The Angel of the Owl House

by OwlHouseAngel

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

30. EP 9: Cauldrons and Creeps

The Angel of the Owl House

Season 2: The Human Realm

Chapter 9: Cauldrons and Creeps

Only two days had passed since Luz, Lilith, Hooty, and Matt went with Mason to free his petrified mother, and already a lot had happened. Directly after the adventure had concluded, the CATTs had a big meeting to discuss what had happened and how to move forward with the other petrified victims, and solutions were quickly found. Mason was immediately inducted into the CATTs and became the third Coven Head to betray the Emperor and join the fight against him, though due to the secrecy he'd kept while rising through the ranks of the Coven System, he didn't have any subordinates ready to follow him into the rebellion like Darius or Eber had, but he was confident he knew his people well enough to know who might be willing, so he set about beginning recruitment within the Construction Coven.

Luna was placed in the care of the CATTs healers, and was found to be in near perfect physical health, though she still suffered psychological damage from her long petrification. A therapist, recommended by Steve, agreed to join the CATTs and move to Digale Village to help her work through the trauma she'd experienced, while Luna also devoted herself to spending time with her son, mourning her departed husband, and using her Potions expertise for the CATTs.

With Mason's help, Darius and Alador were able to retrofit several airships into submersibles, and with Luz's new mastery of wind magic, they could actually fly the airships out of Digale Island, through the hurricane wall, and to the Metatarsal Reef, where Mason (with some help from several other Merrows and Aquatic Bipeds from the CATTs and the city of Talus) were able to fish out the petrified victims and transport them all back to the Island. Luz took the day off school the day after her big adventure so that she could de-petrify them one by one, and then watch as Eda gave them Blabber Serum to confirm whether or not they were genuine criminals.

As it turned out, Belos only used petrification against Wild Witches and his personal enemies, so even those few who really had committed crimes had only done so in rebellion against Belos and the Coven System. As such, every single petrified Witch and Demon was freed and given sanctuary on Digale Island, receiving therapy like Luna and helping out where they could. There were a few who strongly distrusted Luz, but the young angel took Blabber Serum herself to prove that she had no ill-intentions towards them or the Isles, and that she was nothing like the angels they'd feared.

On a more personal note, the day after the adventure had also been when Luz sat King down and talked to him about her vision, and revealed that Digale Island truly was the right arm of his mother. King had already felt in his bones that this was the truth, but the confirmation still made his chest ache, and he ended up crying while held between his Mom and Big Sister. However he didn't allow himself to stay depressed for long; his Mama and Papa Titan wouldn't want that for him, so instead he focused on the positive, and gushed about one day being as big and cool looking as Luz had described his Dad!

That had also been the day that Luz had sat down with Eda and carved her Palistrom Log into a polished blue egg, which she spoke to often, keeping it nestled nice and warm in a little nest in her room, or in her satchel. Matt showed off Pebbles to the rest of the Hexsquad, who congratulated him on their bonding, then he spent the day with Steve on Titan Cradle Island, letting BQ know what had happened to Pebbles and beginning work on repairing King's Nursery Tower. BQ was happy for Matt and Pebbles, and while she still distrusted Steve, seeing him react positively to Pebbles getting a new partner did a lot to endear him to her.

The second day following the adventure was Willow's 15th Birthday, so the entire Hexsquad threw her a huge party at the Owl House (they'd have done it at Digale Island, but some of Willow's plant track friends, like Amelia, weren't members of the CATTs). Willow's parents and friends showered her with gifts and attention, with Skara and Luz performing a mini-concert for her and Eda and Raine gifting her with some rare seeds Eda had stolen from Spriggan Manor during the heist. Comparing it to her 14th Birthday, which had only been her Dads and Gus, Willow felt so overwhelmingly blessed to have so many friends and people who loved her that she ended up crying happy tears and accidentally covering the Owl House with flowers (which Eda struggled to convince Hooty to let her remove). And to top it off, Steve (who'd been part of the team investigating the heist) had revealed another surprise; Willow's wanted posters were being rescinded. Apparently the Latissa Gardening Club, headed by someone who liked Willow more than the Plant Coven, had claimed Willow had spent the whole day at the club and thus couldn't have been involved in the heist, and none of the Scouts or Servants at Spriggan Manor would answer the investigator's questions. Even Terra had become reclusive and refused to answer questions, so the bounty had to be retracted due to lack of evidence, meaning Willow was once again free to roam beyond Bonesborough without fear.

Eda had booed playfully, but everyone else had been relieved that it meant Willow was safe… though she did keep a copy of the wanted poster framed in her bedroom.

But while Willow and her friends were enjoying the party over at the Owl House, someone else was sitting at home feeling frustrated…

Boscha found herself laying on her bed and staring up at the ceiling, feeling listless and conflicted. She'd been like that ever since coming home from school alone… she'd been alone most of the day, since Skara and Amelia had been hanging out with Willow all day, and Cat was hanging out with Bo and doing healing track homework.

The fact Skara was once again hanging out with Willow, and was currently off at her birthday party, made Boscha's stomach churn uncomfortably. Things between her and Willow had been… civil at best, since Boscha's big screw up at the start of the Grudgby season; the two would either ignore each other or exchange mild barbs whenever they saw each other. Boscha had stopped bullying her just like Skara wanted, and had actually gained some respect for Willow and the backbone she'd grown. But the more she thought about it, the more Boscha realised that Willow wasn't the part that made her stomach squirm… it was the fact that Skara had once again gone off somewhere that she couldn't follow.

Skara was Boscha's best friend! The girl that made her willing to try and be nice to people and all that mushy junk! But ever since the Petrification Ceremony, Boscha felt like she was seeing less and less of her best friend. Sure they'd still hang out at school, but half the time the Bard girl would want to hang out with the "Hexsquad" too, where Boscha wasn't really welcome. Oh Luz was more than happy to encourage her to stick around, and even Amity and Willow seemed to accept the idea of Boscha hanging out with them from time to time, but conversations were always awkward between them when she was there, and it was all because of the CATTs.

Thanks to the oaths of secrecy they'd all taken, they couldn't talk about anything CATTs related in front of Boscha, and a big part of the Hexsquad's hangouts and adventures revolved around the rebels. Boscha hated it, and had gotten into an argument with Skara just the previous day at lunch…

"I want to tell you all this stuff, Boscha! Really I do, I hate keeping secrets from my best friend!" Skara had said, "But even though I trust you, and Luz does too, the oaths we took stop us from telling you! Why don't you join the CATTs? You wouldn't need to do anything dangerous; you could just hang out with us and brew potions for the cause!"

"I'm not interesting in joining the rebels! My family is loyal to Belos, and I don't want to throw myself into the beef between him and Luz! Besides, I shouldn't have to join a rebellion just to spend time with my best friend! I hardly ever get to see you any more!" Boscha had retorted, exaggerating quite a bit.

Skara had frowned miserably; "I don't know what you want me to do, Boscha! I can't just turn my back on my other friends! You're important to me, but I really believe in what I'm doing! I'm trying to hang out with you as much as I can, but I've got responsibilities now!"

Boscha had responded with a huff and stalked off, saying; "Fine, be that way! I'll just go and be alone… again!"

The two hadn't spoken since then, though Skara had sent a message on Penstagram saying she was sorry for making Boscha feel neglected, but she really couldn't tell her more about what she was doing, even though she wanted to. For her part, Boscha had felt like smacking her head against a wall; she'd let her temper and pride get away from her again and said cruel things to Skara… Deep down, she knew she was being possessive and unreasonable; Skara had a pretty dang good reason for keeping secrets, but Boscha hated the growing feeling of distance between them.

"Ugh, why did everything have to be so complicated!" Boscha groaned covering her face with a pillow.

She heard a snipping and rolled over to see her Palisman, Maya, snipping her claws at her from the floor. Boscha lowered an arm down for Maya to skitter up, then held the little Crab Palisman to her chest.

"Hey Maya. At least I've still got you, huh?" Boscha allowed herself a small smile. Maya had become a great friend and close confident since bonding with Boscha, and since she understood her partner so well, Boscha could open up and be more outwardly emotional with her.

"I don't know what to do, Maya. Ever since Luz came to our world, things have changed… Amity stopped hanging out with me, Willow became a real witch, and even Skara feels like she's drifting away to bigger and better things." Boscha sighed; "But everyone also seems so much happier… it's just me whose stuck feeling miserable, and I hate it. I want to hang out with Skara like I used to! And I want to be friends with Amity again too… the three of us always had it figured out. We were the ABCs of Hexside; Alembic, Blight, and Cadence!"

Boscha lay back on her bed with a nostalgic smile, before it fell from her face; "But I guess I was the only one who was really happy with that."

Maya listened to everything she said, then snipped her claws a few times. Unlike other Palismen, Maya didn't like to talk in Boscha's head, instead preferring to directly transmit her thoughts and feelings to her partner. As those feelings entered Boscha's mind, the three eyed girl sighed.

"You think I should apologise to Skara and try to arrange more times to hang out with her?"

Maya snipped her claws affirmatively, and Boscha groaned; "Ugh, I suck at apologising. Mommy always says apologising is declaring that you were wrong, and "An Alembic is never wrong!" But I guess I was kind of cruel yesterday. Alright, I'll send her a message after Willow's party is over." Boscha decided.

Maya sent feelings of pride to Boscha as she happily blew bubbles with her mouth, making Boscha laugh and hug the little Palisman; "Heh, I never knew a crab could be cute! Anyway, let's go talk to Daddy; I've got no idea how to properly apologise, but they'll know!"

Getting to her feet, Boscha placed Maya on her shoulder and left her room to begin the search for Morel Alembic; her Daddy. In reality, Morel was gender-neutral, but had accepted being called Daddy since Callisto was Mommy, and a young Boscha hadn't known what else to call them. Morel was just as dedicated to their daughter as Callisto was, but was also the more reasonable one; they didn't spoil Boscha like their wife did, and sadly didn't see her anywhere near as much as both wished they did, since they were an important researcher in the Potions Coven and was frequently kept busy.

After not finding her Daddy in their lab or any of their other frequented spots in the manor, Boscha headed to her parents room and knocked.

"Come in!" sang her Mother.

Boscha opened the door and immediately smiled upon seeing her parents together, getting ready for something. Callisto was dressed in a fancy yellow gown, while Morel had opted for a very dark red tux with a yellow shirt and tie, and was currently having their messy plum red hair pulled back into a tidy bun by Callisto.

"There's my Fire Honey!" Morel greeted with a smile.

"Hey Daddy! Are you guys going somewhere" Boscha asked, seeing them dressed up.

"Oh yes, I tried to tell you when you got home, but you rushed off straight to your room!" Callisto said, pouting at the memory; "Daddy and I were invited out to dinner by Head Witch Vitimir. We're going to Titania in Manubrium."

Boscha whistled; Titania was the most high-end restaurant on the Boiling Isles! Even nobles like the Alembics and Blights rarely got to eat there due to how exclusive it was!

"That's cool. But before you go, I was hoping to talk to Daddy. You see, I kind of got in a fight with Skara yesterday and I wanted to apologise…" Boscha began.

"Now now, my darling; an Alembic is never wrong and thus we don't apologise! Your friend should apologise to you!" Callisto said snootily.

Boscha rolled her eyes; "She did apologise but I was wrong. I was mean over something she didn't have any control over; that wasn't fair and I don't want to hurt our friendship! I already don't see her as much as I'd like…"

Morel saw their daughter blush slightly at those final few words, making them smile; their little Fire Honey probably cared for Skara more than even she realised. They put their hand on Callisto's arm before she could argue with Boscha, then said; "I'm proud of you for wanting to make amends, Princess. I've been wondering why you've been down in the dumps recently. The best way to apologise is to just talk to Skara and tell her what you did wrong and then say sorry. Skara's a nice girl; a simple sorry and acknowledgement of what you did wrong should be enough."

Boscha smiled; she could do that. Callisto pouted, but decided not to argue this time; she didn't want to fight with her beloved or her baby right before their big dinner! Though the thought of their dinner gave Callisto an idea for how to cheer her daughter up!

"Honey, why don't you worry about talking to Skara tomorrow? For tonight, you should come with us to Titania and meet Head Witch Vitimir!" Callisto suggested with a bright smile; "You're a potions genius just like your Mommy and Daddy, and you're bound to end up in the Coven when you graduate! Perhaps you'll even be the next Coven Head! So you should meet Vitimir now and make a good impression." she suggested.

Boscha blinked in surprise; "Meeting Vitimir sounds cool…" she admitted, "… but is it okay for me to come along? This is a super exclusive place, right? I can't just show up uninvited."

Morel smiled; "Actually, the invitation was for "the Alembic Family" and did include you. We just hadn't told you because we know you don't normally like formal dinners."

"But obviously getting to go to a fancy restaurant and meet one of the Coven Heads has got to lift your spirits!" Callisto added.

Boscha held back a snort; her Daddy's logic was closer to the mark than her Mommy's. Normally Boscha hated going to these stuffy formal dinners and only went to make her parents happy, but getting to meet Vitimir could be interesting! He was the Isles' foremost genius in potion brewing and Boscha would love to pick his brain a little, and maybe get in on the ground floor in the Potions Coven!

"Alright, I'll go. Give me a minute to get dressed." she said, turning to head back to her room. Callisto tutted.

"A minute? You'll need more than that young lady! Come on, Mommy will get you all glammed up!" she said, rushing after her daughter and leaving Morel to finish getting ready by themselves, which they did with a smile and a shake of their head.

About twenty minutes later, Morel found themselves waiting in their manor foyer for the ladies in their life to finish up and come down. When they finally did, Boscha had been dressed in a plum red dress in a similar style to her mother's, though a tad more conservative since Callisto liked to flaunt her looks a bit (she thoroughly enjoyed teasing Morel). She'd also had her hair pulled out of its usual bun and allowed to flow naturally down her to her shoulders, which was a surprisingly cute look for the sporty girl. The girl's expression was also mildly annoyed, and her face lacked any kind of make-up; clearly Boscha hadn't allowed her mother to go that far.

"You look beautiful, Fire Honey." Morel complimented.

"Thanks Daddy." Boscha blushed, "Let's go, before Mommy tries to give me eyeliner again."

She summoned her staff as Callisto pouted and summoned her own. Morel followed suit, and the three got on their staves and began to fly to Manubrium, enjoying the brisk early evening air as the sun was just beginning to set. Morel's Palisman was an orange coloured snail with a black cauldron for a shell, whom Morel had named Tink, while Callisto's Palisman was a pink Galago with three tails and four arms, whom she had named Ellie. Both had become close friends with Maya since she'd bonded with Boscha.

By air, it didn't take long to reach the bustling capital city of Manubrium, located in the dead centre of the Titan's chest, only a short ways south from the Emperor's Castle. They landed in the upper class part of the city, where the buildings were noticeably fancier and cleaner looking, and walked the short path to Titania. The restaurant was constructed to look like a crystal spire, with its surface looking like it shone in all the colours of the rainbow, and atop which sat a giant crystal figurine of a beautiful woman with fairy wings. The building alone looked ludicrously expensive, and Boscha was almost afraid to touch anything as she walked inside with her parents.

The interior was just as fancy; everything hard was made from gold or crystal, and everything soft was made from red velvet or pure white silk. The staff (all of whom were beyond beautiful or handsome for their species) were dressed in the finest of butler-style attire, and practically waited on the guests hand and foot. The crystal walls of the spire were also completely transparent from the inside, giving the guests a view of the city as they ate.

A heart-rendingly handsome waiter stepped forward and greeted them with a bow; "Good evening, Fair Folk. Welcome to Titania. Might I see your reservations?"

Morel handed him the invitation from Vitimir and the waiter smiled and thanked them, taking a quick look. The waiter's eyes widened almost imperceptibly, before handing the invitation back and nodded. "Right this way, Fair Folk. Head Witch Vitimir has reserved a private table in the Crown Room. Also, might I take your staves? Your Palismen will be well taken care of."

Morel nodded gratefully, and the Alembics handed over their staves (with some reluctance from Boscha). The waiter took them and then handed them to another waiter, who was stood beside a door marked; "Palisman Lounge". The waiter saw Boscha eyeing the door and reassured her; "We take excellent care of them. They get to enjoy their own Titania restaurant experience, and enjoy fine food, massages, and entertainment."

"Good. I haven't had Maya for long; treat her well." Boscha said imperiously. The waiter, used to such tones after working for rich people for so long, just took it in stride and nodded politely.

The family then followed the waiter through the restaurant to a golden platform surrounded by railings on the far wall. As they passed one of the tables, Boscha peeked at the menu and blinked upon seeing no prices listed…

"Guess this is the kind of place where if you have to ask for the price then you probably can't afford it…" she thought as she stepped onto the platform.

Once they were onboard, the platform began to rise up through the spire's floors until it reached the very top, appearing outside a pair of large gold and crystal doors with an image of the Titan carved into it. The waiter approached the door and it opened on its own, with the waiter stepping aside and bowing as he showed the Alembics in. They walked through the door and found that the entire top floor of the spire was reserved for a single table that had an excellent view of the city of Manubrium. A grand piano was off to the side with a pianist sat there playing, while an open kitchen was on the opposite side of the room, with chefs ready to personally cook for them.

"This is insanely fancy…" Boscha whispered under her breath as she followed her parents towards the single table, where Head Witch Vitimir was already seated. Unlike the Alembics, he hadn't dressed up for the occasion and was instead dressed in his usual attire; a long black robe with a dull yellow belt, and matching cuffs on his short sleeves. He also kept his mouth covered by a matching yellow cloth, though he had at least taken off his tall black hat and set it down atop the chest of drawers he usually carried on his back, and which was now beside his chair.

He stood up when he saw them, his red eyes narrowing slightly on Boscha. "Ah, you've arrived. I'm glad you accepted my invitation, Callisto, Morel." he said, his voice low and rasping, as if he had a sore throat.

"Thank you for inviting us, Head Witch. We truly appreciate it." Morel bowed politely.

"The Alembics have done good work in my coven. Such things should be rewarded. And you brought your daughter after all; I had wondered if you would. A pleasure to meet you, young Boscha." Vitimir said, pointing one of his long arms towards the girl for a handshake. Boscha accepted the handshake, though had to suppress a shudder at how cold and clammy the man's hand felt.

"Nice to meet you, sir." Boscha replied.

Vitimir nodded and gestured for them to take their seats. Boscha made sure to sit opposite Vitimir, with her parents on either side of her so she'd have a buffer between her and the Head Witch, who seriously gave her the creeps. She'd seen him before (though not this close up) and had even heard him speak once at a Coven Event she'd been invited to with her parents, but something about him today was making her skin crawl… He was watching her; not overtly, but enough that whenever Boscha looked directly at him, he was always looking at her already.

Boscha listened as her parents made small talk with Vitimir (mostly about their current research projects), and he in turn replied with some of the goings on at the castle. It was fairly run of the mill, and nothing Boscha found massively interesting. When the waiter handed them menus, Vitimir told them to order their fill, as the meal was being paid for by the Emperor himself. Boscha picked out the dishes she found most appealing, then couldn't help but ask;

"Why would Emperor Belos pay for you to take us out for a meal?" she asked, barely keeping her tone civil. Her Daddy gave her a warning look, but Vitimir didn't appear offended.

"I enjoy a few special privileges with the Emperor. I performed some vital tasks for him in the past, when I was only a bit older than you in fact. I've enjoyed his favour ever since, and even rose to become Head of a Coven before I was out of my twenties. Though officially, I didn't take the title until I was 30, I basically ran the place for my predecessor before his passing." Vitimir boasted, "Not that my rise can be attributed to nepotism; I am still the finest brewer of potions in all the Boiling Isles."

"Oh, no one can doubt that!" Callisto laughed, in full flattery mode; "There's not a soul on the Isles who can match you! Though our Boscha may well surpass you once she graduates!"

"Truly now?" Vitimir raised an eyebrow and looked from Callisto to her daughter; "Your parents are certainly proud of you… I assume that pride is deserved?"

"I'm the top potions track student at Hexside. Even the higher years are no match!" Boscha said defensively.

Vitimir hummed; "I see. And do you have many interesting classmates?"

Boscha frowned; she didn't like where this was going. Vitimir was probably fishing for information about Luz and her fellow rebels; Boscha may not know what they've been up to, but she did know who among Skara's friends were rebels too! She'd learned from her mistake with her diary and Luz's secret, so she hadn't written the information down anywhere, and she had no intention of spilling the beans.

"Not really. Most are just amateurs. No one really worth mentioning." Boscha sniffed, being as dismissive as she could.

It appeared to work too, as Vitimir lost interest in talking to her and switched back to discussing some new compound he had been having her Daddy work on. Boscha only half listened as she stared out the window and admired the view of the city as it got darker outside and the city lights came on. The meal arrived soon after, having been cooked up by the silent chefs off to the side, and it was just as luxurious as everything else in the place. An appetiser of Orichalcum Roc Eggs and Dire Mammoth Cheese made into a souffle, and an entrée of Silver Bicorn Steak were delivered to the table for Boscha, and it was without a doubt the greatest meal she'd ever tasted. Even her dining company couldn't put her off, but seeing Vitimir finally pull down his mask to eat his own food did make her pale slightly.

Beneath his mask, Vitimir's mouth was large and lined with thin, razor sharp, needle-like teeth that poked out of his lips even when they were closed. The skin of his throat and around his mouth were also tainted by mottled green spots that looked like he'd been injured in some way. Boscha wanted to ask about it, but didn't dare for fear of what Vitimir might do. He was her parents' boss after all!

After they ate their main courses, expensive wine was brought out (including an alcohol free glass for Boscha) and Vitimir proposed a toast to the upcoming Day of Unity. The Alembics shared in the toast and drank the offered drinks, then ordered desserts to finish off the meal. However it was at that moment that things took a turn…

As soon as the waiter took their orders to the chef, Vitimir turned his attention back to Boscha.

"Forgive me, young Boscha. I've been neglecting to speak with you much this evening." he rasped, his eyes narrowing on her; "It must be boring to hear adults prattle on about things you don't care about."

"That's true." Boscha blurted out before she could stop herself. Her parents looked shocked by her bluntness, but Vitimir just chuckled.

"Yes, I don't blame you for thinking so. Let us discuss something you might be interested in. Your achievements perhaps? You said earlier that you were the best Potions Witch attending Hexside." Vitimir said.

"I am. My grades are the best in the school in the potions track." Boscha replied without hesitation.

"You truly have no rivals?" he pressed.

Boscha frowned, but before she could stop herself, she found herself speaking again; "In potions, I only have one. A kid in the year above me; Barcus. He's the second best, though he's the top oracle student."

"Ah, one of the famed Multi-Trackers. I was surprised when Lilith allowed that little scheme, before she turned traitor of course. Do you have rivals outside of the potions track?" Vitimir asked.

Boscha tried to say no, but when she opened her mouth the words came tumbling out; "Three, really. Willow Park is my biggest rival, then there's Amity Blight, and of course Luz Noceda-Clawthorne."

Vitimir grinned, and Morel looked surprised that Boscha would been so forthcoming about something like that; she usually preferred to deny anyone was a rival to her. Morel looked at her suspiciously.

"Boscha dear, are you feeling alright?" they asked.

"No!" Boscha replied, again before she could stop herself; "I can't stop myself from answering!"

Morel and Callisto both went wide-eyed, before the former grabbed her empty wine glass and cast a spell on it. The result made them angry.

"Someone spiked that alcohol free wine with Blabber Serum!" they growled, turning to glare at the waiter and chefs. They all looked away in shame, causing Morel to then glare at Vitimir; "What is the meaning of this!?"

"Head Witch Vitimir, did you truly spike our daughter's drink!?" Callisto cried, completely aghast.

Vitimir just smiled and snapped his fingers, causing the pianist to stop playing. They, the waiter, and the chefs then hurried out of the room, leaving the Head Witch alone with the Alembics. Vitimir then folded his hands together and rested his chin on them as he stared fixedly at Boscha.

"Indeed I did. In truth, this dinner had another purpose. The Emperor has noted that people in close proximity to Young Luz have a habit of turning traitor. You have been noted to have spent a lot of time around her… as your family are members of my coven, I was told to investigate and make sure you don't become turncoats like the Blights." Vitimir confessed.

Morel grit their teeth; "So this was just a set-up!?" they growled.

Vitimir glared at them; "Mind your manners. I could have done this investigation by having you both seized, dragged through the Coven HQ, and forcibly dosed and questioned while sending people to retrieve your daughter by force. Instead I treated you to a nice meal. It's not too late to try it the other way, if you'd prefer." he threatened.

Morel and Callisto exchanged worried looks, realising they were stuck in an impossible situation. The former turned to their daughter and said; "I'm sorry Boscha. Let's just cooperate for the time being, alright?"

Boscha, pale and shaking, had no choice but to nod and obey. Vitimir smiled in response and said; "Perfect. I only have a few more questions. First, are you or your parents members of the CATTs?"

"No. I was offered a position, but refused." Boscha replied, a quiver to her voice.

"Good girl! Now tell me everything you know about the recent raid on the Plant Coven. Leave nothing out." Vitimir ordered.

Boscha felt a little bit of relief; she'd heard of the raid and its purpose, but not who was involved! "I only know it happened and it was to steal Palistrom Wood for Luz to make a Palisman with."

"And did she succeed?" the man asked.

"I-I don't know? I think she carved it into an egg. I only saw it for the first time today, at a distance."

Vitimir stroked his chin; "An egg you say…? Fascinating. Do you know anyone related to my coven who might be a member of the rebels."

Boscha tried to keep her mouth shut, but the Blabber Serum compelled her to answer; "N-Not exactly. I only know someone in the potions track who is a member."

"Oh? Tell me about them."

Again Boscha resisted, but to no avail; "H-His name is Barcus, the Multi-Track student I mentioned before. I know he is a member of the CATTs too; I see him hanging out with Luz sometimes."

Vitimir hummed with interest; "Does this Barcus have any other connections to my coven?"

"He has a part-time job at the Mr. Elixir apothecary and potions shop in Bonesborough." Boscha confessed miserably; "He sold me ingredients when I last went there to stock up. The owner, Morton, is in the Potions Coven."

"Morton, hmm? I've spoken to him already; he isn't a member of the CATTs. Still, this information could be useful. Alright, I think I have everything I need from you." Vitimir said, standing up and pulling some kind of card out from his pocket. He opened it up out of Boscha's view and scribbled something down inside it, then placed it in an envelope and sealed it with some transmuted wax, that he stamped it with a ring that bore the Potions Coven Sigil. The letter flashed yellow, then Vitimir turned and handed it to Boscha.

"This is an invitation to a meeting with me. Give it to Young Luz no later than tomorrow morning." he ordered. "And don't bother opening it; if you do, I'll know."

The unspoken threat made Boscha gulp, and she took the letter in a shaky hand. She felt compelled to say; "Luz will never agree to show up, not without all the CATTs behind her. She'll know it's a trap."

Vitimir just laughed as he put his face mask back in place, and grabbed his hat and chest of drawers. "Oh, I'm sure she will. But she'll come anyway, I know it." he put his hat on and put the chest on his back, then clapped his hands, causing the pianist, waiter, and chefs to come back into the room and take their places.

"I must leave now that my job is done. Fancy places like this always make me uncomfortable. But you can stay and enjoy some dessert on the Emperor's snail." Vitimir said, beginning to head towards the door; "Oh, and Young Boscha? Play your cards right, and the Alembic Family will find their status massively increasing. Farewell until tomorrow."

With that, he walked out of the room, the golden doors slamming shut behind him and leaving the Alembics in stunned silence. Boscha's mind was racing as the letter in her hand felt as heavy as lead. What had she just done!? What was Vitimir planning!? What did he mean by "until tomorrow"!? Did he plan on coming back for her!?

The three-eyed girl began to shake, and immediately snapped her fingers to summon her Palisman to her. Maya appeared on her lap and began to make calming snipping noises while sending soothing emotions into the girl's mind. Seeing their daughter in such distress made Morel furious, and they stood and glared at the Titania staff; "We are leaving!" they declared.

The staff bowed their heads meekly and made no move to stop them. The waiter tried to offer a bottle of expensive wine for their troubles, but Morel refused, not wanting a single thing from the same people who'd spiked his 15 year old daughter's drink! The Alembics marched out in tense silence, stopping just long enough to pick up Tink and Ellie from the Palisman Lounge. The instant they were outside, Morel exploded.

"How dare he do this to our daughter!?" they fumed, pacing in the streets in an effort to calm down; "We've served loyally, and he has the Titan-damned nerve to drug our daughter and interrogate her like some common criminal!?"

Callisto, usually loving the sight of her meek partner all fired up, fidgeted uncomfortably. "I-I'm angry too, but what can we really do about it? Our sweet Boscha isn't hurt, and we aren't in trouble. Our family's loyalty has been confirmed!" she said. She really was inwardly furious about the situation too, especially since her previous baby was obviously upset, but she was also conflicted; Vitimir said himself that this could lead to advancement for their family! She hated how it had happened, but it could have been worse!

Morel glared at their wife; "She was hurt though! Maybe not physically, but still! When I see Vitimir tomorrow, I'm going to have some stern words with him!"

Boscha, recovering a little from the shock of the situation, just shook her head; "Don't, Daddy. It'll only get you in trouble. I-I need to go see Luz and deliver this letter right away."

She prepared to fly off to the Owl House, hoping Willow's birthday party was over so she didn't intrude and make Skara mad at her, but Morel put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "No, it can wait until morning. I want you to come home with us for now and let me ensure you've got no more potions in your system!"

Boscha felt it was unlikely, but Vitimir had broken her parents trust with this stunt, so she wasn't going to argue. The Alembic Family flew back to their manor, with Boscha holding Maya in her arms as she rode with her Daddy on Tink. Once they got home, Morel tested Boscha for other potions by having her put a special tab of paper on her tongue, which would change colour if she'd ingested a potion. When the tab changed colour, as they all knew it would, Morel then placed the tab into a clear vial of liquid, which dissolved the tab and turned black, after which Morel poured it onto a sheet of parchment. The black potion immediately formed words like ink, to list all the potions in Boscha's system. Thankfully, aside from the Blabber Serum that they already knew about, the only potion in Boscha's system was a minor pacifying potion, which weakened her magic slightly and reduced her aggression to ensure she didn't get violent against Vitimir. Both would have worn off within an hour, but Morel gave her antidotes for them anyway.

Once her system was clear of potions, Morel and Alembic sat their daughter down and apologised for letting her get involved in Vitimir's schemes, even if they hadn't had any control over the situation. They'd taken Boscha with them to cheer her up, but only ended up making her feel worse… Though on the bright side, it did take her mind off of her argument with Skara! By the time they'd gotten home and finished testing her for potions, Boscha's parents declared it too late to be rushing over to the Owl House, so the three-eyed girl was ordered to stay home and deliver Vitimir's invitation tomorrow.

That night, Boscha tossed and turned as she struggled to sleep, dreading what would happen when she saw Luz tomorrow… She'd already screwed up and gotten Luz captured once; she was terrified what would happen when Skara found out she'd messed up again!

[The Next Day]

Boscha awoke bright and early, having finally gotten to sleep shortly after midnight when she gave up trying to sleep naturally and brewed herself some tea with Sleeping Nettles. She practically raced to shower and dress in her school uniform, eager to finally get to the Owl House and get this whole ordeal over with! Grabbing her school bag and loading both Maya and Vitimir's invitation into it, she practically fled the house, stopping only to shout a good morning to her Daddy, who was drinking coffee in the kitchen alone (her Mommy was a late riser).

She then ran out of the house and into Bonesborough, heading to the Owl House. She could have flown with Maya, but she was still trying to decide exactly what she'd say when she arrived… Boscha eventually made it all the way to the Owl Lady's infamous home, and was mildly surprised to see a lot of party decorations still up outside and the evidence of Willow's 15th birthday party everywhere. It was enough that Boscha had to give the girl props; her friends knew how to throw a fun party!

Boscha walked up to the front door and knocked on it, at which point the bizarre owl face carved into it came to life and spoke to her.

"Hi there new friend! Are you here to visit me, Hoot?" Hooty asked, stretching out of the door a little.

Boscha yelped and chopped Hooty's face with her palm, making him yelp and retreat back into the door; "Ouch! Geez, I was just asking! Ow! Hoot!" he said indignantly.

"Uh… sorry? I forgot you were alive." Boscha said, having only been to the Owl House a couple of times, and never really interacting much with Hooty.

Thankfully the House Demon took it in stride; "I forget I'm alive too sometimes… Hoot! What do you need, new friend?"

"I'm here to see Luz. It's urgent." Boscha answered.

Hooty twisted his face around until he was upside down, going "Hmmmm…." as he thought, before twisting back around again and saying; "Okay! Luz is eating breakfast with everyone! Go right on through! Hoot!"

The House Demon swung open and allowed Boscha to walk inside, which she did quickly so she didn't have to spend any more time around Hooty! She hurried straight through the living room until she heard the sound of laughter, and followed it to the Owl House's kitchen. Walking into the room made her heart sink, as not only was Luz sitting at the table with her Mom and little brother, but also with the entire Hexsquad!

"Boscha? What are you doing here?" Luz asked.

Everyone turned to face the girl, with curious looks or frowns (in the case of Eda, King, and Willow). Boscha also saw that Raine Whispers and Luz's strange friend Rasiel were present too, stood by the stove cooking up the food. Seeing Luz surrounded by all her friends made Boscha gulp; this could end badly!

"Hey Boscha! Did you come to walk to school with us?" Skara asked with a hopeful smile.

"No, I came to talk to Luz about something. I wasn't expecting the whole Hexsquad to be here!" Boscha said, putting on her tough girl act and crossing her arms.

"Willow's party went on long, so we decided to have a sleepover." Amity explained.

"Oh. Uh… happy birthday Willow? I guess?" Boscha said awkwardly.

Willow was still frowning, but her eyes were no longer narrowed; "Thanks, Boscha." she said neutrally.

An awkward silence followed, until Luz finally said; "So… what did you want to talk about, Boscha?"

The three-eyed girl cringed and took the invitation from Vitimir out of her bag; "I-It's a long story. I sort of messed up really badly."

Willow snorted; "What, did you go and spill some of Luz's secrets again?" she asked rhetorically. Boscha could only respond with a wince and a lowering of her head, making everyone frown.

"You did!? Again!?" Eda snapped, getting to her feet; "I swear if you've put my Owlet in danger again, I'll feed you to Hooty!"

"Wait! Please let me explain!" Boscha begged, backing off a step; "It wasn't on purpose, I swear!"

She then looked to Skara, who had an upset expression; "Honest, I really didn't mean to! I was forced!"

Luz put a calming hand on her Mom's shoulder and said; "Let's give her a chance to explain. After last time, I don't think she'd rat me out… besides, what secrets does she even know about us that she could spread?"

That was a fair point, so the others decided to sit back and listen as Boscha explained. Once she was done, Luz and her friends were both relieved and irritated. On the one hand, Boscha's name was cleared; she'd been literally drugged into giving up the information she had, so even Willow couldn't hold it against her. But on the other hand, whatever Vitimir was planning was obviously bad, especially since Boscha had told the others about his apparent close connections with Belos. However, the information he'd actually gotten out of Boscha raised questions for Raine.

"Vitimir has always been creepy; after Terra, he's probably the shadiest of the Head Witches, but he isn't stupid. Why didn't he ask Boscha if she knew any members of the CATTs?" they wondered aloud.

"Maybe because she'd already said she'd refused to join the CATTs, so Vitimir assumed she wouldn't know any more?" Matt suggested.

Rasiel, who saw where Raine was going with this, pointed out; "But he asked her about CATTs members specifically related to the Potions Coven, and Boscha outed Barcus as a result. Doesn't that prove she knew at least one of the members? Surely Vitimir would have noticed and asked about others she knew. It was like he was focused solely on his coven and didn't care about the CATTs beyond that."

Luz frowned; "That's a good point. I wonder if Vitimir only cares about his own Coven? But then why ask about the heist and my Palisman?"

"Considering this…" Boscha held up the sealed invitation, "…maybe he was trying to make sure he knew what you were capable of before whatever event he's inviting you too."

Everyone turned to look at the invitation, and Luz reached for it; "Well we won't find out more by just sitting here. Let's see what he wants." she said.

Eda intervened and snatched the invitation away before Luz could grab it; "Hold it right there, Owlet. Vitimir was willing to spike a kid's drink; who knows what magic he'd put on this thing! He could have soaked the paper in a potion, or mixed something into the wax! I'll test it first."

Luz didn't argue, and everyone backed away from the kitchen table as Eda put the invitation on it and began shooting spells at it, trying to scan it for magic. The envelope and its contents came back clean, though the wax seal did trigger a reaction, so Eda shot another spell at it, then smiled with relief; "Well, no death hexes, no weird curses, and no potions. The seal just has an alert on it, so the guy who mixed the wax will sense the magic of whoever opens it. Must be a fail safe so Vitimir knows Luz got the letter before someone else could tamper with it."

She picked it up and handed it to Luz; "It's safe though."

Luz carefully broke the wax seal (causing a faint flash of yellow magic), then pulled out the card Boscha had seen Vitimir writing on. The front was decorated with a bubbling cauldron, with the Potions Coven Sigil being formed out of yellow foam on top of its contents, and the words "You are cordially invited to visit the Alchemist Atelier" written in fancy calligraphy beneath it. Luz opened the card and cleared her throat as she began to read it out loud.

"Dear Luz, I am inviting you to have dinner with me at my Coven HQ, the Alchemist Atelier, this evening at sundown. Undoubtedly you would normally decline this invitation due to our differing sides in the current civil war, however I have taken the liberty of ensuring your compliance. By the time you read this, I will have acquired a friend of yours by the name of Barcus. If you do not attend this dinner, I will ensure his last moments of life are agonising." Luz had to stop reading there as her throat filled with bile and she covered her mouth. Her friends looked just as horrified, and Boscha looked almost catatonic, realising that it was the information she'd been forced to give that painted that target on Barcus' back.

"What have I done…!?" she said in a haunted whisper.

"It's not your fault, Boscha." Skara put a hand on her back to reassure her; "You didn't have a choice."

King, who'd been quiet thus far, clambered up onto his sister's shoulder while Eda was rubbing her back. He finished reading the invitation to everyone; "To put your mind at ease, I will swear not to hand you over to Belos, nor do I have any nefarious intent. I will not harm you, and to ensure your comfort, I will allow you to bring someone with you. However they must be a fellow student, a member of the potions track, and someone who is not a member of your rebel group. Do not keep me waiting, Luz; young Barcus' life depends on it. Sincerely yours, Head Witch Vitimir."

There was a moment of silence as everyone registered the invitation, before Gus said flatly; "So we're all in agreement that this is an obvious trap, right?"

Everyone nodded, and Willow crossed her arms with a frown; "But this is weird; Vitimir claims he isn't going to hand Luz over to Belos? That's either a stupidly obvious lie, or he's got something else planned."

"Maybe he wants angel ingredients?" Luz suggested; "My blood, tears, and feathers are all valuable ingredients in potions. Though unless he plans to threaten Barcus to get them, he'd have to harm me."

"I'm more confused as to why he'd give such specific requirements for bringing a friend with you." Matt frowned.

"He wants me to be the one Luz picks." Boscha said miserably; "He said he'd see me tomorrow, or today now I guess… I didn't realise what he meant until now."

"But why you? You're not actually a traitor, right?" King asked, eyes narrowed.

Boscha shook her head rapidly, and Amity gave a possible answer; "We know from Willow's encounter with Terra that being close to the Emperor meant she got to know privileged information, like Luz's known friends. And Vitimir mentioned that part of why he interrogated the Alembics was because he thought they might have turned rebel. So he probably knows Luz hangs out with Boscha from time to time. She's also the best potions student and now he knows that she's not a rebel, he probably figures Boscha is a strong ally Luz would be willing to bring along, but who he can make sure doesn't actually help her."

"So the conditions for bringing a friend are a trap too." Rasiel frowned; "How should we handle this?"

Raine and Eda exchanged looks, nodding to one another as they guessed what their partner was thinking. Raine then said; "We need to look into this more and weigh our options. The dinner isn't until sundown, so we have all day to investigate and plan. Leave that to Eda and I." they then leaned in to whisper to Boscha wouldn't hear; "We'll talk to Darius, Eber, and Mason, and probably Luna too. She may have insight on the Alchemist Atelier. In the meantime, you kids should go to school as normal."

"You want us to go to school while Barcus is in danger!?" Luz exclaimed; "I love Hexside, but this is more important!"

"We don't even know if Barcus really has been captured! From what Boscha said, Vitimir wrote this card right after learning about him, so he couldn't have caught him before writing it. There's a chance he hasn't actually kidnapped him yet! We'll go and find out, then we can plan." Raine reassured her. "The best thing you can do right now Luz is let the adults work things out."

Luz, the Hexsquad, and Boscha all looked ready to protest, but the adults weren't going to budge. They were also correct; they couldn't exactly do much right now, especially Luz. She'd promised her Mami that she'd maintain her grades, and she'd already missed two days at school this week…

"Fine… but I'm coming home right after school! If Barcus hasn't been kidnapped yet, then please protect him!" Luz pleaded.

Raine nodded, and Eda ruffled her hair; "Easy, Owlet. If Vitimir did kidnap Barcus, then he broke the treaty too; this could be an opportunity to nail Belos and his creepy cohorts."

Luz dearly hoped Barcus was safe, being the closest to him out of the Hexsquad. After agreeing to let the adults handle the situation until there was no choice but to involve her, Luz and the rest of the Hexsquad (plus Boscha) headed off to school. Luz's very first classes of the day, the bard track classes with Skara, made her heart sink when she spoke to Jerbo and Viney. The first thing she'd done was ask them if they'd seen or heard from the Canine Demon, and their frowns had made both Luz and Skara pale.

"Actually, we got calls from his parents this morning. He never went home last night and they thought he might have slept over at one of our houses." Viney said worriedly, "But I haven't seen him since school ended yesterday."

"I saw him working at Mr. Elixir. I was trading some plants I'd grown for abomination ingredients. But that was probably mid-afternoon?" Jerbo added, looking just as concerned. "I didn't see anything weird with him or Mr. Morton."

The girls had worried about that answer and sent messages to Eda and the others. At break time, Luz had tried to call Barcus on her scroll while going to meet the others, but got no response, then once they met the others, Amity and Boscha had delivered more bad news.

"Barcus wasn't in the oracle track classes." Amity frowned.

"He wasn't in the potions track classes either. If his parents haven't seen him either, then there's only one possibility left…" Boscha said guiltily, cursing herself. If she'd ignored her Daddy and delivered the invitation straight away last night, then maybe they could have acted fast enough to make sure Barcus wasn't taken!

The rest of the school day was an anxious time for the Hexsquad and Boscha, as well as Viney and Jerbo once they'd been told what was going on. As soon as the school bell rang for the last time, every single one of them high-tailed it out of the school, with some of them literally jumping out of their classroom windows and flying as fast as they could back to the Owl House. When they arrived, they were stopped by Rasiel at the door.

"We have some guests related to the CATTs, so I'm afraid Boscha can't come in without an oath." he said sternly. "Raine said she doesn't need to join, she just needs to swear an oath not to reveal any of what she learns today."

Luz and the others figured this was the Coven Heads, so they nodded and headed on inside, except for Skara who remained outside with Boscha. Once the others were gone, Skara held Boscha's hand; "I know you don't want to join the CATTs, but it'll be a lot easier if you at least swear an oath of secrecy. Blabber Serum can't force you to break an Everlasting Oath, so anything you learn will be safe!

Boscha nodded; "I don't need to be convinced. That jerk Vitimir used me and made me a lousy pawn! I want to get my own back!" she growled, punching her palm. She was telling the truth, but Skara could also see Boscha felt guilty for what she'd done. Ever since the incident with Luz getting arrested, Boscha had grown a proper conscience. She been trying to be a better person to make Skara happy, and while she still enjoyed teasing people and her caustic barbs, the moment those barbs actually hurt someone, she'd begin to feel rotten. Part of it was Skara, who she knew would be disappointed in her, and part of it was the voice in her head that said; "Why are you hurting this person? What do you gain?"

Boscha cared about being the best she could be and beating her rivals; bullying people didn't achieve either goal.

Skara hugged her best friend proudly, and Rasiel watched with a knowing smirk as the three-eyed girl went bright red. Once they separated, the Ancient Angel had Boscha take a modified oath that Darius had prepared, in which Boscha swore not to reveal any CATTs related information she learned. Once the oath was made, he finally stepped aside and allowed Boscha into the Owl House again, followed by Skara. The trio walked into the living room and Boscha promptly gaped at the people present. Not only was everyone from that morning present, but so was Lilith, Barcus' parents, and the three Coven Heads of the CATTs; Darius, Eber, and Mason.

"Whoa! Now I get why I needed to swear an oath! You've got a third of the Coven Heads on your side!" Boscha exclaimed.

"Yep! These guys all hate Belos and his cronies as much as we do." Eda smirked, before becoming serious; "But forget that for now; we've been planning all day and pretty much have all the intel we need."

Boscha nodded curiously, then noticed Luz wasn't in the room; "Where did Luz go? Isn't she important for this?"

"She's gone to our hideout to get someone who knows a lot about the Potions Coven." King answered simply; "She'll be back in a minute."

"In the meantime, why don't you fill us in on any new information you got at school." Darius chimed in, looking at Jerbo and Viney specifically.

The two told them the same thing they'd told the Hexsquad, which wasn't a lot. Barcus' Direwolf mother; Howlena, snarled and her husband and Barcus' Dog Lycan father; Rom translated.

"Barcus didn't come home from school last night. We thought he'd gone straight to his shift at Mr. Elixir then to stay at a friend's house; he's done it before without calling us. But he always calls home if he hasn't seen us for 24 hours." Rom said, crossing his arms worriedly.

Rom was a Dog Lycan that resembled a German Shepherd; his body was human-like, but covered in brown fur with black fur on his chest and abdomen, while his head was that of a German Shepherd, who wore a simple vest and baggy cargo shorts without shoes. His wife Howlena was a large Direwolf that basically looked like a regular wolf, though her fur was the same shade as Barcus' and she had a long mane of hair running down her head and neck, which she'd had braided with bone beads. Her only clothing was a long robe of dark brown, and beige bandage wraps around her ankles.

Before they could go further in their investigation, Luz returned from her quick trip to Digale Island with Luna, who had shrunken herself to normal witch size with a potion, allowing her to fit into the Owl House living room. Mason took the liberty of introducing her to Boscha and Barcus' parents, the former of whom once again found herself gaping. Luz had saved another person from petrification!? And a former Potions Coven Head at that!? Just how many crazy adventures had Skara's friends gotten up to without her knowing!?

"I'm starting to understand why you were so secretive…" Boscha muttered quietly to Skara. "Sorry for being such a jerk over it."

Skara beamed and held Boscha's hand, squeezing it a bit; "Thanks, Boscha!" she whispered back.

Oblivious to their interaction, Luna looked around and said; "Luz filled me in on a bit of what's been going on. The current Potions Head is luring her into a trap, using a kidnapped boy as bait, right?"

"Correct. We've already looked into the matter and the boy is indeed missing." Darius said; "His parents have checked out the Mr. Elixir shop he was working at, and found no sign of struggle, nor any signs of the owner Morton."

Luna hummed; "Could this Morton have handed the boy over to the coven then skipped town? If he lured him out of Bonesborough first, it wouldn't have broken the truce."

Eda shook her head vehemently; "Not a chance! Morton and I go way back; he supplied my Elixirs until Luz and King figured out how to grow Goldwort with their glyphs. There's no way he'd do something like that. Not willingly anyway."

"We can find out when and how from Barcus himself once we rescue him! That's what we should be working on right now!" Luz said impatiently; "We need a plan to bust in and get Barcus out!"

"Dangerous." Eber barked; "One wrong move and rescuers caught; Barcus dies. Potion Nose not make idle threats."

Darius translated for her, then said; "Vitimir is extremely cautious. He has back up plans inside back up plans. He's annoyingly meticulous about that, and his Coven HQ at the Alchemist Atelier has state of the art defences and security, meant to shut the place down in the event of a catastrophic accident with a potions experiment. Getting in without his approval is going to be next to impossible, and he'll almost certainly keep the boy with him at all times."

"So what are our options? This is obviously a trap." Lilith said.

"Simple answer; spring the trap." Rasiel said; "I suggest that Luz and Boscha actually go to this meeting, that should hopefully keep Vitimir busy and away from Barcus. While he's distracted, a second team could infiltrate and rescue him."

"Just like we did at Spriggan Manor!" Willow grinned.

Rasiel nodded; "Exactly. Once the second team has rescued Barcus and got him out, they can cause a ruckus to let Luz and Boscha escape."

Everyone nodded in agreement; that was the best plan they could come up with on such short notice. There was only two issues with it, which Mason pointed out.

"How is the second team supposed to infiltrate the place, or get passed all the hidden security?"

"The Alchemist Atelier has been the Potions Coven Headquarters since the founding of the Empire, so it used to be my HQ too. I made a few hidden passages that I never told anyone about; they'd be perfect for infiltrating the place." Luna smiled.

"And my spirit form can pass through walls and other physical obstacles without triggering any traps, so I'll be able to scout ahead." Rasiel added.

"Great! Then this is what we'll do…" Eda began with a mischievous grin.

For the next hour, the CATTs (and Boscha) worked out a full plan to infiltrate the Alchemist Atelier and save Barcus. At sundown, Luz and Boscha would show up for the dinner Vitimir had invited them to, and once he was definitely away from Barcus, Rasiel (who would be hiding in Luz's oracle stone ring) would then sneak away through the walls and find where Barcus was hidden, then find the shortest and safest route between his location and the secret entrance Luna had told them about. From this entrance, he would then guide a team of Eda, Howlena, and Rom to the boy so they could bust him out. Howlena and Rom would then evacuate with their son while Eda began causing a huge mess and Rasiel returned to Luz, ensuring Vitimir was distracted so she and Boscha could escape. In the meantime, Raine and Lilith would be meeting with the Bonesborough Council in an attempt to convince them that this kidnapping was against the truce between the CATTs, the EC, and the town, in order to either weaken the Emperor's Coven's remaining influence in the city, or force them to disavow Vitimir in response. Darius, Eber, and Mason would naturally be staying out of it to avoid being exposed as traitors, and Luna wouldn't be helping out so the Emperor didn't discover the petrified victims were still alive. The other Hexsquad members were also being kept out of it, much to their chagrin, but despite their accomplishments, they were still just kids and too many people would make stealth difficult.

Once a plan was decided on, they began to prepare.

"Are we sure we have to send the real Luz?" Amity said worriedly, not liking the idea of sending her girlfriend into a blatant trap.

"We don't have a choice. Vitimir is too cautious to be fooled by an imposter. Our best bet would be to have Treble disguise himself as Luz, but if he was caught, he and Boscha would be killed. We can't put it past Vitimir to drug the food or drinks at this little dinner party, and I'll remind you that this is how we caught Treble to begin with." Darius said with a severe frown; "At least if the real Luz goes along, she'll be able to fight back and defend herself. Vitimir is crafty, but he's not as powerful as Belos, so if it came to blows, Luz should be able to win."

Luz grinned; "Is it bad that I kinda want the plan to go awry once Barcus is safe, just so I can beat up this creep?"

The others chuckled, while Amity shook her head; "I want to do that myself just because he's forcing my Batata to go out to dinner with him and Boscha."

Luz blushed and Boscha rolled her eyes; "I'll be sure not to put the moves on your girlfriend, Blight. She's not my type anyway." she snorted.

Amity raised an eyebrow, and upon seeing Skara distracted by talking to Raine, she leaned in and quietly retorted; "Really? I thought pale haired girls with musical skills was just your type."

Boscha promptly blushed and shoved the smirking witch away; "S-Shut up!"

"To think that Boscha Alembic would have a cute side… Oh well, at least now I feel better about leaving you with my girlfriend." Amity giggled. Her smile then dropped and she looked seriously at Boscha; "And look… I know we may not be friends any more, but please take care of Luz."

The three-eyed girl nodded in return; "I'll make sure your girlfriend comes home safe and sound." she promised. "Skara would never forgive me if I didn't."

Amity smiled and accepted that answer.

Shortly thereafter, it was time to head out and begin the plan. Luz and Boscha were both dosed with an antidote for Blabber Serum, just in case Vitimir tried that trick again, and they were also made to swallow a bezoar; a little stone that formed in the stomachs of certain herbivorous beasts around the Boiling Isles. These stones served as a general cure for most weak, naturally occurring, or simple poisons, and were formed when beasts ate medicinal herbs and fossilised them together in their stomachs instead of digesting them, which allowed the same beasts to then survive off of poisonous plants and creatures in the wild. They looked like slightly oily marbles in an unappealing shade of mossy green, and they weren't pleasant to choke down, but they'd keep Luz and Boscha safe from most harmful poisons.

"Alright, we'll fly on ahead." Eda said, getting onto Owlbert while Rom and Howlena climbed onto Rom's staff (the Palisman being a Tabby Cat, ironically). "Good luck Owlet. King, you're in charge of the house while we're away."

King saluted and grinned at the Hexsquad, Jerbo, and Viney, who'd be remaining with him at the house while the others were on the mission. Eda and the rescue team flew off, soon being made invisible by an illusion, while Raine and Lilith then headed off into Bonesborough on their own mission.

"Ready to go, Boscha?" Luz asked, wings out and her Holy Raiment in place.

"As I'll ever be." Boscha replied, twirling Maya's staff idly.

"As am I." Rasiel said, now in spirit form as his body was resting in his bedroom.

Amity came over and gave Luz a big hug and kiss, while King clambered onto her back for a hug. Skara approached Boscha and gave her a big hug too, and whispered a "Good luck! I know you'll succeed! You're a winner, Boscha! And a better person too!"

That made Boscha smile and feel all warm on the inside… but then Willow approached her.

"We're putting a lot of trust in you. Are you really going to have Luz's back?" she asked, arms crossed sternly.

"Yeah, I am." Boscha huffed; "I'm awesome; there's no way this plan will fail with me there." she added haughtily.

Since starting to turn over a new leaf, Boscha acting haughty would normally make her rival smirk and give a mildly insulting retort, but this time Willow's expression remained stern.

"I'm not playing around Boscha. I still haven't forgiven you for the last several years of torment. You've been better; arguably even becoming a kind of decent person, but this isn't school or Grudgby. Lives are at stake. If you screw up, someone could die. Don't screw around or get cocky! If anything happens to Luz or Barcus and it's your fault…"

Willow didn't need to finish the sentence; Boscha understood her threat loud and clear. She was tempted to scoff or dismiss the plant lover's words, but this wasn't just Willow standing up to an old bully and current rival; this was an act of concern for her best friend. Boscha would have said the same to Willow if it was her and Skara heading off into danger.

"Got it." she answered simply.

Between Boscha and Willow, that was probably as sincere an answer as she could give. Willow recognised that and nodded in return, then reached into her uniform pocket and pulled out a small pouch that contained various dried leaves, seeds, roots, petals, and other plant parts and herbs.

"Take this. A Potions Witch should know how to use them." Willow said, tossing the pouch at Boscha. The three-eyed girl caught it easily, then looked inside, finding quite a few basic, but useful ingredients. She couldn't make anything game-changing with it, but it might give her an edge if things go south.

Boscha nodded her thanks and stowed the pouch in her pocket, then got on her staff. With a nod to Luz and one last wave to Skara, she then took off and began flying eastward, with Luz right behind her, making their way to the Alchemist Atelier, which was located on the Titan's left shoulder.

The Alchemist Atelier took the form of an ornate castle made of black iron and tempered glass, with many of its old spires replaced by giant black iron chimneys that frequently belched out smoke in all the colours of the rainbow. It had quite a detailed and bloody history too; it had been constructed about 3000 years ago by a warlord from another continent, who built it as a base for himself and his army in the location he'd made port. His reign had been short and he'd been crushed by Boiling Isles natives, who turned the black iron structure into a grand Temple of Worship to a Leviathan; a breed of Grand Dragon that was monstrously huge, but unintelligent. When the Leviathan moved on, the cult worshipping it did too, abandoning the citadel and leaving nothing but the tempered stained glass that they'd made to honour the Leviathan. Then in the Savage Ages, it had been converted into the finest Academy of Magic in the Boiling Isles; Clavis Academy of Magical Excellence. Generations of nobles (including the ancestors of the Alembics, Blights, and Cadences) had attended it, but shortly after Fibul Academy was brought down by Hexside, Glandus had similarly brought down Clavis Academy (with some help from Belos, who saw the academy as a font of wild magic). Finally, it had been claimed by the first Head of the Potions Coven, who found the place's black iron foundations to be very sturdy and resistant to potions residue and fumes, making it the ideal place to research new creations. It had been renamed to the Alchemist Atelier, and had remained such for over 50 years.

"This place is pretty cool!" Luz said as they landed just outside the outer walls. The castle-turned-research lab had been built right on the cliff, and the Boiling Sea had since eroded most of the cliff out from under it, leaving it perched on a stone pillar sticking out of the ocean. Only magic kept it all from collapsing into the water, and a stone bridge connected it to the rest of the Titan. Luz and Boscha had landed on this bridge, and now faced a black iron gate, with draconic gargoyles on either side.

The gate opened as they approached and they were allowed entrance into the grounds surrounding the Atelier, which was occupied with smaller buildings and facilities, including paddocks for animals and small herb gardens; both of which were used to gather ingredients for potions. Several Guards lined the path between the gate and the Atelier's large front doors, and they were dressed similarly to Coven Scouts, only with yellow cloaks over dull brown robes, which were styled more like plague doctor outfits, complete with matching masks. They had no weapons, but their belts were filled with potion vials and pouches of ominous powders, marking them as far from defenceless.

As the girls approached the castle entrance, the large doors swung open and Vitimir stepped out, flanked by two hulking guards that were dragging a cage behind them; a cage containing Morton. Luz gasped upon seeing him, but was relieved to see he wasn't injured.

"Morton!" she cried; "Are you okay!?"

"I'm fine. I'm sorry Luz, I never meant for this to happen! I- mmph!" Morton was cut off by Vitimir shooting a glob of yellow slime at him, which covered his mouth and sealed it shut.

Vitimir then lowered his face mask so he could smile kindly at Luz, and bowed in greeting. "Good evening, Young Luz. My name is Vitimir Bazamet, and I am the Head Witch of the Potions Coven. I would like to thank you for accepting my invitation to dinner."

"You didn't exactly give me a choice!" Luz glared at the man; "Let Morton and Barcus go, Vitimir!" she demanded.

The man put his hands up slowly; "I apologise for this, Young Luz. I truly wish our first proper meeting didn't have to be like this, but I needed a way to speak to you in a private setting." he said politely, his eyes seeming a lot kinder than when Boscha had last seen him. "Being close to the Emperor, you naturally would distrust me, so I took drastic measures."

Luz frowned; did that mean he was like Mason and this had all been a ploy to get her attention? "If that's true, then where is Barcus? Let him and Morton go, and we'll talk."

"I'm afraid I can't do that. I've waited too long to get a chance to speak to you; I can't risk you running away! But don't worry, neither your friend or this man will be hurt and I will release them after we've had our dinner." Vitimir said, clapping his hands. The two guards dragged Morton's cage out of sight, then Vitimir gestured for Luz and Boscha to follow him; "Right this way."

Luz glared at the back of the man's head as he led them both into the Atelier. The interior was eclectic and chaotic; witches and demons in plague doctor attire were running about all over the place, and every single bit of open space was being utilised for something. The walls were plastered with research notes and complex formulas, and every patch of floor that wasn't being used as a path had been covered by planters for herbs, pens for different kinds of beasts, cauldrons with all manner of potions bubbling away inside, and other potions related paraphernalia. It was insane, and from the look on Vitimir's face, he was not happy about it.

"I apologise for my Coven's unsightly nature. The lower floors are for my less accomplished brewers. They are tasked with fulfilling supply orders for hospitals, apothecaries, and other assorted businesses. Unfortunately they seem to work most efficiently in this madness… The upper floors are far less chaotic, and more fitting of an Angel's sensibilities." he said, sneering at everyone he passed, but flashing a kind smile at Luz when he turned to face her.

The young Arch-Angel was getting a very strange vibe from Vitimir, and Boscha was definitely starting to feel her skin crawl whenever Vitimir looked at Luz. He escorted them to a huge spiral staircase in the centre of the Atelier, and while it looked daunting to climb, the moment the three stepped onto the first few steps, they began to move on their own like a Human Realm escalator. As they went higher and higher, things got quieter, cleaner, and far less chaotic. The quality of the Coven Members' clothing also increased, becoming black or white robes with yellow bands, similar to Vitimir's outfit, only with plague doctor masks over their faces. They were also not running around, but rather speaking quietly and calmly, or working at meticulously organised laboratory set-ups covered by glass domes.

"My finer members conduct their research up here, either in teams supervised by an elite, or in personal labs. They research new transmutation spells, study how to infuse different magics into different ingredients, and of course, discover new potions formulas. The Elixirs that your mentor is so dependent on were first formulated here, by my predecessor… back before he lost his mind." Vitimir explained.

"Lost his mind?" Luz repeated.

"Oh yes. Safety and caution weren't practised much before I took over, and Old Jack Twoclaw inhaled a few too many fumes. I became his apprentice fresh from my graduation from Hexside, and ended up running the coven by the time I was 21. He lingered for ten more years though without retiring before he finally passed. At least Scooter Crane had the good grace to step down before he croaks."

Luz and Boscha exchanged suspicious looks, wondering if Head Witch Twoclaw had really gone mad on his own, or if Vitimir had been involved. The man was definitely conniving enough!

"Your parents work on these upper levels too, Boscha. Morel has a lab of their own on the second highest floor, while your mother is part of an elite team on the floor below theirs." Vitimir said, acting as if he hadn't drugged and interrogated her just yesterday.

"Huh, cool." Boscha mumbled non-committally.

Once they reached the end of the stair case, they found themselves at the peak of the Atelier's central spire, which was all black iron and sterile white ceramic tiles. This was Vitimir's personal laboratory, and it was filled with apparatus and ingredients that Luz had never heard of and Boscha could only have dreamed of working with. Crystal vials in strange shapes, cauldrons made of odd materials and at different sizes, liquids and powders of every hue, and books, tomes, and research notes all set out in a meticulously arranged way. The smell was also strange; like a mix between the smell of a sterile hospital environment and the earthy, natural scent of Eda's lab. Several doors led off from the central chamber of the lab, one of which Vitimir began leading the girls through.

"I've had dinner arranged for on the western balcony so you can see the sunset. It's quite a beautiful sight from here." he smiled.

Luz, beginning to get a really bad feeling, couldn't help but say; "Please tell me this isn't supposed to be a romantic kind of dinner."

To her immense relief, Vitimir's expression briefly flashed to one of concerned disgust; "What!? Of course not! You are a child! And one that is already quite in love with a certain Miss Blight, if I recall. I understand your concerns, but I assure you that my desires for this dinner are totally innocent!"

Luz and Boscha weren't so sure about that, but they were at least confident that he was being honest about the romantic aspect. It made Luz feel a little more at ease as she followed him down a short hallway and through another door out onto a large balcony that was pointing westward. It was quite a spectacular view, with the Titan's skull off to their right and the whole rest of the isles to their left, and the setting sun directly ahead of them. A dinner table had been set up on the balcony with three chairs.

Vitimir pulled out one of the chairs and gestured for Luz to sit in it, which she did nervously. The man then seemed to pause for a moment, then repeated the gesture with Boscha, as if only just remembering she was there. Once the girls were seated, Vitimir took his own seat and smiled.

"My subordinates will bring the food shortly, but first I need to make sure you're more comfortable." he said kindly, drawing a spell circle then offering a hand to Luz through it; "Allow me to make you an oath, to reassure you."

Surprised, Luz tentatively took the offered hand, and kept her mouth firmly shut so she wasn't tricked into making an oath. Vitimir then said; "I hereby swear that I have no intention of hurting you, treating you cruelly, or allowing the Emperor to kidnap and harm you."

Luz's eyes widened; was Vitimir actually being genuine!? The oath spell circle faded into their hands, sealing the oath, and Vitimir took his hand back with a smile, appearing satisfied by the girl's shock.

"I-I don't understand. What is this all about, Vitimir? You kidnapped my friend to get me here, but don't plan to hurt me or hand me over to Belos? I don't understand." Luz said warily.

Vitimir just smiled; "I want you on my side. Ever since I first saw you at the Covention, I've known what you are and have desperately wanted to speak to you. You are the spitting image of someone who was very dear to me, and whom I lost many years ago."

Boscha looked confused, while Luz gasped; "You knew Cassiel!?"

The name caused pain to flash through Vitimir's eyes; "I did. I'll be sure to tell you all about it, but let us enjoy the sunset first. It was an experience I often had with her."

The Head Witch looked away from Luz and stared out at the horizon, watching the sunset with a nostalgic expression. Boscha and Luz exchanged curious looks, then the former subtly nodded to the latter's ring, which contained Rasiel's spirit.

Carefully, so Vitimir wouldn't notice, Luz pointed the ring under the table and rubbed it with her thumb, signalling Rasiel to emerge from it. He immediately nodded to the girls and poked his head through the floor to make sure no one would notice when he phased through it completely. Once he'd confirmed the coast was clear, he gave the girls a quick salute, then descended through the floor to the next level.

Rasiel did not like leaving Luz and Boscha alone with Vitimir; something about the way he looked at Luz gave him the creeps, but he knew his mission. He needed to find Barcus and Morton, then report their location to Eda!

Thankfully, the old walls of the Alchemist Atelier were thick, and Rasiel could fairly easily sink into them without immediately popping out on the other side, so he had plenty of places to hide if anyone showed up. Floating back up into the rest of Vitimir's personal floor, Rasiel began methodically searching through the rooms. Aside from the balcony and the main lab, there other rooms included Vitimir's bedroom (which seemed to have been set up for two people, with half of the room looking untouched), a massive storeroom filled with jars and vials of ingredients for his potions, a second hallway and balcony that pointed eastward instead of westward, and a strange room that gave Rasiel a sense of dread.

The room was a bedroom, and was decorated like it belonged to a stereotypical little girl; everything was pink and frilly, with stuffed animals and girly dresses in all manner of styles. Rasiel had seen some girls wearing such things around Bonesborough, though not in such large sizes. The door into the room was also odd, as there was a secondary crystal door that could only be opened and closed by magic. On the surface, it looked like it was meant to keep potentially dangerous fumes from the lab out of the room… but it could also keep someone in.

"Unless Vitimir has a daughter no one's mentioned… I do not like the implications here." Rasiel whispered to himself. He dearly wished he had his body so he could begin rummaging through Vitimir's room and books for information, but he was on a time crunch, so he stuffed his fears down and descended to the next floor.

He continued his methodical search room by room, floor by floor, always remaining out of sight; a task that got harder with each floor as it got more chaotic and more Coven Members were running about completing their research and fulfilling their orders. The final couple of floors took what felt like forever, to the point that Rasiel had eventually opted to just lie flat and hide in the ceiling with his face poking out as he crawled around looking for signs of either Barcus or Morton. Finding absolutely no signs of them in the above ground sections of the Atelier, Rasiel then made his way down into the dungeons (the place had once been a castle after all). The dungeons/basement of the Atelier was primarily home to a few small and dingy labs, some old disused storerooms full of dusty crates, and disturbingly, a few old cells that looked like they'd been used somewhat recently. Rasiel felt sympathy for whatever poor souls had been kept there, likely as subjects for experimental potions, like the Wild Witches that Eda and Lilith had saved a while back.

It was while exploring this section of the Atelier that Rasiel found something interesting; a hidden staircase that was built inside one of the outer walls. Quickly floating up this hidden staircase, Rasiel discovered that it led all the way back to Vitimir's rooms. He then floated all the way back down to the bottom, and upon seeing no way out (likely due to it being a secret passage he couldn't open without a body), he just phased through the wall and grinned widely as he found an underground lab, one that was largely disused and stripped of most equipment and supplies, but which had a few cells built into the far wall… a pair of occupied cells. Morton was in the cell on the right, banging the funnel on his head against the bars like it was a tin cup, while Barcus was in the cell beside him, playing Go Fish with his own Oracle Spirit. The spirit was emerging from a tiny stone hidden in the hinge of Barcus' glasses, and the cards were a magically depleted deck of Hexes Hold'Em Cards.

After checking that there was no one else in the room to guard the pair, Rasiel made himself known.

"Barcus! Mr. Morton!" he whispered, getting their attention. Both turned to him with wide eyes, while Barcus grinned and Morton looked surprised.

"You're Luz's spirit friend! How did you get in here?" Barcus woofed, tossing aside his cards.

"Wait, I know you! You're that guy who runs errands for Eda sometimes! Rasmus, right?" Morton asked.

"It's Rasiel, Mr. Morton. And I got here by walking through the walls. But why are you still trapped if you have your Oracle Spirit with you, Barcus?" Rasiel asked in return.

Barcus directed his spirit to try and phase through the same wall Rasiel had walked through, only for it to be stopped as it if were a normal flesh and blood creature. Rasiel frowned and examined the stone; "Hmm, the walls of the room must contain salt. Salt is a purifying agent and harmful to unnatural beings like Oracle Spirits. They can't cross it, while someone like me can since I'm not actually dead; I'm more like an Astral Projection." Rasiel theorised.

"So does that mean you can get us out!?" Morton asked eagerly.

"No. Unfortunately, I can't turn corporeal at will like an Oracle Spirit. But Eda and Barcus' parents are waiting nearby to bust in and rescue you both. But how exactly were you captured? Did Vitimir send people after you?" Rasiel asked.

Barcus frowned and Morton looked down guiltily; "No… I got word last night that my delivery of ingredients from here wasn't going to be able to make it, so I had to come and collect it myself immediately, or they'd sell it to someone else. I needed them badly and couldn't carry it all myself, so I asked Barcus to help me… As soon as we walked into the Atelier, we were captured and dragged down here. I was let out a little while ago when Luz showed up, but then I was stuffed back down here."

"They were aware I was in the CATTs, though I don't know how." Barcus said.

"Vitimir drugged Boscha with Blabber Serum." Rasiel explained, "I'll give you the full story later; Luz and Boscha are keeping Vitimir busy and I've got a bad feeling, so now that I know where you are, I can let Eda and your parents know too. Do you know how to open the secret passage into this room?"

Barcus woofed; "There's a key hole disguised as a chip in the brickwork. I saw the guards with a small brass key that fit it and unlocked the passage. All of them use the same key from what I saw."

Rasiel nodded; "Small brass key, chip in the brickwork; got it. The others will be here soon."

With that, he retreated back through the secret passage and began making his way to the central staircase of the Atelier's sub-levels, which Luna had told them housed her secret exit. He floated down to the apparent bottom of the stairs and saw a familiar chip in the brick pillar that the stairs were built around, marking a secret entrance. Floating through the floor here, he found that the staircase actually continued all the way down the rocky pillar that the Alchemist Atelier was built on. It had been constructed by Luna as both an escape route, a secret entrance, and a path directly to the Boiling Sea for when she was in need of a swim.

Reaching the very bottom, Rasiel poked his head out through the wall and found himself outside, where the waves of the Boiling Sea were crashing against the rocks. He couldn't see Eda or the others, so whistled sharply. In a puff of cyan smoke, Eda, Rom, and Howlena appeared, having been staying invisible with glyph combos so they weren't spotted.

"Rasiel! How are things going in there?" Eda asked immediately.

"It's creepy. Vitimir swore an oath that he didn't want to hurt Luz or hand her over to the Emperor, but something about the way he's acting is scaring me. By the way, do you know if he has a partner or daughter?" Rasiel asked.

Eda frowned; "Not that I've ever heard of. Why?"

"Just a strange hunch I've got… I saw something unusual in his personal quarters." he muttered, rubbing his beard.

Howlena growled lowly; "Enough talk! Where is my Pup!?"

"He's safe, and locked up with Morton in a cell within a secret room." Rasiel said, before explaining the situation. "It shouldn't be hard to reach them; there are no guards posted, likely to avoid exposing the secret passage. Speaking of, do you have a key to open the way in?" he asked, pointing to what appeared to be the normal weathered rock and bone of the Titan.

Eda nodded and pulled out a small silver key with unusual teeth (that were actually modelled on real teeth). "Luna transmuted this for me. Now let's see here…" she approached the rock and began tracing her hands over it, until she found an oddly shaped crack. "Aha!"

Slipping the key into the crack, Eda wiggled it around until there was a click and a series of magical runes appeared on a patch of rock beside her. The runes disappeared and a chunk of rock shaped like a door popped out and slid aside to allow entrance to the spiral staircase Rasiel had climbed down.

"Bingo, we're in! Let's get going!" Eda said with a smirk.

Howlena and Rom nodded, following her into the secret passage while Rasiel floated on ahead to show them the way. Rom cast a Beast-Keeping spell to muffle the sounds of their footsteps (normally used for hunting creatures), and they moved silently up the stairs. It was a long climb, and once they reached the top, Eda had to cast a tiny light spell to find the chip in the stone that served as the keyhole to unlock the way forward. Once she found it, one more turn of the silver key had the ceiling above them slide open to reveal the lowest sub-level of the Atelier, which Rasiel had found earlier.

"We're close. We need to go up one level, then hang a right and head to the end of the hall. That's where the entrance to the second secret staircase is." Rasiel whispered.

They nodded and followed him up the staircase, letting him scout ahead to ensure the coast was clear. Once he confirmed it was, they headed to the secret passage and found the hidden key hole.

"We need some kind of brass key to open it." the Ancient Angel whispered again.

Eda frowned and tried the silver key anyway, but it wouldn't turn. It looked like this wasn't one of the passages Luna had discovered or created, so her key was useless. Silently, she peered into the nearest storeroom and found an old brass weight used with a set of scales to measure the weight of ingredients. Using some fire magic, she heated it up then shaped the molten brass into a vague key shape, then worked it into the key hole with magic in an attempt to make it take the right shape. Once she was confident, Eda cooled the metal and solidified it, then took a deep breath and turned the key.

Red runes appeared on the wall in front of them, making Eda sigh with relief, thinking the door was about to open like the last two had. Unfortunately, she was quite wrong and instead of opening, the wall's runes spread across the rest of the hallway, and a wall of crystal suddenly slammed down behind them, trapping them in the hallway.

"No!" Eda yelled, as the wooden doors in the hallway suddenly turned to stone and became immovable, completely trapping her, Rom, and Howlena.

"A trap!?" Rom growled.

"I'll bust us out! A little of Harpy Mode's corrosive aura should melt this crystal!" Eda declared, calling on the Owl Beast and transforming into her Harpy Form. However almost as soon as she gained the form, she lost it again and fell to her knees, feeling her magic draining.

"W-What's going on!?" she cried.

Rom and Howlena both tried to cast spells too, but their spell circles shattered immediately. Howlena then sniffed the air, and growled.

"There's a new scent in the air!" she barked.

"Indeed."

Everyone snapped around to see a group of Potions Coven Members marching forward, the leader of which was one of the hulking brutes that had dragged off Morton's cage earlier.

"Head Witch Vitimir expected that the Angel wouldn't come alone. Did you really think we wouldn't know about every secret passage in and out of this place?" the leader said with a chuckle in his voice; "Head Witch Vitimir had the entire place searched from top to bottom the instant he was in power!"

"Dang, we really did walk into a trap!" Eda cursed, "What the heck did you do to our magic!?"

"Oh, that's a little something special we whipped up. You, Owl Lady, both inspired and interfered in its creation! It is a new Bile Inhibitor potion that prevents the afflicted from using their magic. It was inspired as a counter to the Bile Booster you used in your attack on the castle." the man boasted; "Progress in making an aerosol version was going well too, until you attacked our facility in the Toes! As a result, the aerosol version breaks down too quickly, so it only leaves you without magic for about a minute. Thankfully, we can just give you the liquid version after we've knocked you out."

The Brute snapped his fingers and the magically concealed air vents that were pumping the aerosol Bile Inhibitor into the room began to pump out another gas; this one visibly yellow in hue. One whiff had Eda feeling like her eyes were becoming heavy.

"Sleeping nettles… Rasiel get out of here and warn Luz!" Eda ordered, falling to her knees.

"But-!"

"Go! You can't help us now…" the Owl Lady trailed off as she passed out, hitting the ground asleep. Rom followed soon after, while Howlena swelled herself up to the size of a horse in hopes of outlasting the sleeping gas long enough for the Bile Inhibitor to wear off, but it was in-vain and she soon passed out too.

Rasiel grimaced and phased through the wall into the secret passage and began rushing back up to the top floor to warn Luz. Behind him, the Brute growled; "One of them's getting away! Go warn the Head Witch! Put the whole Atelier in lockdown! And get these three dosed with the liquid version of the inhibitor, and then into a cell; we've got plans for them!"

[Meanwhile]

Back up in Vitimir's chambers, Boscha was becoming more and more confused by the situation at hand. After the sun had finished setting, Vitimir had snapped his fingers and lit the lanterns around the balcony so they could still see, and then witches from the Titania restaurant began bringing food up, apparently having been hired to cater this private dinner party. When Boscha had reacted with surprise, Vitimir had smiled and said; "I can't very well show my personal guest a lesser experience than I did you and your parents. That would be rude!"

Since then, they'd been eating the (absurdly delicious) meal as Vitimir made small talk with them, telling them a bit about his achievements in the Potions Coven, expressing how sorry he was that he didn't do anything to help Luz at the castle or the Conformatorium, and generally being a good host. It was clear he was working hard to make Luz like him and listen to his proposal for her to join his side (whatever side that actually was), but to Boscha's immense confusion, it seemed to be working!

Luz had started of suspicious, but as the meal went on, she grew more and more comfortable; giggling at some of Vitimir's bad jokes, hanging on his every word, and freely talking about some of her own achievements, stopping short only when it came to talking about the CATTs. It was almost like she was under the effects of Blabber Serum, but Luz would have noticed that and they'd been dosed with an antidote to it already, so it couldn't be that. On the other hand, Luz couldn't help but feel a connection to the man; he was a bit of an awkward weirdo, and clearly enjoyed his work a great deal. His earnest apologies for not helping her before, and his apologies for the harsh actions he'd taken today to get her to come visit him had made her warm to him. She rationalised it as being just like the situation was Mason, who'd apparently kidnapped Pebbles to get her to meet with him in secret! Perhaps she could convince Vitimir to join the CATTs too! Then there'd be no need for all this subterfuge! Luz was sure that if the others heard the full story, they'd understand.

For his part, Vitimir was having the time of his life talking to a young lady who was clearly showing him respect and appreciation without any hint of disgust for his appearance. "I am glad to find you're as kind-hearted as the rumours of you claim, Luz."

"Well I am from Crest Kindness, though I don't really consider myself a member of it any more." Luz smiled.

"Ah yes, the Crest Orders. Cassiel told me all about them, and the resemblance angels from the same order have with each other. I have to ask; are you related to Cassiel? Or is the resemblance truly just because you're in the same Crest Order?" Vitimir asked.

Luz shook her head; "It's just the Crest Order thing. At least as far as I know; we could be distantly related somehow. With the way Angels in the Crest Orders handle family, it's possible. I first heard of Cassiel here in the Demon Realm."

Vitimir frowned sadly; "Are you certain?"

"I am. I'm sorry Vitimir… was Cassiel that important to you?" Luz asked.

"She was the love of my life. We were close from the moment we met, and for five or six years afterwards. I had planned to ask her to marry me, but alas, she was targeted by bad people who knew she was really an Angel." Vitimir's expression was one of deep regret, while his eyes were full of anger and hate; "I tried to help her, but it all went wrong and she ended up fleeing. She left me and all her friends behind and vanished. I searched for her for 15 years, and you're the first clue I've had."

Luz gasped softly, while Boscha raised an eyebrow in surprise. So that was why Vitimir had gone so far; just like Mason wanting to save his petrified mother, Vitimir wanted to find his lost love again! From what Luz knew about Cassiel and the "fake" angel incident from years ago, Belos probably found out about Cassiel and tried to bring her to his side like he had Luz, only for it to all go wrong and for Cassiel to flee. Now Vitimir was working against Belos from the inside! Why else would he swear not to try and hand Luz over to Belos?

"I'm really sorry I couldn't be of more help to you, Vitimir. But maybe I can help? Maybe once this is all over, I can go to the Divine Realm and find Cassiel? Or if she's hiding in the Human Realm, I could find her there! If she's still alive then there has to be a way!" Luz said, smiling determinedly.

Vitimir smiled right back; "You would do that for me?"

"Of course! I love helping people, and you're a nice guy! Even if you did get my attention in the wrong way." Luz chirped.

Something about those words, and Luz's smile, made Boscha smell a rat. This was getting too weird for her comfort; she knew Luz was nice and forgiving, but was she really this naive? Not only that, but the way Vitimir's smile grew wider as he leaned over the table to pet the girl's head with his long arms was creeping her out too, especially since Luz was making a (admittedly adorable) little trilling sound in response.

"Hey, now that we're all getting along and Luz is happy to talk to you, why don't you let Barcus and that Morton guy go now? There's no reason to keep them locked up any more." Boscha suddenly piped up, having a sneaking suspicion that something was wrong here.

Annoyance briefly flashed across Vitimir's face, before he gave an apologetic look; "Of course. I'll have them released after dinner."

"Why not now? Surely keeping them in a cage for this long is already cruel." Boscha crossed her arms.

"It's fine Boscha, I'm sure they're fine." Luz smiled, waving off her concern; "They're not hurt and Vitimir promised to let them go. They can wait a little while longer."

In an instant, Boscha had to use every scrap of willpower to control her expressions and let not a single rogue emotion slip. Now she knew for certain; something was influencing Luz! There was no way she'd let her friend (or anyone else) rot in a cage while she was at a fancy dinner and had the power to do something about it! Forcing herself to shrug and sigh, then say; "Fine, do whatever you want.", Boscha's mind began to race.

Obviously something had been slipped to Luz through what she'd eaten or drunk. Boscha looked at her own food and began to pick at the leftovers, though she didn't feel anything unusual or out of the ordinary. Potions Students at Hexside were trained early on to detect potions in their system, though it is something they had to actively focus on, so only true masters of Potions Magic could detect them instinctively. Boscha wasn't that good yet, hence why she hadn't noticed the Blabber Serum until it was too late, but as she calmed her breathing and focused her mind, she found nothing in her own system. So whatever Vitimir had slipped into the food had only been given to Luz.

With that in mind, Boscha grabbed her glass and drained it thoroughly, before refilling it with water and draining it again. She went for a second refill and Luz giggled at her.

"Thirsty, Boscha?" she asked teasingly.

"Well this is fancy spring water from the Cobalt Cape of the Snowy Ribcage; it doesn't get much fancier." she said haughtily, making Luz giggle again as she turned her attention back to Vitimir.

The water didn't get much purer either, which is exactly what Boscha wanted, especially after using the first refill to cleanse the glass. She then sat back in her chair and pretended to relax, subtly reaching into her pocket to the pouch of herbs Willow had given her. The three-eyed girl made a note to thank Willow later, as she felt through the pouch for the familiar shape and texture of what she needed. Once she found what she wanted, she pulled it out and subtly put it in her mouth while miming a yawn. She chewed slowly, grinding the herb up, then left it in her mouth as she pretended to take a sip and allowed the herb to enter the water via backwash. It was kind of gross, but Luz would thank her for it when she was done! Boscha repeated this with a few other ingredients, all while using some stealthy fire magic to heat the liquid, and a fumigation spell to erase the smell and vapour; a crucial spell for brewing in public places.

With this, and a little water magic to stir the liquid, Boscha brewed a simple potion right under Vitimir's long pointy nose. He didn't suspect a thing due to being so preoccupied with Luz. The potion was a simple Mind-Clearing Draught, which would neutralise any potions effecting the brain. Unless whatever Vitimir had slipped to Luz had been designed to resist such a draught, it should snap Luz back to normal.

Casting one final spell to change the colour of the potion to match the juice Luz was drinking, Boscha waited for the perfect moment of distraction, then smirked and pointed towards the Titan's Skull.

"Hey look, it's a Roc!" she said.

Luz and Vitimir turned to where she pointed, where a giant falcon-like bird was flying around one of the Titan's horns. While they were distracted, Boscha switched her glass with Luz's, while casting a spell on Luz's original glass to make it look like it was full of clear water, ensuring no one noticed the switch.

"Huh, that is a big bird!" Luz commented.

"It is, and their feathers are quite effective in potions. Not as much as your own of course, but still useful." Vitimir smirked, briefly eyeing Luz's shrunken wings.

The look wasn't covetous, so Boscha didn't think all this was a ploy to get Luz's feathers, but that just made her more worried. What was Vitimir's endgame if he wasn't doing this for the Emperor or ingredients?

The two rabbited on for a bit, while Boscha waited anxiously for Luz to take a drink whilst trying to hide how tense she was. Eventually Luz reached for her glass and Boscha had to practically pinch herself to stop her face from reacting with relief. The young Angel lifted the glass to her lips and took a big gulp.

Instantly, Luz's cheeks bulged with the liquid as the taste hit her and she hesitated to swallow. Boscha was briefly petrified that Luz would spit it out, especially as Vitimir was now looking at her with concern, but thankfully Luz's good manners won out and she swallowed reluctantly, drinking the potion.

"Are you alright, Luz?" Vitimir asked.

"Yeah, but that tasted really bad! Did something happen to my juice?" Luz frowned, sniffing it suspiciously. She briefly turned to glare at Boscha, assuming it was a prank by her, only to suddenly turn pale as the potion took effect. Boscha could see it in Luz's eyes as the effects of whatever Vitimir slipped her were cured and she realised what had been done to her. The horror in her eyes was palpable, but Boscha could see her trying to hold it in and not react, so Vitimir wasn't alerted that his plan was foiled.

"Luz?" Vitimir frowned, "What is it? Something wrong with your drink…?"

The man reached for it, but Luz quickly snatched it up and gulped the rest down, hiding a grimace at the taste, then bracing herself as she told a lie; "No no, I was mistaken. I think I just got some food stuck in my teeth and it made a weird taste with the juice! It's gone now! All good!"

Her throat burned, and Boscha knew it was a lie (and not even a good one), but Vitimir bought it immediately. "Oh good. I was worried for a mome-"

The man's words were cut off by the sudden sound of an alarm blaring throughout the Atelier, startling Luz and Boscha. Vitimir leapt to his feet and pulled out a Comm-pact marked with the Potions Coven Sigil, then opened it and made a call.

"What's going on!?" he demanded.

"The trap we set for the CATTs worked and we've apprehended the Owl Lady and two others, but they had some kind of spirit with them. They aren't effected by the salt or barriers and are heading your way!" a voice on the other side yelled.

Hearing this, Luz and Boscha both slowly got to their feet, then as Vitimir noticed them standing and prepared to say something, Rasiel suddenly burst out onto the balcony.

"Luz, Boscha! Run! It's a trap!" he yelled, flying into Vitimir's face and flapping his wings madly, thankful that at least his spirit form still had them.

Vitimir was shocked and staggered back a step, but soon smirked when he realised Rasiel couldn't hurt him. "A spirit that can't become corporeal? And those wings… you're some kind of Angelic Spirit, aren't you? You must be under Luz's command."

He then turned to Luz, and while still smirking and assuming his potion was still in play, he said; "Luz dear, please order your spirit to stop this nonsense."

Luz responded with a growl and said; "I'll stop this nonsense myself!" before firing a blast of light at Vitimir. The man hadn't been expecting that and screamed in pain as the blast hit his shoulder and made him stagger back.

"W-What!? How did you-!?" Vitimir's shocked cry was once again interrupted, this time by Boscha pulling out Willow's herb pouch with one hand and summoning Maya in staff mode with the other, before using fire to burn a couple of seeds that she tossed at him. These were Skunkweed Seeds and released a noxious green gas when burned, making Vitimir cover his nose and mouth to stop himself from breathing it in and throwing up.

While he was gagging on the smell, Luz blocked her nostrils with ice, just like she had against Godric, then created a light blade and lunged at him, intending to use the Head Witch as a hostage to save Eda and the others. Unfortunately, Vitimir was craftier than Luz expected, and even while gagging on the gas, he'd been secretly drawing a spell circle with one of his toe claws. The resulting spell transmuted the gas into a green slime that covered everyone (except the incorporeal Rasiel). The sticky slime smelled just as foul as the gas, and also trapped both Luz and Boscha, while Vitimir was able to cast another transmutation to evaporate the slime on him, freeing him. He ran towards Boscha, while Luz released a blast of light from every pore of her body, vaporising the slime trapping her and allowing her to move freely again. She turned to attack him, but froze when she saw Vitimir had reached Boscha first and was now stood behind the still trapped girl, holding a steak knife to her throat. He used his free hand to yank her staff away from her and toss Maya into the sticky slime, trapping her too.

"Hold it right there, Luz. I don't want to hurt you, but I don't care a bit about slitting this girl's throat! Stop your spells and recall your spirit, now!" he ordered.

Luz growled, and Boscha hissed; "Don't listen to him, Luz! Getting caught was my own fault, so forget me and take him out!"

The girl hesitated, and Vitimir pressed the knife further against Boscha's throat, nicking the skin ever so slightly. Seeing this made Luz freeze.

"Stop! I'll obey! I just-" her mind raced, trying to find a solution; "W-Why are you doing all this? You wanted me on your side, right? And to help you find Cassiel? You could have done that without slipping me a potion!"

Vitimir's eyes narrowed; "So you noticed, huh? That problem with your drink… that was the Alembic girl slipping you an antidote! I should have known she'd be crafty!"

"You didn't answer her question, Vitimir! Or do you just not want to admit that what you slipped her was a love potion!" Boscha snarled. "Don't even try to deny it! I saw what it did to Luz; she was hanging on your every word! That and this whole fancy dinner was some creepy scheme to make her fall in love with you, right!?"

Luz went pale as Rasiel snarled; "You filthy degenerate!"

"Shut it, Spirit!" Vitimir snarled right back, then used his free hand to grab a fist full of Boscha's hair and pull her head back painfully, making her wince; "And I said earlier that I've got no such interest in a child! My heart belongs to Cassiel and Cassiel alone!"

"T-Then what was that potion for really!?" Luz cried.

The terrifying Coven Head scowled, then his expression softened as he looked at Luz; "It was a love potion, but not a romantic or, Titan Forbid, an intimate one. It was a Familial Love Potion."

"F-Familial!?" Luz repeated.

"Yes. Family is all I ever wanted! Cassiel as my wife, and a child of our own… That was taken away from me! But you… you look so much like Cassiel, but there are little differences too. With you, I could pretend… pretend that you were my child with her!" Vitimir confessed.

Luz, Rasiel, and Boscha all went green; "This was all some sick ploy to brainwash Luz into becoming your daughter!?" Rasiel exclaimed.

"It would have worked too, if not for this little brat!" he pulled Boscha's hair again; "But it doesn't matter. I can still do this! Do as I say Luz, and recall your spirit and your magic."

"Ignore him Luz! Forget me and blast him!" Boscha yelled.

But even with Boscha's go ahead, everyone in the room knew Luz wouldn't be able to abandon Boscha and let her die. Reluctant and feeling sick to her stomach, Luz dismissed her light sword and held out her hand with the ring on it, signalling for Rasiel to return to it. Without a body there wasn't much he could do, but he could perhaps surprise the others later! Once he was back in the ring, Vitimir nodded approvingly.

"Good girl. Now slowly put the ring on the ground and slide it over to me." he ordered.

Luz did so, kicking the ring to him while keeping her hands up. Vitimir kept his knife at Boscha's throat as he ordered her to pick the ring up and hand it to him, which she did. Once he had the ring in hand, he slipped it into his pocket.

"Very good. This could have gone so much easier. With my potion in your system, soon you wouldn't have even realised anything was different. I'll protect and care for you, away from the CATTs and their pointless rebellion. When the Emperor's Day of Unity is complete, we will all become Angels and become one with the Divine Realm! I will be able to find Cassiel and our family will be complete!" Vitimir said with a terrifyingly creepy smile on his face. His eyes were wide and deranged, completely lost in his delusion.

Luz felt like vomiting, and between the lingering burn in her throat from her earlier lie, and the taste of bile on her tongue, the poor girl really felt awful. All she could choke out in response to the mad man's delusions was; "Cassiel is not my mother! I told you that already!"

"No. But she will be. Now, since this brat cured my potion's effects, we'll have to start from scratch. I'll craft a new potion, I was planning to anyway, and when it's done you will truly be my daughter in body and soul! Until then, I think it's time for you to sleep."

With that, Vitimir pulled a vial out from under his hat and tossed it at Luz's feet, causing it to shatter and produce a cloud of yellow Sleeping Nettle Gas. Luz coughed and tried to move out of the gas cloud, but Vitimir just held the knife to Boscha's throat with a look of warning, and Luz was forced to give up and pass out. Before she could hit the ground, Vitimir transmuted the residual gas into some kind of bouncy yellow gunk to break her fall.

"Excellent, I can begin my work! As for you…" Vitimir sneered at Boscha and began dragging her back into the Atelier, where they were swiftly met by some guards. Vitimir ordered them to collect Luz and place her in a room he indicated behind Boscha's back, while also telling them to cage Maya and have the Alembics come up to his lab. Boscha thought for a moment that he was going to use her to threaten them or something, but he instead dragged her over to a seemingly random patch of wall and pulled out a little brass key, which opened the secret passage Rasiel had found earlier. Vitimir then forced Boscha to march all the way down to the bottom of the long flight of stairs and through another secret door, coming out in the old abandoned lab that contained the cells of Barcus and Morton. Two other cells were occupied as well now; one by Eda, and the other by Rom and Howlena, all three of whom looked groggy and weak.

One of the guards that had been posted in the room following Eda's capture saluted to Vitimir, who ordered him to open Barcus' cell. He then immediately tossed Boscha into it.

"There; now you're out of my hair!" he smirked as the guard closed the cell behind the girl.

"You freak! Let us and Luz go!" Boscha demanded impotently.

"Boscha!? What happened up there!?" Eda cried; "Is Luz okay?"

"Luz is fine and will soon be free from all this rebel nonsense. Worry more about yourselves; I'll be sending men down here soon to cart you off to the Emperor's Coven. I hate to waste such a talented Potioneer, but having you around would present unnecessary risks." Vitimir sneered. He then looked to Barcus' parents and raised an eyebrow; "I've no idea who you two are. No matter, you can join the Owl Lady on her trip to the Castle. I've no use for more test subjects at the moment."

"And what about us? What are you going to do to me and kids!?" Morton cried.

Vitimir hummed in thought; "You're talented in Potions but less of a hassle than the Owl Lady, so I'll make use of you. A few mind-altering substances and you'll be obedient little puppets brewing away and freeing up some of my other more talented people for more important research. Don't worry, I'll make sure my potions keep you happy and docile as you work yourselves to death."

With that he turned to the guard and told him to expect a contingent of more advanced guards to come down and collect the prisoners soon, then left to return to his lab and begin work on his potions for Luz. The instant he was gone, Eda yelled out to Boscha.

"Kid, seriously! What happened!?"

"It was all a trap from the start! Vitimir is completely messed up in the head! His whole plan is to brainwash Luz into being his daughter out of some weird family fantasy! He tried to drug her with a Familial Love Potion."

"He WHAT!?" Eda snarled, so enraged that she might have turned into the Owl Beast if the guards hadn't already force-fed her an Elixir along with the Bile Inhibitor while she was knocked out.

"I cured it without Vitimir noticing, but then the alarms went off and we ended up in a fight with Vitimir." Boscha explained.

"Huh, so that's how Vitimir's shoulder got hurt; he took a blast from Luz, right? How did you guys lose? Luz has gotta be stronger than that creep!" Eda asked.

Boscha flushed and looked away; "I-I tried to help but messed up and got caught. Vitimir threatened me and forced Luz to surrender. Now we're all locked up, that Spirit Guy's ring is in Vitimir's hands, and Luz is gonna be drugged again!"

"Kid, listen! This looks bad, but it's not over yet! We can totally bust out of here! We just need to think of a plan…" Eda said, trying to stay calm as she turned and glared at the single guard in the room, who was standing as far from them as he could, watching impassively.

Unfortunately for the captives, there would be no time to plan. The guards Vitimir had promised arrived only a minute later to take the adults (sans Morton) to the Emperor's Castle, where a horrible fate was inevitably awaiting them. Eda, Rom, and Howlena prepared to put up one heck of a struggle, but the guards weren't playing around; they simply tossed a gas bomb of Sleeping Nettles into their cells to knock the trio out. Eda only managed to get off some seriously hardcore curse words before she succumbed to sleep for the second time that day, while Howlena and Rom snarled furiously until they too passed out.

Barcus howled at them, which Boscha and Morton were unable to understand, but nothing he said could awaken them. With that, the transport guards opened the cells and dragged the trio away, conscripting the guard left in the room to help them, since there were only five guards in the transport unit and they needed at least two to carry each prisoner. Boscha spat foul curses at them as they left, trying to provoke them into maybe coming after her and buying Eda and the others a few more seconds, or perhaps open the cell to get at her so they could fight back and escape, but they all just ignored her and disappeared back through the secret passage, leaving her alone with Barcus and Morton in the cells of the disused lab.

As soon as they were gone, Boscha grit her teeth until her temper boiled over and she kicked the bars of the cell with a furious scream. "NO! DANG IT! This isn't how it was supposed to go!"

She began to stalk around the cell like a caged Tiger; "I failed again! I'm not supposed to be a freaking failure! I am Boscha Alembic, Captain of the Banshees, top of the potions track, and Queen Bee of Hexside! So why!? Why do I keep screwing up!?"

She punched the bars hard in her anger, making her finger crack. She winced and backed off, before tears of pain, fury, and shame filled her eyes and she sat down on the ground and began to hug her knees, hiding her face from the watching Barcus. Morton couldn't see her properly from his cell, having to poke his head out as much as the bars would let him to even catch a glimpse as he said;

"Miss Alembic, you're being too hard on yourself. You're just a kid and you got tricked and outplayed by a Coven Head! Even Eda got outplayed by them too! There's nothing to be ashamed of." he said, feeling awkward as he tried to comfort her.

Boscha shook her head miserably; "You don't get it. This whole stupid situation was because I screwed up!"

Barcus woofed with a raised eyebrow, which Boscha took to be a question, so she explained. "I got mad because Skara wouldn't tell me stuff about what she was doing with the CATTs; stuff that I knew she couldn't tell me. I got jealous of her hanging out with Luz and the Hexsquad more than me, and threw a stupid tantrum then sat around feeling sorry for myself. If I hadn't done that, Daddy would never have taken me to that stupid dinner with Vitimir. I wouldn't have gotten drugged and outed you as one of the CATTs, you wouldn't have gotten captured, and none of this would have happened."

She buried her face in her knees again; "All of this is my fault. Luz even got captured again because I'm an idiot! I'm supposed to be a winner! But I'm just another loser. A pathetic loser who couldn't do anything but bully people."

Barcus watched the girl for a long moment; he and Morton didn't blame her for their predicament, since she hadn't willingly sold them out, but it was hard to get that through to someone who was currently in the midst of a crisis of self-confidence. But as he watched Boscha's shoulders begin shaking as she tried to hide her crying from him, he felt like he had to say something… so he decided to make a confession of his own.

Summoning his Oracle Spirit (which he'd hidden when the guards showed up, so they wouldn't confiscate his glasses), Barcus used its magic to speak telepathically with Boscha. His biology made it impossible to speak the common tongue with his mouth, but he still understood it and could think in that language, allowing him to communicate with others through telepathy.

"Boscha, I don't truly know you, but I know how difficult it is to try and turn back from being a bully and a bad person." he confessed.

Boscha lifted her head just enough for her third eye to be peeking out at him. She didn't say a word, but she was watching him curiously so he continued. He trotted closer to her and sat down beside her.

"I'm the son of a Dog Lycan and a Direwolf and for a time, my parents wanted to raise me with my Mom's Direwolf pack. As a halfbreed, I wasn't really accepted, so Mom sent me to Glandus; the toughest magical school on the Isles, so I could learn to become strong and stand up for myself. It worked too well, and from the time I was 5 until I was about 8, I became a vicious beast. I was a terrible bully, using violence to assert my dominance at Glandus, then using the magic I learned there to dominate the other pups in the pack. It got to the point that everyone I knew who was my own age hated or feared me, if not both. Eventually I went too far and hurt one of the other pups badly. I felt awful, and their parents tried to kill me. It caused a big fight within Mom's pack, and Mom and Dad ended up having to defeat that other pup's parents in a formal fight to stop them coming after me." Barcus said, his eyes full of sadness and self-loathing as he recalled those times.

Boscha, who'd only ever known Barcus as the laid back and chill person he was now, was incredibly shocked to learn he had once been so terrible. She lifted her head fully to stare at him with horrified surprise, making Barcus nod sagely, as if to confirm that he was telling the truth.

"The Alpha of the Pack ended up getting involved and excused my actions, saying the number one factor in Direwolf society was strength. I was the stronger pup, so I had a right to do as I wanted to the weaker ones. That, combined with seeing what I'd done to that other pup and seeing my parents have to fight to save my life, made me realise that I wasn't becoming strong; I was becoming a monster. I was too afraid to hurt anyone after that, and both my classmates and fellow pups soon realised it and came at me for revenge. Eventually my parents left the pack and pulled me out of Glandus to protect me. We settled into my Dad's home town of Bonesborough and I was enrolled in Hexside. I was safe, but I still hated myself and avoided everyone, leading to me eventually getting bullied. That's when I met Jerbo; he stood up for me one day, and to repay him I used a bit of my potions expertise to help him mix a new batch of abomination goo. We became friends and he introduced me to Viney, who was driven out of St. Epiderm by bullies. They thought I was another victim like them, so I confessed everything. I'll never forget what they said to me and how it helped me, so I'll say the same thing to you."

Barcus turned and looked Boscha in the eye as she hung on his every word; "You were a monster and a bad person. You don't deny it. But you know you were wrong, and regardless of the reasons why, you turned over a new leaf. That makes you quite incredible."

"W-What?" Boscha whispered.

"It's true. It's one thing to have enough strength to push people around and make sure they don't mess with you, but it's far more difficult to face the consequences for your actions and try to become a better person. And you have become a better person. You wouldn't feel so much guilt for what you did if there wasn't a truly good person inside you." Barcus said seriously.

Boscha's eyes widened; "B-But I caused this whole mess by being stupid and weak, and throwing a tantrum!"

Barcus shook his head; "Vitimir caused this mess because he really is a monster. And sure, throwing a tantrum like that was immature and wrong of you, but you realise that! Trying to be a better person doesn't mean not making mistakes any more, it just means learning to take responsibility and making up for those mistakes! Even people who were never bullies do things like that! Like one time, I was making a potion and the smell really bothered Viney, who got angry and snapped at me harshly. She wouldn't talk to me for a few days, then came back crying and apologising for being so mean. Since her nose is so sensitive, she had a valid reason to be upset, just like you did; she just reacted in the wrong way and then had to cool off and apologise."

Boscha thought back to earlier, where she had spoken to Skara and finally said sorry for being mean. She really did have a right to be upset that the person she lov- CARED about most was hanging out with other people and keeping secrets, but the way Boscha had expressed that had been wrong and so she'd said sorry. And Barcus was right; Boscha had no control over what Vitimir did, and she'd been trying to help fix it!

"So I'm not just some pathetic loser?" she asked softly, allowing her vulnerable side to be seen.

"No." Barcus said firmly; "You only lose when its over, and its only over when you give up. If you don't give up, then you can keep going and win! You're the Top Student in the potions track; if we put our heads together with Morton, we can definitely escape and save the others!"

The three-eyed girl stared at him for a minute and saw the determination in his eyes. Barcus was right! She hadn't lost yet! And she wouldn't lose; she was Boscha Alembic and she was a winner, even at redeeming herself! Getting to her feet, Boscha rubbed the residual tears from her eyes then lightly slapped her own cheeks, before her own gray eyes began to burn like silver flames of determination.

"Alright, enough being pathetic and feeling sorry for myself! I'm busting us out of here and saving the others! I won't let that jerk Vitimir get one over on me!" she declared, pumping her fist.

Barcus smiled and barked approvingly, getting to his feet too, while Morton (who'd only been able to hear Boscha's side of the conversation) looked doubtful.

"But how? Barcus' spirit can't phase through the salt in the walls and he tried damaging the bars, but nothing worked. And Vitimir disabled my magic with my sigil…" Morton sighed dejectedly, showing his coven sigil and the yellow lines spreading from it into the veins of his wrist.

Boscha blinked; "Wait, he can do that!? I heard that Belos did that to Luz, but I thought that was unique to her sigil!"

"So did we." Barcus said via telepathy; "But either all Coven Heads can control their members magic like that and have been keeping it secret, or Vitimir figured out how to do it."

Boscha rubbed her chin in thought; Vitimir claimed to have the Emperor's favour, so maybe all sigils could do it and Belos taught him how to control it. She shook that thought off for now.

"Forget that for now. Let me try something…" Boscha said. She considered trying to summon Maya but decided against it; Vitimir had ordered the Palisman captured after he dragged Boscha off, so summoning her might alert him or the guards to something being up. She instead tried using a fire spell on the bars, but she couldn't heat the metal enough to melt it; that kind of fire was still a bit beyond her, at least not without consuming a stupid amount of magic.

"Okay, so that's not gonna work… Barcus, your spirit can move through the bars, right?" she asked.

She got a woof of confirmation, making her smile; "So we have access to everything in this room." she muttered, looking around. It was a mostly abandoned lab with only a few old worktops that had been stripped of equipment, as well as a few crates full of old broken junk and jars of ingredients. Seeing these gave Boscha an idea, and she reached into her pockets. She frowned when she saw that Vitimir had taken the pouch of herbs from Willow, but then smirked as she pulled the pocket inside out and saw a few stray scraps of usable materials; a dulled Daggerdil leaf, a root from a Carabas Herb, half a petal from the bloom of a Skunkweed, and a miniscule seed from a Thornivine plant. That last one especially reminded Boscha of the day she'd first met Luz, and the day Willow had first taught her a hard-learned lesson.

Looking around the cell itself, Boscha was pleased to see a pail of water for drinking (which looked less than appetising) and a chamberpot for a bathroom. Holding her nose, Boscha peered inside the pot and sighed with relief upon seeing it unused and relatively clean.

"Alright, I've got a plan. Barcus, have your spirit bring me some of those ingredient jars!" she ordered.

Barcus woofed and obeyed, and his spirits began collecting the jars. Morton watched with a frown; "What are you planning, Miss Alembic? Barcus already sniffed those things out and there are no useful potions that can be made with them even if we had the right equipment!"

Boscha just smirked and grabbed the Chamberpot and poured the pail of water into it; "Don't underestimate me! I made a Mind-Cleansing Potion in a wine glass right under Vitimir's pointy nose! I can make something here!" she declared. "Now pass me that funnel on your head!"

Having no better ideas, Morton obeyed and held the funnel out for Barcus' spirit to grab and bring to Boscha. She immediately used the top of it to chip at one of the walls, carving off a few slivers. "If it stops spirits, then this stone contains salt, perfect for purifying this water!" she whispered to herself, as she sprinkled the powder into the pot of water, then used fire magic to rapidly boil it. Using water magic to stir it and a Potions spell to skim off the impurities that couldn't be boiled away, Boscha soon ended up with the purest water she could hope for, and the perfect base for her potion. She then carefully began preparing ingredients, smashing a jar to use the glass as a cutting implement, grinding others between the stone floor and the jar's lid, and having Barcus put his claws to work.

"Shredded Daggerdil Leaf, added to boiling water for viscosity… then the oil from a Thornivine seed to raise the alkali content… Some of this old powdered fairy wing to neutralise the mild poison of the leaf… ground teeth from a Peach Omomorat to keep it from congealing entirely… and finely chopped Rubicon skin to react with the Thornivine Oil and further raise the alkali content!" she said, grinning as she looked down at her work. Everything had boiled down into a viscous purple gloop that looked almost like a lighter shade of abomination goo.

Barcus looked at it oddly, while Morton commented; "All that stuff mixed together just makes a weird alkali glue! That's not gonna do anything but give whoever ingests it a terrible stomach ache!"

Boscha smirked; "Then it's a good thing we're not ingesting it. Besides, there's still one more step…"

She used a piece of broken glass to scoop out some of the goop and rub it on a section of one of the bars, then leaned close and whistled. It was a high pitch sound that made Barcus wince, but he could also sense the magic in the sound. Suddenly, the purple goop she'd whistled on turned a fluorescent yellow and began to release a rusty smell, as well as a low hiss as it ate through the bar. Barcus's eyes widened as Boscha repeated the process lower down on the same bar, causing that bar to fall off, each end melted away by the now corrosive substance.

"What was that!?" Morton exclaimed.

"A trick I learned from Skara." Boscha said wistfully; "Not long after she joined the CATTs, she came over to my house and showed me a trick she'd learned from someone there. I think it was probably Raine Whispers, since Skara always gushed about learning stuff from them. It's a kind of Bardic Magic that uses sound waves to change the chemistry of a liquid. I'm not great at it yet, so I can only alter things in certain ways, which is why I had to make a certain base potion before I could turn it into the powerful acid I needed." she explained. "I can invert alkaline and acidic liquids, and the process magnifies the effect; so a moderate alkaline becomes a powerful acid and vice versa. However the change also loosens the liquid by weakening the chemical bonds."

"That's why you made it so thick first!" Barcus grinned. Boscha really did have a great plan after all!

The girl smiled to herself as she began to slather more goop onto the other bars; even when Skara had been forced to keep secrets from her, she'd still done her best to give Boscha something cool! Now it was going to save their butts, and the others too!

A few seconds and one whistle later, and all the bars of Barcus' and Boscha's cell had clattered to the ground, allowing them to escape the cell. Boscha immediately set about doing the same to Morton's cell, and they each picked up a couple of the bars to use as blunt weapons (Barcus had his spirit pick up his).

"We're free!" Morton cheered, "Now we need to get out of here!"

"Not without Luz and Eda." Boscha said firmly.

"And my parents." Barcus added.

"Of course! I wouldn't abandon them! Eda kept me in business for years, and Luz has been a big help." Morton said. When Luz's discovery of using the plant glyph to grow Goldwort had ended Eda's need to buy Elixirs from him, she'd felt so guilty over reducing his business that she began offering to grow plants for him to make up for it. She'd stopped after he urged her to, but she'd still ended up pointing Willow in his direction to sell her own plant ingredients to him at cheap prices.

"Then let's go!" Boscha declared.

She slathered a large amount of her purple goop onto the wall that served as the entrance to the secret passage, melting a fairly large hole but using up almost all of what Boscha had left.

"This passage should take us straight up to Vitimir's lab." Boscha said.

"And to one of the sub-levels too. We should stop there first and steal some ingredients for potions." Barcus suggested.

That got an agreement from all of them, so they ran up the stairs to the sub-level exit that Morton and Barcus had been brought through when they were captured. Boscha used the last of her goop to make the acid needed to burn a way through the closed entrance, but when the wall melted away, it revealed a stunned guard who had been patrolling the hallway and noticed the melting wall. Before the guard could scream for help or attack, Boscha tossed the now-empty chamberpot at his head, landing a perfect shot with her grudgby skills and getting it stuck over his face. A swift smack to the pot from one of the repurposed cell bars knocked the man right out, and Barcus was able to have his spirit frisk the man, until he came away with two valuable items.

The first was a brass key for the secret passage, and the second was a leather belt with a strange wheel shaped vessel on one hip and a series of small spherical glass vials on the other.

"What is this?" Boscha frowned, fiddling with the odd belt. While examining it, she accidentally nudged one of the small vials, which suddenly filled with water before detaching from the belt. She hadn't been expecting it, so it fell to the floor and shattered, much to her annoyance. Then a moment later, the glass shards vanished and a new vial appeared where the previous one had been.

"Oh, a Combat Potioneer Belt!" Morton said, eyeing it. "They're designed for Potioneers to make potion bombs and projectiles on the go. You take off a vial and it fills with water, and then you add ingredients to create a quick and volatile potion to throw at the enemy. Once the glass shatters, it'll reform on the belt." he pointed to the strange wheel-like vessel; "That is the ingredient drum. Just tap on the compartment you want and it'll give you some of the ingredient inside. These belts are standard issue to the Combat Potioneers of the Coven."

Boscha hummed and opened up the ingredient drum, taking stock of what was inside. "Not a lot to work with… there are storerooms down here, right? Let's stuff this mook in one of them and stock up!" she said.

The two boys were happy to let Boscha take charge, and obediently dragged the unconscious guard into one of the nearby storerooms, then raided the place for equipment. They found a plethora of useful ingredients, as well as some older models of the Combat Potioneer Belt. Morton took one of these and left the newer one to Boscha, whilst also stripping the uniform from the unconscious guard and putting it on himself as a disguise. He and Boscha then filled their ingredient drums with everything they could from the room, while Barcus (who couldn't effectively wear and use the belt) instead armed himself with some old flasks and vials, and had his Oracle Spirit whip up some potion projectiles for him to use.

Once they were stocked up and ready for anything, Boscha said; "We should split up. I'm going to Vitimir's Lab to save Luz. You two should go after Eda."

"You can't be serious! You want to take on the Head Witch on your own!?" Morton protested.

"Of course not! I'm not an idiot! But my Palisman is there, Luz is there, and from what Vitimir ordered while dragging me away, my parents should be there! Between me and them, we should be able to free Luz and hopefully beat Vitimir! And if that's still not enough, I'm counting on my teammates to rescue Eda and come back me up!" Boscha retorted.

Morton opened his mouth to argue again, but swiftly shut it; if Vitimir was plotting to brainwash Luz then they couldn't afford to dawdle. "Alright. If they're taking Eda and Barcus' parents to the Emperor, then they'll either take an airship from the yard or a cart from the bridge. Either way, we're heading outside."

"That's good. We'll be able to fly straight to the top floor after we save them." Barcus said.

"Right. There's a balcony on the west side; once you free Eda and the others, bring them there to back me up." Boscha ordered.

The canine demon nodded, and with all of them as prepared as they could hope to be, they headed off; Barcus and Morton heading to central staircase while Boscha ran up the stairs in the secret passage.

Thanks to Morton's stolen uniform, they were able to get the drop on another guard and knock him out too, stealing a second uniform for Barcus to wear. It wasn't a great fit, but the guards and coven members running about the lower floors of the Alchemist Atelier were too busy to notice that; so long as the two looked like they belonged there at a glance, then their disguise was good enough. Morton led Barcus outside to the Atelier's grounds via a side door meant for picking up and dropping off deliveries, and to their immense relief, they saw Eda, Rom, and Howlena unconscious and tied to posts beside an airship, which was being prepared for take off.

"I'll need to brew up a cleansing potion to cure the effects of the Bile Inhibitor." Morton whispered as they approached; "I've got the ingredients from the storeroom, now I just need a few minutes to mix it together. Think you can distract the guards and keep them from flying off in the meantime?"

Barcus smirked behind his stolen plague doctor mask and nodded. He willed his Oracle Spirit to sink into the ground and travel underneath it until it was directly below the airship. Then, with a banshee-like wail, the spirit burst out of the ground, up through the bowels of the airship, and into the balloon itself, which it then began to tear apart with furious swipes. The balloon burst with a mighty explosion, setting fire to the deck of the ship and causing the floating vessel to slam into the ground, cracking the keel and ensuring it wasn't going anywhere.

Most of the guards and coven members in the yard began running about and screaming to put the fire out, while a few ran over to surround their prisoners, who'd been startled awake by the explosion (though they were still groggy from the after effects of the Sleeping Nettles).

"That was an Oracle Spirit!" one of the elite guards screamed; "That means we've got an intruder! Secure the prisoners and search the place! I want that intruder's head in a cauldron before midnight!"

Morton grinned at the chaos, then led Barcus to a small maintenance shed only a stone's throw from the airship wreckage. There he was able to begin working on the cleansing potion while Barcus had a clear view of the yard through a window, which he could use to order his spirit to attack and cause chaos, throwing around the potion projectiles they'd brewed up in the storeroom. The potions did all sorts of weird and wonderful things; one made the people effected by it shrink to the size of mice, while another hardened their bodies like an Iron Iris, but to the point that they were too heavy to even move. Yet another potion created a pool of water that had tentacles emerging from inside to grab and restrain anyone nearby, and there was even one that made people extremely emotional and begin sobbing and hugging each other. Half the scouts in the yard were either tiny, unable to move, restrained, or trying to make each other feel better, leaving the remaining half with a lot less man power to put out the fire, guard Eda and the others, and deal with the Oracle Spirit.

Eventually one of them was able to craft an Elixir of Ectoplasm and nail the spirit with it, not only binding its arms to hits body with sticky green goo, but also forcing the spirit to remain corporeal and instinctively try to return to its Oracle Stone, which meant the spirit and the people chasing it were now heading straight for Barcus and Morton!

"Uh oh. Incoming!" Barcus woofed out a warning. Morton knew just barely enough of the Direwolf tongue to understand.

"Almost done! Can you hold them off for a few more seconds!?" Morton yelled, not looking up from the old trash can he was brewing in. He had a pair of other, smaller potions brewing in a couple of empty paint tins too, though Barcus had no idea what these were.

"I guess I'll have to! I suppose it's time to let out my feral side!" Barcus growled as guards began banging on the shed door, trying to get in. He reached for the one potion he hadn't given his spirit to throw; a potion with the thick coppery stench of blood. It looked like blood too; a dark red liquid with ominous swirls of black. It had been made made in a volumetric flask that Barcus now held by the neck in his jaws, waiting for the instant the guards broke through the door. When that instant came, Barcus immediately tossed the flask at the first person through, and it shattering against them and made them pause to examine the stuff.

"This is… oh Titan! It's a Beast Blood Potion!" the guard shrieked in terror. The other guards gasped and began backing away rapidly, while the guard who'd been hit tried smashing vials of water on himself to wash the pungent liquid off, to no avail.

The reason for their terror became abundantly clear when Barcus got a good whiff of the blood-like scent, mixed with the scent of sweat and fear from the guard. Feeling his feral instincts rage, Barcus tapped into his Direwolf genes and tensed his body, swelling himself up to almost double his original size, and causing his almost human-like face to extend outward into a more lupine appearance. His fur stood on end and a deep rumbling growl filled his chest as his blue eyes turned a blood red. With one final rabid snarl, he leapt at the guard coated in Beast Blood Potion and grabbed his throat with his jaws, using it to hoist him into the air then slam him down into the ground head first, knocking him out.

Beast Blood Potion was a rarely used creation, to the point of having its legality frequently argued on the Boiling Isles. When its fumes were mixed with the scent of another living creature, it caused Beast Demons like Direwolves (and those with Beast Demon blood like Barcus) to go into a frenzy, like a shark smelling blood in the water. They would briefly go feral, gaining incredible strength and resilience but losing a lot of their intelligence and ability to reason. Barcus was just barely keeping enough self-control to not kill the guards or attack Morton and Eda (his parents were safe, as they were his pack).

With a bloodthirsty howl, Barcus began rampaging through the remaining guards, leaving Morton more than enough time to finish his cleansing potion. As soon as it was done, he put his other two potions to use, then bottled up three doses of cleansing potion and ran to where Eda, Rom, and Howlena were tied up. The trio had been watching the chaos with confusion, but all three smiled when they saw Morton lift his stolen mask and show his face.

"Morton! You're a sight for sore eyes! How did you break out!?" Eda asked with a grin as Morton poured a little bit of acid he'd brewed onto her chains, freeing her.

"Boscha pulled off a mix of potions and bardic magic and busted us out! She's gone to save Luz from Vitimir, but we need to back her up!" Morton explained, freeing Barcus' parents too, before handing each of them a cleansing potion. "Drink these; they'll take a few seconds to work, but they should stop the effects of the Bile Inhibitor Potion."

"Thanks Morton! And here I always thought you were kind of a Dweeb!" Eda smirked, gulping down the potion in one go.

"You have our thanks too." Rom said, "Now we need to go help Barcus!"

Howlena barked her agreement and made a run for the guards, who had given up on escaping the feral Barcus and were now trying to dog pile and overwhelm him. The cleansing potion hadn't fully done its work yet, so Eda was forced to hang back while Rom chased after his wife, ready to help in the fight.

Between the blood raged Barcus and his parents, it really wasn't much of a fight. Potioneers could fight with some basic ice and fire magic, and maybe even a little elemental plant magic, but mostly relied on brewing potions to enhance themselves and debilitate their opponents, since transmutation was too difficult for all but the upper echelons of the Potions Coven. But against a trio of fast and powerful Demons, they stood no chance.

However the fighting had drawn the attention of more guards from inside, who sounded the alarm and came running out. Eda frowned and prepared to head them off before they could overwhelm Barcus' family with sheer numbers, but Morton stopped her.

"Let me block off their reinforcements first." he said, drawing a spell circle. Eda eyed him curiously, then gasped as she saw that his spell circle was green.

Suddenly, thick vines and roots burst out of the ground of the side entrance the guards were pouring out from, completely blocking off the door and preventing more from getting out.

"That was Plant Magic, and not just the raw elemental kind!? But how? I thought you were in the Potions Coven!?" Eda exclaimed.

Morton grinned and raised his right hand, showing Eda the inside of his wrist. His sigil was gone, replaced by a poorly healed acid burn. "I heard Luz escaped a sigil by cutting her hand off. I'm not that brave, but that acid I brewed up to melt your chains was enough to burn the sigil away." he explained. He then winced as he added; "It took a chunk of my wrist too… good thing I brewed a healing potion too!"

"You were never very good at healing potions." Eda frowned, eyeing the burn. "I'll ask Luz to heal it properly once this is over… in the meantime, welcome to the life of a Wild Witch!"

Morton grinned, then he and Eda leapt into the fray to help Barcus' family beat up the last of the guards in the yard, with Eda summoning Owlbert and switching to Harpy Mode to show off her full power. It didn't take long to knock out or tie up the last of the guards, especially with Morton using Plant Magic to help corral them all and block off reinforcements. But the alarm was still blaring and the other entrances and exits from the Atelier were still open, so more guards would be coming any second now.

"We should get out of here and back up Boscha, before we get overwhelmed by numbers." Morton said as he used more of his cleansing potion to calm down Barcus, as well as remove the ectoplasm from his Oracle Spirit.

"Right! Let's go!" Eda said, taking to the skies. Barcus summoned his Palisman Duno, and offered Morton a ride while his mother rode with her husband, all of them flying up to the top floor of the atelier, ready to run to Luz and Boscha's aid.

[Meanwhile]

It was only a few minutes of stair climbing for Boscha to reach the top of the secret staircase that Vitimir had dragged her down earlier. Once she got to the top, she gulped down an Ichor of Invisibility, which turned her entire body transparent, then used the stolen brass key to carefully open the secret passage and emerge back into Vitimir's large penthouse laboratory. As expected, Vitimir was present and working on what appeared to be a hideously complicated potion that required a lot of differently brewed liquids and compounds, which were being slowly distilled into a giant crystalline cauldron.

Boscha narrowed her eyes on it, then looked around and saw that her parents were present and actually helping Vitimir, though neither looked happy about it. Her mother had a worried frown on her face as she brewed one of the chemicals Vitimir needed, while her Daddy was working out their own obvious anger by grinding several ingredients down to powder. It appeared the potion was almost done too, as Morel angrily stomped over and slammed the mortar of powder onto the table beside Vitimir.

"There, the Ionizing Compound is complete. Anything else you need?" they asked venomously.

"Help your wife with the last binding agent. Once it's done and the potion is complete, I will forgive your daughter's rebellion and free her." Vitimir said coldly, slowly stirring the powder into the cauldron, then turning a valve on the distilling vials to make it steadily drip an unknown pink liquid into the potion.

"Boscha didn't mean any harm…" Callisto weakly argued, walking over with the binding agent Vitimir wanted. He snatched it from her and attached it to another valve for distilling, which began dripping it into the cauldron.

"Your daughter attacked a Coven Head and tried to interfere with my plans! You're all lucky I'm not sending her to the Emperor along with the Owl Lady!" he sneered.

"And what exactly are your plans!?"

The new voice made Boscha turn to the source, finding that it was Luz. She was in her Holy Raiment now, but was trapped in some kind of strange, frilly bedroom with some kind of crystal door blocking her from escaping. Considering the firepower Boscha knew Luz had, Vitimir must have reinforced the whole place to stop her escaping… either that or Luz was holding back for fear he'll kill her friends.

Vitimir made a few final preparations and set the potion to simmer until it was complete, then ordered the Alembics to stand against the wall within his line of sight as he turned to speak to Luz.

"I told you before; I will make you my child. Family is all I've ever wanted… The Bazamets were a family of lesser nobles that were wiped out by enemies of the Emperor after they sided with him. I alone survived and was tossed into a neglectful orphanage to be forgotten about, with all my family's wealth, possessions, and heirlooms being stolen by their murderers! I thought I would live my life alone, but then when I was twelve, I met her…"

Vitimir had a look of nostalgic bliss on his face as he recalled that day; "Cassiel… the first time I met her, she saved me from bullies like my own personal guardian angel! It was love at first sight. Of course, I didn't know what she was at the time, but I wanted to thank her and so took her to Hexside with me. For years we were friends, and she confessed that she too had come from an unhappy orphanage in the Human Realm. She understood me like no one ever did and we spent years together. When I graduated Hexside, I intended to finally ask her to marry me… only for those foul creatures to get in the way! Because of them, she fled the Boiling Isles and my dream of finally having a family fled with her…"

He then looked Luz in the eye with a manic smile; "If she hadn't been forced to flee, we'd have been married and had a child of our own! They'd be about your age now! But I can fix it! I can build my family with my own hands! I'll make you my daughter, you look so much like my Cassiel, and then when the Day of Unity is complete and we ascend to the Divine Realm, I can reunite with Cassiel and we can be a real family!"

Boscha and her parents all looked disgusted, while Luz stared at Vitimir like he'd lost his mind. Honestly, he probably had…

"I'm not your daughter! I'm not Cassiel's daughter! I already have a family!" Luz cried.

"None of that matters! My potion will fix it all! My Familial Historia Elixir will rewrite your mind and even your DNA! You're only half angel, which makes it easier; it will target all your non-angelic DNA and replace it with mine, while rewriting your memories. Once you drink it, you'll be my daughter in body and soul! It is my ultimate masterpiece!" Vitimir boasted. "I spent years perfecting it! The ingredients are rare, with one coming from an extinct creature, but I finally managed it! Compared to the Bloodline Potions used in adoptions and for surrogates, the Familial Historia Elixir is a work of art! My dream is at hand!"

Luz went green as she desperately tried to think of a way out of this that didn't get her captured friends killed. She'd already tried breaking out of the weird bedroom Vitimir had prepared for her, but it had been reinforced with her in mind, and Vitimir had threatened the others' lives if she tried again.

"W-Wait! Didn't you swear an oath not to hurt me, treat me cruelly, or hand me over to Belos!?" she cried, stalling for time.

Vitimir nodded; "I did. I made sure the potion will not hurt, and I've been nothing but kind to you, even if you don't understand my kindness. And as for Belos; once you're my obedient child, you'll happily help him without the need for me to hand you over. Everything is going to be perfect."

"Not if I've got anything to say about it!" Boscha thought. The potion was almost complete, and she could feel the Ichor of Invisibility beginning to run out due to the small dose she'd taken. She wanted to aim to destroy the potion, but Vitimir had already activated a barrier around the cauldron as it simmered (likely to keep out contagions). So she instead looked around the lab and found Maya trapped in a cage on another work table.

"If I can't take out the potion, I'll take out the potioneer!" Boscha thought to herself, sneaking over to the table with the cage. She very gently reached into the cage and tapped Maya's head, then mentally transmitted her thoughts to her through their bond. Maya immediately perked up and sent back her own emotions of relief and warning, letting Boscha know the cage was enchanted to keep Boscha from summoning her out. Thankfully this was no concern, and Boscha used her new belt to whip up a quick acid (it was a lot easier with the proper ingredients) then pour it onto the bars, melting them enough for Maya to scuttle out into Boscha's hand.

Ducking down so the table kept Maya out of sight, Boscha switched her to staff form and began creeping towards Vitimir, trying to strike a balance between moving fast before the invisibility ran out, and moving stealthily so he wouldn't hear her. Maya's staff wasn't invisible, so Luz and the Alembics both noticed the floating staff, but seeing as they knew who it belonged too, they kept silent as Boscha crept up behind Vitimir as he stared through the barrier at his simmering potion. Once she was in position, she pointed Maya at the back of his head, drew a small smell circle, and prepared to launch a fireball directly at him.

Unfortunately, Vitimir felt the sudden heat behind his head before Boscha could complete the spell and instinctively ducked, letting the fireball sail over his head and destroy his hat. With a snarl, he spun around and tossed a potion directly at the invisible Boscha, though thanks to her still being invisible, she was able to avoid it easily by dropping her staff and leaping away, then aiming a hard punch at the man's face. She socked him right in the cheek, then while he was stunned, she summoned Maya back to her hand and successfully shot a fireball into his chest, making him scream as he was blasted backward. Her spell burned a hole through his black coat and exposed his chest to the open air, revealing he was extremely gaunt and skinny, with his ribs clearly visible through his skin.

At that moment, Boscha turned visible again and Vitimir sneered.

"YOU! STOP GETTING IN MY WAY!" he demanded, preparing a spell circle. Before he could complete it however, Morel pounced on him and began punching him, breaking his point nose and making it bend to the side at a horrible angle. Callisto jumped to help her spouse by preparing a spell circle of her own, but Vitimir snapped his fingers before she could, causing both Alembics to scream as yellow lines of magic began to spread through their bodies from their sigils, sealing up their magic and paralysing them.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Boscha screamed, preparing to throw a fireball at Vitimir. He stopped her by hiding behind Morel, using them like a meat shield as he snapped his nose back into place and began transmuting himself a simple healing potion, using the blood from his nose as a base. Seeing this, Boscha instead turned the fireball spell into a smokescreen, filling the room with black smoke and giving herself the cover she needed to use her Combat Potioneer Belt to throw together something she could use if Vitimir took another hostage.

She barely had time to finish before Vitimir's lab began to vent the smoke automatically, and as expected, when she saw a gap in the smoke, she saw Vitimir holding a knife to her Daddy's throat. The man was a coward and always used others as hostages since he wasn't the best fighter, so Boscha was prepared to deal with that. Saying a silent apology to her Daddy, Boscha slid her creation towards them and Vitimir, then when the smoke cleared and Vitimir opened his mouth to demand her surrender, she quickly snapped her fingers, using a spark of magic to trigger the potion bomb she'd landed directly at Vitimir's feet in the same instant she began casting a spell with her other hand.

The potion bomb she'd created used a mix of pollen from a Fulgur Bloom, oil from a speckled yellow mushroom, and flakes of magnetite to create a lightning magic explosion, zapping both Vitimir and Morel with electricity. This caused them both to scream and convulse, allowing Boscha's other spell to create a lasso of water that grabbed Vitimir's knife and yanked it out of his hand before he could cut her Daddy's throat. Before either could recover from the electricity, Boscha sent Maya flying at Morel, where she grabbed them with her pincers and flew him away from Vitimir, while Boscha ran at Vitimir and grabbed him, tossing him over her shoulder and slamming him into the ground hard. He landed on his back, and there was a loud crack and scream as his spine smacked against the chest of potions ingredients he kept on his back.

"Got you now!" Boscha declared, preparing to restrain the Head Witch. She began casting a spell circle to grab his limbs with water lassos and then freeze them, but Vitimir was crafty.

He twirled a finger to make a spell circle, then opened his mouth wide and breathed out a cloud of poison gas, transmuting his own saliva into the noxious yellow fumes. Boscha had to abandon her spell and retreat back, conjuring a fireball and tossing it into the fumes in hopes of making them explode. The fumes did indeed ignite, but rather than explode and damage Vitimir, he cast another spell that seemed to change the chemical composition of his saliva again, allowing him to swallow and douse the flame. He then cast a trio of spells, one to make himself spit a huge amount of water, a second to transmute that water into oil, and a third to transmute his own teeth into flint, which he clacked together to make a spark and ignite the oil, creating a stream of fire that blasted right back towards Boscha. The girl squeaked in shock and dived out of the way, tossing two vials of water from her belt into the fire as she went. As this was an oil fire, the water made the flames explode outward in all directions, setting fire to large parts of the lab and turning the whole place into an inferno.

While it wasn't what Boscha had been planning, it did work out for her. Vitimir was doused in burning oil and had to rapidly cast ice magic on himself to put the flames out, then begin healing himself with regenerative potions and activating his laboratory's fire extinguishing enchantments, which spat a suffocating foam out onto the flames. In the chaos, Boscha was able to get both her parents (paralysed by their sigils) onto Maya's staff and have her Palisman fly them out through the western door to the balcony, where they'd be safe. While Maya was doing that, Boscha ran over to Luz and tried blasting fire at the crystal door. Sadly it failed to do anything, much to Boscha's disappointment.

"I already tried it. Vitimir reinforced this room with enchantments to keep me in! Even my full power light and fire magic was useless!" Luz frowned.

"Dang it! Is there a key or something?" Boscha asked.

The young Arch-Angel shook her head; "No idea. I woke up in here after Vitimir put me to sleep earlier. I've got no idea how it opens!"

Boscha frowned, then glanced over at Vitimir, who was busy healing himself. The oil fire had done dramatic damage to his body, and patches of exposed muscle could be seen on his shoulders and cheeks from where the flames had burned through the skin. His potions were healing them fast, so he'd be back in the fight any second and when he was, he would be gunning for Boscha's head.

"We might not be able to open it, but he can." she whispered.

"But how are we gonna make him? He's insane! I think he really believes that I'll just become his daughter!" Luz shuddered, rubbing her arms as a chill went through her.

"I've got a plan. It's an ugly one, and risky as heck, but if it works…" Boscha said, before going into the plan. Luz paled as she listened, but then nodded reluctantly.

"Okay, we'll go with that." she said.

"Are you sure?"

Luz nodded; "I trust you Boscha."

Boscha sighed and turned back to Vitimir, snapping her fingers to summon Maya back into her hand; "Here's hoping that doesn't end up being a mistake…"

The extinguishing enchantments had put out all the flames by this point, Vitimir's potion was still safe inside its barrier, and Vitimir himself was almost fully healed, though his black robe was in tatters, leaving him nearly naked from the waist up. Boscha channelled her Grudgby attitude and whistled sharply, making Vitimir snap his head towards her and glare viciously.

"So, you won round one when you locked me up. I think I won round two when I set you on fire… let's see who wins the tiebreaker!" Boscha grinned.

"The only thing that'll be broken here is you. I'm going to use what's left of your corpse for potions once I'm through with you!" Vitimir sneered, dumping the last of his healing potions on himself and healing the last of the burns. The new skin was a touch paler than Vitimir's usual grey skin and looked sensitive, but it didn't remain exposed for long as Vitimir picked up a scrap of his burnt robe and poured a potion known as Repair Fluid on it, causing the robe to be restored and cover him again.

"Time to show you that Boscha Alembic is no loser!" Boscha declared, conjuring a flaming Grudgby ball and smacking it at Vitimir with her staff. Vitimir doused it immediately with a water spell, then caught the ball. He wiggled his fingers creepily, drawing multiple spell circles simultaneous with his free hand, which caused the Grudgby ball to pulsate as he launched it back with a jet of water.

It rippled like a water balloon, something Boscha was familiar with from her bully days, so instead of blocking it, she decided to sidestep it and let it splash harmlessly against the wall behind her, releasing a toxic looking green liquid. Boscha didn't even want to imagine what that stuff did, as she used Maya to shoot a stream of flames like a flamethrower while using her other hand to begin mixing a potion with her Combat Potioneer Belt. Again, Vitimir didn't bother to dodge and instead blasted water into Boscha's flames, dousing them with ease. As a Head Witch, his magical strength was far beyond a student, even one as brilliant as Boscha, so his water spell was able to counter even the Palisman-enhanced fire spell Boscha sent his way. It also kicked up a lot of steam that began to fill the room, so Vitimir twirled his finger and transmuted the steam into acid that began to melt and burn everything it touched.

Boscha dived out of the way, only for Vitimir to turn the acid cloud into a liquid form, which he manipulated into a whip that he lashed at her. Boscha, still working on her potion, hopped onto Maya and began flying around the room, using fancy aerial manoeuvres to dodge his almost lazy acid whip lashes. As soon as her potion was complete, Boscha suddenly changed course and flew at Vitimir, and as he lashed at her once again, instead of dodging, Boscha drew the knife she'd stolen from him earlier and tossed it at Vitimir's face. The man gasped and manipulated his acid whip to catch it instead of hitting Boscha, giving her the window she needed to zip in close and throw her potion point blank into his face.

The vial broke against his forehead and splatted a silver liquid all over him, which immediately sank into his skin and made his veins feel oddly cold for a few seconds, as they began to glow white and become visible through his skin. Vitimir narrowed his eyes and waved his hand in front of him, creating a wave of fire that forced Boscha to retreat to a safe distance.

"A Pale Curse Potion… crafty little beast." Vitimir muttered. The Pale Curse was an old affliction that prevented the body from healing, either naturally or through magic. It had been annihilated centuries ago, but the effects could be mimicked with clever use of ingredients… so long as Vitimir's veins glowed, not only would he be visible through smokescreens, but his healing potions would be useless. He would need to be cautious.

He scanned the room for Boscha and found her flying around with her staff, letting Maya control their direction while she used both hands to craft two different potions at once. Abandoning his acid whip, Vitimir transmuted it into a toxic purple poison and froze it into a swarm of tiny needles with ice magic, then launched them at Boscha. The swarm was too big and too fast for her to dodge them, so she shot a fireball at them to melt them, but this was what Vitimir was counting on. The frozen poison melted and then evaporated in an instant, creating a deadly poison gas that infected Boscha instantly. Thankfully since she still had the bezoar in her stomach, the effect was greatly weakened and Boscha had enough time to adjust one of the potions she'd been throwing together into a simple antidote that was able to neutralise the rest of the poison in her system.

Vitimir didn't know that however, so Boscha faked coughing and spluttering, and fell from her staff. Maya immediately played dead and clattered to the floor. Luz cried out in horror and screamed her name, while Vitimir began edging towards the fallen girl. Once he was close enough, nudged her with his foot to roll her onto her back, then before he could react, Boscha tossed the other potion at him.

The vial shattered and sprayed him with a red liquid, each drop of which transformed into a small ravenous beetle, which began trying to eat their way through his robe. Vitimir yelped and instinctively began swatting them away, getting a few bites to his hands in the process, just as Boscha had hoped, giving her a window to back away and begin preparing more potions. The combination of a Ravenous Swarm Potion and a Pale Curse Potion was a deadly one, as the bites of the insects would bleed a lot as they tried to tunnel into their victim's flesh, and the Pale Curse would prevent the victim from healing. It was a brutal combo Boscha had learned by peeking in her Mommy's forbidden books (one of the few acts that could make Callisto yell at her daughter).

Vitimir, despite his fury, respected Boscha's ruthlessness even if he didn't appreciate being the target of it. He quickly doused himself in his own purple poison, which rapidly killed all the bugs before they could do that leave a few minor wounds on his fingers. Like many Master Potioneers, he had built a tolerance to most poisons and so was unharmed, and was able to quickly transmute some of his spilled blood into a sticky material that he could seal over his cuts to stem the bleeding until the Pale Curse wore off and he could heal them.

"Impressive, Brat. But I won't lose and let my dream be crushed by some whelp who can't even use Transmutation!" Vitimir growled, before roaring at Boscha and releasing a cloud of blue gas from his mouth. Boscha snapped her fingers and summoned Maya back to her side to fly her away from the cloud, though the very end of her staff did touch the gas. Almost immediately, crystals began to form on the end of the staff, forcing Boscha to leap off Maya and turn her back into Crab mode to get rid of them. The gas was still coming though, so Boscha tossed some vials of water into it. They immediately became covered in crystals and clattered to the ground, not breaking and thus not returning to her stolen belt, much to her chagrin.

"What is this stuff!?" Boscha scowled, next trying to burn the gas away. Her flames turned blue as it touched the gas, then exploded violently, sending crystal shards in all directions. Boscha ended up stabbed by a few of them, though thankfully the wounds were shallow and didn't seem to spread the crystallizing effect.

"That is a potions variant of Myla's Requiem, a bardic song that grows magic sapping crystals on the afflicted. Sadly I've yet to perfect the magic sapping effect, but it is quite potent regardless." Vitimir explained, beginning to grin. "This is the power of a real Potions Witch. We don't just follow instructions in books! We craft our own unique creations! And while my sigil limits me to Potions Magic…"

Vitimir reached into his pockets and pulled out eight test tubes, each filled with a liquid that glowed in the colour of one of the other eight covens. He held them between his fingers even as blue gas continued to leak from between his teeth as he grinned menacingly; "These are infusions of magic from the other Covens. With these, I can make potions that mimic their magic. With these, I can do almost anything! Aside from the Emperor and arguably the Clawthorne Sisters, I am the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles!"

Boscha sneered as she pulled out one of the crystals stuck in her flesh. She grabbed the potion she'd been working on (which was a pinkish-purple colour) and tried to throw it at Vitimir, but he just sidestepped it and let it smash on the ground behind him. Upon seeing it do nothing but make an unusually big puddle, Vitimir turned back to Boscha with a smirk; "You're starting to disappoint me. Did you finally realise you're outmatched?"

"I'm not dead yet, you creepy freak!" Boscha growled, pulling another crystal out of her skin as she edged away from Vitimir. As she moved, she drew a spell circle with her heel, creating a torrent of flame from the bottom of her foot that launched her into the air over Vitimir's head. As she flew over his head, she tossed the crystal at him with one hand and snapped her fingers to turn Maya back into her staff with the other, blasting more fire at him with it. Vitimir countered by conjuring water around himself and transmuting it into some kind of gelatinous material, which absorbed the heat and flame without producing steam. The gel also prevented the thrown crystal from hitting him, as he began using magic to levitate ingredients out of the wooden chest on his back and mixing it into a ball of water he'd created.

Boscha recognised Fulgur Bloom and Magnetite, and realised he was planning to create a Lightning Magic Bomb just like she had before. However such a thing was a volatile brew, and she knew just how to mess Vitimir up!

"RASIEL! GET HIM!" she screamed.

Vitimir's eyes widened and he looked around for signs of another attacker or intruder, having not heard Rasiel's name before. The one place he didn't think to look was his own pocket, where he'd stashed Rasiel's ring, so when the Ancient Seraphim Spirit burst out from the ring with a startling roar, Vitimir was caught completely off guard, losing his concentration and causing his magic to falter, fumbling the potion he'd been crafting. The half-complete potion splattered to the floor and released an electrical discharge that zapped Vitimir, though sadly it wasn't very powerful and the man was only stunned. Still, this was enough time for Boscha to prepare a couple more potion grenades.

"Eat this!" she screamed, throwing one of them as hard as she could at Vitimir. It sank into the gel that still surrounded him, then with a snap of her fingers and a spark of fire magic, the potion grenade (which was actually pretty close to a real grenade) exploded violently. The gel barrier was blown apart and while Vitimir was spared the brunt of the damage, he did receive some cuts from glass shrapnel, which he had to patch with more of his transmuted blood gel.

"What!? How did you command the spirit without holding his vessel!" Vitimir snarled, his stinging cuts making his temper even worse. "And since when were you an Oracle Witch!?"

"I'm not, and I didn't." Boscha retorted; "Rasiel's a weird spirit. He can't become corporeal, but he also isn't restrained by that stone. He could have popped out at any time!"

"That's right." Rasiel said, glaring down at Vitimir as he hovered menacingly above him; "I'd have leapt out earlier and caused you to make a mistake in your brewing, but I feared you'd punish Luz or the hostages in revenge. I've been waiting for the ideal moment ever since Boscha showed up."

Vitimir glared at him hatefully, then took to ignoring him entirely. If Rasiel couldn't touch him, then he was nothing more than an inconvenience while he focused on Boscha! He began preparing another potion while conjuring a water whip to keep the girl busy, but Rasiel flew in his face and flapped his wings while loudly singing some silly pop song Luz had shown him on her phone, distracting Vitimir completely. The Head Witch was just about to scream in frustration, when a purple fist suddenly burst through Rasiel's spectral body and smacked him in the face, sending Vitimir flying backward.

The blow broke his nose (again), forcing Vitimir to stem the flow of blood by transmuting it into gel again as he looked at the source of the fist. It was an Abomination, and a fairly amateurish one at that, currently being controlled by Boscha. That purple potion she'd been brewing earlier hadn't been a potion at all! It had been an abomination!

"Mom convincing me to Multi-Track in Abominations turned out to be pretty helpful after all!" Boscha smirked, "Now Abomination, destroy!"

Her creation groaned and charged at Vitimir, who sighed heavily and drank a test tube full of pink glowing liquid. Rasiel tried to distract him from whatever he was about to do, but Vitimir closed his eyes and instead reached out solely with his magic, drawing a spell circle that turned into a yellow and pink spell that he shot at the Abomination. In an instant, the Abomination stopped in its tracks and melted into a puddle of green slime, snapping Boscha's control over it.

"What the-!?" Boscha exclaimed as Vitimir opened his eyes again. He looked eerily calm, as if his anger had gotten so bad that it had come full circle and he was now in a state of tranquil fury.

"I'll give you credit, whelp. You're more resourceful than I expected. You'd have been a great Potions Witch one day… but you won't live to see tomorrow." Vitimir said, his voice so eerily calm that Boscha broke out in a cold sweat.

He drew another spell circle and the green slime suddenly lurched up and grabbed Rasiel, actually managing to tie him up and restrain him despite it him being an incorporeal spirit. Boscha and Luz both gasped in shock, while Rasiel just stared in wide-eyed silence.

"Ectoplasm. It doesn't matter what kind of spirit you are; ectoplasm can restrain all astral beings." Vitimir explained coldly. "It's not easy transmuting Abomination slime, but after drinking that Infusion of Abomination Magic, I was able to pull it off."

"Hold on Rasiel, I'll free you!" Boscha yelled, throwing her other potion bomb at Rasiel. This one was another of her electrical bombs, and she sent a torrent of water at Vitimir at the same time using her staff, hoping to amplify the effect.

However Vitimir casually caught the bomb in a ball of his own conjured water, while hiding behind the ectoplasm that bound Rasiel to keep the water from hitting him. Then with speed Boscha had never expected, Vitimir froze the ball containing her bomb and launched it into her stomach. It hit her so hard that it knocked the wind out of her, almost making her throw up, which was made a thousand times worse when Vitimir cast a spell that melted the ice ball, causing the lightning bomb inside to hit the floor at Boscha's feet and shatter.

Boscha screamed in agony as her own bomb zapped her with lightning, causing her convulsing form to collapse to the ground. She'd never felt such pain! It was excruciating, and combined with being winded from the ice ball, her screams had been more like a horrible strangled gasp. Luz and Rasiel both cried out to her, while Vitimir just slowly approached the fallen girl.

The poor girl coughed violently as she struggled to stand, only for Vitimir to put a foot on her back and force her back down hard, making her gasp and groan. He put more of his weight on her until she felt her spine creaking and her lungs crying out for air, taking a great amount of satisfaction out of her pain.

"Vitimir, please stop this!" Luz begged, pounding her fists on the crystal door that trapped her; "She's already lost! Our plan failed! Just please, don't kill her! I'll do anything!"

The Head Witch eyed her curiously; "And why should I do that? You'll do anything I say anyway once I get my potion into you. Speaking off…" he looked over to his cauldron and saw that the barrier had come down all on its own, signalling that it had finished simmering and was now complete. "My masterwork is finally done! It was far more trouble than it should be, but now everything will be perfect! At least once I kill this worm!"

He lifted is foot from Boscha's back and shifted it to her neck, where one good stomp would end her life for good.

"WAIT! Y-You don't have any hostages any more! Boscha escaped, so the others must have too! If you kill her, you've got no way of making me drink your fancy potion!" Luz argued.

That gave Vitimir a moment's pause, before he just shrugged; "That room is connected to my ventilation system. All I need to do is pump some sleeping gas into that room and feed you the potion in your sleep."

Luz gulped, then to the shock of both Boscha and Vitimir, she put her fingers against her head, miming a gun; "Well then, if you're going to murder my friend then I might as well go down with her!"

"You'd kill yourself for this brat!?" Vitimir exclaimed, watching as the ends of Luz's fingers glowed with ominous red light.

"Drinking your potion will kill the person I am now anyway!" Luz retorted.

Vitimir looked torn, and sneered down at Boscha, who groaned as he applied a bit more pressure to her neck. He then looked back at Luz; "If I promise to spare the girl's life, you will drink my potion without any trickery. Swear it."

"I swear that if you do not kill Boscha, I will drink your potion." Luz said, her voice shaking. There was no burning sensation; she was telling the truth.

"Luz, don't! What's to stop him killing Boscha as soon as you drink it!?" Rasiel argued, struggling hard in the ectoplasm restraints.

"Nothing… except maybe good will for his future daughter's last request as her real self?" Luz shrugged weakly. Her head was bowed and her expression was heartbroken; becoming the perfect picture of meek surrender.

The disturbed Potioneer's expression softened and he cast a spell, causing his crystal door to open and allow Luz out of the room. He kept his foot pressed firmly on Boscha's neck, ready to snap it the instant he saw any funny business, and Luz slowly walked out of the bedroom he'd made for her and edged her way towards the cauldron. She kept her hands up to show her surrender as she went, and eventually came to a stop and peered into the cauldron, gulping as she saw her reflection in the pale indigo liquid.

"Drink up." Vitimir ordered, conjuring a crystal goblet and tossing it to Luz. She caught it clumsily, and her hands shook as she dipped it into the cauldron and filled it up. Then, with one last look to Boscha; a look in which countless emotions passed between the two, Luz brought the goblet to her lips and gulped the potion down.

The effects were almost instantaneous. Luz gagged on the taste and clutched her chest, while her other hand went to her stomach as she stumbled away from the cauldron, dropping the goblet and letting it shatter on the floor. She fell to her knees and began to writhe with discomfort, one hand moving to her mouth as if trying to stop herself from vomiting. Her body began to glow, then suddenly released a bright flash of light as Luz screamed out in fear and sorrow.

"LUZ!" Boscha cried, blinking spots out of all three eyes after the flash.

Vitimir was doing the same, but with a manic smile that grew wider as the light faded and Luz appeared from inside it. "It worked! It truly worked!" he whispered excitedly.

Boscha stared at Luz, or at least, the girl who had once been Luz. Vitimir's potion had been designed to rewrite her DNA to incorporate his instead of her human father's, so the Luz that appeared from the light looked quite different. Her hair had lost some of its curliness and become longer with a silver tinge to it. Her skin had turned an ashen grey, similar to Vitimir's own, and while her eyes retained their golden colour, her previously normal pupils had become pink and diamond shaped, just like Vitimir's. Even her Holy Raiment and wings had changed colour; the former becoming black and gold instead of white and gold, and the latter gaining the same silver tinge as her hair.

"Luz" sat their on the ground, looking confused by everything around her, at least until she laid eyes on Vitimir, then a big smile spread across her face.

"Papa! What's going on? Why am I on the floor? And who's that girl?" she asked, confused.

"Ah, you took a bit of a fall when this girl and her conspirators came here to take you away." Vitimir said, absolutely beaming; "But don't worry, everything is fine now."

"Luz" tilted her head curiously, then shrugged and hopped back to her feet and stretched her body. She briefly turned towards Rasiel, who went still with a slack-jawed expression upon getting a good look at her altered face.

At that moment, the door leading out towards the western balcony suddenly burst open, and Eda came charging into the lab in Harpy Form, followed swiftly by Barcus and his parents, as well as Morton and the Alembics, who were able to move again for some reason. Vitimir smirked at them unconcernedly.

"Vitimir, you monster! Let our daughter go!" Morel demanded as they and Callisto both brandished spell circles.

Vitimir rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers to activate their sigils, only to be shocked when nothing happened. Instead both Alembics pulled their sleeves up a bit to reveal a partially healed acid burn where their sigils had been.

"Morton showed us a way to deal with your little sigils! Titan only knows how much that hurt, but it was worth it to be able to help put you down!" Morel growled. That was why they were able to once again move.

"Well that's nice, but pointless. You're a little too late." Vitimir said, pointing to "Luz".

Everyone looked at her and she stared back blankly, blinking at the odd new group that had just appeared. "Papa, who are these people?" she asked.

Eda paled as all the fight was knocked out of her by those words, while the Alembics cursed; "No! She already drank the potion!?"

Not wanting them to say more and give his new daughter any unwanted doubts, Vitimir quickly shouted to her; "Luz my girl, these are the bad people who tried to take you away from me! Freeze them, so we might give them to the Emperor!"

"Okay!" "Luz" said cheerfully. The wind glyph on her right foot glowed as she kicked in the direction of Eda and the others, creating a whirlwind around them that huddled them together. Then before they could do anything or say a word, Luz fired a massive Aurora Beam directly at them, freezing them all completely and leaving the little group as nothing but an ice sculpture. Boscha screamed out in horror.

"Mommy! Daddy! No! What have you done!?"

"Oh do shut up, brat." Vitimir smirked, finally moving his foot from her neck as he walked away from her and towards Luz. He put a hand on the young Angel's shoulder and said; "Be a dear and knock that brat out for Papa, won't you?"

"Yes Papa!" "Luz" chirped, her ears fwipping up and down as she gave a big smile. She then ran at Boscha and launched her foot into her stomach, kicking the three-eyed girl so hard that she was sent flying all the way into the base of the frozen statue that had once been her family and fellow rescuers. The girl lay there completely limp, while Rasiel stared in horror at the scene in front of him.

With Boscha and the others taken care of, "Luz" turned to Vitimir and smiled brightly; "The bad guys aren't gonna be a problem any more! Can I have a hug now, Papa?" she asked innocently.

Vitimir nodded happily and held his arms out for her; "Of course dear! Come give Papa a hug."

"Luz" giggled and ran into his embrace, wrapping her arms around his waist as he wrapped his around her shoulders. One hand went to the back of her head, brushing against her neck, which made him pause.

"Your neck feels ice cold. Are you warm enough?" Vitimir asked.

"I'm about to be."

Before Vitimir could react, he gasped as Luz used the hug to shove a blade of light into his stomach, impaling him straight through the abdomen. Vitimir cried out as the pain hit him, and Luz pulled the light blade out of him, then kicked him away with her right leg, using a gust of wind to blast him into his cauldron of Familial Historia Elixir, knocking it over and making it spill everywhere. The mad man groaned and put a hand to his wound, which had thankfully been cauterised by the light blade.

"W-Why!?" he choked out.

"Haven't figured it out yet?"

Vitimir's eyes widened and he whipped his head around to look at Boscha, who was standing up, completely unharmed. "You!? What did you do!?"

"Foiled your plan." Luz answered cheekily, snapping her fingers and causing the ice around Eda and the others to disappear, revealing that they hadn't actually been frozen at all, just trapped inside shaped ice barriers to make it look like they'd been frozen. They looked a bit confused, especially poor Eda who was trying to wrap her head around Luz's altered appearance. Luz put an end to that by snapping her fingers again and turning back to normal with a poof of cyan coloured smoke, revealing her change had been an illusion from the start.

"What!? How! You drank my potion! I saw you!" Vitimir yelled, before looking down at the potion and noticing the colour was slightly off. It was supposed to be closer to blue, but it was slightly closer to purple. "This is impossible, I brewed it perfectly! My barrier kept out all impurities!"

"Shame it didn't keep out sound waves." Boscha smirked, before whistling and causing the potion to turn a slightly darker shade of purple.

Vitimir's eyes widened, remembering Boscha whistling at him at the beginning of their fight, after she'd sent her parents to safety. Eda also gasped, then laughed uproariously; "That's Raine's trick! Changing a potion with sound!"

"It looks like they taught it to Skara, who taught it to Boscha." Luz smiled; "This whole thing was our plan from the start."

"What!?" Vitimir cried.

"Yep! We couldn't get Luz out of that room, so we tricked you into letting her out and letting your guard down. I put up a fight to soften you up and make it look real, then Luz just had to put up an illusion to make it look like your potion had worked after I'd already messed up the chemistry!" Boscha boasted shamelessly; "I think I can make that into a decent Grudgby play! I could have done without that kick though, Luz."

Luz rubbed the back of her head sheepishly; "Sorry Boscha! I had to make it look real!"

Her kick had actually barely made contact with her, with the reason for the big impact being some added wind magic. "Besides, I had to ice my throat to stop it burning, since I had to call this nutjob "Papa" so often!" she added, shuddering.

"Whatever, it was worth it to put one over on this loser!" Boscha smirked at Vitimir, who fumed.

"NO! This isn't over! I will take you back, Luz! I will find Cassiel! I will have my family!" Vitimir snarled, practically frothing at the mouth as he tried to force himself to his feet despite the gut wound.

"Not with me you won't! It's time for you to cool off!" Luz yelled, firing a real Aurora Beam directly at him. The man was too wounded and exhausted to dodge or counter, and was promptly frozen solid with one last scream of rage.

"There! It was a little messy, but we're all safe and sound, and Vitimir is on ice. I'd say that was a successful mission!" Luz smiled, dusting off her hands.

"Yeah, but "cool off" then freezing him? We need to work on your trash talking." Boscha rolled her eyes.

Luz snorted; "I'm sure you'll teach me all about it. For now, let's get out of here."

"I second that!" Eda sighed, deactivating her Harpy Mode; "I can't believe I got caught again! All this being a "respectable rebel leader" thing is making me rusty!"

"That's less to do with you getting rusty and more to do with Vitimir being the conniving type." Morel said; "Speaking of, it's a good thing we live in a neutral town like Bonesborough, or we'd be in big trouble for leaving the Coven."

"Why don't you join the CATTs?" Luz suggested, "You basically have no future if the Emperor wins, so you're kinda on our side anyway."

"I second that." Barcus woofed as he went to free Rasiel from the ectoplasm. The poor man hadn't been aware of the plan, at least not until Luz had subtly winked at him while looking in his direction, so he was still a bit shaken by thinking he'd failed to protect her.

"I third it. Boscha basically salvaged the whole plan and saved everyone. If she can do that, then having her in the CATTs would be ideal." Rasiel said, nodding gratefully to the girl.

Rom and Howlena both agreed too, feeling grateful to the girl for saving them and their son. Morton also nodded as he said; "I'd like to join too. I kinda have no business without being able to get ingredients from the Potions Coven, so it'd be a big help to me."

The Alembic family all looked at each other, each wondering what they should do. Before this, none of them had any problem with the Emperor or the Coven System, and in honesty, their main issue was with Vitimir. But Vitimir had the Emperor's favour, and short of killing him and covering everything up, they would end up fugitives either way, like Luz had said.

"Considering the alternative is our baby being taken by the Emperor and our family losing everything… I think joining the CATTs is a good idea." Callisto said. She didn't like it, knowing her previous attitude wouldn't fly with Eda and the CATTs leaders, but she loved her daughter and spouse enough to give it an honest shot.

Truthfully, Eda wasn't too keen on recruiting Callisto either, considering the arrest incident with Luz, but the woman didn't even remember that thanks to Boscha, and she owed the kid for saving Luz, so she didn't object.

"I agree." Morel said, offering their hand to Eda; "We'd be honoured to join the CATTs. All I ask is that you keep our family safe."

Eda nodded; "I'll run it by Raine and the others. I doubt they'll refuse, and even if they do, we'll still protect you from the Covens."

The Alembics looked relieved, and Luz cheered and threw an arm around Boscha's shoulder; "This is great! Now you and Skara will be able to talk about everything again! Ooh, you could even join the Hexsquad! That would be awesome!"

Boscha smiled a little at the idea of being able to fully talk to Skara gain, but she wasn't so sure about joining the Hexsquad; "I don't want to ditch my gang." she said, crossing her arms.

Luz just looked confused; "Then don't? Everyone in the Hexsquad has friends they hang out with outside of it. Like I hang out with Barcus and the Magic Mixers, Amity hangs out with Mary from the abomination track and Celine from the oracle track, Willow hangs out with Amelia and some other plant track kids, Gus and Matt have the HAS and other friends in their tracks, and obviously Skara has you and the Banshees."

"Then what's the point of the Hexsquad?" Boscha raised an eyebrow.

"Well, we mostly just hang out, train our magic, and go on the occasional off-the-rails adventure. It's fun! We're just a group of friends, y'know?" Luz smiled brightly.

Boscha felt the urge to pinch the girl's cheeks; "You're too sunny sometimes, y'know that? But… I'll consider it. It'd be nice to see more of Skara, and I'd kinda like to start hanging out with Amity again. The three of us did always have fun together. And being around Willow more often means I'll get to compete with her more!"

"Whatever floats your boat, Boscha!" Luz giggled, skipping over to pick up Rasiel's ring now that he was free from the ectoplasm. She then frowned as she heard the Atelier alarm still blaring in the distance. "We should go soon, or we'll need to fight our way out of here."

That got nods of agreement from everyone, who headed out to the balcony and either hopped on their Palismen or hitched a ride from someone else before they all flew off together, making their way back to the Owl House.

It was almost midnight by the time they arrived, and they were all greeted by Raine and the Hexsquad, as well as Jerbo and Viney. Those two immediately ran and hugged Barcus with relief, while Skara hugged Boscha and Amity hugged Luz.

"Thank goodness you're okay!" Amity said, kissing Luz's cheek; "You were gone so long I was starting to worry!"

"It's okay now." Luz smiled, capturing Amity's lips in a full kiss. When she finally pulled away, she nuzzled against Amity's cheek and added; "It was kinda touch and go for a bit, but we're safe now! And we got some new recruits!"

She gestured to Boscha and the Alembics (the latter of whom were receiving some glares from Willow and Gus, who still remembered the arrest incident with Callisto), as well as Morton.

Skara gasped as she pulled away from Boscha's embrace with a bright smile; "Really!? You're joining the CATTs!"

"Y-Yeah. I saved Luz's butt so well that she decided she just had to have me on her team. I was gonna say no, but she begged me so much that I felt bad refusing." Boscha said haughtily, obviously lying through her teeth.

It was a blatant joke though, and Luz retorting with; "Whatever you say, Boscha!" made her friends all giggle.

Boscha was careful to watch Amity and Willow's expressions though. The former merely raised an eyebrow, then nodded her thanks silently, while the latter stared Boscha down for a few seconds. Boscha held Willow's gaze without backing down or acting like her usual boastful self, and Willow eventually hummed and turned back to Luz. It wasn't acceptance, but it was Willow deciding that she wasn't going to refuse or make a fuss. Either Boscha had won some begrudging respect from her (which was more mutual than she'd like to admit), or Willow was simply confident she could crush Boscha if she got out of line. Regardless, Willow wasn't going to protest her joining.

Meanwhile, Skara squealed and hugged Boscha even tighter; "This is great! Now I can finally tell you everything and you don't need to be mad at me for keeping secrets any more!"

"Skara, that was never your fault. I was being a jerk. I said I was sorry for it, didn't I?" Boscha reminded her.

"Yeah, but I still didn't like keeping it from you. Now I don't have to! There shouldn't be so many secrets between Besties!" Skara said cheerfully.

Boscha couldn't help but blush, seeing the other girl's bright smile. She looked away, pretending to be casual, and said; "You know, that whistle trick you showed me really saved our butts a couple of times. I should repay you."

"Repay me? How?" Skara blinked.

Fighting back a blush, Boscha said; "How about I take you to dinner?"

Skara's cheeks reddened, and the others all pretended like they weren't watching the scene between them. Shyly, Skara took Boscha's hand and nodded; "I'd like that."

"Cool. Anywhere but the Titania though; I think I'm officially over their food at this point." Boscha shuddered.

Skara burst into giggles, and Boscha soon joined her. In that moment, Boscha felt like a real winner… she could get used to this!