making her giggle once again.

In response to the nuzzling, the Cherub Luz created a ball of white and gold flame in her hands and began to feed it to the Owl Beast like it was a mass of Rotten Candy. Seeing this, Eda immediately realised what was going on.

"You're not the real Luz, but you're a part of her! You're the Angelic Blessing!" Eda gasped, "You're the piece of Luz's magic that she gave me!"

Cherub Luz, apparently unable to talk, just nodded happily, then giggled as the Owl Beast licked her face. Eda watched the exchange, then realised something else too. "You're the one who was leaving those trails of white feathers! You've been showing me the memories!"

Eda received another nod from the cheerful Cherub, then watched as the Owl Beast continued to eat the flame-like magic. The Owl Lady smiled and said; "I bet you're also the reason the Owl Beast is so calm. Your magic soothes her… I guess this is the power of an angel! Even your magic tries to be helpful!"

Eda pet the Cherub Luz's head, and she began to trill adorably, before gently taking Eda's hand and placing it on the Owl Beast's head instead. Eda and the Owl Beast looked into each other's eyes as a myriad of emotions flowed through them. For a split second, both felt like they could see and truly understand everything the other was thinking and feeling.

"Owl Beast… listen, I know that things between us have always been bad. 20 years of fighting and hating each other isn't going to go away in one afternoon. Even knowing what you really are now, I still feel a lot of resentment. You've cast a shadow over my whole life, and while I know it wasn't your fault now, I still have a lot to work through." Eda confessed.

The Owl Beast grumbled, feeling the same way, which made Eda smile a little.

"But we can't keep doing this. We've been hurting each other because we didn't understand each other, so now that we do, we need to at least try and make peace. We're stuck together and there's no changing that, but if we can't accept each other then this nightmare will never end! So what do you say? Can we try to get along?" Eda asked, offering her hand to the Owl Beast.

The Owl Beast sniffed her hand, then rubbed her head against it, before placing it on Eda's lap. Eda smiled broadly, taking that as a yes. Cherub Luz trilled with delight, then reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a bottle of Super Elixir, which she handed to Eda. The Owl Lady popped off the cork and drank half the bottle, then offered the other half to the Owl Beast.

"I thought these things were a weapon to fight you with… but they've actually been soothing you. I always resented my dependency on these things, but I guess without them I wouldn't be here talking to you." Eda said as the Owl Beast gently lapped up the potion.

Suddenly, a faint gold and white aura surrounded both Eda and the Owl Beast, and the black sea they sat on the edge of became a golden ocean of Elixir as far as the eye could see. The sky then became an aurora of pinks, blues, and purples, with countless twinkling stars swirling around in giant nebulas. Eda, the Owl Beast, and Cherub Luz all looked up at the sky, and Eda's eyes twinkled just like the stars above.

"Wow… I've never had a dream this pretty." she said, hugging both of her companions.

Cherub Luz then began to shine with immensely bright light, which then turned golden and filled Eda with a feeling of invigoration. The world around Eda disappeared into rays of golden light, and Eda felt both the Owl Beast and Cherub Luz disappear, their essence blending into her own.

With a gasp, Eda opened her eyes again and found herself back in the arena beneath Spriggan Manor. Her head felt fuzzy and she rubbed a hand against her face as she tried to register everything happening around her. She saw the Bat Beast, who was now growling lowly even as it backed away from her, as well as the massive number of vines and Wrathful Roses that Terra had grown, though they now appeared to have stopped spitting pollen. Eda looked up at Terra's viewing box and saw as the old crone stared back at her with a look of horror and surprise.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Eda frowned. Her eyes widened as she heard her own voice reverberate with a magic echo. "What the…?"

She looked down at her hands and saw they were covered in feathers and had sharp orange claws, but were otherwise still mostly witch-like. Gasping, Eda drew a spell circle and conjured a full length mirror so she could see herself, then nearly had to pick her jaw up off the floor.

The woman facing her looked like her, but fused with the Owl Beast. Her dress had been remade out of feathers, and was now a mesh of lighter and darker red colours that extended down her arms to her hands. Her grey leggings had also been remade with feathers, and her grey boots had fused into her body and become bird-like feet, complete with talons. The feathers also extended up her neck to her cheeks, and while her face was still youthful and pale, her eyes now sported black sclera. Her ears had also grown longer and each had a long lock of grey hair emerging from it, reaching down to her shins. Finally, Eda now had a pair of large, grey-feathered wings on her back that moved to her will just as easily as every other part of her body.

"Whoa! Now this is a hot look! Raine, if you can see me from inside that thing, I hope you're admiring!" Eda grinned, doing a twirl in front of the mirror. She looked like some kind of Owl Harpy!

Terra sneered at her, recovering from her shock and once again manipulating the vines. "I don't know what you've done, but if you're not going to fight, then you can be food for your little love!"

The vines shot towards Eda, who immediately put her new claws to work and slashed back and forth, cutting them without much difficulty. However, she was still new to this Harpy Form and she lacked some coordination, so while Eda could effortless deal with the vines, she couldn't do that AND worry about the Bat Beast at the same time. Upon seeing her distracted, the Bat Beast lunged at her exposed back and managed to knock her down.

"Ouch! Hey Raine Storm, save the pouncing on me for when you see me like this with your own form!" Eda flirted. The blow to her back had hurt, but her Harpy Durability ensured she barely even got a bruise. Unfortunately, the attack did switch her attention back to them and away from the vines, so Terra's magic was able to manipulate them into wrapping around her wrists and ankles before Eda could stop them, trapping her in place. Ed growled and flapped her wings in an attempt to escape, but they were soon bound too, as was her torso and throat.

"See how you like this, you feathery freak!" Terra taunted, snapping her fingers and causing thorns to appear from the vines. Eda winced, feeling them digging into her, but they couldn't completely pierce her tough new hide.

"Oh come on! I just got this form, don't tell me I'm gonna lose already!" Eda growled to herself as she struggled in her bindings. She was strong, but the sheer number of vines and roots made it impossible for even her enhanced strength to pull free, much to Eda's frustration.

As her annoyance grew, Eda felt something churning in her Bile Sac and decided to try magic, since her fingers were still free. However, as she began focusing her magic to cast a spell, she felt something different… In the past before she lost her magic, she had felt all the different spell phlegms inside her, which she could focus on and mix to make her different kinds of magic, as well as the raw bile itself, and once Luz had given her an Angelic Blessing, that feeling had been replaced by a similar one, only it was like a flame inside her heart that she mentally dyed in different colours to cast her spells. But now she felt both sensations, as if melding with the Owl Beast had restored her Bile Sac to full functionality while also keeping Luz's blessing in place. Tapping into both powers at once, Eda felt her body overflow with magic, and a dark golden aura coated her body.

To Eda's shock and Terra's horror, the magic vines and roots Terra had conjured to bind Eda began to blacken and decay. It looked just like when Eda had tried to use Bardic Magic against the Titaness Form Luz had taken back at the castle, only this time the effect was much faster. The Cursed Magic consumed the vines and caused them to crumble to dust, freeing Eda and allowing her to fly out of the way of a lunge from the Bat Beast.

"What!?" Terra screeched, trying again to bind her with vines. Eda dodged most of these, but allowed one to grab her out of curiosity, and watched as it immediately decayed.

"What is this…?" Eda blinked, staring down at her dark golden aura. It seemed to decay all magic that came in contact with her, but as her body began to sting, Eda stopped the aura, realising it was beginning to damage her too.

"Is this the Owl Beast's power?" she thought.

The Owl Beast, fully in-sync with Eda, began to transmit her thoughts and feelings to the Owl Lady. It reminded Eda of speaking to her Palisman in her head, only without any actual words.

"Your species has a natural resistance to magic? Your own magic breaks down other magics…" Eda understood, "That's why the "Curse" was draining my magic! Having you inside me meant your magic was gradually destroying mine whenever I transformed! But now that we're working together, I can use your power too!"

Eda grinned at the idea; with the power to decay other magic, she was the ultimate Anti-Magic fighter! In a battle against Witches and Demons, there was no way she'd lose! Unfortunately, the Owl Beast sent her more feelings, making Eda frown.

"But it effects me too… my body contains magic as well, and if I use your power too much, I'll decay myself! It also destroys the Angelic Magic Luz gave me, so if I use it too much, I'll lose my own magic too! I guess it's more of an emergency trump card… Still, I can roll with this!" Eda thought with a smirk as she eyed Terra Snapdragon, or more specifically, her Barrier Birches.

With a plan to finally end this battle now in mind, Eda turned back to the Bat Beast; it wouldn't do to defeat Terra without her Lover Bard by her side, especially after the hell Terra had put them through.

"Brace yourself Raine Storm!" Eda said, reaching into her hair and pulling out an Elixir; "You know I like to play rough!"

With a smirk, Eda dive-bombed the Bat Beast and slammed her taloned feet down on the Beast's back with enough force to make its legs buckle underneath it, causing it to hit the ground hard. Eda then twirled her finger, focusing only on the magic Luz had given her, and used some Construction magic to conjure some chains to tie the Bat Beast up, ensuring it could do nothing but thrash and shriek. During one of these shrieks, Eda grabbed the Beast's top jaw and held it open, then tossed the Elixir inside its maw.

"Wakey wakey, Raine Storm!"

The Elixir disappeared down the Bat Beast's throat, and almost instantly, it's black eyes began to glow with golden magic. It let out one last shriek of impotent rage, then its entire body was consumed by golden light before disappearing, leaving Raine Whispers in their true form.

Raine groaned as they recovered from the effects of their second ever transformation, and Eda immediately grabbed and cradled them.

"Easy does it, Love. Even turning back with an Elixir takes some getting used to." Eda said soothingly, rubbing the poor Bard's back and using a little ice magic to cool their head.

"Ugh… Eda…? Is that you? I- whoa!" Raine blinked as they finally looked up at their saviour and a whole swarm of emotions flew across their face. The first was gratitude, before they registered that Eda was different. Then came shock as they finally noticed Eda's new form. Then came red-faced awe as they finally noticed Eda's new form!

Eda watched as Raine's eyes grew huge, their pupils dilated, and sparkles filled them as they gazed at her with the silliest, most love struck expression she'd ever seen.

"Is this a dream?" Raine mumbled, not taking their eyes off her for an instant, "If so, I don't want to wake up."

Eda couldn't help herself; she laughed, then kissed Raine breathless, all with a pink blush across her cheeks. "Oh believe me, Raine Storm; I'm better than any dream!"

"Eda, it really is you! What happened to you!? Don't get me wrong, I like the new look, but I'm really confused!" Raine said, smiling nervously as they got back to their feet.

"You and me both, Lover Bard! It's kind of a long story so we'll talk about it later. But first…" Eda turned to grin viciously up at a suddenly nervous Terra Snapdragon; "We've got some weeds to whack!"

Raine smirked and summoned Rena in staff form, then flew up with Eda as the Harpy Owl Lady flew at Terra's viewing box.

"Honestly, will nothing go right today!?" Terra sneered; "You've broken into my manor, made a mess of my coven, cost me one of my more useful Sprouts, and now you don't even have the decency to entertain me with your demises!? Letting the two of you live all those years ago really was my biggest mistake!"

"Oh yeah… I almost forgot this wasn't the first time she's made us fight each other! Remember HECK?" Raine said nostalgically.

"I sure as HECK do!" Eda smirked; "I also remember our grand finale! Care to give it another shot?" she said, offering Raine her hand.

They nodded happily and took her hand, whereupon Eda and Raine began to perform the exact same dance routine they had twenty years ago during the HECK seminar. Terra watched with bewilderment as Harpy Eda twirled Raine through the air, and the two exchanged fist bumps and high-fives behind their backs, before coming together to draw a spell circle together, aiming a powerful magic blast directly at Terra. Thanks to her Barrier Birches, she didn't even need to grow plants in the way to block the attack, causing the Plant Coven Head to grin mockingly… until Eda began to glow with a dark gold aura again just as the spell was fired. The golden blast of magic darkened considerably and as it struck her barrier, the entire thing began to decay, as did the rest of the plants that made up her protected viewing box.

With a scream, Terra watched helplessly as her viewing box decayed into nothingness and she plummeted down into the arena floor. However before she could land, she was caught by Raine… or rather, she was caught by Raine's foot as they kicked her hard, slamming her into the wall of the arena. Knowing Terra could use Plant Magic to grow a plant that would swallow her and help her escape, Eda stopped her Anti-Magic aura and cast a spell at the chains she'd conjured earlier, using them to tie up the bruised and stunned Terra and hang her upside down from the ceiling, ensuring her hands couldn't draw spell circles and she wasn't in contact with any plant life.

"Guess these roses still have their thorns, eh Snapdragon?" Eda smirked. She and Raine walked straight up to the now terrified woman's face, the latter cracking their knuckles as they did so.

"What should we do with her now, Edamame? I could use some payback!" Raine said. After all the creepy exchanges they'd had to put up with thanks to Terra, they were itching for some vengeance! And that was before she drugged them into becoming the Bat Beast and tried to feed them a pair of children!

"Let's interrogate her first." Eda said, flexing her claws menacingly; "First, tell me where Owlbert is! I want my Palisman back!"

"T-The Palisman is in a cage in my private rooms! The key is in the flower on my head!" Terra cried. Without the ability to overwhelm and crush her foes from afar, all Terra's bravado and cruelty faded into cowardice.

Raine smirked; "I'll get the key."

They roughly grabbed the pink flower crown atop Terra's head and ripped it off, taking a chunk of Terra's green, leaf-like hair with it. She shrieked in pain, and Raine promptly tore the flower apart to retrieve a wooden key from inside, which they handed to Eda.

"Great! Second question; tell me the Emperor's Plans! All of them!" Eda demanded.

"I-I don't know! The Heads of the Main Nine Covens were just ordered to recruit as many Witches and Demons as we could before the Day of Unity! I know the Emperor is still after your portal and the Angel girl, but I don't know how he plans to get either! Those two rotten seedlings of his are the only ones he trusts with important missions!" Terra answered.

"Third question!" Raine began, "What is the Day of Unity really for? What will happen?"

In truth, they already knew thanks to Darius and Eber, but getting the information from Terra too would mean they could publicly act against the plan without the Emperor suspecting how they knew!

"It will unite the Demon and Divine Realms together and eradicate Wild Magic! All Coven Witches will become Angels, and we Coven Heads will be the new Seraphim! That's what you gave up to become a rebel, Whispers!"

Raine responded by grabbing one of the vines in Terra's hair and yanking it off, taking more of her hair with it. Terra screamed again, and began spitting some truly foul insults and curses at Raine and Eda. A few crossed the line by a country mile, so Eda ripped out the other vine, making Terra scream once more.

"Oh my beautiful hair…! Do you have any idea how long it'll take me to grow it back!?" she cried.

Eda sneered coldly, "You might not get the chance! What do we do with her now, Raine Storm? Should we kill her? The Emperor needs the Coven Heads for the Day of Unity, so if we feed her to a monster or something, it'll stop his plans! Or I could see if my new decaying power can destroy her magic permanently?"

Terra looked utterly petrified at that and began to beg frantically for both her life and her magic. Raine shut her up by stuffing one of her torn off hair vines into her mouth, then whispering to Eda.

"No, we should let her live. If we kill her or strip her magic, Belos will just replace her. At least if Terra remains Head Witch of the Plant Coven, we know we can take her out." Raine reasoned.

Eda nodded reluctantly; "Alright, you've got a point." she turned to Terra; "It's your lucky day! Raine's too nice to kill you and I love them too much to disappoint them, so you get to keep your life for a while longer, you disgusting weed!"

Terra, still gagged, practically sagged with relief, and Eda and Raine over to the area directly beneath the hole Eda had made earlier.

"Shall we go? I've got to pick up Owlbert, then go make sure Willow and that other kid are okay." Eda asked.

"You go on ahead. I've got some last minute stuff to take care of with Terra." Raine replied, turning to glare at the bound woman, their glasses catching the light and making their eyes appear hidden by the shine.

Terra whimpered and Eda smirked. "You got it. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" she said, kissing them on the cheek. She then took flight and left through the hole in the ceiling, while Raine turned back to Terra.

They slowly walked back towards her, making the woman shake and break out in a cold sweat. They then knelt down so their eyes were on the same level as Raine leaned in close.

"After all you've done, I can't just let you off too easy. But I don't want to just beat you up, so I have a better idea. I'm going to use a method of torture that Luz taught me!" Raine grinned.

Terra went pale; what kind of tortures could they have learned from an Angel!? Especially one with as much power as the Arch-Angel of the Boiling Isles?

Still grinning, Raine began casting a spell that created a little ball of light red magic. "This little ball is going to sing for you! Don't worry, it's not a horrible song though… which is good, because you'll never forget it for the rest of your life!"

With that, Raine hopped on their staff and flew off after Eda, snapping their fingers before disappearing through the hole. The snap of their fingers caused the little ball of magic to begin singing in a high pitched voice.

"It's a world of laughter, a world of tears. It's a world of hopes, and a world of fears. There's so much that we share, that it's time we're aware… It's a small world after all!"

Terra's muffled screams soon echoed across the empty arena.

Meanwhile, Raine arrived up on the surface to find Eda having already run and grabbed Owlbert, who was sitting on his partner's shoulder and nuzzling her while Eda looked around at the dozens of unconscious scouts and servants that littered the grounds.

"Whoa… did they just not wake up the people I defeated, or did you wipe all these people out in the couple of minutes I left you alone?" Raine asked with a smirk, assuming it was the latter.

To their surprise, Eda just shrugged; "They were like this when I got here. I've got no idea what happened."

"We happened."

Eda and Raine turned around and were met by the sight of Willow and Hanu. Willow was smiling sweetly with her staff leaning on her shoulder, while Hanu was frowning as she scanned the unconscious scouts for signs of them waking up.

"Flowers!? I thought I told you to get out of here!" Eda yelled, crossing her arms.

"You did, and I did. But I also told you that if you two didn't come after us soon, I'd come back to get you! You were gone for hours, so I came back as promised! Hanu came too." Willow explained.

Eda blinked; "And you two took out the whole coven? I get that Raine probably softened them up, but that's still impressive! Also, what do you mean by hours!? Has it been that long!?"

Willow nodded; "It's almost dusk."

Eda and Raine gaped at that; how long had they been fighting in their beast forms!? And how long had they been unconscious after Terra caught them the first time!?

"Luz and King will be wanting to come home soon! I better get back and open the portal!" Eda yelled.

"Wait a second! What happened down there? What happened to you!? You're all feathery!" Willow pointed out.

"Long story." Eda said, "But the short version is I got a power-up, Terra got a smack down, and the mission…" she reached into her hair and briefly pulled out the Palistrom Log; "…was a success!"

"Now let's seriously get out of here, before someone calls the Emperor's Coven for back up!" Raine said urgently.

Willow and Eda agreed, while Hanu just shrugged; it wasn't like she had somewhere to go now that she was a traitor to the Plant Coven. Willow invited the girl to ride with her again, so Hanu accepted and the party of rebels took flight and left Spriggan Manor and the Navel Forest, flying all the way back to the Owl House. By the time they arrived, it was almost time for Eda to open her portal and welcome back Luz and King.

Also, only a few seconds after touching down and being greeted by Hooty and a very confused Rasiel, Eda received more of the Owl Beast's thoughts, letting her know that she was going to take some time to rest. Eda wished the Owl Beast goodnight and found herself shifting back to normal.

"Well that's gonna take some getting used to… I'll need to practice with it later." Eda commented. She then looked to Hooty and Rasiel and said; "Yes, I'll explain later when Luz and King are home; saves me repeating myself!"

"Wise." Rasiel agreed, "And who is your new friend, Willow?"

He was looking at Hanu, who was shyly standing behind her. Willow smiled and said; "This is Hanu. She's a long story too, but she's effectively a fugitive now, just like Eda and the CATTs. I was thinking maybe they could take her in?"

Hanu stared at her in surprise; "B-But I tried to hurt you!?"

"Tried" is the important word there." Willow said, "And besides, you did help me out during our escape. I'd call that even."

The Monkey girl gaped at her, and looked around at the rest of the rebels present, none of whom were disputing Willow's words. "Y-you'd really take me in?"

Raine patted her on the back; "Trust me, I know how awful it can be to get wrapped up in Terra's web. She got to you when you were just a child, so it's only natural she was able to manipulate you. You're still a child too, so we'll offer you protection. You'll need to make oaths not to betray us or spy on us, but if you're okay with that, then we'll swear to protect you."

The girl's eyes filled with tears, and Willow gave her a side hug to comfort her as she began to cry. "There there, Hanu. It'll be alright!"

"T-Thank you… Thank you all so much!" Hanu cried, throwing her arms around Willow and hugging her tightly.

Eda and the others smiled at the exchange, then had Hooty gently herd Hanu into the kitchen where he could cheer her up with some Hot Chocolate Smilk, while the others prepared to greet Luz and King, and give the former their surprise!

At the stroke of 8PM, Eda pulled out the Portal Key and clicked the eye, causing the Portal Door to appear and open up. They then sat around and waited, knowing the two wouldn't appear at 8 on the dot. In fact, it ended up being 9:30PM by the time Luz and King walked back through the Portal Door, both in high spirits.

"Hi Mom! We're home!" they cheered together.

"Welcome home, my little Ragamuffins!" Eda grinned, hopping off the couch and hugging them tightly. "How was your visit with your Mami?"

Luz giggled; "Mostly great! Mami did freak out when I told her about the Ash Moth incident, but she calmed down after a nap and some suspiciously alcoholic smelling tea."

"She had to go into another room and say a lot of fun new curse words in Spanish!" King chirped happily.

"And she also taught me a spell to wash a naughty child's mouth out with soap if I ever here them repeating those words!" Luz added sternly, making King pout and the others smirk.

Luz then noticed Willow was present, and greeted her too, as well as Raine and Rasiel. "I'll tell you all about my visit later. For now, what have you guys been up to?" she asked, closing the Portal Door behind her.

"That is a very long story! But I got you something!" Eda said excitedly, reaching into her hair and pulling out the log she'd gone through so much trouble to get. She tossed it into Luz's hands, and the little angel stared at it with confusion, not recognising it.

"Um… thank you? How thoughtful?" Luz said with a nervous smile.

Eda rolled her eyes and ruffled the girl's hair; "It's Palistrom Wood, you ding-dong!"

"Now you can finally carve your own Palisman!" Willow added.

Luz gasped with delight; "Seriously!? B-But I thought this stuff was super rare! Only the Emperor's Coven is supposed to have it! Unless… Mom, did you go visit your Dad!?"

"Not quite." Eda said, before muttering; "Though I really should do that soon… I need to stop being such a coward."

"Mom?" King said, "You okay there?"

Eda snapped back to attention; "I'm great, Kiddo. And Raine, Willow, and I got that wood by breaking into the Plant Coven! It's a bit of a tale, but I'll tell you both all about it!"

King already looked excited, while Luz hugged the log to her chest and smiled with teary eyes; "Thank you Mom! And you too Titi Raine! And of course you as well, Willow! I don't know what to say…"

"You're welcome! I've been meaning to start paying back some of those favours I owe you!" Willow grinned.

"I'm glad I could help, even if only in a small way. I look forward to meeting your Palisman." Raine smiled, a bit more worn out than the others after their forced transformation and reversion.

Eda wrapped an arm around Luz's shoulder; "Don't worry about it, Kiddo. When you know what you want and you're ready to get started, just let me know and we'll start carving. Just remember, no matter what you carve, you need a clear vision of what you want."

Luz held the Palistrom Wood a little tighter and snuggled into her Mom's side. "If it's okay, I want to think about it for a while. My life has changed so much that I don't really know where I want it to go after Belos is defeated! I don't want my goal in life, and the goal that brings my Palisman to life, to revolve around that monster."

Luz's friends all smiled and nodded, and Eda kissed the top of her head; "Don't worry Owlet, we've got all the time in the world. In the meantime, how about I tell you all about your Mom's latest adventure! I think you'll get a kick out of it!"

Luz and King both nodded enthusiastically and were sat on the couch as the little family enjoyed their evening together after a successful, if trying, day.

[Meanwhile]

Terra Snapdragon sat grumpily on a floral throne in what used to be the immaculate foyer of Spriggan Manor, having her injuries looked at by fellow Coven Head Hettie Cutburn. She was in a foul mood to end all foul moods; her hair was a mess after Eda and Raine had ripped chunks of it out, her ribs were cracked after Raine's kick, her foyer had been wrecked by Willow's battle with Hanu, Hanu herself had defected from the Coven, most of her Coven members were defeated not once, but twice, and to really rub salt in the wound, some of the precious Palistrom Wood had been stolen!

Not to mention that since it had taken an hour of being chained up before one of her Coven Servants found their way down to her in the underground arena, she'd been forced to listen to that infernal song on repeat over and over, to the point Terra was sure those words had been carved into her brain! Every time she left her focus slip, she found herself humming it!

"Once the Emperor has the portal, I am going to tear every single one of those wretched rebels limb from limb!" she sneered to herself.

Hettie, who was healing her ribs, just snorted and ignored her until the healing was done.

"You're fine now. I trust you can handle your hair by yourself." Hettie said, before marching out of the manor without a backward glance.

Terra glared at her, but her attention was soon drawn to new arrivals. The Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel, flanked by a dozen Emperor's Coven Scouts, came marching straight through the open front door. The Masked teens looked around at the ruined foyer and saw the Plant Coven Members hard at work repairing it, before turning back to Terra.

"It seems the reports we'd heard on the way here were true. You were bested by the Owl Lady, Head Witch Snapdragon." Hunter commented.

"And what of it? What are you doing here, Golden Guard!?" Terra snapped.

"We came here to collect the Palistrom Saplings and take them back to the Emperor's Castle." Hunter answered. He and his sister had yet to return since their excursion in the Goliath Ash Moth Desert, instead opting to rest, re-equip themselves, and collect some reinforcements before coming to get the Palistrom Saplings to make up for their failure to collect the Palismen from the Bat Queen.

"It seems we arrived a bit too late, as now the Owl Lady has made off with some, if reports are to be believed." Hunter finished, remembering what one of the Servants he'd met on the way in had told him.

Terra flushed with anger and humiliation; "The Palistrom Saplings were entrusted to me and my coven!"

"And you failed to protect them. You're lucky the Owl Lady only stole a small amount, or the Emperor would have been very… displeased with you. Do not think it is too late to replace you, Head Witch Snapdragon." Hunter warned.

Terra could do nothing but fume as the boy ordered his scouts to collect the Saplings and put them into stasis spells before leaving with them. The Masked Duo and their subordinates then left without another word, and an enraged Terra stalked off to her private rooms for some alone time.

"The Owl Lady, that Titan-damned Bard, that little Hexside brat, that treacherous weed, and both those masked freaks… I'll get my revenge on all of them for this humiliation! Maybe I can snatch up that Angel Brat and some of the Titan Bile… it would be so satisfying to see them all torn apart by their own friend and comrade!" Terra raged, pacing around her private room.

"What an intriguing idea!"

Terra almost screamed as she heard the unfamiliar voice echoing out from all around her. She spun around fearfully, spell circles at the ready.

"Whose there!? Show yourself!" she demanded.

"As you wish." replied the feminine voice.

The wooden floor in front of Terra began to ripple like water, and out from it rose what looked like a pale green skinned witch, with hair made from vines and petals. She was wearing a simple dress of leaves and flowers, and she was incredibly beautiful with vibrant emerald eyes.

Terra immediately tried to set her plants on this intruder, but to her surprise, the intruder just smiled and the plants froze, refusing to heed Terra's command.

"W-What is this!?" she cried.

"Less of a what and more of a who, if I do say so myself." the intruder smiled, "And as for the who… I am Arboriel, Last of the Mandragoras. I have decided that this lovely manor will be my new home, and its inhabitants will be the first of my new Mandragora family!"

Terra gasped; "A real life Mandragora…!?"

"Indeed. And one with whom you share a common enemy." Arboriel grinned; "So how about we help each other?"

"Do you intend to turn me into a Mandragora as well?" Terra asked, suddenly becoming unusually calm."

"Naturally. You're the most powerful of these Plant Witches, so you'll be my strongest new Mandragora!" Arboriel freely admitted.

A sinister smile began to stretch across Terra's face.

"Then I think this is the beginning of a wonderful partnership!"