A/N: (UPDATE) Hello, all. I've recently watched "For the Future" last night, along with an outstanding animation by Magpie called "Drifting Apart" featuring Caleb and Philip. And it made me go back to the beginning and rethink Ben's relationship. So, good news, Ben is still going to be with Judy like in my last story. :) Viney will still make an appearance in this chapter, though. And they'll be good friends, for certain. That said, I hope you like this new iteration.;)
Chapter 2: I Am a Teenage Witch
Play Jeff Williams Music: "Divide Pt. 1" (0.40)
Far on the other side of the Isles, there was a castle. It laid precisely at the Titan's Heart. As such, it was the literal center of operations. It was surrounded by a large gap, connected by a metal drawbridge over the spikes of the Titan's own skeleton. And the very top of the castle's tower was spewing smoke like a volcano. Truly a stunning and frightening sight, especially at dusk.
On the drawbridge, a group of Coven Scouts adorned in white robes and masks with black and gold uniforms were carting an unfortunate group of witches and demons in a large cage to the castle. And at the top of the castle was one of the Coven's most lethal Witch. She was a tall, slender middle-aged woman in her mid-to-late 40s with ivory skin, pointed ears, navy blue lips, long, dark teal hair, and mint green eyes. She had dark claw-like nails and was dressed in a long-sleeved two-tone dark gray dress and dark gray laced boots. She also had an inverted kite-shaped sky blue gem located on her sternum, which was attached to her dress, which was covered by the white robe, tied together with a symbol of a triangle over her emblem.
After a moment, she turned around to walk inside. She walked down a large hallway with a stained glass decor of her Emperor standing amidst his bowing subjects with the claws of the Titan reaching to the sun. The Witch only pressed on before heading further down. But along the way, she passed someone who wasn't particularly fond of her.
"Have you finished sightseeing, Lilith?"
This man was dressed in a black robe with red armor all over his body, almost like a red knight. But his helmet was similar to that of the scouts' masks, but its nose stretched out like a crow's beak. Lilith only scoffed at him as she continued.
"Maybe. Have you finished loitering around, Crimson? I have better things to do with my time than waste it on your breath. And so do you."
Crimson growled deeply under his breath, glaring at the Witch. But she did have a point; they both had other matters to attend to that were more important. As they went down the hall, a feminine figure noticed them and walked beside the duo. Her outfit was a pearl white long cloak with the hood pulled up over her head. Underneath it was a black silk like tunic/top with a golden trim on the short sleeves, collar and waist areas. She also had short black gloves with the golden symbol drawing of the Emperor Coven on the back of them and baggy Scarlet pants held together by a brown leather belt with a golden belt buckle. To top it off, she had a silver mask, covering her whole face and long black high heeled boots with golden sparrow shaped buckles with gray socks. Lilith recognized her straightaway.
"Princess Heather? That's a rare occasion. It makes me wonder what you've done this time."
Her tone was more concerned towards her than it was towards Crimson. The Princess caught onto that and reassured her with a soft, yet stern tone.
"I did what I've always done, Lilith: my job. Though I'm wondering the same about you."
Crimson didn't particularly like her reply.
"Watch your tongue, Princess. Nepotism won't get you anywhere. Besides, why should you be concerned?"
The Princess scowled under her mask as she replied back with a cool and collective inflection.
"Well, if all three of us are here, we're either in trouble, or the Boiling Isles is…"
In a moment, they were standing in the presence of a tall and powerful being who sat on a large throne. He had a mask with two long upward-facing horns with his eyes being hollow through the mask, creating the appearance of having empty eye sockets. He also wore a large white and brown cape with a gold trim. They were in a strange and spacious room that contained many metallic pipes that served an as-of-yet unknown purpose. The room itself was also lit only by two giant torches from behind the throne. Atop the throne was a gargantuan, pulsing heart. Lilith had a look of nervousness upon her as she spoke to this being with the three of them kneeling down.
"Emperor Belos, you've summoned us. Is something wrong?"
After a low growl in the otherwise silent air, Belos spoke out to Lilith as he stood up and descended down the steps.
"Now why would something be wrong for me to want to see the head of the Emperor's Coven? And my prized pupils, no less."
Lilith became confused by the lenient nature inflected in his tone.
"So… nothing's wrong?"
Belos stopped just in front of her before he spoke with a tone that showed he'd gotten quite serious in opposition to when he last spoke.
"Well, I never said that."
Belos held out his right palm before a dark red fire forged itself and showed an image of Luz, King, and Eda for one scenario.
"As you've no doubt heard from Warden Wrath, a human by the name of Luz Noceda was responsible for the break-in at the Conformatorium to rescue the Owl Lady last night."
The flame then changed the scenery to show Ben confronting Ember with a fearsome blue glow as he ripped her arm clean off.
"And this particular scene was only later today."
Lilith widened her eyes in shock. She never imagined that a human would find their way here, let alone rip a witch's arm clean off! Crimson was especially aghast under his helmet, but he didn't see much point in being dramatic.
"I assume you want us to snuff out this infestation?"
"What I'm more focused on is what that means."
Belos then clutched onto the fire as he swiped up diagonally, putting the fire out as the last of its crimson glow faded away like a light.
"There is a portal to the Human Realm out there in Bonesborough."
Neither Lilith, the Princess, nor Crimson liked the sound of it. They were already aware of their history with humans since the infamous Witch Trials. If a portal fell into the wrong hands, it could mean total genocide. And that was clearly something they didn't want. Lilith bowed her head to him as she made her vow.
"Don't worry, Emperor Belos. I swear we'll search and destroy those humans so that they can never take another witch's life again."
Belos only set his hand upon her head, making her look up to him as he gave a different order than what she had in mind.
"Oh, no. You misunderstand, Lilith. I don't intend for you to destroy them. Only that you study the humans who came here."
Lilith looked at him in puzzlement. What would he need with the humans if not to destroy them?
"What? What for, my lord?"
The princess had a guess as he crossed his arms. She supposed that it's to judge whether or not they were to be made examples of.
"Of course, father. You intend to be certain of their intentions."
Belos turned to his soldier and nodded.
"Blunt and concise as always, I see, Heather."
Heather bowed in respect while Lilith and Crimson gave her a small scowl. Belos summoned the red flame again, showing an image of torches and pitchforks from the Human Realm, followed by the shift to show the witches dancing around the flames. Then, it showed Ben and Luz within said flame as Belos spoke on of their sentence, burning away to embers.
"The fact that they somehow found their way here is a concern, given our history. But panic prior to the Day of Unity is the last thing any of us want. If they turn out to be our enemies, then our law will be upheld, and they will be executed summarily."
Lilith could feel herself quaking from the tone in her emperor's voice.
"Y-You make your point quite vividly, Emperor Belos. And… if they don't?"
Belos' blue eyes glowed brightly as he answered.
"Then the Titan will have big plans for them both…"
End Jeff Williams Music: "Divide Pt. 1" (3:55)
The next morning, the sun was rising up upon the entirety of the Boiling Isles, the island that exists thanks to the remains of a fallen Titan. And as it did, many of its residents wanted to go back to sleep. A few of them even shut their windows' blinds just to preserve their sleep. But there were quite a few that didn't operate that way as some of them had many students walking out of their houses and walking out as if they were going to work. Every other house in Bonesborough had this kind of daily routine. However, there was one house which didn't operate this way: the house of Judith Clawthorne.
And as the sun's light went closer to it, the Hippogriff that was out on the front lawn let out a yawn as the sunlight continued to travel onto Cawworth. The moment the light went onto him, Cawworth began to let out a squawking screech as he spoke aloud.
"The Dawn has come! The Dawn has come!"
Inside the house, Ben was tossing and turning as he grumbled. In his head there were flashes of a portal that glowed brightly, followed by those of a Hippogriff that scared him to death the first time he saw it as it roared. And the most shocking of all was Ember as she prepared to attack with a loud scream as her arm got torn off and sprayed black blood on the floor, and her arm fell down to the floor along with it, forcing Ben to shoot out of bed as he exclaimed in dread, as if waking up from a nightmare. As Ben took his breath to calm himself, he began to look around at his surroundings, which at the moment appeared to be his new room. It was enough for him to know: it was no dream.
"Aw, hell…"
He was hoping it was all a dream. Then, at least, he'd have one less thing to worry about. Although, it wasn't like he could go back to the Human Realm, either. His hands were tied. Ben looked around his new bedroom, hoping to find something to distract from his crisis. That's when he noticed a door on his right.
"I wonder where this thing leads…"
Endeavoring to answer that question, Ben opened it and found, to his surprise, a private bathroom. It had white marble floor and walls and a small sink with a big mirror above it. On the left of the mirror was a white clean toilet with a red mat in front of it, a metal bar with red towels on it next to a bathtub, as well as an enclosed space with marbled floor and a glass door with a metal shower head hanging over at the top of it. Ben was sure his mind must be playing tricks on him, because he never recalled having a room like this back home.
"I even have my own bathroom, too? What is this place?"
Just then, Ben heard a knock from far away. He hoped it wasn't the landlord of whoever owned the place, because he didn't have any rent money on him that he knew of, let alone any idea of how he got there to begin with. Still, he had to find out sooner or later.
"Coming!"
Ben went out of the bathroom and headed towards the door on the far right side of the bed. And when he opened it, he found Judy waiting for him with a smile. And she was dressed in a different outfit than he saw her in yesterday. She was wearing a dark gray belt, cowl, and boots with a light blue color on her leggings and sleeves.
"Morning, Ben. How'd you like your new room?"
Ben widened his eyes in disbelief. That was his new room? How did it come to that point? It wasn't like it was going to be a permanent stay. She had to know that. Although, it was better than having to sleep outside.
"It's, uh… really great."
Judy smiled at him, happy to hear his answer.
"I'm glad you liked it."
This only raised another question in Ben's head. The main topic was about her father. Fidge had to have told him about it by now.
"And, uh, what did your dad think about that?"
Judy smiled back at him before she held her hand out to him.
"Well, why don't you go see yourself?"
Ben wasn't sure if he should take her hand or not, but Judy looked certain that he had nothing to worry about. He hesitated for a moment, but Ben eventually took her hand before he walked out of his room with her and walked down the spiral staircase. When they got to the first floor, Judy and Ben heard a fine-toned voice in front of them.
"Ah, I thought I heard pitter-patters of little feet coming down my way."
The source of the voice walked into view, showing his greeting smile to Judy and Ben. He was a tall, lithe, and dark man with silver-golden yellow eyes resembling an eclipse, pale white skin, and glossy black hair that was styled to come out as slick, sharp spikes from the back of his head. As for his outfit, he wore a long-sleeved two-tone dark gray cloak and dark gray-laced boots with an obsidian gemstone in the shape of a raven on his chest. Ben began to look unnerved by his appearance as Judy came over to him.
"Dad, there's always a pitter-patter of little feet every day. It could've been Fidge."
Judy gave her father a hug before he stroked her hair gently. It always did his heart good to see her smiling. However, as much as he liked to hold her, he caught sight of her human friend standing behind in anxiety as he finished the hug before his smile faded, and he spoke out to Ben in astonishment.
"So it is true. There really is another human in the Boiling Isles."
Ben didn't know if it was meant to be a good thing or a bad thing, considering mankind's role in the Connecticut Witch Trials. Regardless, he had to say something to let him know that he isn't being ignored.
"Uh… hi, Mr. Clawthrone, sir."
Lawrence walked towards the young man with a suspicious look, further unsettling Ben. Judy saw this and became just as concerned for him, hoping he wouldn't be as judgmental as her mother was. Lawrence leered down upon Ben as he spoke.
"I trust I don't need to remind you how humans are seen in the Boiling Isles?"
Ben held his tongue for a small moment before he answered him.
"Yeah, I… kinda figured that out yesterday."
Lawrence looked down upon Ben's hand where Lilith's claw marks were made before he looked back to him.
"I imagine you have. But you needn't worry. If what Fidge described was true, and it usually is, I'm quite certain you have grown out of such a savage mindset your ancestors harbored over 300 years ago."
Ben drew out a sigh of relief as he concurred with him while Judy bore a smile on her face again, relieved her father didn't harbor such a distrustful mindset. He hadn't seen anybody act out of superstition or hearsay, apart from his father, that is. But he's had enough of him for a lifetime. As far as he's concerned, he had no father.
"Well, yeah. Yeah, you don't have to worry about me, sir."
Lawrence put his hand on Ben's shoulder, forming his smile back as he replied.
"Please, call me Lawrence."
Ben looked back at Judy before she gave him a nod, making him feel more welcome than he was yesterday. This was more than enough reason to make him want to stay here. But his face sunk in sadness for a moment as he remembered why he left home in the first place. He was on the run for possibly murdering his own father. If Lawrence ever found that out… he'd be thrown out and fed to the Hippogriff. If he wanted to learn more about himself, he had to keep that a secret, at all costs.
Not much later since then, Ben, Judy, and Lawrence were sitting on the table with one empty chair in a small room that passed for a kitchen. Ben looked at the food on his plate in curiosity as he jabbed at the egg with his fork. It didn't look any different from the food he had back home, but he had to ask just to be on the safe side.
"So, uh… what did you say the breakfast was, Lawrence?"
Lawrence looked to Ben as he answered him.
"Oh, it's quite simple, really. We're having scrambled Griffin eggs, torched toast with blood jam, wartfrog bacon, and Orangeblood."
Ben had a look of concern just from hearing what they were called, especially the wartfrog Bacon. He didn't know what kind of effect they'd have on him, much less how they'd actually taste. The human looked over to Judith as she was drinking the Orangeblood.
"And, uh… how do they taste, actually?"
When Judy finished her drink for the moment, she set the cup down before she spoke to him.
"Well, it can't be much different from what you have for breakfast, right? At least, I wouldn't think so."
Ben knew she had a point. But if there's one thing he learned back home, it's that he can't judge a book by its cover. It made him anxious to even consider trying it, but he didn't want to be rude, especially not for how he's been welcomed. Ben cautiously stabbed the egg onto his fork and picked up a piece before he took a bite. The moment he did, Ben's eyes widened in astonishment. The food tasted better than he thought it would be. In fact, it was the best thing he could've eaten.
"Whoa! This is really good!"
As Ben began to chow down on his breakfast with eager anticipation, Lawrence gave Ben a smile.
"It should be no surprise. Fidge worked tirelessly to present us this meal."
Fidge took Lawrence's hand before he was lifted up into the chair and sat down as he spoke his elation.
"Thank you, Master Clawthorne. I live to serve."
Ben looked at Fidge in puzzlement. Now that he had a better look at him, the way he appeared reminded him of a certain house elf from one of the Harry Potter books he read. As Ben ate, Lawrence spoke up to Judy.
"So, how are things at Hexside for you, Judith? Not too troubling, I hope."
Ben had a look of puzzlement on his face as Judy answered him with a straight face.
"Not really, dad, no. Although, Canker's been on my case again about making some brand new abomination that'll put Amity Blight's to shame. I don't blame him, but still."
Lawrence gave Judy a light scoff before he spoke.
"No more so than usual, I assume. But I always said: the key isn't to be the best. It's-"
"To do your best. I know, Dad. You always say that."
"And you are all the better for it."
Ben looked at Judy as she made a light laugh, confused with how casually she talked about most of the words he didn't understand in context. Though he had to admit he didn't want to keep pestering them with questions, he still needed to know regardless.
"Uh, what is Hexside, exactly?"
Judy turned back to Ben for a moment. Then, a second after, she remembered that Ben hadn't stayed in the Boiling Isles long enough to know what Hexside was.
"Oh. Right, you didn't know. Well, Hexside is actually a school for magic."
Hearing this, Ben was reminded of another school of magic.
"Oh, yeah. Like Hogwarts."
It was Judy's turn to be confused next. She hadn't heard of such a school as Hogwarts.
"Hogwarts?"
Ben felt it best to explain the concept as he spoke to her.
"It's another school of magic, but it only existed in a few books I read. Meaning it doesn't actually… exist."
"Huh. That's good to know."
Lawrence then cleared his throat, getting Judy and Ben's attention before he spoke to them.
"As Judith said, Hexside is a school. And if she doesn't want to be late, she'll have to finish her breakfast on the double."
Judy began to get back to it as she began to eat the wartfrog bacon. While she did, Ben wondered what the plans would be for him.
"And what about me? Am I going along?"
Lawrence had a lot to consider from that question.
"Well, I wouldn't recommend it. The Boiling Isles isn't too fond of humans. Besides, even if they were, I'm not honestly certain you can learn any traditional magic, Benjamin."
Judy had a look on his face that showed he was concerned.
"Actually, about that… I need to tell you about something."
"And what's that?"
Judy whispered into her dad's ear about the event. Her father's eyes widened in suspense as he looked upon the boy.
"What…? You're telling me he actually—?"
Judy nodded as she answered.
"Yeah. But he doesn't look like a witch. You don't think…?"
Judy and Lawrence looked at Ben in curiosity, puzzling the boy.
"What?"
Immediately, Lawrence sat up from the table, summoning a black Raven staff, shaped nearly identical to a scythe. It must be his Palisman. Ben gulped to himself, fearing for the worst. He was gonna execute him…! Lawrence saw the fear on his face as he tried to reassure him.
"Relax, Benjamin. We're just going to examine your insides."
Ben held his hand over his chest.
"By cutting me open?!"
Lawrence stopped for a moment. Ben's customs must be very bizarre to him for the boy to think that way.
"No. We're just taking a look at you."
Ben felt the weight lifted off him as he took a sigh of relief.
"Thank God…"
Judy and Lawrence both showed confusion for a moment before Lawrence cleared his throat.
"Anyway, let's move on. Now, hold still, if you please."
Suddenly, Lawrence's Palisman opened its fierce amber eyes, acting as a searchlight that zoomed on his arm, exposing the muscle, veins, and sinew within. Ben gasped at the sight as he tried to cover it, only for that hand to be exposed, bones and all.
"I said hold still!"
Ben quickly removed his hand and kept his gaze on the small beacon of light as it traveled along his body.
"Right. Sorry."
The light kept traveling down, showing off more of his body before it suddenly stopped dead center at his heart. But what he saw was a great concern: behind his heart was a large, pulsating green organ attached to his heart. The image of it was enough to make Ben gag as Judy and Lawrence gasped in awe. Judy walked over to him as she responded.
"You do have one…"
Ben was trying to keep himself from throwing up as he spoke to her.
"Have… what?!"
"A bile sac. The one that holds our magic."
Ben's eyes widened in astonishment as he looked at Lawrence and Judy.
"Wait. You're telling me I can do magic because of that thing?!"
Lawrence ceased his magic X-Ray as he answered.
"It's part of a witch's biology, Benjamin. The fact that you possess one shouldn't be possible. Unless…"
Lawrence had an idea as he looked at the young man.
"What?"
As much as he wanted to get into that, Lawrence shook his head.
"Never mind. We'll talk about this subject later. For now, we have to focus on your identity."
Ben blinked his eyes, confused by where he was getting at.
"Identity? You mean like my alter ego or something?"
"Simply put, yes. They won't give a human being a warm welcome at Hexside."
Fidge interjected as he piped up.
"What if they don't see a human? What if they just happen to see another witch?"
Judy looked at Fidge, beginning to understand his plan as Lawrence became puzzled.
"What are you talking about, Fidge?"
However, Ben was still out of the loop on the meaning of it.
"Yeah, what are you talking about? What do you mean by another witch? I'm a human. Well, I look human."
Judy looked back to Ben as she answered, getting the big picture from Fidge's suggestion.
"Of course. But nobody else would have to know. And your bile sac would actually sell it, too."
Ben then started to get the idea as he raised his eyebrows. It was starting to come together as he recalled a certain potion that can change his appearance.
"Oh. You got a potion for that, don't you?"
Judy shook her head before she gave out her answer.
"Better. I got a spell."
Judy then held her hand out before drawing a silver circle with her finger in front of Ben before she picked it up and put it over him like she was scanning him before she spoke.
"Just close your eyes, okay?"
Ben didn't hesitate to do so as she lowered it over him as a silver light came over him. When the circle touched the floor, the light left Ben before he opened his eyes. He felt a small bit of magic over him, but apart from that, not much else.
"Did it work?"
Judy's circle disappeared before she answered.
"Check your ears and see for yourself."
Ben rubbed his hands over his ears. In doing so, he felt two points at his ears, making him gasp in wonder before he spoke in surprise.
"Wait. I-It actually worked?"
Lawrence held up the mirror before showing it to Ben.
"Perhaps you can tell us."
Ben looked at himself, and found that he did have pointy ears, just like Judy and Lawrence do. He couldn't help but gasp in wonder as he felt them before he spoke.
"It worked… What exactly did you do?"
Judy smiled as she explained.
"I just cast an illusion over you. Now, as far as everyone else knows, you're just a new witch student."
Lawrence looked at Judy in astonishment before he spoke up.
"It seems you really have been improving."
Judy smiled back to her father as she spoke.
"Thank you."
However, Lawrence had a look of confusion over him.
"Although… there's no way to know how long this illusion can last. The instant they find out he's a human, he'll be marked as an intruder."
"Don't worry, dad. I'll keep the illusion running when it starts to run out. I've got some magic to spare."
"But he doesn't. He still doesn't know how to use his own."
"Yeah. But it's natural for late bloomers. My friend would know. And besides, any rule you can't break, you can always bend."
Lawrence saw the stubbornness in Judy's eyes. There seemed to be no way to talk her out of it.
"Edalyn taught you that, didn't she?"
Judy only gave her father a smirk in response before he brought up one more point to the matter.
"Well, that would depend on whether or not Ben is interested."
Judy turned to the human in anticipation. Ben saw the look on her face, riddled with eagerness. She really did want to show the Boiling Isles to him that much. But why would she? Was it because she liked him? Or because she was just eager to help him? Either way, Ben couldn't think of any other way to figure himself out except by accepting the offer.
"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to take a look. I can't just sit around the house, after all."
Having heard Ben's answer, Lawrence eventually conceded as Judy's smile practically beamed like a cheshire cat before he sighed.
"Fine. But if you end up expelled, I won't hear the end of it from your mother."
Judy looked back to her father before turning back to Ben with a smile, making him give a confused look her way.
"Sure thing, dad. I'll keep an eye on him."
Not long after, once breakfast was finished for Ben and Lawrence, the latter stood at the wall with Judy and Ben standing beside him. The young man looked at Lawrence in puzzlement.
"Uh, why are we just standing here?"
"You'll see."
Lawrence then held out his hand with his thumb on top before turning it, forming a black circle with a white outline outside it before he pushed the circle, causing the shadows to grow darker until it turned into a portal. Lawrence raised his foot, ready to take a step as he spoke aloud.
"Hexside School of Magic and Demonics."
In that moment, the shadows began to show a large building, amazing Ben as nothing like this was capable back home, not even in fiction books.
"Whoa!"
Judy saw the astonished look on his face and smiled at him.
"Cool, isn't it?"
"Yeah! It's just like in Doctor Strange!"
Judy raised her eyebrows, confused by his words.
"Doctor… Strange?"
Ben realized she had no idea who he was talking about. But rather than explain it all to her, he'd rather get it over with.
"Oh, right. You've never heard of it. I don't know what I was expecting from that."
Judy decided to jump back into business as well.
"Well, whoever he is, it's nice to know we have something in common."
Lawrence then placed his hands on their backs before he spoke to them.
"Well, off we go, then."
Lawrence gave Judy and Ben a big push, making Ben exclaim as he went through the shadow before he suddenly popped up in the middle of the school courtyard alongside Judy and Lawrence. It wasn't as grand as Hogwarts like he'd read about or seen, but it was magnificent all the same. The whole school might as well be a mini castle itself. He would still be distracted by such a sight if he hadn't felt something inside him swelling up. As he tried to keep it down, Judy checked on him.
"You okay?"
Ben turned back to Judy and reassured her.
"I think I'm alright."
However, Ben's stomach quickly proved otherwise. Every fiber in it was groaning inside him.
"Then again, maybe not…"
Ben's face suddenly turned green and his cheeks puffed out. He desperately looked left and right until he saw a nearby tree. He rushed over to it. Put his head deep in a hole and vomited his chunks with a nasty sound coming out of his mouth. Judy winced as she watched Ben upchuck in a tree. After a moment, Ben pulled his head out of the tree hole and wiped the green slime off of his mouth.
"Phew… sorry you had to see that. I guess my body just isn't used to traveling instantly through portals."
Judy made an embarrassed look on her face as she replied.
"Sorry. I should've warned you. I got sick the first time going through portals, too."
Ben could hardly believe that, seeing how she kept her composure.
"It's hard to get used to it, but it's possible."
Ben looked back towards the mansion, a part of him being interested to hear that.
"Huh. Good to know."
Ben, Lawrence, and Judy walked on as he gave his daughter some advice.
"Now, remember to keep your wits about you. Keep yourself in check. And remember-"
Before Lawrence could finish, she interjected him.
"Keep my focus on who I am. I know."
Lawrence gave a gentle laugh to Judy as he held her hand to the left side of her face.
"That's right. Just make good on those words like you always do, my little Ruby."
Judy nodded to him, returning his gentle smile before Lawrence let his hand slip from her face and he backed away into the shadow that brought him to Hexside as he spoke one last thing to them.
"Oh, and one more thing, Benjamin. Before anything else, talk to Principal Bump. He's not an easy person, so when you see him, tell him Lawrence said 'in tenebris, frater.' He'll know what it means."
Without uttering another word after, Lawrence stepped backwards to the shadow, vanishing altogether. All the while, Ben was left flummoxed by Lawrence's words.
"Uh… okay? Well, on to school, then."
Just then, before either one could move, they heard a griffin squawk behind them. When they turned around, they saw a large pigeon-like creature with angel's wings and the lower half of brown fur with a fluffy tail. And accompanying it was its owner. She had brown hair with four wefted bangs and a messy bun held together by a dark orange hair tie. She also had green eyes with one lash on the top and one lash on the bottom, and a fishhook earring on one ear. Her outfit was just like Judy's, but her leggings and sleeves were dark blue. The Griffin seemed particularly upset.
"Come on, Puddles. I know you're really eager to come with, but I'm on the Healing Track."
Puddles sadly cooed as it rubbed its head on the girl. She gave him a sad look back before she soothed it.
"Tell you what, I'll bring you in as my assistant for next week. Sound good, girl?"
Puddles cooed softly as she nestled against it. Ben couldn't help but feel it was sweet. A bit odd, but sweet. Judy walked up to them and spoke up.
"Hey, Viney. I thought you'd be in school by now."
Viney turned around to see Judy, smiling at her.
"Sorry. Puddles didn't want to be alone. Did you, girl?"
Puddles responded with a coo of a pigeon before Ben showed curiosity.
"Who's that, Judy?"
"That's Viney. She mostly does Healing magic, but she has a pet griffin. Her name's Puddles."
Puddles went up to Ben, showing great curiosity. The close contact unnerved Ben a bit.
"Uh… hi."
Puddles nestled itself against Ben's chest, puzzling him before he gently brushed it back.
"Huh. I… wasn't expecting that."
Viney smiled herself as she petted Puddles' head.
"Me neither. She must really like you a lot."
Ben smiled back with a slight giggle.
"Yeah. I guess so."
He turned his head away for a moment before muttering to himself.
"I just hope she doesn't like me for dinner…"
Viney raised her eyebrows curiously.
"What was that?"
Acting quickly, Ben spoke up and tried to deny it. His main priority was to keep anyone from finding out he was from the Human Realm, even if it was someone like Viney.
"Uh, nothing. But, I think we should get to class now. Right Judy?"
Ben looked back to Judy as she looked to her left, and then to her right. She seemed pretty anxious to meet someone in the courtyard.
"Oh, where is she…?"
"Where is who?"
Judy turned back to Ben before she held out her hand.
"Ben, before we go, I'd like to introduce you to someone else. Can you help me look?"
"Oh, uh, sure."
He turned to Viney and waved to her.
"It was nice to meet you, Viney."
"Yeah. It's nice to meet you, too."
Ben nodded to Viney and went along with Judy. She led the way into the forest to the left of the school. Viney couldn't help but smile fondly at the boy.
"He seems really nice…"
However, her full attention was back on Puddles a moment later.
"Now, let's get you back home, Puddles."
Meanwhile, every step they took led them further and further away from Hexside. He didn't know if it was any of his business, but he didn't want Judy to be late.
"Uh, are you sure there's time? We could end up being late."
"I know the same spell my dad does. Even if it did ring, I'd take us back there quickly."
"Yeah, but I'm not so sure we should…"
Just then, a feminine voice cut off Ben's words before he could finish them.
"You can do it! You can!"
Judy's ears wiggled before she turned to her right. And in that moment, she parted the bushes to see a young girl kneeling on the ground. She was a shorter-than-average chubby girl who had light skin, pointed ears, green eyes, and short, neat dark gray-blue hair with a few loose strands. She also had a pair of round glasses and the pink Hexside uniform. Judy drew out a sigh as she spoke to herself while she paced around.
"There she is."
"You can do it. Even if you get a bad grade, it's not a reflection of you as a witch. And my parents are right. There are better opportunities on this track. Now, get to school!"
The girl took a step forward and pointed confidently to herself. However, her mood quickly changed when she realized that she stepped on a flower just under her boot.
"Oh, no! Oh, little friend! I'm sorry!"
The girl knelt down and repeatedly traced a spell circle in front of it. It was a light green color with a white color inside it, a great contrast to Ember and Lawrence's spells that had a black color. Anyway, thanks to the girl's efforts, the flower perked back up and fully bloomed. Ben gasped in astonishment before Judith spoke up.
"You haven't changed a bit, Willow. I'm glad one of my friends hasn't changed."
Willow turned to the direction of Judy's voice as she stepped out of the bushes and became surprised to see her before heading over to her and giving her a big hug, as if they hadn't seen each other in a long time.
"Judy! I'm so glad you're here!"
"I should say the same. I was worried you wouldn't show up to school today."
Just then, Ben was about to step out of the bushes himself, confused at the interaction between the two.
"Uh, what am I? Chopped liver?"
Willow turned to notice Judy's new friend and became astonished.
"And who's that, Judy?"
"He's my new friend. I met him yesterday."
Ben then held out his hand to Willow as he introduced himself.
"My name's Ben. It's nice to meet you, Willow."
Willow held out her hand to shake Ben's before they clasped together as she smiled at him.
"It's great to meet you, too. But I haven't really seen you around before."
Ben was caught. He tried to make an excuse for the reason he hadn't shown up, remembering what Ember suggested about him earlier.
"Oh. Well, the thing is, I'm actually a transfer student, from, uh…"
Beforte Ben could finish, Willow's ear wiggled. Not long after, she heard something rumble from nearby. She turned to the direction it came from as she gasped. Just after that, a wagon rolled through the bushes and stopped in front of her. It was being moved by magic, carrying a pot and a girl reading a book. Upon noticing her, Ben remembered who that girl was. He almost bumped into her the other day. She looked away from the book to notice the group she stopped next to.
"Willow! Wow. You're so unnoticeable I almost rolled into ya."
As the girl gave a slight chuckle, the flower that Willow just healed wilted. Ben noticed that and looked at the girl in puzzlement while Judy and Willow gave her sour looks. While Willow's was more saddened, Judy's especially had a cross expression as she crossed her arms.
"Hi, Amity."
At that moment, Ben spoke to Judy, curious about how they knew Amity.
"Wait. You guys know her?"
"Unfortunately. Ben, meet Amity Blight. Hexside's star student."
Amity looked over the trio to see Ben. He didn't quite know what to make of the whole thing after the way they met last time.
"Uh… hey."
"Oh. It's you again."
Ben was caught off-guard for a moment before he spoke up to her.
"My name's Ben. And I haven't bumped into anyone since we last met, by the way."
Amity's glare softened a bit as she sighed before speaking to him. She seemed a bit tired as she talked to him.
"Well, good for you, I guess. But shouldn't you get to class early to prep your…"
Before Amity could finish, Willow's pot began to rattle. The group turned around to see Willow's pot as it spilled out, pouring out a purple substance and an eyeball that blinked and groaned. The slightly unnerved Ben shuddered before Amity spoke to Willow again with a condescending smile.
"Oh, Willow. You don't have anything to show, do you?"
Willow pulled up her hood as she blushed. Ben caught on to that and began to view Amity differently. When he first met her, he assumed she was more like Hermione, a character from his books that was smart and befriended Harry during his first year. However, the way she was acting now reminded him all too well about the boy's nemesis, Draco Malfoy. It was easy to see why Judy hated her so much.
"This is why people call you 'Half‐a‐Witch Willow'."
Judy scowled at Amity and spoke sternly to her.
"And you wonder why people really call you 'Blight'…"
Hearing this, Ben recalled what Ember said before. She wanted to make everyone forget Blight ever existed. It would be safe to assume that Ember must've hated her guts, too. Just then, Amity's own pot began to rattle as she maintained her smirk.
"Oh, looks like someone wants to say something to you."
Amity took off the lid of the pot before she spoke out a command with a snap of her finger.
"Abomination, rise."
In response, Amity's abomination rose from the pot, becoming more solid until it was humanoid in shape. As Ben looked on in awe, it bent out of the pot to poke Willow's forehead, leaving behind mud in a star-shape.
"You're a... star."
Amity spoke up next, maintaining her smile as she readjusted her star-shaped badge that read "Top Student".
"Aw. It's like mine. But much smaller and meaningless."
Judy snapped back at her, albeit while trying to hold in her temper and keep her wits about her as Lawrence always told her.
"You do know you're not helping, right?"
Amity's look didn't change as she made a light scoff.
"Well, probably not. But as top student, it's my duty to tell you to keep at it."
Amity put her arm around Willow as she continued.
"Even you could get a passing grade someday."
With Judy grumbling under her breath, Ben stepped up to Amity with a similar smirk as Amity's. He dealt with bullies before, back home. This should be a piece of cake, he thought. Of course, he hadn't learned magic properly yet, but it should be the same principle. At least, that's what he thought.
"Well, that'll be the day."
Judy was caught off-guard by Ben's words before she looked at him in befuddlement.
"What?"
"The day Willow does get a passing grade is the day she becomes the Star Student. And honestly, I'm looking forward to seeing that."
As Ben stood by Willow's side, she noticed him smiling her way, making her feel uplifted where Amity made her feel downtrodden. Judy took notice of it and bore a smile before she stood by her side.
"You know what? I'm looking forward to that, too."
Regardless, Amity still held her smirk as she rolled her eyes for a moment.
"Well, that really would be the day, wouldn't it? Abomination, cower."
The creature groaned as it heeded her command and melted back into the pot where Amity replaced the pot lid and took hold of the cart.
"See you in class, superstar."
With that, Amity walked away as Judy glared at her like a hangry vulture. As for Willow, she removed her hood, her smile fading away. But as Ben looked on at Amity, her smirk eventually faded, showing a sad look on her face. Ben was caught off-guard and rubbed his eyes. But by the time they opened again, she was gone.
"What the—? Was I seeing things…?"
When Amity left, Judy sighed to herself, emotionally exhausted from having to see her of all people today. Afterwards, she turned to Ben.
"Thanks for that, Ben. I might've gone ballistic if you hadn't done that."
Ben smiled at her before he replied back to her.
"No problem. But what exactly happened between you guys?"
Judy moved her arm away from Ben before she answered him.
"That's not something we like to talk about. Especially not Willow."
Ben could make a guess, remembering what Ember said in their last encounter.
"It's about Ember, isn't it?"
Judy and Willow looked at Ben with a perplexed look on their faces, Willow especially being the most stunned.
"How do you know about her?!"
Ben rubbed his head as he answered with a nervous expression. He didn't want to tell Willow about what Ember had become.
"Well… it's a long story."
Unfortunately, as they were about to learn, just because Judy didn't go ballistic didn't mean Willow wasn't as Judy wiped the star from her forehead.
"'Oh, see you in class, superstar.' I hate when she does that. And worse, she even acts like Ember never existed!"
As Willow vented her frustrations, the wind blew leaves around her, Judy, and Ben, who became a little worried from the ominous change in weather.
"I hate making abominations. I hate getting bad grades. Ugh! I can't stand this anymore!"
Judy began to get worried as well as she tried to reason with her.
"Willow, I know you're angry, and you should be, but please calm down."
"Why?! Why should I be calm?! I HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE UPSET!"
Just then, Willow opened her eyes, which now glowed dark green as she made a distorted shout of anger. As Ben and Judy backed away in alarm, the flower that wilted earlier got lost amongst giant thorny roots that burst out around it. One by one, they rose up, threatening to overtake the whole forest as Ben looked on in worry.
"Uh, Judy, does Willow always do stuff like this?"
The thorned roots surrounded Willow, glowing and writhing angrily as Judy answered him.
"It happens more often than you think…"
Just then, one of the thorns snaked out towards a bush and pulled away someone as the victim gave out a scream before it dropped her to the ground behind Willow. Ben and Judy noticed the victim and immediately recognized her as they shouted intermittently.
"Luz?!"
Willow turned back with a glare towards her as Luz looked at Willow in astonishment. However, Ben could already see the worst-case scenario. Ember wanted so badly to get rid of Amity's fame that she'd do anything to make it happen, including killing a Hippogriff. Ben didn't want to imagine what Willow would do to Luz as he shouted at her.
"Hey! You leave Luz alone!"
Ben rushed after her to stop Willow from attacking Luz. However, Willow noticed Luz and already realized what she almost did as she gasped and snapped out of her rage, leaning forward worriedly and letting the roots fall, making Ben confused as the thorns retreated to the ground.
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no! I'm so sorry!"
When she knelt down, Willow saw the roots were still wrapped around Luz's legs. To fix that, she made a wave before they retreated as Luz spoke up to her reassuringly.
"It's okay. The thorns only went through a few layers of skin."
Willow drew closer to Luz curiously, forcing her to lean back a bit. Luz was confused for a moment before Willow noticed her ears. It wasn't anything like hers. And it proved to be a dead giveaway.
"So... circly."
While Luz squealed and covered her ears, Ben once again assumed the worst as he spoke to Judy under his breath.
"Oh, crap! She knows! Judy, please tell me you know a sleep spell!"
However, the look on Judy's face suggested that she wasn't as concerned as she was yesterday.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that with her."
A moment later, Willow instead showed an elated look on her face as she gasped and began to grab Luz's face in astonishment before helping her stand and walked around her.
"You're human! This is astounding! A human on the Boiling Isles! How'd you get here? What are you doing here?"
Ben was caught completely off-guard as Judy smiled.
"See? Not everyone hates humans."
Ben only covered his own ears as he spoke under his breath.
"I thought you said they hated humans…!"
Judith leaned closer to Ben as she whispered back to him.
"I said they weren't welcome. They're usually seen as more of a… pest?"
"But you said they've never been welcome since the Savage Ages, whatever that is!"
"There were a few people that hated humans, but they moved on a long time ago."
Ben sighed with exasperation in his voice. On the other hand, though, it's nice to know that not everyone was out to get him. Suddenly, they heard the bells ringing from far away. Willow flinched at the sound before she put Luz's arm down and had a somber look on her face.
"Uh, I'm sorry. I can't stay. I have to go disappoint my teacher. It was nice to meet you, humans."
Willow walked away to be beside Judy as she made a half-wave, with Luz doing the same back to her. But before she could go, Luz rushed after her and spoke up.
"Wait! I'm Luz. And you're Willow, right? What you did with that flower and those plants, it was... wow."
"Thanks."
Then it occurred to Ben. Willow didn't like to do Abomination magic, but she had an aptitude for plant magic, and on a frightening scale, no less.
"Wait a minute. If you're so good at plant magic, then why don't you just do that?"
Willow maintained her sad look as she answered Ben solemnly.
"Because I'm not even supposed to be doing plant magic. My parents put me in the abomination track at school."
Luz squealed in excitement. Of course she'd be excited about anything related to magic. She always was a fan of it, not that he'd blame her. Luz grabbed Willow as she made certain Hexside was what she thought it would be.
"Like, magic school?"
Willow confirmed it with a nod, making Luz let go of her as she expressed her excitement.
"That's so cool! I'm so jealous."
Judy was confused on why she'd want to go to Hexside when she could train with the self-proclaimed most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles.
"Why would you be? Isn't training with Aunt Eda enough?"
"Well, the thing is, her lessons are a bit untraditional. I bet she wouldn't even let me enroll. But I wish I could spend one day there."
Ben crossed his arms as he spoke to her.
"Well, unless you can somehow make everyone believe that not all humans are bad, I don't think it's ever gonna happen."
Luz was quick to be defensive from Ben's comment.
"You don't know that! Maybe I could!"
"Really? Did you even pay attention to history class?"
Luz put on her thinking face as she "Mm-hmm'd". Ben had a flat look, knowing his point was made.
"Exactly my point."
Willow, on the other hand, had a different wish in mind.
"And I wish I could get a passing grade for once. Then people would stop calling me 'Half‐a‐Witch Willow.'"
Willow kicked at her spilled abomination, which groaned as the eyeball rolled away. Just as it did, Ben pondered the meaning of her being 'Half-a-Witch,' but even he knew it had to be an insult. She showed great prowess in Plant magic, yet she failed miserably at the abomination track, the track she never wanted to be in at the first place. But that didn't stop Luz from getting an idea.
"Hey, wait. I know how we can both get what we want."
Judy and Ben looked to Luz, wondering where she was going with it. She picked up the abomination goo in both hands and splashed it on herself.
"Make me your abomination. I'll get you a good grade, and you can get me into magic school. It's fiendishly clever."
Ben, Judy, and Willow were puzzled by Luz's idea as they spoke at the same time.
"What?"
"I saw that girl's thing. It's just chunks of stuff that talks weird. I'm chunks of stuff, and I talk weird!"
Willow made a soft giggle as she saw her point. However, Judith saw through the whole scheme. She knew Amity all too well. Even if they did give her a passing grade, she wouldn't take it sitting down, and neither would Principal Bump.
"That's true."
Ben only added a vital point to expose a fatal flow in her plan.
"That is a disaster just waiting to happen, Luz. It doesn't matter if we're seen as pests or monsters. Once word gets out that we're humans…"
Ben drew his finger over his neck as he made an awful sound that suggested slicing.
"We'd be dead. And if you don't mind, I like my head where it is, thank you very much."
Luz held her hands over her head cautiously.
"It would be pretty messy without my head…"
However, Willow only grumbled sadly from Judy's rebuttal before she sat down.
"Well, guess I'll have no choice but to resign my name to 'Half-a-Witch Willow' forever…"
Judy began to feel guilty from the look on her face. She hated to see Willow this way. It's been an especially rough time for her. Letting her down was the last thing she wanted.
"Hey, easy, Willow. I could help."
Willow perked up, especially with her ears shooting as high as they could go.
"Really? You'll help me out?"
"Of course, Willow. What are friends for?"
Willow perked up a little bit as she gave Judith her thanks.
"Thank you, Judy."
Ben, on the other hand, had a look of worry on his face.
"Am I the only sane one here…?"
Luz went up to Ben's side as she exhibited a cheerful take on it.
"Ben, if helping a friend in need is insane, then lock me up and throw away the key!"
Ben frowned at Luz's words of seemingly pointless optimism.
"Luz…"
"I know what I said."
"I don't think you do. You don't even know how the hell we're supposed to help. I mean, how are people not going to see through your abomination disguise?"
She didn't think it was of any consequence since they never knew of any human at all in recent years.
"Because, they've never seen a human in a long time. For all they'd know, I'm a fresh batch. So, you in?"
Knowing how quick she was to volunteer herself to be Willow's abomination, especially without thinking of the consequences, Ben made himself clear.
"Of course the hell not! They can't know that two humans intruded here, ever!"
Luz tried to disprove him with his own ears.
"And what about you? Your ears are…"
However, when Luz tried to expose them, she lost her train of thought. She noticed that they weren't circly like when she saw them before.
"...are just like a witch's! You are a witch after all!"
Ben raised his voice to get his point across.
"Luz! I'm serious!"
Luz jumped back, realizing that she went all up in his face as she became embarrassed.
"Right. Sorry. But how did you get those ears?"
Ben only sighed before he made it clear to her.
"It's just part of Judy's illusion spell so I can blend in."
"Oh… That makes more sense."
"And for the record, I'm not a witch. I'm not like them."
Luz showed a genuine look to him. She could tell he was down in the dumps. After what happened last night, Luz wouldn't blame him. He was pretty vulnerable back then.
"Well… how do you know that?"
Ben held his arms around his shoulders, not wanting to think about it one moment more.
"I… I don't know. I don't even know where I'm supposed to belong. But I can't afford anyone else to find out about what I am. I don't know what I am yet. But the moment they start to guess… it's all over."
Luz frowned softly towards him. She couldn't stand to see him upset. She did help him when she needed him, even if it did turn out disastrous. She needed to repay him.
"Ben, it's going to be okay. Nobody's gonna know."
Ben didn't exactly have much faith, considering how her antics usually turned out.
"And how can you say that for sure?"
Luz pointed to Ben's "witch" ears and then to Judy.
"Judy helped you out before, right? So, as far as everyone knows, you're just a new student. And I'm… an a-nomination."
Ben made a frown at Luz's quip.
"Please don't say that again…"
"Just please, Ben. Let me do this for Willow."
Luz gave Ben her pleading puppy eyes. In his effort to avert his gaze from them, Ben looked out towards Willow, who had a sad look on her face while Judy had a look of concern. It was obvious that she was worried about Willow. And he didn't want to turn his back on someone who needed help, either. Ultimately, Ben sighed in defeat before he turned to Luz.
"Okay, Luz. But promise me, you'll take it seriously. For both our sakes."
"Don't worry, Ben. You can count on me."
Ben and Luz started to shake hands, only for their hands to get stuck together.
"Oops. Abomination goo."
Luz struggled to pull her hand away from Ben's using her own foot as a foothold, only for her to stumble back when it snapped and fell to Willow's abomination goo leftovers.
"Great plan…"
Ben wasn't too convinced by her plan, but thanks to Judy, it wasn't entirely hopeless.
"Well, at least it's convincing… Good news, Willow. You're getting your abomination."
When Ben turned around, he noticed that Judy had a smile on her face laced with a small hint of strain as a small sweat drop formed on her head. Ben became concerned as he checked up on her.
"Uh, Judy? Are you okay?"
Judy saw the worry on his face and tried to reassure him.
"I'll be okay, Ben. Let's just go, okay?"
But as Judy walked away, Ben had a bit of doubt on his face. To be fair, though, he doesn't quite understand how magic worked yet. So for now, Judy had the benefit of the doubt.
"Okay…"
Shortly after that, Ben, Judy, Luz, and Willow were on their way to Hexside as Judy showed the school to the newcomers.
"Welcome to Hexside School of Magic and Demonics. Remember to stay hidden, okay?"
Luz squealed and giggled at the sight of the huge school in front of her as she peeked from the pot she hid in. Judy looked back, appreciating her enthusiasm. Although, she was concerned about how she'd be able to blend in.
"Luz, you do know that nobody else is supposed to know you're a human, right?"
Luz nodded to her as she explained.
"Of course. As far as everyone else knows, I'm just another abomination."
Judy gave her a "matter-of-fact" look that told her she should be more in character.
"Luz, abominations don't show emotion."
"Oh, right. I'll just do my blank face."
As Luz made a derp face, the face she calls it with her tongue sticking out and her eyes being lifeless, Ben rolled his eyes at that performance, but if it'll convince everyone she wasn't a human, it would have to do.
"Well, whatever floats your boat, Luz. Judy and I have to talk with Principal Bump. And from what I heard, he's not an easy customer."
"Well, I'm sure he's a reasonable guy."
However, what Judy had to say was quite the contrary.
"I wouldn't be so sure. The last time he caught anyone trying to sneak into school, the Emperor's Coven made sure they were never seen again, living or otherwise."
It gave Ben an unpleasant feeling as he shuddered at the thought of what it could mean. If it were back home, it would be a rumor for sure. But in the Boiling Isles, anything could happen. And that's what worried him, which was more than Luz could say.
"I'm sure it's fine."
Ben had only one thought enter his mind despite her optimism.
"We are going to die…"
Inside the school, Ben and Luz were utterly speechless at what they witnessed. As far as the eye could see, which was from their end to the end of the hall, there were monster-like lockers with mouths. And even above the end of that, there were skylights with banners around them saying "Go, Banshees!". In Ben's view, it looked more like a cross between a school and a mall. Add in the fact that it taught magic, and that made it a triple threat. The group kept going until Judy and Willow stopped at their lockers, tickling them to open their mouths before the beasts gave them their books. As the lockers closed themselves, Ben raised his eyes, worried about where their stuff would end up.
"Uh, don't lockers digest that stuff if they eat it?"
Judy shook her head as she gave out a crucial detail about the lockers.
"Don't be silly, Ben. How could they do that? They don't have stomachs."
Just then, a shorter witch that was reading a magazine bumped into them. He was a young boy, noticeably shorter than Luz and Willow, with black skin and dark brown hair with lighter shades. Like all the witches and demons on the Boiling Isles, he had pointy ears. He was also wearing a grey tunic with a dark grey belt, cowl, and boots, only the color of his sleeves and leggings are similar to Judy's.
"Hmm? Oh, hey, Augustus. What's up?"
Augustus didn't bother looking up from his magazine as he spoke up to her.
"You guys would not believe humans."
This put Willow on edge already as she began to speak nervously.
"Humans? Psh. I haven't seen any. What?"
Judy bumped her elbow into Willow and spoke under her breath to her before speaking back to Gus.
"Keep it cool, Willow… Sorry about that. What is it?"
To answer, Augustus showed her the magazine's image of braces on their teeth.
"Did you know that humans nail barbed wire to their kids' teeth? But why? Maybe to make them magnetic."
Ben took a look at the magazine and it wasn't anywhere remotely close to what Augustus thought it was. He could understand how it looked, but it was a far cry from how it appeared. Judy could piece it together herself as well. She got a closer look at the magazine.
"Actually, I think it's for straightening your teeth out."
Luz, on the other hand, had a different opinion as she spoke from inside the pot.
"And for storing treats."
Judy, Ben, and Willow froze still from her voice. Gus looked at the two of them and became intrigued. He'd never seen their faces like this.
"What's going on, guys? And who's that with you?"
Judy and Willow murmured for a moment as Ben thought to himself the worst-case scenario.
"I knew it! I fucking knew it! We're going to die…!"
Willow took in a deep breath as she tried to ease Augustus into the truth.
"Okay, Augustus. We're gonna tell you something. But you have to be cool."
"I can be spool. I mean, cool."
"Okay."
With that, Judy turned to Ben and reassured him.
"It's okay, Ben. He's one of our friends. You can trust him."
Ben didn't like this, but he didn't have a lot of options other than to trust her. She hadn't let him down yet. With Ben's slight reluctance, Judy undid her spell on him and exposed his human ears while Willow turned her attention to the pot as she spoke.
"Abomination, rise."
Luz rose out of the pot and spoke out a little too enthusiastically.
"Ta-da! I'm an abomination."
Ben's eyes widened as he spoke in a defeat, starting to freak out as he smiled nervously.
"We're dead. We're dead! Everyone's gonna find out we snuck in here, and we're dead!"
Contrary to what Ben thought, Augustus was more surprised than horrified.
"No. No, i-it couldn't be. You two are humans?!"
Ben and Luz were caught entirely by surprise with his excitement.
"Wait, what?"
"He sounds pretty happy."
Judy looked up at Luz as she explained.
"That's because Augustus is part of the Human Appreciation Society. It's a group that shows how much they care about humans, no matter what they did 300 years ago. They know that just like them, humans are… misunderstood. And, he also happens to be the president of the Human Appreciation Society. Most witches wouldn't be able to recognize a human right away. But Augustus is an expert."
As she mentioned him, Augustus went up to Ben to look at him.
"Where are your gills?"
Great. Another fanboy, he thought. As if Luz pestering him with questions wasn't enough, now he had to deal with a witch who seemed to think humans had gills. Although, in comparison to being surrounded by witches who wanted to kill him for being human, this was more bearable. Still, he had concerns.
"I worry what you think you know about humans…"
Luz then spoke up with a smile of her own as she put her hoodie back on.
"I knew an Augustus back in the human world. We called him Gus."
That only served to fuel Augustus's enthusiasm as he practically began to shout.
"Gus? Nickname?! Human nickname?! Gus?! Call me it."
Ben didn't quite know what to make of it as he agreed to such a bizarre request.
"Uh… okay. Whatever you want, Gus."
"Wow. Gus. This is the best day of my life."
While it was good to know that Gus wasn't one of the witches who hated humans, Ben wondered how something like the Human Appreciation Society existed in the first place.
"I'm sure it is, Gus. But how come you're so interested in humans, anyway? What about the torches and pitchforks? The burning at the stake? Doesn't any of that bother you?"
Gus only shook his head, keeping the smile on his face.
"Nope."
Ben's shocked expression faded, seeing that he was serious behind his smile.
"Really?"
"Really, really. Everyone knows about… the Witch Trials. But what they don't know is how humans have changed since then. Luckily, I know better. That's why I started the H.A.S."
Ben stepped back, realizing how over the top he was as he spoke softly.
"Oh. Good for you, Gus."
Just then, the bell rang, or rather it screamed, making Ben jump up from the sudden shout before Gus realized something as he picked up a wand from his pocket and picked up the magazine from the floor.
"I've gotta get to spelling class."
Judy then walked over to Gus before she spoke to him.
"We gotta go, too, guys. But first…"
Judy then did a silver spell circle before Ben's witch ears and Luz's abomination disguise returned, making Gus impressed.
"Wow, Judy. You're getting really good at this."
"I know."
With that, Judy turned to Willow and Luz before she gave them a warning as Ben walked with her.
"Just make sure you guys don't get in too much trouble, okay?"
With that, Judy and Ben walked down the hall while Gus took off for their class before they shouted.
"See you guys at lunch!"
Willow waved to the three of them before she turned back to Luz.
"Alright, into the darkness you go."
Luz hissed as she sank back into her pot.
Meanwhile, Ben and Judy were walking together by themselves to the principal's office. She had a look of excitement on her face while he had a cautious one. It didn't make any sense to him how she could be so happy. Come to think of it, he was wondering how Judy was holding up. She seemed a little tense earlier.
"So, uh… how come you're not nervous?"
Judy looked at Ben with a puzzled expression.
"What? Why would I be?"
Ben couldn't deny what he saw back then any more than what he's looking at now. She looked like she was starting to sweat.
"You look a little sweaty."
Judy was puzzled by his words. To see for herself, she wiped her hand across her forehead and saw a few drops of sweat on her hand.
"Oh. That… Doing an ear illusion for more than an hour is a bit difficult for me. But I think I can manage at least until the end of the school day. I just didn't want Willow to be worried after what she's going through."
Ben drew a sigh of relief, though it was only a moment before he realized something. He never did get to know why Amity was such a jerk in the first place.
"Speaking of Willow… what exactly happened?"
Judy stopped in the middle of the hall to take a deep breath.
"Willow doesn't like anyone bringing it up, but… if you're going to stay here, you should know. Willow and Amity used to be friends."
Ben's mouth almost dropped immediately. The thought never crossed his mind at all from their interaction.
"What? Really?"
"Yep. Me and Ember were friends with her, too. We played together when we were kids, but when Amity got her magical powers, and Willow didn't, she stopped hanging out with her."
The thought made Ben's mind circle around as he did a double-take.
"Seriously? Just because she's a late bloomer, Amity dumped her?"
Judy had an upset look as she replied.
"Not just Willow. Ember was her friend, too. She tried really hard to live up to Amity's expectations. She even stood up for us when those seagulls came at us."
That story gave Ben more context. He'd heard it before, but it sounded like back then, Ember was a good person.
"Wow. That's pretty cool."
Judy smiled from his words before remembering the harsh reality of the present.
"But, apparently, it wasn't good enough for her."
Before Judy could explain why, the bell screamed again, signaling them to drop the conversation and get a move on.
"We'll talk more about it after school, okay? We don't want to be late."
Judy began to walk off in a huff, only for Ben to remind her.
"But we needed to see Principal Bump first."
Judy stopped in her tracks and turned herself around.
"Sorry! My mistake."
Judy started to sweat more than before. Ben wanted to check in on her, but he had to admit he didn't know if it was just her spell being strenuous. He'd decided to check on her after class to be safe.
A short while later, the duo walked down the hall, seeing that the Principal's door was just across from them.
"Here we are. All we have to do is get Principal Bump to consider accepting you to Hexside, and the rest will follow naturally."
Ben sighed to himself. As far as he knew, that was the only worst part he had to worry about.
"That's a relief. Now it's just Luz I have to worry about."
Judy caught onto his tone. From the sound of it, he made it sound like Luz was a plague.
"What's wrong with Luz?"
Ben froze for a moment. He tried hard to explain what he meant. But it didn't quite help that he never got to know her as a friend. The only times he knew of her were her "creative" outbursts. The only normal conversation she ever had with her prior to the Boiling Isles was before School.
"Well… I'm just worried about her in general, that's all. You saw how she acted as an abomination. If it wasn't one of Willow's friends who saw that, we'd be dead by now. Or worse, we'd get made fun of."
Judy found it hard to believe as far as Luz was concerned.
"Come on, Ben. It's not like Luz was trying to ruin your life."
Ben couldn't believe that. Not since the Snake incident at Gravesfield High. The doctor told him he'd recover, but he'd never be the same. And who knows what that could mean? For all he knew, he might as well be dead.
"Sometimes, I wonder…"
Judy saw the bitter look on his face and nudged him out of it.
"You really shouldn't. I haven't known her as long as you might have, but I can tell she's really trying to help."
Ben was quick to show his disbelief.
"Judy, no offense, but if you asked her for advice on fitting in, she'd tell you to stand out."
Judy didn't quite see the problem with the scenario.
"But it's good advice, isn't it?"
"Not when you're a human in the Boiling Isles, it isn't. On one hand, we get to stay here, learn magic, and figure out what the hell I'm supposed to be. But on the other… painful, agonizing failure! Either we fit in here, or we die. Whether it's from sticks and stones or from societal embarrassment, we're dead, either way. Plain and simple. Why can't Luz understand that…?"
Suddenly, he heard someone else behind him.
"Personally, I think Survival of the Fittest is pretty B.S."
Ben turned around to find someone else behind him. He had mildly tanned skin, white eyes, and silver hair which both slightly spiked and fell past his shoulders in the back. He also had a similar outfit as Judy, only his sleeves and leggings were dark purple. Judy recognized him right away.
"Hey, Aliud. It's great to see you."
"The pleasure's all mine, Judy."
Aliud turned to Judy's friend and showed a look of genuine curiosity.
"And who's this?"
"This is Ben. He just transferred from Glandus."
Aliud showed immediate understanding from her words.
"Ohh… that explains it."
Ben was thrown out of the loop. He felt like he was missing something.
"Explains what?"
"What you said. 'You either fit in, or you die'? It's basically survival of the fittest. If that isn't Glandus' motto, I don't know what is."
Ben held his hand over his shoulder. Frankly, he was no big fan of the concept, either, especially when it was practically encouraged at his school.
"Yeah… I've never been a fan of that myself."
"Right? Those guys are the worst. I mean, you would know. They think they're the best at everything because they're 'so much stronger'. Well, if you're so strong, why don't you actually help people get strong? You know what I'm talking about, right?
Ben was a bit confused, but whether it was how he described the situation or because he got the gist, he understood it.
"Well… yeah. That's exactly why I left."
"Right?! I knew you'd get it!"
Judy cleared her throat. As happy as she was to see Ben get along with her friend, they had business to take care of.
"Aliud, I'm sorry to cut it short, but we're on our way to Principal Bump's office to get him enrolled."
Aliud put his hands behind his back with a carefree expression.
"Oh, yeah. Good luck with that, Ben. Not that I'd think you need any. Something tells me you'll be meeting me again soon. And you'll definitely need my help."
Ben caught onto his words as he saw the witchling smile before he walked away. Ben held his hand over his chest. He felt like his heart had actually… grown a bit. Or perhaps it was the bizarre sac inside him he saw earlier this morning. Either way, one of them skipped a beat. He'd never gotten the chance to talk to anyone else that way before, not even back home. When he talked with anyone else, it was usually a snarky comment, aside from talking with Luz.
"Huh. That was… unexpected."
Judy gave him a soft smile as she explained.
"He's cheerful like that. Just like Luz. And if I were you, I'd listen to him. He's in the Oracle Track, so he can see the future."
Ben's eyes widened immensely from her words.
"See the future? Wait. Does that mean he–"
"Already knows you're human? No. It's actually a bit more complex than that."
"How?"
Judy only held onto Ben's hand and walked him to the office nearby.
"I could tell you, but it would go a lot faster if Principal Bump explained it to you."
Just then, as if on cue, the door began to open, revealing a tall man in a robe known as Principal Bump looking down on them. He was an older man, presumably due to the wrinkles surrounding his upper lip. His skin was light beige, and he had teal eyes with bright yellow sclera. He seemed to wear a red imp on his head, covering half of his face, which gave him the appearance of being consumed by said imp. His robe appeared to be a traditional academic dress consisting of a long black gown with a gold yoke, a black cape, gold trim at the sleeves and cape hem, plus a blue stole draped over his shoulders. As Ben grew timid and stood up straight, the principal seemed surprised to see the two of them as he spoke up.
"Ah. I wasn't expecting to see you, Judy."
Judy smiled at the principal, albeit a little more nervously.
"Hey, Principal Bump."
Ben was the most nervous out of the two. And he caught wind of it right away.
"Although, come to think of it, I haven't seen you before. Who exactly are you, young man?"
Ben gulped a lump in his throat as he introduced himself.
"My name's Ben Kingston, sir. And I was thinking I could, uh… browse around here a little bit."
Judy explained the situation as she leaned close to him.
"He's a transfer from Glandus. He's just not used to positive reinforcement."
Principal Bump looked at the two of them suspiciously, particularly to Ben. Afraid that he might end up being thrown out regardless, Ben piped up.
"W-Wait! There's something else, too!"
The principal looked at Ben curiously before he went on.
"Lawrence says, 'In Tenebris, Frater.'"
The instant he said this, Bump's eyes widened.
"You know Lawrence Clawthorne?"
Ben nodded to him as he explained.
"Uh, yeah. I do."
Bump stroked his chin in contemplation with his pointer and thumb before he answered.
"Come inside. And Judy, hurry back to your class. If you're late, I'd never hear the end of it from your mother."
As he walked back inside, Ben looked at Judy with a puzzled look.
"What did I say?"
Judy winked at him as she replied.
"You'll see."
Ben gave her a smile back, though he couldn't hide his worry as he followed closely behind him to the Principal's office and closed the door. Inside the office, there were rows of chairs lined up by the balcony window, as well as two of them placed in front of his desk. Along with it were 9 flags hanging on the wall behind him. They each showed a yellow potion, a purple ghoul-like orb (which Ben assumed was the Abomination class), a green flytrap, a blue hand, a red fist, an orange beast within an egg, a light blue mirror, a dark red harp, and a dark purple seeing eye. Principal Bump sat by his desk before prompting the boy.
"Now, why don't you take a seat?"
As the Principal instructed, Ben sat down in their chairs, anxiously waiting for what he had to say to them. After five seconds of otherwise short silence following him taking their seats with the Principal drawing in a deep breath, he spoke out to the teenager.
"I suppose you're wondering why I've called you here, Benjamin."
Ben held his hands together as he tried to guess.
"Well… is it to see if I'm good enough to be here?"
Bump leaned himself back on the chair.
"Very perceptive, I see. And rightfully so, too. I suppose you would be, considering the fact that it's your first day. But if Lawrence favors you, then I trust him with my life. So you're not in any trouble."
Ben sighed with relief. As far as he knows, the hard part was over. Then, Bump went closer to him, standing up from his seat.
"That said, if I catch you causing any trouble, then you'll be banned, and you'll be on your own. So, try not to cause trouble, for your sake."
Bump glared at the boy as he said this, sending chills to Ben's spine. But he had to say something to let him know he got the message.
"You got it, sir."
Ben wasn't quite sure how to feel from Bump's answer, but he had to show gratitude, even if only to keep from getting on his bad side.
"However, I have to ask. Where exactly are you from?"
Ben gulped a bit nervously. He didn't know what to say to him that could possibly throw off his suspicions. All he could think of was something at the top of his head.
"Well, uh… it's actually a funny story. I, uh… I was actually kinda on my own. So I don't really technically live anywhere…"
Bump glanced at Ben with a rather suspicious look. Ben wasn't feeling comfortable with the silence until Bump spoke.
"Oh. I see. I don't suppose I'll need to ask about your family then."
Ben felt more anxious than before, quickly shaking his head. The principal sat down and mulled it over before Ben spoke up, unable to deal with the suspense any longer.
"Well, uh… anyway, I'll try not to get in trouble. But, uh… where exactly should I go?"
Bump kept his gaze on the boy as he shook off the suspicion (at least for the moment) and pointed out the flags behind him.
"Well, you can choose one of the nine coven tracks here at Hexside. But seeing as you aren't officially enrolled yet, I'm afraid I can only offer one place to you for the time being."
"Oh. What is it?"
Moments later, Ben was shown to a room that was a little more morbid than the others. It had a bit of a gray color all around the room. Bump spoke to the young boy as he walked inside.
"Until you figure out which Coven you wish to study under, you're to stay here in the Study Hall."
Considering the bleak color, Ben had it mistaken for something else.
"Huh. I thought it was a detention room."
Bump pointed to another room down the hall.
"Oh, no. That's the detention room."
Down the hall, three red eyes opened up and enlarged its mouth like a monster ready to eat its prey. Ben shivered at the sight, already picturing a monster deep within this school at this very moment.
"I don't think I want to go there…"
Bump tapped his hand on his shoulder, diverting his attention back to the study hall.
"That's what they all say. Mostly because it's true. Anyway, you can learn more about the coven system right here, where you won't be able to draw any unwanted attention."
Ben drew a sigh of relief.
"That's nice."
Bump summoned a pamphlet before handing it off to him.
"This pamphlet will tell you about the history of Hexside and the Coven System in general. Once you've overseen them and made your decision, report back to my office and let me know. I made the cover myself."
Ben took a look at the pamphlet he had in his hand. It was titled "Hexside Facts and Trivia". On the back of it was a picture of Bump with a smile on his face with a quote below that said, "Education is the real magic."
"Huh. That's actually a neat picture."
Bump gave the boy a smile as he replied.
"I'm glad you approve. Now, once you've learned everything you need to from this pamphlet, report straight to me and let me know your decision. Until then, have a nice day."
With that, Principal Bump went out of the room and closed the door, leaving Ben alone in the room. He sighed to himself and looked around.
"Hmm… Well, seeing as I'm the only one in here, I guess I might as well just… sit and read."
Ben went over to a chair and sat down on it before he opened it up.
"Okay, where do I learn the coven stuff…?"
But when he opened it up, he saw a surprising thing: it looked like Hexside had a civil war of its own, at least from what he could see. Bump was in his younger days, standing on top of a large demon with a cheap buzzcut.
"Whoa…! I am so glad my school was not like this."
Meanwhile, as Ben read the pamphlet, Crimson, Lilith, and Heather were walking towards Hexside as they looked all over the place outside. Lilith seemed especially nostalgic.
"This place brings back a lot of memories…"
Crimson went up next to Lilith, immediately showing his displeased look.
"We're not here for nostalgia, Lilith. We're here to spread the word about the human intruders and capture them."
Heather gazed towards the doors as she spoke in her usual tone.
"Crimson is right, but our real objective is to learn what their purpose is here."
Heather held her hand out, forming a small red flame and holding it in front of Hexside, making it appear to be caught on fire.
"Rest assured, if they have any intention to harm our fellow witches, they won't live long enough to regret it…"
Over the course of the next hour, Ben read over everything in the pamphlet. Literally everything. Ordinarily, he would've ignored it all, but with how little he knew about the Boiling Isles, he had to understand as much as he could. Otherwise, he'll risk exposing his identity as a human, or worse: an intruder. And he was not going to go down that road.
Anyway, from what Ben gathered, he'd read about how vital the Coven System was to the Boiling Isles, especially taking in the Savage Ages. Judy told him before that humans were mostly seen as pests back then as much as they are now. Still, he wondered how it's possible that those people could just forget about everything the humans did to them. How could such a thing ever be possible? As much as he needed to find an answer to that, he read onwards. But it wasn't the only thing he did.
He was trying to see if he could get any spell to work. He had yet to learn how that big bile sac in him could even help him use magic to begin with.
"Let's try… Alakazam!"
Ben thrusted his hand out, expecting something to come out of his hand like lightning, only to turn up short. Ben frowned from this failure before he tried a second attempt.
"Okay… Abracadabra!"
Again, nothing happened. Ben thrusted his hand forward regardless to cast a spell.
"Open sesame!"
The instant it left his mouth, however, Ben's face made a sour look.
"I don't know what I was expecting. That's a lock thing."
In the end, he only shrugged his shoulders before he went on with his reading.
"'Until 50 years ago, the witches and demons practiced dark and corrupt magic that fueled chaos and madness that afflicted the souls of their users. Then, one day, the Coven System was established by a safe named Belos, who led his people to prosperity through order.'"
Ben set the pamphlet down on the desk and looked it over. In a way, it somehow made sense to him. Ember was powerful enough to bring down the Hippogriff. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that she must've cursed herself for this power. She must have tried to please Amity with this power somehow. No. She tried to be better than her…
"So that's why Ember's gone crazy. That black blood, the curse… it must've been dark magic she used. All because she wanted to prove something to her."
Ben put the pamphlet back in his pocket. As earth-shaking as this revelation was, he couldn't afford to tackle it when he's trying not to be sniffed out as an intruder. And besides, odds are that Judy already figured it out from the beginning. He looked at the Coven sigils and went over them, stopping at the Beast-Keeping Coven.
It reminded Ben about the Hippogriff he somehow managed to tame earlier, along with Puddles, who tried to follow Viney to school. Perhaps he could try applying there, he thought.
"Huh. I did have a way with animals. Maybe I can try that."
With his decision made, Ben closed the pamphlet and stuffed it in his pocket. Then, he walked out of the study hall and went down as he spoke to himself in concern.
"I just hope Luz didn't pull another Luz…"
Suddenly, Ben felt someone bump into him from behind. He nearly stumbled to the floor, but he managed to regain his footing.
"Hey, you wanna watch where you're walking?"
He turned around to scold the person who bumped into him, but to his surprise, it was none other than…
"Wait. Amity? You bumped into me?"
Amity started to blush in embarrassment as she replied.
"I didn't bump into you. You were just in the way."
"Yeah, but… you could've just walked forwards instead of backwards."
Amity, seemingly exhausted, only sighed in frustration before she tried to move on.
"Look, I'm not in the mood, Benjamin. I've got bigger fish to—"
Before Amity could move on, she stopped mid-walk and began to get a rising suspicion in her head.
"Wait a minute…"
Ben saw the especially sour look on her face, and he could already tell it was going to be bad news. A few seconds later, he was proven right.
"You had something to do with this, didn't you?"
Ben blinked his eyes, confused for a while. But then, it clicked. However it was possible, Luz's plot worked. And he noticed Amity didn't have her badge anymore. She must be fuming over it to be suspecting him. Still, he couldn't let everyone know that he was an intruder.
"Uh… something to do with what?"
Amity went up to Ben's face and barked at him.
"Don't act stupid! I know you did something with Willow's abomination! Admit it!"
Ben only casually moved Amity's finger away from his face. If it were any closer, it would've stabbed him in the eye.
"Look, Amity, I get that you're worried about your friend's abomination, but whatever you think I did, I didn't."
Ben started to walk away, wanting to remove himself from the situation entirely. But Amity was not one to give up easily. She summoned an abomination with a wave of her hand before suddenly, purple goo flew out of her cart and bound Ben before pinning him to the locker. The human was caught off-guard as Amity went close to him.
"And what makes you think I'm dumb enough to believe that? I've been a star student at Hexside for five years. Five years! And then you come along, and suddenly I lost my badge. How do I know you didn't show up just to make me miserable?"
Ben was put between a rock and a very hard place at this point. Odds are, he was about to get crushed, whether he wanted to be or not.
"Now tell me the truth. What did you do with Willow's Abomination?"
Ben only glared at Amity straight to her face. However forceful and aggressive she was getting, he wasn't going to let himself quiver from a bully.
"I already told you. I. Didn't. Do. Anything."
Amity only clenched her hand, squeezing the goo around him. Ben felt like he was getting crushed from her apparent vice grip.
"You're lying! Admit it!"
Just then, Judy's voice rang out.
"BEN!"
Amity and Ben turned to see Judy rushing over to his side. She was extremely worried about what was going down between the two of them. In no time at all, Judy stepped in-between the two of them, looking very cross with Amity.
"What in the name of Titan is wrong with you, Amity?!"
Amity was dumbfounded by Judy's accusation. She hadn't expected her to take his side.
"B-But…!"
"No buts!"
Judy only forced the abomination goo off of Ben with her hands before she turned to him.
"Are you okay, Ben?"
"Well, I was a little squeezed, but I'm okay."
Amity was more than peeved to say the least.
"Y-You can't possibly take his side! He's up to something!"
It was Judy's turn to snap.
"And what? That makes you innocent?!"
Amity was caught completely off-guard by her words. She had never expected Judy to raise her voice against her like that, judging from the look on her face.
"Did it ever occur to you that after everything you did to us, you never deserved that badge in the first place? Because if not, I fail to see how we ever became friends."
Ben understood exactly what she meant by her words. She must still blame her for what happened between them. Without any hesitation, she took Ben's hand and walked away. But as they took off, Ben looked back with a look of remorse. He couldn't understand why she was acting the way she was with him. But he knew he saw a look of sadness from before. Because that's all he could see right now.
After the duo had walked away, Amity was still staring at them. Over time, however, her shaken look quickly dissolved to her earlier angry expression. Perhaps he may not be aware of it, but she knew that someone was trying to take away her badge. And she was never going to give up.
"I will find out what's going on here… no matter what it takes."
And she wasn't the only one. Amity didn't realize that in the hall across, The Emperor's Coven elites were doing their own investigation. They have wandered the halls from top to bottom, searching for any sign of the human intruders, but to no avail. This was getting to Crimson in a rather infuriating way for him.
"Again, I'd like to ask whose idea it was to start investigating in Hexside."
Lilith turned right towards Crimson and reminded him of the situation.
"The humans were of adolescent origin, Crimson. It wouldn't be too unnatural to think that they'd try to go to this school."
Heather had a different take on the matter. For she knew of one person who saw everything in and out of this school.
"Perhaps. But what they lack is something that can't be taught to begin with. And besides, if they were here, he would know."
A moment later, Bump seemed to be in a contemplative state, tapping his fingers together.
"Just what are you up to, Lawrence…?"
Suddenly, the door slammed open, catching the Principal off-guard. He took notice of Heather, Crimson, and Lilith all together. The visit was not something he expected at all, but he did his best to be presentable.
"H-Heather! Crimson! And Lilith! What an unexpected surprise. This isn't a scheduled visit."
Heather was the first to walk up to him as she addressed the issue.
"No, it isn't. But we're here regardless because you, your students, and your faculty need to understand what's going on."
Later on, at the cafeteria, Ben was sitting beside Judy at the table with Willow, Gus, and Luz the Abomination. The duo were brought up to date on how Luz's plan went down. The good news is, Willow didn't fail. The bad news is, it made Amity more suspicious of them than ever. She even tried to interrogate Ben just to get the truth. He would've ended up dead if it weren't for Judy stepping in the way she did. Needless to say, Luz was utterly speechless.
"You're telling me all that happened after class?"
Judy nodded. She and Ben looked especially weary about the whole thing.
"Yeah. If I hadn't come along back then, who knows what could've happened to him?"
Ben was trying really hard not to break Luz's innocence, but he knew that Luz' plan was bound to backfire eventually.
"Luz, you've got to stop with this. How are we supposed to keep this up for three hours?"
Luz only scoffed with an overconfident smile.
"You worry too much, Ben."
Ben went up to the table and scolded her.
"No! I worry exactly the right amount! We're in the epicenter of danger just by being here, Luz. We've already helped Willow pass. And that's enough. So, here's what we're going to do: until the end of school, we're going to lie low."
Luz started to get a wistful look in her eyes.
"But, Ben. I still want to see the whole school, though…"
Ben saw Luz try to rise out of the pot and shouted in frustration almost completely by instinct, trying not to let his temper get the better of him. Truth be told, he should've seen that coming.
"No! Don't even move!"
Luz blinked her eyes as she sank back down.
"I was just–"
"You're moving!"
"...going to–"
"Hey, hey, hey! Just… stay… in that pot…"
Luz was in the most uncomfortable position in the pot. Her arms were stretched out like a vulture's, and her legs were crisscrossed so much, they looked twisted.
"For three hours…?"
"Yes. Exactly. For three hours. Don't even breathe."
Luz started to hold her breath. A second later, though, Ben looked to Judy for facts.
"Wait, abominations can't breathe, right?"
"Well, technically, they can if you tell them to."
Ben shook his head and cleared his throat. He had a feeling she couldn't hold her breath for that long if she tried. It might as well be the world record.
"You know what? Scratch that. Abomination, breathe."
Luz let out a breath of air before she got the gist and sat down in her normal position.
"Okay, Ben. We'll lie low."
Ben raised his hand up to her and stuck out his pinky.
"Do you promise to lie low?"
Luz smiled softly as she held her hand out.
"I promise. Pinky swear."
The two of them shook their pinkies together before Ben sighed in relief.
"Good… great."
As Ben got his nerves back together, Gus got out his sandwich.
"Hey, do humans eat PB and Js?"
Gus held out his sandwich as Luz became excited.
"Oh, my gosh. I haven't eaten real food in so long. Please, give me some."
Gus split his sandwich and tried to hand it off, but Ben snatched it. He had a feeling they didn't eat, either.
"Hold it! Abominations can't eat. Right?"
Ben looked at Judy and she nodded in confirmation. Then, he had an idea. He didn't want to let Luz starve for three hours. He didn't know if she could find anything edible here to begin with.
"Maybe they could… Abomination, take this sandwich in your mouth."
Luz smiled before she took the sandwich in her mouth like a cat and sank to the pot. Willow, on the other hand, was worried about that plan.
"I don't know, Ben. If Amity saw that…"
Suddenly, Amity jumped on the table like a jungle cat pouncing on her prey.
"I SAW THAT! Abominations don't eat!"
Ben only gave her a cross look.
"How do you know? Maybe you never told it to eat."
"You stay out of this!"
Amity stuck her head into the pot and tried to force the truth out of the "abomination", shaking Luz violently as she shouted. Little did she realize that everybody was watching the apparent meltdown before them. Even Aliud was intrigued by the development. He happened to be sitting at a table just behind them.
"I know you're in there! You can't hide from me! What are you?! Who are you?! I WANT ANSWERS!"
Suddenly, another voice rang out from behind.
"Amity Blight!"
Amity and the others spun around to see a stubby and short humanoid creature with pointed ears, a round beak-like mouth with two fangs on the top row of his teeth, and two claws on each foot. He had green, chin-length hair with a large bald spot on the top of his head with inward-facing green eyebrows and a small green beard. He was also wearing orange tinted circular glasses with no temples and narrow, slanted eyes. He had defined cheekbones as well. And the main thing was that he was being carried around by a large Abomination. Ben was confused by the look of him and he turned to Judy.
"Who's the midget..?"
"That is Professor Hermonculus. Amity and Willow's Abomination teacher."
Hermonculus' abomination walked him towards the scene as the teacher scolded her.
"I suspected a twinge of jealousy, but this? This is just sad. Not to mention an aggravated assault on a new student! For shame…"
Amity tried to talk to him, to prove that she wasn't as insane as she was made out to be.
"B-But I– no! Look at it!"
Luz only kept up the ruse of her abomination, sticking her tongue out to sell it. And thankfully, it worked.
"Report to Principal Bump's office."
"B-But–!"
"Now!"
Amity looked to Judy, hoping that she'd explain. But she only gave her a cross look. She'd made herself clear in the hallway. And she had no intention of helping her one bit. Amity only got off the table in frustration and stormed off with Hermonculus following behind her. The others looked on in worry for what could happen, but Judy kept her scowl. Ben saw the bitter look on Judy's face. He could tell she hated Amity more than anything. Ben was about to bring it up when he heard Aliud's voice behind him.
"Hey, Ben!"
Ben turned around to see him, holding a sandwich in his own hand before the boy shouted to him.
"Go after her!"
Ben couldn't believe what was coming out of his mouth. Why would he ask him to chase after someone who tried to squeeze him to death?
"What? Why would I-?!"
"Just go! Trust me!"
Ben had very little reason to trust him. But like Judy said, he was on the Oracle track. Maybe he saw something in the future that might work itself out. Hopefully, it's not likely to get him killed. Ben sighed for a moment before he spoke.
"Alright. I guess I'm doing this now… See you on the other side."
Ben took off after Amity in a huff, hoping that whatever he saw in the future wasn't going to come back to bite him. Judy was becoming quite curious about the situation herself. At the very least, she hoped it wouldn't backfire on him. Then, she realized there was another opportunity for her.
"Can you guys excuse me? I have to go use the restroom real quick."
Judy took off in the opposite direction as Luz looked on with curiosity.
"Well, she must have a nervous bladder."
However, contrast to what Luz believed, something was happening to Judy that had her scared to death. Once she was out of the cafeteria and in the hall, her hand began to make an unearthly crackle, making her cringe in pain. And her ivory skin was turning thin and pale.
Judy closed her eyes that flooded with tears, and her breathing turned ragged. She made a run for it as she constantly whispered what her dad told her.
"Keep my wits about me, keep myself in check, keep the focus on who I am. Keep my wits about me, keep myself in check, keep the focus on who I am…!"
Judy's personal mantra turned into a nervous tick as she opened the locker desperately and pulled out a small vial of red liquid. With that, she pulled out the stopper and drank it down her throat. Once she was done, she grunted while holding tightly onto the vial. Little by little, the volume diminished, as did her condition.
Her color returned to normal, andher bones shifted into place as Judy breathed softly. After a short moment of evident suffering, Judy spoke to herself.
"It can't happen… Not yet… I need more time…"
In the hallway, Ben was rushing all over the hall to catch up with Amity. For the life of him, he didn't know why he was even bothering. He didn't even know what he was supposed to say to her in the first place. But for whatever reason, he told her to go after her. Did he see something that he couldn't comprehend? It was possible with what Judy told him. That was when he realized something.
Ben knew that Hermonculus told Amity to go to Principal Bump's office. He happened to be on his way there before Amity bumped into him in the first place. Maybe he was trying to keep Ben from becoming an intruder. It was admittedly scary with how he somehow knew that. It was all the more reason for him to hoof it before Amity could get there. When he got down the hall, he saw Amity on the other side. But she wasn't the only one there. She was talking with someone familiar to him. Unfortunately, Ben recognized it right away.
"You! Explain, now!"
"Explain, what, Mittens? How you failed so miserably? I can do that."
Ben cringed from his voice. He made himself scarce, hiding behind the corner. Ben managed to scare him off once, but now? He wasn't sure if it was the right call. He would recognize him immediately, and any chance he ever had of blending in would be tossed out the window and crushed in the compactor.
"Not that bastard again…"
"Don't lie to me, Scab! I'm onto something, and we both know it!"
Scab had a smug look on his face.
"Could've fooled me. You couldn't figure it out for years."
Amity had had enough of the guy at this point and got to business.
"Listen, here! I know you had connections with Canker. He was always talking about making a better Abomination than me. So how about you just do us both a favor and tell the truth for once!"
Scab only started laughing at Amity's words before he began to mock her.
"Oh-ho-ho! That's rich coming from you! Ha-ha!"
Amity began to take offense almost immediately.
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"You want the truth? Fine. I did some digging on you, Mittens. And I know all about what you did to your Half-A-Witch friend."
Amity's snide face immediately turned fearful.
"What…?"
"I know all about how you were friends with Willow, but then you decided to cut your losses with her just because she had no magic back then. You never cared about her at all to begin with, did you? You were just using her for your own gain. And when she lost her worth, you tossed her like garbage. See, you're no better than I am."
Amity tried to counter, but Scab shut her off quickly.
"That's not–!"
"Yeah, Half-A-Witch has been torn up ever since you dropped her. And now? Now, when she finally has something to be proud of, you tried to ruin it. You can't stand her being happy at all. Because all it means is that you're not number one anymore. That's all you care about."
Amity's confidence was wavering, but she still tried to maintain her facade.
"Y-You don't know what you're talking about!"
"Oh, no?! Tell that to Ember!"
Amity's face crumbled once again as Scab continued to berate her to oblivion with Scab taking pleasure in it all.
"There's no point trying to deny who you are, Mittens. All you are is a Blight to the Boiling Isles! And it would be better off if you never existed! That's the truth!"
Amity was utterly shaken by his appalling speech. A second later, her tears began to fall down her face, broken by his words. No sound came out of her mouth but stunned silence. Ben only growled as Scab made one last scorn to her.
"Aw… is poor Mittens gonna cry? Good. Maybe go cry a river for me while you're at it."
The sneering Scab walked past Amity and went down the hall laughing to himself. No sooner had he turned left than Amity's knees quickly became weak and made her sink to the ground. Ben didn't expect Amity to be on the verge of letting her tears out, but she tried with all her might to keep herself from doing it, to keep herself from showing weakness. Her heart was racing from having all those accusations thrown at her in the face like pie. She tried as hard as she could to regain control of her breathing, but her grip was slipping.
"You… you don't know me… you don't know me at all…!"
Ben started to regret having said any of it, even if it was the truth. If he had known how deeply he was to be involved, Ben would've just walked away. But something inside him was telling her to check on her. Was that why Aliud told him to go after her? Because he knew she'd need someone to help her out? That must be the case. At the moment, he couldn't think of any other reason why he should take his advice.
Ben cautiously walked out to the young Blight, who was beside herself at this juncture. What he was doing to her wasn't fair at all. And besides, he knew about someone else who suffered that way. And he never thought to help her. He just couldn't make that mistake again. He knelt down to Amity and spoke softly.
"Hey… are you okay?"
Amity turned her head around to see Ben standing over her with his hand out. He hadn't expected her to reach out to her the way he did. She would've taken his hand, but she couldn't let herself show weakness. She feared it may be too late, but she moved his hand away to stand up on her own.
"I'm fine. I don't need any help."
Amity brushed off the dust on her leggings as Ben spoke softly.
"It didn't look that way where I was standing."
Amity's eyes widened from both shock and embarrassment.
"Wait. You saw that…?!"
Ben showed a bit of anxiety on his face as he spoke.
"Yeah… Judy actually told me about it before you bumped into me."
Amity turned her head away filled with more shame than ever. Ben only reached his hand out to her shoulder to reassure Amity.
"Listen. I know this is probably none of my business… but if it's eating you up that much, don't you think you should make this up to Willow?"
Amity forced her shoulder away from Ben as she spoke bitterly.
"It's not that simple. And why would you care about that, anyway? Why care about me?"
Ben looked Amity right in the eye as he answered earnestly.
"Because I don't want us to be fighting each other like it's Survival of the Fittest all the time. I've had enough of that for a lifetime. And I can tell you don't like it any more than I do."
Amity's face started to soften up. He wasn't holding anything against her. He didn't want to fight anyone at all. None of it was making sense to the young Blight. She tried to make sense of it with her words.
"Ben, I…"
Suddenly, the speaker system went off as someone spoke up and caught everyone's attention. It was Crimson's voice.
"Attention, students of Hexside. This is the Crimson Crow of the Emperor's Coven speaking."
Ben and Amity spoke at the same time as the message continued.
"The Emperor's Coven?"
"You are requested to congregate at the gym, immediately."
With that, the transmission ended, leaving Ben and Amity quite puzzled about the whole thing. But the former was more afraid than anything. With the Emperor's Coven involved, he's as good as done for…
Not much later afterwards, the students were standing in the gym, lined up for inspection. It was almost like a military drill, only instead of the penalty being 20 push-ups, it's the possibility of death. This was the last thing Ben wanted. And it's not just him that's at risk; it was Luz, too.
He didn't know if Willow could be trusted to hold a secret for long. She was a flustered mess just trying to keep it hidden from Gus before. He could already picture the worst-case scenario with the Emperor's Coven involved. Lilith, Crimson, and Heather stood in front of them with Principal Bump looking on beside them as Heather spoke up.
"Now then, we're sure that many of you are wondering why we've summoned you, along with why we've come here. We have reason to believe that we have found two intruders in the Boiling Isles. And worse yet, we have found that they are of human origin."
The students all clamored in disbelief. They never imagined that a human would be inside the Demon Realm to begin with, let alone in Hexside.
"A human?"
"Humans can't do magic."
Luz, Willow, and Gus all especially had worried looks on their faces. They were bound to get wise to Luz's plot right away. Luz was beginning to understand why Ben was so worried about keeping her safe and hidden in the pot. Meanwhile, Crimson was speaking out to the other students with Ben and Judy looking more and more frantic about the whole thing. He turned to his friend and whisper-shouted to him.
"How the hell did they know about us…?!"
"I don't know. But calm down. We'll figure something out."
"It would be wise for you to assume that they are dangerous and harbor ill intentions. But fret not. We, the Emperor's Coven, will snuff out those intruders. It's simple. If you are verified as a regular, and not an intruder, you will carry on as usual. But, if we determine you to be the intruder… may Emperor Belos and the Titan above have mercy on your souls…"
Ben couldn't help but gulp in fear before he spoke to himself.
"I'm so fucked…"
It was Lilith's turn to speak up. His speech made the students very very anxious. It wasn't helping them at all.
"Thank you for the uplifting words of wisdom, Crimson. Now, as Crimson has… crudely declared, we have a couple of moles inside this very school. But there's no reason for you to be alarmed. We have one method in particular to sort it all out. If the intruders are of human origin, that means they can't use magic. Is that a safe assumption?"
The whole student body murmured in agreement before Lilith continued.
"This is why we're going to do a simple spell test. If they can use any spell they excel at, that means the intruder is not one of you. However, in the likely scenario they fail to do said spell without casting so much as a flicker, they will be rooted out."
Ben was practically shaking in his boots. This was a trial by fire for him. It didn't matter if he looked like one of them; he's bound to be found out. And he'll be much worse off than a Half-A-Witch: he'd be a dead man! He tried hard to hide his fear, but Willow could see it from where she stood. Before she could look on any longer, Lilith spoke out once more.
"We'll handle this in alphabetical order by last name. First up is… Amity Blight."
Amity quickly went up. Of course, she didn't have anything to worry about. She is Hexside's star student, after all. However tense the situation was, she couldn't help but smile somewhat. For her, it was an opportunity to show what she was truly made of, especially to Scab. She made a passing glance his way with a smirk.
"For the record, Scab, I'm not perfect… yet. But I'm still leagues better than you."
Scab sneered at her with a scowl. While they took the opportunity, Ben turned to Judy with a frightened look. To think it never crossed his mind how to use spells until now…
"Judy, quick question: how the hell am I supposed to do magic?!"
Judy pointed at Amity and spoke softly.
"Just look at what she does. You'll see what I mean."
Ben looked from where Amity was standing before she formed a purple spell circle and placed it on the ground before she called out.
"Abomination, rise."
As if on command, out of the spell circle rose an abomination. It was a bit smaller than the one she showed off to Willow, but it showed that she knew a spell. Ben seemed to get the gist as his eyes widened with surprise. Judy assumed he got the picture that time.
"Oh…!"
"You see? We just cast a spell circle before anything else."
Ben started to frown with embarrassment written on his face, which Judy noticed.
"What's wrong?"
"I kept saying Abracadabra while I was reading. Is that offensive?"
Judy tried to hold in her laugh as she answered.
"More like embarrassing."
Lilith especially had a proud smile as Crimson groaned in disgust. Heather, on the other hand, seemed indifferent, though the mask made it appear that way.
"That is commendable work, Ms. Blight. Offhand, you may have a future in the Emperor's Coven yet."
Amity had a big smile on her face, knowing that the Emperor's Coven's elite would recommend her to join them someday. She made a quick bow with an eager smile, as if she wasn't being examined for finding the intruder. It made it easier for Amity to hold her smile as Scab made a sly remark.
"Maybe as a towel girl."
Scab chuckled to himself while those near him immediately had disgust. Lilith seemed to notice the whole thing, especially with Amity feeling quite upset. With one hand behind her back, Lilith made a tiny spell circle before suddenly, moments later, his own shadow came to life and hovered above him, perplexing the bully before it immediately drove its fist into his face, knocking him out with a heavy punch!
Luz, Ben, Willow, and Judy looked on in shock as his shadow retreated back to where it was while Lilith feigned the surprise.
"Oh, dear. Who could've seen that coming? Principal Bump, could you please have him escorted to the nurse's office?"
Bump saw through the ruse right away. He knew very well that Scab's shadow didn't attack him on its own. But he played along regardless. He formed his own spell circle and summoned countless other abominations to carry him on the way. Meanwhile, the battered Scab was moaning in a daze, his nose bleeding from the following concussion. Bump turned to Lilith as he spoke to her, still not entirely pleased with the behavior on her part.
"We'll need to have a talk with whoever could have sabotaged him, Lilith…"
Lilith nodded to him understandably before she glanced at Amity and gave her a small wink. Amity took notice and smiled softly to her. Judy, on the other hand, looked displeased.
"Butt-kisser…"
And speaking of…
"Next up: Judith Clawthorne."
Judy dropped her look of displeasure and turned to Ben.
"Maybe just watch what I do. It's all in the wrist."
Judy went up to the front of the students and the Emperor's Coven elite. She made a small wave to Lilith.
"Hey, mom…"
Lilith gave her a gentle smile as she nodded. Then, she went on to business.
"Now, then. Can you show us a spell?"
Judy seemed especially excited about it. She was even starting to forget it was a trial.
"Of course."
Judy took in a deep breath as she formed a light blue spell circle. And just like that… POOF! A blue cloud covered her until it went away to show something surprising. The students were all gasping with wonder and awe, especially Willow, Gus, Luz, and Ben. Judy was now shown to be in the similar outfit as her mother. Lilith was greatly perplexed as she blushed. She even made a curtsey, lifting up her skirt as she spoke.
"Have I done well, mother?"
Lilith tried to contain herself as she cleared her throat.
"Yes, Judith. You have."
Judy's spell went away with a POOF! before Judy went back to her place. When she got there, Ben had a flabbergasted look.
"You never told me she was your mom."
"I didn't think I'd have to bring it up today… so, do you think you've got it?"
Ben had an anxious look on his face.
"I-I don't know. I literally never tried before today…"
Judy placed her hand on Ben's shoulder to reassure him.
"It's gonna be okay. You can do this."
Ben gave her a smile back, feeling encouraged by his friend. Meanwhile, Crimson growled under his breath.
"I'm starting to think Lilith only brought us here under false pretenses…"
Heather didn't think it of much concern. They were here to spread the news of the intruders and identify them if possible. Whatever comes along with it is of no concern.
"At least the students are cooperating. Your methods nearly shut down our investigation before they even started."
Crimson focused back on the students, holding a resenting tone, staring in Ben's direction.
"The guilty always show the most fear. They can't help that. It's almost second nature for these miserable pests."
He looked out around the crowd to see Willow's nervous face. It was possibly the most anxious look he'd ever seen. To top it off, he saw a pot shaking anxiously. He knew he'd found the culprit.
"It's only a matter of time… Ms. Park. Step forth."
In no time at all, Willow, Gus, and Luz made shocked gasps. Judy and Ben showed especially great concern. Luz was bound to be found out, or worse… she'd be killed.
"B-But Crimson Crow, sir. Boscha was supposed to go before me. Shouldn't she—?"
Crimson had no patience for her excuse. He slammed the bottom of his crimson halberd on the ground as he demanded once more.
"I said, 'step FORTH!'"
Willow quickly conceded and carted her "abomination" with her to the front of the students, Principal Bump, and the Emperor's Coven. The girl before her, Boscha, called out to Willow.
"Just get it over with and fail already so I can go!"
Ben didn't take too well to her at all. He began to make a coughing sound with his hand over his mouth.
"AHEM! Bitch…"
Judy caught on to his word and smiled at his comeback. Meanwhile, Amity began to feel... conflicted. On one hand, Amity would know for sure that Willow was cheating to take away her badge, and she'd get some of her self-worth back. But on the other, Willow wouldn't just be mistaken as the intruder and kicked out of Hexside: she'd be tried and executed for it! Even Lilith was against it.
"Crimson! This was not the proper ord—!"
"Enough with your order! I know what's right."
Lilith grumbled as Heather looked on. Even Bump was anxious from Crimson's ruthlessness. But it was for the sake of the Isles. There was always a method to his madness, whether he wanted it to be or not. He turned to Willow and spoke to her to ease the tension.
"Ms. Park, I noticed you brought something with you."
Willow became a flustered mess as she replied.
"Y-Yes, sir! It's my new abomination."
"Really? Well, would you care to show us?"
Willow had to swallow a huge lump in her throat before she agreed.
"O-Of course… abomination, rise."
On command, Luz rose out of her pot and presented herself, making almost everyone look on in awe. The only ones who weren't were Ben, Judith, Gus, and Amity. As for the principal, he had a slight fascination with Luz. But the Emperor's Coven elite talked amongst themselves with Lilith recognizing her almost immediately.
"That abomination looked vaguely familiar."
Heather chimed in prior to Crimson.
"I agree. I'd venture to guess she must be the intruder. But there's still one more left."
"The coward will show himself soon."
Bump went up to her himself as he did a thorough examination, reaching his hand under Luz's chin and turned it to the right before turning it to the left. Luz's neck made a crack before he stood up.
"Abomination, stand out of the pot."
Luz did as Bump commanded her, keeping her spaced out face out front. Then, Crimson spoke up to it.
"Abomination, lie."
Luz began to blurt out the first thing she thought of. Needless to say, it perplexed most of the crowd.
"Uh, viral fame is a worthy pursuit. Your cat would never eat you if it got the chance. Chemtrails are real—!"
Before she could go any further, Crimson roared, slamming the bottom of his halberd to the ground.
"I SAID LIE DOWN!"
Luz squeaked as she instantly fell on her back. The hard hit to the back of her head was almost intolerable. But she had to keep up the ruse. All she could do was whimper from the pain, trying to hide her tears. Ben and Judy couldn't help but be incredibly worried for the poor girl.
They wanted to go and help, but doing so would outright expose them as intruders. And their attempt at rescue would be for nothing. The situation was getting worse as Lilith, Heather, and Crimson stood over her.
"How strange for it to get the command wrong."
"Almost as strange as how lifelike it looks."
"And that's exactly the problem. Real abominations don't have life."
Willow was starting to sweat a puddle at this point. At this rate, she might go down with Luz. Amity began to feel more and more guilty for Willow as she recalled Scab and Judy's voices scolding her.
"You can't stand her being happy at all. Because all it means is that you won't be number one anymore. That's all you care about."
"Did it ever occur to you that after everything you've done to us, you never deserved that badge in the first place? Because if not, I fail to see how we ever became friends."
As Amity looked on, Crimson had an idea.
"Perhaps we can remedy that. Let's start with finding out what it's made of."
Willow frantically dug into her pocket to get her list.
"Oh, uh… I have the list of ingredients right here!"
Crimson only held his halberd out as he denied her attempt.
"No. We want a better look."
Crimson then dug into his scabbard and held out a dagger, colored at the very tip to appear as if it held blood. Luz's eyes widened in terror as the dagger was held over her.
"Up close and personal."
Ben was starting to get very angry. How could anyone try to deliberately murder someone who just wanted to belong somewhere?! Wasn't there any Justice?! Ben wanted to jump in, but Judy tried to keep him under control.
"Ben, please don't. We'll think of something…"
"Think of what?! Luz is about to be cut open like a cadaver…!"
It didn't help that Crimson held out the dagger's handle to Willow.
"You will make the first cut and show us."
Willow anxiously took the dagger and looked at Luz.
"Uh, you can't just cut open a human, can you?"
Luz frantically shook her head before Crimson stomped his halberd on the ground, clearly lacking in patience.
"Enough stalling. Make the first incision."
Willow gulped nervously, unsure of whether or not to go through with it. This left Ben no other choice as he spoke.
"I'm sorry, Judy, but I'm not going to just stand here and let them do this to her!"
"Okay. Here goes…"
Suddenly, the group heard pots crashing nearby. They all turned to see abomination goo suddenly spilled out and rose up, their forms materializing as they walked towards Emperor's Coven elite. Crimson growled as he held out his halberd, and the tip of it glowed black with red lightning arcing around it. Heather and Lilith joined in with a staff from the former and her Palisman from the latter and began to slash at them. Ben was momentarily puzzled at the scene, but then, he saw the opportunity and shouted to them.
"What are you guys waiting for?! Run!"
Willow chucked the dagger away before she and Luz rushed out of the gym with Ben following suit. Judy was surprised that Ben would take off with them.
"Ben?!"
By that point, Bump was feeling in surprise to know that Ben was one of the intruders.
"Benjamin! You too?!"
Ben turned back to shout back at him to explain in the brief time he has.
"Sorry, sir! But I can't let my friend die!"
Once Ben, Willow, and Luz took off, Heather noticed this and shouted as Judy had a worried look come upon her face.
"The intruders! They're getting away!"
Crimson fixed his glare as he spoke.
"No. The intruders won't get far. Bump, lock down this school."
As much as he wanted to figure out why Lawrence would allow this troublemaker inside, Bump went up to a wall and formed a lime green spell circle before placing his hands inside it, causing it to glow intensely as red markings began to glow all over the building.
Meanwhile, Ben, Luz, and Willow ran through the hall before they stopped to catch their breath. In the midst of their dire situation, Luz was feeling guilty about the whole thing.
"This is all my fault, you guys. I just wanted to see what a real magic school was like."
Ben turned to Luz with a rather peeved look. He was not in the mood to hear her apology nor see how sad she was, especially when she did nothing wrong.
"We can work that out later. Right now, we need to go before—"
Before Ben could finish his sentence, the halls were suddenly blocked by red force fields everywhere they could find an exit. Their hopes were all dashed completely.
"…they seal us in."
And to make matters worse, the Emperor's Coven elite charged in, with Crimson leading the charge.
"There they are! After them!"
In no time at all, Ben took Willow and Luz's hands and circled around the hall. In their desperation to find a way out, the gates kept closing on them where they wanted to go. It was almost as if they were trapped in a maze! But that wasn't their only concern.
Far behind them, Bump was holding his hand out, calling forth an army of abominations to go after them. And behind the masses of purple goo, Crimson was dragging his halberd across the floor, sending sparks everywhere as he called them out.
"Come out, come out wherever you are…"
Lilith and Heather felt his approach was too extreme when it came to them. And so, they tried to talk sense into him.
"Are you out of your mind, Crimson?!"
"The Emperor told us we needed them alive to know their intent!"
"Their intrusion in this school tells me everything I need to know: that they can't be trusted!"
As the elites argued, Judy went up to them and Principal Bump, desperate to change their minds.
"Wait! You guys can't do this!"
Lilith only turned her head to her and showed a displeased look.
"Judith! Now is not the time for insubordination!"
"But you don't understand! Ben's not–"
Crimson cut off their argument short with his temper.
"Welcome here is what he isn't! And you can be sure we will ensure he receives the maximum punishment!"
As a look of dread came from Judy, she turned to Ben and spoke softly to herself.
"Come on, Ben…"
Meanwhile, Luz turned to Ben, hoping he learned something that could help, what with him being a half-witch.
"Ben, you've got magic, right? Why don't you show them?!"
Ben wasn't exactly in the right mindset to do so at the moment with all the pressure on him.
"Are you kidding?! I don't even know how to do mag—!"
That was when Ben remembered what Amity and Judy usually did.
"Wait a minute. I think I got it."
Left with no choice, Ben held out his finger and took a deep breath. He then began to trace his finger over the air, hoping that something would work. Luz and Willow looked on in fascination when they saw a blue glow, gasping in wonder. Ben opened his eyes and saw the glow himself. However, that feeling of excitement was short lived, for the glow faded away. Ben groaned in defeat.
"Oh, come on!"
Willow was starting to feel overwhelmed with everything bad that was happening around them. Luz was likely to get dissected, Ben would be banned, and worse yet, she would no doubt be expelled for aiding and abetting an intruder.
"Aw, this is awful! I don't know what to do! Amity's right. I'm just… Half-A-Witch Willow…"
Ben and Luz knelt down beside Willow. In the short time they knew her, the duo knew better than that.
"Wrong. You're Full-Witch Willow."
"And you're brave."
"And don't let anyone else tell you you're not."
Willow began to smile from their encouraging words as Luz dug into her own pocket.
"Besides, someone great once told me that great witches are resourceful."
Luz got out an assortment of random stuff. It consisted of a used band-aid, a marble, a piece of rope, a quarter, a wad of chewed gum, and a brown ball. Ben furrowed his eyes with doubt.
"Luz, I fail to see how any of that is gonna help."
However, Willow saw a small flicker of hope on one thing.
"That's it!"
Willow picked up the ball with a bright smile as Ben and Luz showed confusion.
"Wait, what?"
"You mean that greasy slimeball?"
"Guys, it's a seed! Thank goodness you had it on you."
Luz began to smile softly, recalling Eda's training beforehand.
"Yeah. Thank goodness someone told me to hang onto it…"
Ben placed his hand on Luz's shoulder with a reassuring smile.
"Looks like Eda knew what she was doing after all."
Luz and Ben kept their eyes focused on the seed, waiting with baited breath as Willow worked her magic, tracing a spell circle over the seed.
"Please… grow!"
Suddenly, large vines erupted from the seed in a blinding green light. They zipped past Ben and Luz, attacking the abomination guards that came near them and zipped all over the hallways. And sure enough, they zipped right towards Bump and the Emperor's Coven. Lilith got her staff out and spun it around, hacking at the vines that came near her, Heather, and Crimson. Alas, they got Bump in their grip and suspended him into the air, pinning the principal at the ceiling. But Bump wasn't the least bit dissatisfied.
What he saw was a marvelous display. In spite of the vines overtaking most of the halls, he was captivated by the beauty of the flowers and leaves that made the school that much beautiful. He knew it must be the work of plant magic.
"Remarkable…"
Even Lilith and Heather had to admit it despite their situation.
"I know I should be infuriated, but I will have to concur..."
"Someone must have a bright future on her hands…"
Meanwhile, the red force fields went away, along with the red markings that lit up. Luz and Ben took it as their cue to bounce.
"There's the exit!"
"Let's get out of here!"
Luz, Ben, and Willow all rushed to the exit, only for Crimson to drop down in front of them and slammed his halberd to the ground and releasing a shockwave that blew the trio back with immense force. Even worse, his whole armor was glowing red.
"Not so fast, intruders! I'm not letting you escape so easily. No intruder has ever escaped the Emperor's Coven alive. And you? You are no exception."
Crimson slammed his halberd to the ground and made a spell circle with it, conjuring a more fearsome type of abomination out of it. It had horns on its head and piercing black eyes with red pupils. If Ben were to have a name for it, it would be a super abomination.
"Seize them!"
Crimson's abomination lurched its hand right towards the group, only for Ben to push them out of the way and get captured himself. Luz could only watch as Ben was held in its vice grip.
"Ben!"
Crimson sneered under his helmet as Ben struggled to break free.
"Your first mistake was coming to our realm, human. I must admit, I'm impressed with how hard you've fought to keep up this ruse until now. But this game is over. And both of you will pay the price."
Ben looked out towards Luz, who stood behind Willow in fear as the fearsome beast summoned an ax on its free hand to smite her dead with it! Unable to do anything but watch, Ben started to turn to anger once again. After all that work to protect Luz from this, all of it amounted to nothing. It infuriated him more than anything…
With his bile sac quickening, his eyes began glowing with a bright blue hue around them. Soon enough, his whole body was overflowing with magic energy once more. Luz and Willow took notice of the scene and became astonished whereas Crimson was caught off-guard.
"What the hell…?!"
Ben started to growl in a low tone as the magic began to build up, the whole school trembling in his wake.
"Let… us… GO!"
With Ben's shout, he managed to break free of the Super Abomination's grasp, the beast collapsing into a puddle as Crimson stood in complete shock. And he wasn't the only one. The suspended Principal, Lilith, and Heather saw the event and were completely captivated by this bizarre display of magic, Bump even more so.
"What kind of magic is that…?"
Lilith and Heather were just as much in shock over this apparent metamorphosis, the Coven Head showing her disbelief.
"But I thought humans couldn't do magic…"
Suddenly, Judy spoke up behind her.
"That's what I was trying to tell you, Mom. Ben's not just a human. He's one of us."
Luz and Willow kept watching as Ben landed on the floor, his blue eyes staring dead center at the Crimson Crow as his aura died down.
"I don't care if you are from the Emperor's Coven, or how much you think you know about us! No one tries to hurt my friends and get away with it! Do you understand me?!"
Crimson only growled, clenching his hand into a fist.
"You have no right… to command me!"
Suddenly, Crimson threw a heavy punch to Ben's chest, hitting him right in the middle! Luz and Willow looked on in terror as Ben was thrown back across the hall and landed just in front of them.
"Ben!"
The girls checked on the poor boy as Crimson panted his breath, furious with the boy's defiance.
"Now do you get it, boy?! I am the authority here… and you will treat me with the proper respect!"
Crimson was about to attack again, only for Heather's voice to call out.
"CRIMSON! THAT IS ENOUGH!"
Crimson ceased his attack, his fist stopping just near Ben's body. The trio were staring at the fist with shock and awe as the Crimson Crow turned bitterly towards the girl behind them as Lilith, Judy, and Bump joined her.
"What?! You do realize you're defending intruders!"
"As long as you realize you're breaking protocol."
Luz, Ben, and Willow blinked their eyes in curiosity with the first two voicing their questions.
"Protocol?"
"What are you talking about?"
Lilith vied to fill in the blanks as she stepped closer.
"You were told before. Emperor Belos had recently become aware of your presence in this realm. Surely, you've at least heard of him?"
Luz only shook her head to answer. But Ben had a different answer to give.
"I mean, I read about him. But I thought he hated all the humans."
Lilith went closer to Benjamin as she continued.
"That was my first impression, as well. But for whatever reason, he intends to make peace with you two. That is, if you don't intend any harm to befall us."
Luz was quick to shake her head as she replied nervously.
"Naw! You kidding?! I wouldn't hurt a fly!"
As for Ben, it was hard for him not to think of hurting at least one witch, considering he just got sucker-punched in the gut. That said, Ben knew he had his limits, and he'd rather not make any more enemies than he already had. He shook his head as he answered.
"Of course I don't."
With that, Heather felt their mission was complete.
"Very well, then. It seems our mission is complete, then."
Luz was becoming more and more confused.
"Wait. That's it? You're not going to, uh… you know–"
Luz slit her finger along her throat to show what she meant. Heather responded to the girl's question with an indifferent tone.
"Belos wanted to be certain of your intentions. And your actions today have reflected your words. And we all know that actions speak louder than words. Isn't that right, Crimson?"
Crimson growled under his mask, frustrated by Heather's remark as he fixed his gaze at Ben.
"We will allow you to live. For now. But if you should lift a finger against our kind, you will never find peace…"
Crimson wasted no time turning himself away from the humans and walked away with a menacing air around him. Ben kept a steel glare right at the monster until he was out of sight. Perhaps he won't lift a finger. But he refused to let him go anywhere near Luz or any of his friends ever again... With the most vicious of the elite outside, Ben had a worried look on his face.
"So, now that you know, what's gonna happen now?"
Lilith looked upon the two with a stern countenance.
"Ordinarily, we should lock you up in the Conformatorium."
Ben gulped out of worry. From what he could guess, it sounded like Alcatraz in the Demon Realm.
"Something tells me it's worse than detention."
Luz spoke to him softly.
"It is. Wait, what's detention like?"
Lilith only continued from where she left off.
"But given that Emperor Belos wants to give you a chance, we'll leave your judgment to the Principal."
The head of the Emperor's Coven turned to Bump and spoke to him with her hand held out.
"Principal Bump, I trust you can sort the rest of this out."
Bump shook Lilith's hand with a small smile on his wrinkled face.
"Don't worry, Ms. Clawthorne. It wasn't the first time I've dealt with troublemakers."
"I know what you mean."
Lilith turned over to her daughter and showed a rather disappointed look. Judy began to frown from seeing such a look cast upon her.
"And Judith."
"Yes, mother…?"
Lilith kept her stern look as she responded.
"We'll have to talk about your… friend after school."
Then, Lilith knelt down and stroked Judy's head, making her blush in surprise as her mother smiled fondly.
"But I'm just glad you're alright, my little Ruby."
Judy couldn't help but hug her mother, making her blush back in return with a smile before Lilith concluded her hug and made her exit with Heather following her only for Ben to speak up, catching Heather's attention.
"Wait."
Heather stopped and tilted her head to him.
"You still didn't explain. If everyone hates humans so much… why would Emperor Belos want to make peace with us?"
A second of silence went by before she answered.
"All you need to know, human… is that it is the Titan's will."
That phrase wasn't something Ben heard before, so he was naturally confused.
"The Titan's will? And who is the Titan?"
Heather didn't bother waiting for him to understand it, simply turning her head and walking away.
"That's for us to know… and for you to figure out on your own."
With the elite gone, Ben looked on as she walked away, holding his hand over his heart (and bile sac).
"What… does any of that mean?"
Before Ben could even start to figure it out, Bump spoke up behind them, his arms crossed over.
"Now, then, you've got some explaining to do. Both of you."
Ben rubbed the back of his head anxiously with a nervous smile, only for Judy to speak up.
"Principal Bump, if I may interrupt, I… I want to say something. This was all my fault."
The trio of students felt worried for Judy whilst Bump showed a rather shocked expression.
"Judith? How could that be–?"
"Willow was asking me for help with her abomination. And… I was the one who suggested we use Luz as her abomination to help her pass. She didn't want to fail anymore, and I didnt' want to see her sad, so… I came up with the idea to begin with. Ben was just trying to spend one normal day here. And I ended up ruining everything and putting everyone in danger today. I'm.. sorry."
Judy held her head down in shame as Luz stood in shock. She hadn't expected her to take the rap for something that was clearly her own idea. Ben was just as shocked as she was himself. Of course, he knew that she'd do anything for them, but he hadn't expected her to do that. Bump, of course, appeared to be flummoxed.
"Why, I never! Judith, I expected this from your aunt, but from you? You struck me as wiser than this."
"I know. But Willow has never been happy there. I just wanted to make her feel proud for once."
Judy stood still, expecting the swift wrath of the principal to strike her down. But rather than his terrible, swift sword, Bump gave Judy a soft, reassuring smile as he placed his hand on her shoulder.
"I think I know a way to fix that, Ms. Clawthorne."
Bump turned over to the confused Willow, giving her a beaming smile.
"Willow Park, in light of recent events, I hereby place you in the Plant Magic Track."
Willow couldn't hold in her gasp as the Principal made a lime green spell circle and changed her sleeves and leggings to a green color. Willow stood in awe as her dream that once seemed impossible came true before her very eyes! Luz and Ben had big smiles for her, though of course, the former gave Willow a big hug and spun around with her.
"YES! WOO-HOO!"
As much as Ben felt better for Willow, though, he wondered what her and Luz's outcome would be.
"Wait. Where does that leave me and Luz?"
For Principal Bump, the decision was easy.
"Well, it's plain enough with everything else that happened around you. Benjamin Kingston, I'm looking forward to seeing you in class."
Ben's face widened with a big smile.
"R-Really…?!"
However, this joyous occasion couldn't last. Bump leaned close to Luz with a sneer.
"And as for you, Luz, I'm afraid you're banned."
Luz, Willow, Judy, and Ben gasped in alarm.
"What?!"
Luz stammered in disbelief as she tried to make sense of it all.
"B-But I–! I don't understand! What did I do wrong?!"
Bump didn't hesitate to point it out.
"You tried to impersonate an abomination and infiltrated school grounds."
"I mean besides that!"
Judy spoke up, trying to defend her.
"But Principal Bump, I was the one who–"
"I know what you're trying to do, Ms. Clawthorne. But lying on their behalf doesn't change what chaos she caused just from her presence alone. Because of her, the Emperor's Coven made an impromptu arrival, and put all of my students at risk of expulsion! And I simply cannot in good conscience let that happen again."
Ben tried to defend Luz, only for the Principal to shut him down.
"But–!"
"End of discussion."
Luz's face began to sink sadly in defeat. It looked like her dream was never going to come true after all…
"Well… looks like you were right, Ben. It really was a disaster just waiting to happen…"
Ben felt sad for the poor girl. She came all this way to the Demon Realm hoping she'd fit in, only to find that she wasn't cut out for any magic school at all. That was the last thing Ben ever wanted for her. In a few seconds, he lost the sad look on his face before he turned to him.
"Wait!"
Luz became puzzled as he spoke out.
"Thanks for the offer, Principal Bump. I mean it when I say I really appreciate it, finding something for kids like me where I could begin to find out who and what I am. But if Luz can't go to this school with me…. Then I won't go at all. Plain and simple."
Judy, Willow, and Luz gasped in shock while Bump stood there appalled.
"Are you… quite sure about this?"
Ben nodded affirmatively without any hint of regret.
"With all due respect… I am, Principal."
Luz couldn't help it. She made a big smile with tears in her eyes. Nobody has ever stood up for her like that before. It really showed how much Ben cared about her. Even Willow and Judy adored this little scene. As for the Principal, he had a few tears shed before he wiped them clean.
"Well, if that is your wish, then there's nothing I can do. Except, perhaps, wish the both of you the best of luck."
Bump held his hand out to Ben, who reached to it and shook it gently. It was safe to say that he'd never expected things to turn out like this.
"Thank you, sir."
While Ben shook Bump's hand, nobody noticed that around the corner, Amity was watching the whole scene with a weary look on her face. She moved away from the corner and sighed to herself before she turned to her little abomination.
"Thanks for helping her out."
Amity quickly undid the spell and it collapsed back into a pile of goo before she looked back to see Ben standing beside Luz, who smiled warmly for his sacrifice. She made a passing glance of resentment, still sour at the girl for her role in her top student badge being taken away. But Ben did give her a new perspective to think about.
"I don't want us to be fighting each other like it's Survival of the Fittest all the time. I've had enough of that for a lifetime."
Amity looked away from Ben to Willow, who stood happily with Judy as they talked with each other. For the first time in a long time, Willow was finally happy. And she still has another shot at being top student again. As much as she wanted the badge, though, she felt it best to let Willow keep that one. She's the one who earned it today.
"I hope that makes up for today… Willow."
A moment later, Ben, Luz, Willow, Gus, and Judy walked out of Hexside, recovering from the disaster of today's events. Luz was still surprised that Ben would throw his chance to learn magic away just to be with her.
"You didn't have to do that, Ben. You could've finally learned magic."
"Yeah. But it wouldn't mean anything if you weren't there with me. Besides, you're not the only one who wanted to learn what a magic school was like."
Willow spoke up behind them as she caught up.
"So, how did you guys like it?"
Luz and Ben smiled at her as they answered.
"It's lovely, actually."
"Definitely better than my last school."
The group all began to laugh together as they walked down the lane. Along the way, Luz began to wonder about someone else in the mix. For whatever reason, someone told him to go after Amity at the cafeteria. She was wanting to know how it went down.
"Wait. What about Amity?"
Hearing the mention of her name, Ben realized that he was trying to talk with her before the Emperor's Coven called everyone over to the gym. It seemed like he had made good progress with her. But he knew that it must all be ruined now that everyone knew he was human.
"I don't know. We were making good progress when we were talking, but… I don't know. She'd probably hate me for being human."
Judy only held onto Ben's hand, reassuring him with a big smile.
"Well, then it's her loss. If she can't see the real you because you're human, maybe she just wasn't meant to be your friend."
Ben looked out to the horizon as he pondered her words. He didn't know for sure if it is the case, but in the likely event that happens, at least he'll have four other friends to fall back on. Because they wouldn't leave him for anything.
"You know… you're right."
As the group were walking, they failed to notice a stranger behind them in the shadows. He held out a small piece of parchment and rolled it up before tying it to an arrow. Then, he pointed it at the group before he suddenly opened fire! But instead of hitting either one of them, it hit a nearby tree just in front of them. The instant it happened, they were all surprised with Luz nearly falling behind once again, only for Ben and Judy to hold her steady.
"Whoa, Luz!"
"You okay?"
"Oh, eso estuvo cerca… Yeah, I'm fine."
Gus went up to the note as Ben looked behind him, wondering who shot out that piece to begin with.
"What the hell…?"
"Hey, guys! There's a note on this thing!"
Gus took the paper off of the arrow and gasped when he saw the signature.
"It's for Ben."
"What?"
Ben walked up to Gus and took the piece of paper from him to open it up and read the inscription.
"'The Crow flies at Midnight, hiding itself in the shadows.'"
Judy recognized those words right away. It was something she always said to Cawworth for the pass phrase.
"That's what I always say to Cawworth whenever I see him."
Luz had a look of curiosity on her face as she looked back at where the arrow came from.
"But who could've sent that thing in the first place?"
Ben held onto the piece of paper firmly. This was definitely new to him, but it's not going to deter him anytime soon.
"I don't know. But I will find out…"
Meanwhile, back at the castle, Belos was just receiving the news from Heather.
"We did a test at Hexside. The intruders were exposed shortly thereafter. But against your initial orders, Crimson sought to destroy them with his own hands."
Belos sneered at Crimson with a low growl, scratching his finger guards on his throne chair. And then, the bile sac above him began to quicken. It spoke lengths of how angry Belos was with him.
"Is that true, Crimson?"
Crimson sighed in defeat, not wanting to anger him any more by lying to him.
"Yes. It is…"
Belos' growling only became worse before Lilith spoke up.
"But, on the brighter side of things, they happened to have no ill intent whatsoever. And they're still alive."
Fortunately, Lilith's ploy worked as Belos calmed himself down, the bile sac beating back to normal in accordance.
"That's better. And how much do they know of what their presence brings here to the Isles?"
Heather filled him in on this matter as she spoke up.
"All they know is that they are vital to the Titan's plans, but they don't know to what capacity."
Belos took in a deep breath before he replied.
"Very good news, my daughter."
Heather bowed her head softly, only for her to offer up more alarming news.
"There is one thing, though. The human named Benjamin… he displayed a magic none of us are familiar with as of yet. And he used that when Crimson tried to assassinate his friend."
The news intrigued Belos, making him stand up from his throne chair to descend close to them.
"Are you quite sure… my daughter?"
"Affirmative. We saw it with our own eyes."
Belos gave this room for thought for a moment, looking towards his elite. Given this news in regards, Belos finally spoke, almost with a tone of pride.
"If what you speak is the truth, then we'll have to keep a closer eye on Benjamin. For now, all that's left is to see what they can contribute to the Isles."
Lilith still had her doubts about them being involved with the Titan's will.
"Emperor Belos, not to question your wisdom, but what could these humans possibly contribute to us?"
Belos's eyes flared a dark green color under his mask as he answered.
"Change, Lilith. They will contribute to change…"
A/N: And ta-da! That was the second chapter of Shadows Upon Blood. It took a bit longer than expected, but I managed to succeed.
You're probably wondering about the direction I took with Amity's character on this one. Well, the truth was, she grew up thinking of ways to justify existing in general to begin with. So looking back in Season 1, we see her struggling with trying to keep her status with Luz in the mix. But Ben could see through it right away because of his own experiences with his sister. And Ben was able to help her lighten up enough to let Willow be happy for a change. But her struggles are far from over, and over the course of this story, she will still need to confront the issue sooner or later.
And as for the Emperor's Coven's presence in this chapter, I mainly did so to show how much control the Emperor's Coven truly has on the Boiling Isles. And while I wished the Demon Realm to show hatred towards humans initially, I realized that it just made sense to show them as pests rather than a plague to showcase Belos' influence on the Demon Realm, especially since "the Titan has big plans for them". And we all know what that means by now if you've seen the show. If not, I won't spoil it for you.
And finally, I felt like Luz not being in Hexside actually turned out to be central to Eda's own character arc where she initially wanted nothing to do with school like Hexside to where she only wanted nothing but the best for Luz, even cleaning up her own mess from her earlier antics to do it. That's the moment I wanted to keep, so I had to unravel a few things here and there to make sure they work in this rewrite.
I don't know when the next chapter is going to be posted, but I am in the process of making a new chapter for "Gabe and Frankie's Adventures of Love" for next week should it interest any of you. If not, it may behoove you to know that the next chapter for "Shadows Upon Blood" will come out the week after. That's the window for now, but I can't promise you won't have to wait longer. That aside, I hope you all have a Happy New Year! :)
