Hunter returned to the castle after Hooty had owlnapped him, but he was happy to see Varian again. They started writing letters back and forth and even having Ruddiger be their delivery raccoon so the emperor didn't get suspicious. His uncle had been working on the portal door almost every night and it started to worry Hunter. He didn't have the real key so he created one but every time he used it, it would explode and the portal door was still closed. Belos would show up and demand to have the portal ready or he would pay.
In the shadows, Hunter was there watching his uncle work on the portal door. He remembered all the stories that his uncle used to tell him about the Human Realm. Hunter had overheard Belos threaten his uncle which made his blood boil. He noticed that his uncle wasn't wearing his mask, his hair was long, he had blue eyes and a scar that ran along his face that was a sickly green. His uncle knew Hunter was here and he just came out of hiding. "Hunter, I know what you're thinking. Don't do anything. Belos can make us more miserable." his uncle stated.
Hunter didn't understand why his uncle was so afraid of Belos, what he was doing to all these wild witches was wrong. "Then maybe I can help. I heard about Kikimora leading an operation at the Knee. I can go there and help." Hunter suggested.
His uncle told him no and then he stated that Hunter would stay in the castle and not go to the Knee. After what had happened with the palismen and Kikimora's attempt to kill Hunter, his uncle had become crazy overprotective. His uncle took him out of the lab and up to their room then he left. As soon as Hunter was sure that his uncle was gone, he decided to sneak out of the castle and head to the Knee.
Back at the Owl House, Amity had everyone in preparation for any of the emperor's scouts to arrive. She had Hooty and Eda secure the perimeter and build up their defenses. Willow and Varian gathered supplies like food for everyone, even Amity's cat palismen Ghost helped. Gus and King came into the kitchen with different DVDs of different music that Eda had given them. Amity looked shocked to learn that Eda was still inside when she was supposed to be with Hooty. Amity walked into the living room to find Eda grunting and screaming.
"Ah, don't mind me. I'm just learning how to turn into Harpy Eda on command. According to these human workouts, you just gotta scream a lot until you force your inner beast out." Eda stated.
Amity reminded Eda that they had a crisis on their hands but Eda assured her that everything was fine. Amity brought Eda to Luz's room and gestured to her girlfriend who was sick in bed, acting loopy with socks on her hands. Eda stated that Luz just had the Common Mold; the Boiling Isles version of a cold. Amity reminded Eda that Luz was a human so they weren't sure how the Common Mold would affect her. Amity had to take the key from Luz because she almost tried to swallow it.
Since Luz's phone doesn't work with Amity's scroll, she found two Tamagotchis for them to use to communicate with each other. Luz pulled hers out and typed "your pretty" to Amity. She was still trying to figure out how it worked. Amity closed the door to Luz's room, she was going to prove to Luz that she was an awesome girlfriend. "Feels like just a few months ago, you almost got her dissected by your crazy principal," King stated.
Varian wanted to ask about that but that was when they heard Luz scream. Eda kicked down the door and found Luz pointing at the Echo Mouse who was playing the diary entry. The diary showed Philip explaining that he had found a power source that could pierce through realms, Titan's Blood. The Titan's veins run through the land and create small wild portals when a little bit of blood leaks into the water. The place that has Titan's Blood is Eclipse Lake. Luz finished sketching out the map to Eclipse Lake just as the Echo Mouse stopped playing the diary.
Luz shot up from bed stating that she had to go to Eclipse Lake. She ran for the door but Eda held her back and the others had to wrap her in blankets so she wouldn't escape. Eda told Luz that she, Varian, and King would get the Titan's Blood if she calmed down. King looked excited to take their new powers for a test drive. Luz handed Eda the map just as Amity volunteered herself to join them. Eda told Gus and Willow to watch Luz while they were gone. Eda gave Varian a winter coat from her closet and they were off.
At the Knee, Kikimora was on a paranoid road trip about not failing the emperor and the Golden Guard. The captain tried to reason with her about the tunnels being unstable and that they should slow down. She didn't listen and just shouted at a scout named Steve to jump over the chasm or she'll throw him in it. Hunter hid behind some trees near the tunnels wearing a scout uniform he had taken from the palace.
Just as Hunter was about to sneak over, Flapjack was right behind him. "Did you follow me?" Hunter asked in a hushed tone.
Flapjack tweeted that he did, but Hunter just told him that he didn't speak palismen. "Here's the plan, I slip in with this disguise, find the Titan blood before Kiki, I give it to Belos. Boom! I'm useful again." Hunter stated.
Unfortunately, his loud voice attracted Kikimora's attention which made Hunter run into the forest right when she had her abomination fire a blast at the tree he was hiding behind. She told the captain that she thought she had heard an annoying voice. He ran and ran until he spotted Eda, King, Varian, and Amity. He overheard them talking about getting Titan's Blood for Luz by following the map. Hunter saw Varian in a winter coat and he felt his heart skip a beat. He snapped out of it quickly.
He figured that he could just follow them from a distance but Flapjack had other plans. He pulled on Hunter's colwick hard enough that he tumbled down the hill and landed in front of Amity with his mask down. They got ready to attack him but he told them that he surrendered. King thought it was just easy but Eda spoke up, "Not so fast, King. Don't you recognize that annoying voice?"
"Why does everyone say that?" Hunter questioned, hurtful.
Hunter broke into a run but Amity captured him in abomination goo, his mask fell off revealing his face to them. Amity looked shocked to learn that Hunter was the Golden Guard, she thought he was older. King laughed at her comment which made Hunter groan and give them death glares. His expression changed when he saw Varian coming towards him. Varian told the others that Hunter was a friend but they didn't believe him. Eda screamed "Hoot" and ran head-first into a wall of ice that led to the caves.
King followed after Eda as Amity walked behind Hunter pointing her staff at him as he walked beside Varian. Varian tried to convince Amity that Hunter wasn't going to run but she didn't trust Hunter. The tunnel had different digging equipment that was just lying around. "What is all this?" Varian asked.
"Ancient witches used to mine the veins for Titan Blood," Hunter stated.
Eda and King weren't even listening; King fired the device at Eda but the blast hit the wall and started balling around. It came straight towards Varian but Amity stopped it with her powers. Hunter scolded Eda and King for their reckless stunt, explaining that the walls are made from the veins of a Titan and any magic they would use would bounce back. Later on, Eda rambled on about Varian's trip to Latissa where he and Luz had met Hunter, or as Eda described him, a beat-up blond with no magical powers.
"Luz called him, and these are her words, 'a bad but sad boy.'" Eda stated as she and King both laughed.
Hunter's cheeks and ears turned bright red with embarrassment. "If I ever see that human again..."
"Watch it!" Amity cut him off.
"At least I'm not delusional enough to think I can turn into a harpy." Hunter snapped.
Eda hissed at him, but King tried to get them to quit it. Until Hunter called King a rat then King jumped in his head and started pulling his hair. Varian had to pull King off of Hunter's head. Amity shushed them and they hid behind some rocks just as Kikimora and her group had entered the cavern. Kikimora was getting more and more deranged and paranoid at trying to save her job and rub her smug face in Hunters. She actually threatened to throw the captain off the tallest peak of the Knee with a smile.
"And I thought she was crazy before," Varian whispered.
"She's also blocking the path to Eclipse Lake," Amity stated as she pointed to the entrance behind Kikimora.
Eda and King ran off to create a distraction, Amity wasn't too sure about Eda's plan and followed her leaving Varian and Hunter alone. Varian apologized to Hunter about Amity, but Hunter wasn't scared of her. Varian asked why he was in a scout uniform instead of his Golden Guard uniform. Hunter explained that his uncle had become overprotective after the palismen incident and he wanted to help so he snuck out. "You? I thought you weren't the rule-breaking type." Varian said.
Hunter laughed and told Varian that this was something to do for his uncle. Hunter explained that his parents died just after he was born and his uncle had taken him in and raised him. He raised Hunter in the palace but he noticed that his uncle wasn't well over the years. So he thought if he could get the blood for his uncle, then it might relieve his uncle from the stress. Varian understood what Hunter was doing for his uncle, after all, Quirin was the only family Varian had.
Amity just used a fireball that bounced off the walls of the cavern, causing the group to take cover. Amity, Eda, Varian, King, and Hunter ran towards the path to the next cave without Kikimora seeing them. They kept walking until they reached a tunnel filled with Fool's Blood. Amity looked confused because the map said that Eclipse Lake was farther up ahead. Just as Eda was about to hit the Fool's Blood with her staff, Hunter shouted at them to stop. He tried to warn them, but Eda didn't listen and hit the Fool's Blood with her staff.
Suddenly the cave began to shake and a huge crack formed beneath King and Eda's feet, it opened up wide and the two fell through. Amity was just about to fly after them but that was when they heard Kikimora coming. "Believe me now, Blight?" Hunter asked, snippy.
Amity quickly removed the goo around Hunter. She told Varian to go with Hunter to Eclipse Lake without her. She was gonna keep Kikimora and her scouts busy. Varian nodded and jumped into a minecart. Hunter was just about to join him when Amity stopped him. "Hurt him, and I'll hurt you." she threatened.
Hunter just jumped into the minecart then the cart moved on the track. Things seemed to be going well until they spotted the end of the tracks and they couldn't stop the cart. Hunter grabbed Varian's hand and together they jumped out of the cart just in time. They both blushed hard as they let go of each other's hands. Varian spotted the sign for Eclipse Lake and they ran towards the lake. But when they got there, the lake was completely dry and empty, with no signs of Titan Blood.
"I don't understand. How can there not be any blood?" Hunter stated in a panic, "I can't go back empty-handed! Not again!"
He started having a full-blown panic attack thinking about what Belos might do to him and his uncle for failing him. Varian gently touched Hunter's shoulder and calmed him down. "We'll find more. You just need to know where to look." Varian explained.
He then climbed down into the empty lake and started scraping away at the edges of it. He suddenly saw just a few drops of Titan's Blood leaking out. He quickly pulled out an empty vial and collected the drops of Titan Blood. Hunter came closer to Varian and he looked impressed. "How did you know?" Hunter asked.
"I used to collect samples of caverns under my village. Sometimes I would come across small crystal pieces." Varian explained.
Without warning, Hunter hugged Varian and told him that he was an amazing and talented human. Varian's face turned bright red then Hunter pulled away with the tips of his ears turning red. Varian handed the vial to Hunter telling him that he needed it when someone fired a fire blast at them, thankfully Hunter had Flapjack and used him to teleport him and Varian out of the way. They looked up and saw Kikimora looking at them with murder in her eyes. She charged straight at them but Hunter fired some magic at the wall which made it bounce right at Kikimora.
But she got back up; when she saw Flapjack in Hunter's hand, she smiled wickedly. "So the Golden Guard was hiding a palismen. I wonder what will happen when Emperor Belos learns of your treason," she spoke.
Hunter gasped and looked worried, he didn't want his uncle to suffer more. Varian looked at Kikimora with rage in his eyes. His hair stripe began to glow again as he gripped Sapphire tight. He then created a large circle with his staff and it suddenly sent a blast of moonlight right at Kikimora. It sent her flying right into a wall, hard. Hunter stood there speechless, he had never seen a human with powerful magic before. Varian's hair stripe stopped glowing then he snapped out of his rage.
"Whoa. How did you do that? I thought humans couldn't do magic." Hunter finally spoke.
Varian couldn't answer his question because he started to feel dizzy. He would have fallen to the ground if Hunter hadn't caught him. The poor guy caught the common mold. Amity, King, and Eda who was in her harpy form found them on the ground. Hunter explained the whole thing to them and that they needed to get back to the Owl House. Amity was still afraid of letting Luz down by not being back any Titan's Blood. Hunter noticed the portal key around her neck. "Actually, you already have some. The key has blood in it." Hunter explained.
On the way back to the Owl House, Eda ate nine voles on the way to keep her end of the bargain with the Owl Beast. Luz got better and she even invited Hunter to stay and take care of Varian.