It is a surprisingly chilly morning when Skara leaves the coziness of her home. And it is early.
Very early. Earlier than she usually leaves for Hexside on any other day.
All this because today she is embarking on an important, self-imposed mission that she has been planning down to the smallest detail for the last couple of days, if not weeks.
With an exceptionally good mood, a smile on her face, and a melodic hum, Skara strolls through the streets and alleys of Bonesborough.
'Today is the day.', she thinks to herself, her heart pumping happily in her chest, her visible excitement contagious to all who watch her walk past them.
About ten minutes later, a narrow house comes into her view. It is the last of a long row of row houses near the coast of the city. She had spent some time finding the right house a while back to not accidentally knock on the wrong door.
Where she had glided light-footedly through the alleyways before, Skara now notices how her legs become heavier with every step she takes, and anxiety begins to creep into her mind.
She approaches a wall about waist height with a wooden gate in it. Directly behind it, connected by a short stone path, lies her destination: a green door. The door frame is adorned with vines and many colorful flowers that stretch from the ground all the way up to the windows on the second floor.
'Wow...', Skara marvels at this magic, just as she did when she explored the area a few days ago. Her heart is now caught in her throat and fear begins to take over as she reaches for the front gate. Her whole body is shivering, and it's certainly not because of the temperature.
'Come on, I can do it.', she tries to encourage herself. Her body, however, doesn't seem to be playing along. 'I can do this. I can do this. I can do this... I can't do this.'
Immediately she turns around and resumes her regular journey to school with feelings of both relief and guilt equally filling her mind.
Her plan has failed before she could even take the first step.
Skara does not like to fail.
She's an incredibly intelligent and talented witch, and she knows it. She's the best witch in the whole Bard track. She has the best grades and writes the best melodies. No one plays as many instruments as she does. No one can match her in Grudgby and Flyer Derby, and she knows it. No one finds it easier to make new friends out of complete strangers and to master social situations of all kinds than she does. And she knows it.
Skara doesn't lose. She doesn't fail. And yet...
"There's no way I'm letting all this preparation go to waste. This time it's going to work.", she gives herself a pep talk before throwing on the red scarf that her grandmother knitted her for her last birthday, and then leaves the house again.
Her nerves are tense as she takes exactly the same route as yesterday. Not far from her house, she starts humming to try to ease her inner tensions and her anxiety.
Just like yesterday, it takes her a good ten minutes to reach the row of rowhouses near the coast. This time, however, instead of walking directly towards her destination, she stops a little way from it and leans on the stone railing. She dares to look down over the whole of south-west Bonesborough, fifty meters below her, and directly on the shore.
With both hands on the railing, she takes a deep breath and exhales. She watches her warm breath escape her lungs into the cold air. The sun rising in the west makes this look particularly beautiful.
"Okay... okay... okay...", she mutters to herself, ready to give herself another pep talk, "You're a Musiker... Papa always says: 'A Musiker doesn't give up until she's tried, done, and achieved everything'… I can do that. After all, it's just a question. It's not like I'm asking her out...", Skara shakes her hands, pushing the tension out of her body as her gaze slowly wanders to the house with the green door. She takes another deep breath. "Here we go."
Her legs carry her towards the house more reliably than yesterday. By the time she reaches the gate in the low wall, however, her knees are, once again, as soft as butter.
'No! Don't give out! I can do this!'
Skara grabs the gate and opens it, revealing the last section of her path. Her heart skips a beat, her breathing begins shaking. It's only four steps until she reaches her destination.
'Only four steps. Four steps, and then just knock. That's easy.', she thinks to herself, 'Right?'
The gate in front of her stands wide open. There is nothing in her way, and yet she stands there, rooted to the spot.
Suddenly there are noises from the other side of the door, causing Skara to jump.
"EEK!", she screeches. 'How long have I been standing here?', she asks herself, increasingly panicked, 'Oh no. I've taken too long. I have to get out of here!'
She pulls her legs up and runs away, heading towards Hexside.
'Not again!', she blames herself angrily, 'Why is this so hard? I was able to play three instruments at the same time in front of hundreds of people on my birthday and then give an acceptance speech afterwards... But I- I fail- at a door? That doesn't make any sense!'
Her shame for her cowardice begins to turn into anger directed at herself as well as determination, the further away she gets.
'I'll try again tomorrow.'
"Yeah, thanks Papa. Maybe- um, I'm sure, it will work out today.", Skara says goodbye to her father and leaves the house earlier than usual, as she has done for the previous two days. Two things are different today, though.
Firstly, it's not as cold as it was yesterday.
Secondly, Skara has had less sleep than usual. Her father came back yesterday from a trade conference lasting several days, about how it would make sense to reduce the purchasing price of various product imports by 0.035%, just by switching from snake horses to ratworms for transporting goods. And he insisted on teaching her everything he had learned to the point that she couldn't go to bed until after midnight.
As a result, she doesn't necessarily feel particularly energetic or in a good mood right now. But nevertheless, she has a goal that she wants to achieve. And who knows, maybe her tiredness will help to contain her anxiety and her worries. After all, this tactic had worked before, namely on her very first day at Hexside all those years ago.
It takes her longer than on the previous two days to reach the house with the green door, due to her tiredness. Her plan to use her tiredness as a tool to combat her anxiety doesn't seem to work either, because as she approaches the green door, she realizes that her heart is beating with the force of an orchestra in her chest, and her knees are already so wobbly that they could give way at any second now.
In her mind, she is already prepared for yet another failure. The urge to run away again grows stronger and stronger as she approaches the door. She slowly raises her hand to knock when the door suddenly opens from the inside, and a man stands now in front of her.
"eek", Skara shrieks quietly, unable to move anywhere. Her whole body frozen to the ground. Only now does he notice her.
Both of them just stand there, frozen. Skara, her hand half-raised and her eyes wide open, just stares at the man holding a full dark green bag in one hand.
He has darker skin, a bulkier statue, not much hair on his head, but a full beard that many men would envy. He looks at Skara, his features are kind and his aura warming, all of which helps to calm the storm inside her.
"Can I help you?", he eventually asks in a friendly voice.
Skara opens her mouth, but there are no words or even sounds coming out. Embarrassment spreads across her face, along with a slight reddish blush. The man glances briefly at something beside her face and back again. He begins to smile slightly.
"You're wearing a Hexside uniform. Are you a friend of Willow's?", he asks, to which Skara nods excessively.
"I, um... I was...", Skara stutters, her voice barely more than a whisper, her face burning hot, and her red scarf suddenly feeling far too tightly wrapped around her neck, "Is she, um...? Is Willow home?"
The man smiles warmly, his gaze full of understanding.
"Of course she is. Just one second.", he turns inward, "WILLOW! YOU HAVE A VISITOR!"
Turning back to Skara, he continues, "Come in. You can wait inside if you want. I just have to take the garbage out."
He steps out of the door and walks past Skara, who in turn enters the house. Inside, she finds herself in a short hallway. The walls are decorated with alternating green and light brown wallpaper, cozy lights, pictures, and shelves with various books on them are hanging on the walls, and right next to the front door is a large dresser with several framed pictures on it. In an effort to further calm her nerves, she approaches them.
The first picture, framed in white with golden and crystal embellishments, is a wedding photo. 'Aww, how sweet.', she thinks to herself as she sees the two men on the happiest day of their lives. 'Wait, is that-?'
At the bottom of the picture is a small child, no more than three years old, in a green dress, smiling happily at her parents as they kiss.
'Awww, baby Willow...', she thinks to herself with a smile on her face, before moving on to the next picture.
The second image also appears to be a couple of years old and probably shows the small family on a hiking trip somewhere in the mountains near Lake Zehensee.
The third and last picture fills Skara with a slight feeling of remorse. It shows a young Willow together with a just as young Amity. It appears to be a birthday party, with Amity hugging Willow tightly with a wide smile. They both look happy, which causes a slight stabbing pain in Skara's chest.
'Amity looks so happy. This must be about the time... the time Boscha and I met-', her thoughts are interrupted as a familiar voice moves in her direction.
"Gus, I thought you were going to walk Mattholomule to school today for his- oh.", Willow is just walking around a corner when she catches sight of Skara waving at her with a weird smile. She also sees that Skara's ears are twitching slightly, which she doesn't seem to be aware of herself. "Skara, hey... Um, I wasn't expecting you. Here. At my place."
'That's it. This is my opportunity. Seize it!'
"I- I- I, um... I wanted to ask you if, um...", Skara can't manage to get a single coherent phrase out due to her sheer nervousness, but Willow just stands in front of her, patiently, with a smile on her face. One that the bard unfortunately can't concentrate on at the moment, "I wanted to ask you if... um, if we should go to- to school together."
"Sure. I'd love to.", Willow's answer follows immediately. "I'm almost ready too. I'll be right back.", she replies before disappearing around the corner again.
With her heart pounding against her ribs, Skara's gaze remains fixed on the spot where Willow was standing just a moment ago. The realization of her quick and, more importantly, positive reaction hasn't really hit her yet, but still she slowly begins to feel all the nervous energy and tension she had built up inside her beginning to dissipate. Admittedly, she had planned every single detail in advance, but she hadn't expected it to be that easy - that Willow would say yes that quickly.
Slowly but steadily, all the weight lifts off her chest that she didn't know was there. Instead, a feeling of lightness spreads through her whole body, and a bright smile appears on her face.
Her head fills with a whirlwind of positive emotions. There is no longer even a trace of all the fear, the worry, and the nervousness left. Instead, she feels as if she just wants to dance through the streets of Bonesborough with the brightest aura for everybody to see.
'Maybe later.', she thinks to herself, nearly bubbling over with positive energy.
"Whoa... You look happy.", Willow's father chimes in from the front door as he re-enters the house.
"eeek!", she just squeaks excitedly in response, nodding vigorously. Her joy is quite infectious and a smile spreads across his face as well as he closes the door behind him.
"Seems like someone's day is off to a great start.", he continues in an amused tone.
"Not really up to now, actually.", she speaks up, trying to calm herself down a little, but with only minimal success, "And this today is actually my third attempt. But please don't tell Willow.", she begs him.
"I didn't hear anything.", he smiles at her, "On another note... You're in the Bard track, am I right?"
"Yes, that's right.", she replies.
"Heh... When I was at school, I originally wanted to enroll in the Bard track too. However, at the time I was far too concerned about my image than what I really wanted to do and be in life, which is why I enrolled in the Abomination track.", he says with a hint of nostalgia, but also regret in his voice, "And admittedly: I never managed to learn to play an instrument.", he chuckles.
"Yes, the first one is always the hardest."
"Can you play any?"
"Um, yeah, a few.", she replies, "But I don't wanna brag."
"Oh come on, no need to humble yourself. How many are we talking about? Two? Three?", he insists, at which Skara feels a little exposed.
"... Nine.", she answers quietly.
"Nine instruments? Oh my Titan... That's pretty impressive. You don't have a lot of free time, do you?"
"It's fine, actually. I've had to cut Grudgby back a bit so Flyer Derby doesn't have to suffer.", she tells him. He raises an eyebrow.
"Flyer Derby? Wait a minute.", He falls into a thoughtful pose, "Is your name Skara? Skara Musiker?"
Skara nods affirmatively.
"Oh...", he says, "Willow had told us quite a bit about you."
"Only good things, I hope.", she says as memories flood into her mind of when she was anything but nice to Willow- when she was still doing Boscha's bidding.
"You know, I'm not sure if I should tell you this, but she-", he quickly interrupts himself as Willow suddenly pops back around the corner into the hallway.
"But she what?", she asks curiously.
"Oh, nothing. We were just talking about how you seem to tell your parents about me.", Skara explains, "He was just about to tell me what exactly."
"Oh no, you're not!", Willow addresses her father while her face takes on a red tint.
With a bag slung over her shoulder, she hurriedly walks past her father, grabs Skara by her sleeve, and briskly leaves the house.
"Bye Papa, we're off to school. Give Dad a kiss for me when he wakes up. See you later. Love you." she says goodbye, and within seconds the two witches are gone out of the door and into the fresh morning air.
Just as the two of them are out of sight and out of hearing range, Willow lets go of Skara's sleeve and stops for a moment for them both to catch their breath.
"Are you okay?", Willow asks, "Sorry about that just now. It's just... Once he starts talking about something, he's literally talking for hours. We never would get to school on time."
"Oh, yeah, I get it.", Skara replies. Admittedly, even if she does believe that her father can talk and talk like a waterfall, she's not quite so sure that Willow's rush to leave is actually related to that. However, Skara decides to leave this matter alone and not to follow up any further.
After a short breather, the two girls set off towards Hexside at a more leisurely pace. Of course, they could always get their staffs ready and fly there, but it's better to talk on foot.
"Soooo...", Skara begins, followed by a long moment of awkward silence, "What was that about Gus and Mattholomule?"
"Well, Principal Bump had announced yesterday that, as of today, he would officially allow multi-tracks, and Mattholomule is one of the ones getting their new uniforms today. Gus wanted to accompany him for that."
"Oh, that's nice of him.", Skara comments. "Wait... Wasn't that allowed already? I mean, Luz and Viney have been enrolled in more than one track for quite a while, or am I wrong?"
"Oh, no, you're right. I guess Bump wanted to see if there were any problems with the Emperor's Coven for the multitrack students or not."
"I always thought all that 'one track only'-stuff was kind of stupid.", Skara comments.
"What would you want to take?", Willow wonders.
"What do you mean?"
"Well... Let's say you'd had the choice of enrolling in more than one track from the very beginning. What would you have chosen?", she explains, at which Skara needs to give it some serious thought.
"Admittedly, I find it hard to imagine a life where I don't make music."
"You don't have to choose anything else if you don't want to."
"No, that's not what I mean.", Skara remarks, "I mean, I love music. I could never in my life imagine ever giving it up... A lot of people just see music for what it is. But I see more. ... I see the magic in every single note. I see the emotions that someone feels when they play an instrument. I feel the pain of someone who has just been abandoned or lost someone. I feel the joy of someone who has found the love of their life. And music is never the same when different people create it. Two people playing the same song create something completely new through their own personalities, and that's what I love about it."
Willow looks wide-eyed at Skara, who speaks with all this passion. However, she herself is filled with a bit of sadness when she thinks of the reasons why she chose the plant track. Or rather didn't chose it when she first enrolled at Hexside.
"I'm sure you remember that I was in the Abomination track until a few months ago, right?", Skara thinks for a moment and nods, "I didn't originally choose the track because I was good at it, or because my dads wanted me to, or because I was interested in it... This may sound completely ridiculous now, but-"
"You were there because of Amity.", Skara suspects, at which the plant witch nods.
"I had mourned my friendship with her for a very long time, and in the end, I simply couldn't let it go. It didn't help that I was lonely.", Willow recalls, "But sometime later, I met Augustus and we immediately bonded. In fact, he was the one who inspired me to try out other types of magic. Away from school, that is. He knew as well as I did that I had absolutely no business being in the Abomination track. We had tried a lot of things. From illusions, to construction magic, to potions and Beast Keeping."
"And you stuck with plant magic.", Skara continues her sentence. Willow nods. "Sounds like you owe him a lot."
"I don't know where I'd be today if I hadn't met him back then. He is my best friend."
"That sounds very nice.", Skara comments with quite a shift in her tone, "Um, I'm sorry for the part I played in that all that time ago. If I'd known back then what was going on between you and Amity-"
"Stop.", Willow nudges her arm, "Don't apologize. Despite all the negative things that happened to me and all the pain, I'm very happy and proud of where I am today. I'm on the track of my dreams, I have the best friends, I run the best flyer derby club on the Isles... and right now I'm walking to school with you. So, I don't think I could be doing much better right now."
Willow smiles at her. And it's a genuine smile.
"You're right.", Skara smiles back at her, though it's a slightly sadder one, "Let's leave the past in the past."
The rest of their way to school passed faster than either of them would like. They spend the whole time talking about everything and nothing, simply enjoying each other's company. There wasn't a single second when the two of them weren't deeply absorbed in lively conversation. But as Hexside gradually comes into view, the two witches can't help but wish their walk had taken longer.
Nevertheless, they are happy to see their friends standing outside in front of the stairs leading into the school.
Luz is the first to notice the two witches approaching and waves to them from a distance, gesturing for them to come to her and the others. 'The others' in this case being Amity, Gus, and Mattholomule.
"Hey everyone.", Skara greets the group with a joyful tone in her voice once she and Willow get there. Her gaze wanders to Mattholomule. "Nice new uniform."
"... Thanks.", he replies, feeling slightly flattered. It feels strange to receive compliments that are actually sincere. "It still feels so surreal."
"So you have both construction- and illusions classes now?", Willow speaks up, at which Mattholomule nods.
"Were you the only one enrolled in multiple tracks now?", Skara wonders. But before he can answer, Amity speaks up.
"Well, I know Ed and Em want to pick additional tracks as soon as they get back from the knee."
"Who?", Mattholomule asks. Amity chooses to ignore his question and continues.
"I know Ed's been pretty into Beast Keeping for a while, and Em's quite into... Healing."
"Cool.", Skara nods.
"Say, Ammy-", Luz begins. Amity blushes slightly at the mention of that nickname, "Didn't you say they'd only be gone for like two weeks?"
"Admittedly, it's been a couple days since I last spoke to them. They haven't blown up the factory yet, though, I would have heard about that..."
"Oh my Titan, Matty!", Gus speaks up excitedly, changing the topic, "I wanted to show you the illusion rooms before class starts. I totally forgot that."
"Uhh, okay.", Matt replies, before Gus grabs his hand and pulls him up the stairs.
"See you guys later.", Gus says goodbye to the others and a second later, the two boys have already disappeared.
"Is it just me, or did he just call him Matty?", Willow wonders. A devilish smirk appears on Luz's face.
"Well, I ship them.", she says.
"LUZ!", Amity interjects.
"What?", she asks in a very innocent tone.
"What did we say about shipping real people in public?", Amity demands to know. Her girlfriend pouts at that. "I'm listening."
"Not to do it when they're still in earshot."
"And?"
"And that we should keep it to ourselves.", she replies in a disappointed tone. Amity sighs. Meanwhile, Skara finds herself grinning at this banter.
"Listen, I admire that it's so important to you that your friends are happy, but they have to discover that form of happiness for themselves.", Amity explains, at the same time briefly looking over and directly at Willow. A grateful smile appears on her face. Amity continues. "Do you understand what I mean?"
"Yes, I understand.", Luz replies, still slightly depressed. Fortunately, she quickly recovers and turns to Willow and Skara with her usual cheerful tone, "So, what have you two got planned for today?"
Willow and Skara look at each other briefly.
"Well, just the usual classes, really. We probably won't see each other again until lunchtime.", Willow replies.
"Yeah, probably.", Skara agrees. Shortly afterwards, the school bell rings.
The entire student body currently still outside, gradually moves inside the building. Luz leads the way with Skara, as the two of them have their first class together, as always on Fridays, and Amity trots along behind.
"Amity?", Willow speaks up before she starts walking as well, "Do you have a moment?"
Luz and Skara are already walking in while Amity goes back to Willow.
"What's up?", she asks.
"I just wanted to thank you.", the plant witch explains, "You know, for not telling Skara."
"No problem.", Amity merely replies before they both also make their way inside, "So you two walked here together, huh?"
"Yeah... She came to my place and asked me if I wanted to go to school with her.", Willow said, her face heating up. "I had to escape to my room afterwards just to not freak out. I mean, she asked me. And on the way here, she stayed so cool the whole time, while I was just a nervous wreck."
"Really? You don't seem nervous to me at all...", Amity remarks, before Willow lifts her hands, which are shaking like she's never seen them shake before, "Whoa."
"Uh-huh."
"I take it back.", Amity says, " Do you want Luz and I to help you? I'm sure she'd be right on board."
"No, I want to do this myself. Well, after I get my nervousness under control. I don't know when I've ever been so nervous about anything."
"Oh, I know.", Willow looks at Amity with a raised eyebrow, "Remember our very first swimming lesson? You were so scared of the water that you never dared to go in first.", Amity remembers with amusement. Willow can't help smiling at this memory either.
"Yes, I was terrified of being eaten by water fleas."
"Yeah, but only until I was able to convince you that water fleas can only exist under frozen lakes.", Amity giggles at that, along with Willow.
"Yeah, that was a good time.", Willow's voice sounds more sentimental, "You know, I'm glad we're friends again."
Amity smiles slightly. "Yeah, me too."
Luz and Skara are standing at Luz's locker, not far from their first classroom of the day.
"Luz?"
"Yeah?"
"You know, I've been thinking... about the- the CATs- and even though we only voted on the name at the meeting two days ago, I was thinking maybe we could try to recruit more people."
"While the decision is not mine to make, why not? Do you have anyone in mind?"
"Well...", Skara begins a little sheepishly, "Willow's a pretty powerful witch... A-a-and Gus is also a talented illusionist."
A huge, knowing smirk begins to spread inside Luz's mind. Perhaps she might have the opportunity to match her friends with each other after all, albeit without direct intervention on her part. It is perfect.
"Luz, are you alright?", Skara asks with slight concern in her voice. Her inner smirk doesn't seem to have stayed inside her mind. She shakes her head, trying to clear her head.
"Uh, yeah, no, I'm fine. Umm, I think it's a great idea. I have no idea when the next meeting is, but you should definitely invite Willow."
"M-m-me?", Skara's face pales.
"Of course. Why not?", Luz asks, at which Skara merely sighs before drawing close to her ear and beginning to whisper.
"Please keep it to yourself, but today was actually the first time this week that I managed to talk to Willow. I don't know why, but lately I've just been... I don't know, scared? I mean, me. Scared. That doesn't even sound like me...", Skara complains to her. Luz closes her locker and puts a hand sympathetically on her shoulder.
"Listen, if you want, I can help you with that."
"Really?"
"Of course.", Luz smiles, "I don't have any specific ideas yet, but I'll think of something."
"Thank you very much, Luz.", Skara smiles back with relief. The two girls now make their way to their classroom.
"But there's one thing you have to explain to me first.", Luz says, at which Skara raises an expectant eyebrow, "Why are you asking me of all people for help?"
"Well, you're one of Willow's closest friends. And you're the only one with actual dating experience.", she replies, "I mean, a few months ago I would just have gone to Boscha or something for advice, but well, you know what happened."
"Speaking of Boscha...", Luz stops in front of the open door to her classroom. So does Skara, who first looks at Luz in confusion and then into the room. At the very back, in the middle of the back row, sits Boscha, who looks at Skara with a furious expression as she spots her. The bard witch swallows hard. "You can sit with us if you like."
"Thanks Luz, but...", Skara sighs, "I've been avoiding her all this time since - you know. I always knew I couldn't avoid her forever. I'll be fine."
Both girls enter the classroom. Luz immediately sits down next to Gus in the third row. Skara follows right behind her, her eyes locked with Boscha's as she angrily glares daggers at the bard and her former friend.
Anxiously, she makes her way to the back of the room, walks past Boscha, and sits down at the right-hand edge of the table. Just as she sits down, she breathes out a sigh of relief.
'Okay, she hasn't killed me yet. T-that's good.'
Just seconds later, Willow is one of the last to enter the classroom, and only just before the teacher arrived.
"Morning students.", The snake-headed teacher enters the classroom grumpily and throws his rucksack onto the teacher's desk, looking pretty upset.
"Good morning, Professor Pruda.", The whole class greets him in unison. He drops limply into his chair with all his weight. He remains there for a good couple of seconds without saying another word. His face contorts in slight pain.
"Okay, listen up! I had a... let's say, I had quite a rough night. Overdid some things. All you lot need to know is that I don't want to hear a peep out of you. In return, you can do whatever you want. Deal? Deal."
Professor Pruda takes a pair of big, black sunglasses out of his bag, puts them on, and slumps into a relaxed position with his arms crossed.
The class in front of him exchanges confused glances among themselves. There is complete silence in the classroom for several minutes until the teacher can be heard snoring softly.
The attention of everyone suddenly shifts to the end of the room as a rumble is heard. All eyes turn to Boscha, who is collecting her things, no sign that she is even trying to be quiet. She throws her books and writing utensils into a sports bag.
"I don't have time for this crap. I've got better things to do.", Boscha mutters angrily to herself. Skara turns to her.
"What are you doing?"
"SHUT YOUR FUCKING- BETRAYING MOUTH!", Boscha almost yells through her gritted teeth and with angry tears in her eyes. Shocked gasps around her as Boscha stomps towards Skara and towers in front of her.
Her friends in the row directly in front of her turn to Skara, her gaze fixed terrified on Boscha.
The three eyed witch turns her head to the rest of the class, who, apart from the sleeping teacher, look at her partly in curiosity and partly in bewilderment, before turning back to Skara.
"Don't think I'm done with you just because you managed to avoid me for the last few weeks. Not by a long shot!"
Boscha grabs her sports bag and casts a disdainful glance at Luz, Willow, and Gus before walking straight to the door, slamming it loudly behind her.
"Quiet!", the teacher yells, but doesn't move, "I'll send the next person who talks directly to detention."
It doesn't take long before another light snore can be heard coming from the teacher. It's not entirely clear whether he has even noticed anything about Boscha leaving except for the bang of the door.
From that point onwards, it doesn't take long for most of the students in the class to find something to do. Most have their scrolls out, some are reading, and then there's Skara. Alone in her row, she just sits there, still processing the menacing threat of her former best friend. Her gaze remains fixed dead into nothingness. That is, until she suddenly feels something tapping on her shoulder.
Startled, Skara looks first to her left, then to her right... but finds no one. Confused, she looks down at her table and notices a vine placing a folded sheet of paper in front of her.
Skara leans slightly towards the edge of the table, her gaze following the vine to its source. It quickly becomes clear that Willow, who has her history book open in front of her, is most likely the... the root of the mystery.
Skara unfolds the note.
r u ok?
A slight smile appears on her face before she digs a red pen out of her case.
I'm fi-
'Hmm... No, I shouldn't lie to her.', she shakes her head.
I'm ok. Sad, maybe. I'm not sure.
Skara folds the paper again and puts it back into the opening in the vine, which quickly retracts back towards its source. A few seconds later, the vine reappears, and opens up in front of her on the table, revealing the same piece of paper.
Sad because of Boscha? Wasn't she threatening you just a moment ago?
Skara picks up her pen again, and starts writing underneath Willow's message.
She can't cope with change. Not only in others, but also in herself. And I also do not believe that she will act on her threat.
Skara folds the note again and puts it back in the vine. Moments later, it reappears with Willow's reply.
Are you sure? Don't you remember that day of the Grudgby match a few months ago, that Luz instigated? I don't remember her ever making an empty threat
'Hmm... That's right. Boscha had Luz beat up pretty good. Ugh, why didn't I intervene back then...', she thinks to herself, her mind filled with regret and shame.
I'm not too worried, Willow.
She returns the note again and quickly receives a reply.
I'd still feel better if you weren't alone from now on. What do you say you come with me to the greenhouse later? I've grown some lovely ferns.
Skara's face suddenly gets all warm and red. Luckily, she's sitting alone at the back of the room so no one notices.
I'd love to.
The note is just on its way back towards Willow when Skara takes a look at the clock on the wall. Apparently, class is almost over.
'WHAT? Already?', she wonders incredulously, 'Didn't I just sit down?'
However, before she can continue to worry about the fact that she seems to have absolutely no sense of the passage of time, the intercom suddenly turns on unexpectedly, instead of the classroom bell screaming.
"Attention please.", it is Principal Bump speaking, "All students are required to assemble in the auditorium immediately for an important announcement."
The class begins to pack their bags when Professor Pruda suddenly speaks up again. He sounds rather sleepy and still in a bad mood.
"You heard him. Everyone out of here!", he orders them, "You can leave your things here."
The students immediately make their way out of the room and head towards the auditorium.
Skara and Luz are among the last to leave the room. Just as they arrive in the corridor, a bang makes them shudder, followed by a mechanical click. Their eyes turn to the room door, which is now closed. She frowns at that.
"Did he just lock himself in there?", she wonders, looking at Luz. Instead of answering, she just shrugs her shoulders.
It doesn't take long before the auditorium gradually begins to fill up with students. After about ten minutes, there are around one hundred students from several grades in the auditorium, standing near the stage. Standing at the front of the crowd are Luz, Willow, Skara, and Gus, looking directly at Principal Bump, Professor Ilora, and an unknown man standing directly between them, wearing a brown jacket hood covering parts of his face.
Amity is among the last to arrive, as her class is the furthest from the auditorium. She pushes her way through the crowd to Luz and the others.
"Hey.", Amity greets her friends, "What's going on? Who's that guy?"
"I don't know.", Luz replies.
"Uh, uh, maybe he's from the Flyer Derby Isle-Championship committee and wants us to compete there.", Skara guesses, speaking directly to Willow and Gus.
Among the hundred or so students and teachers in attendance, many of them have similar conversations and suspicions, including Viney and Jerbo.
"My cousin told me they closed St. Epiderm. Maybe Hexside is next.", she speculates.
"St. Epiderm is closed? For real? Since when?", Jerbo responds.
However, he receives no answer to his question, because Principal Bump now takes the stage and calls everyone's attention.
"Uh, students, teachers, let me introduce the esteemed-", Bump begins with a rather nervous and uncomfortable undertone, when the unknown man next to him interrupts him.
"Please, Principal Bump, I deserve no accolades.", he says and takes off his hood, revealing his partially unkempt teal-colored hair and stubbly beard. He looks as if he has just come out of hiding, where he's been for days. He continues. "Hello everyone. My name is Adrian Graye, Head Witch of the Illusionist Coven."
Several shocked gasps erupt from the student body, while her friends look worriedly at Luz, who herself checks to see if she is wearing her concealment bracelet around her wrist.
Luckily, she does, which unfortunately doesn't help her acute worries nearly as much as she'd hoped. Amity, sensing her girlfriend's worries, grabs her hand, giving it a supportive squeeze.
'I hope for his own good he's not here because of Luz...', Amity thinks to herself, but so do the others immediately beside her, willing to do anything to protect her.
"Unfortunately, I'm not here with good news.", Graye continues, "The Emperor's Coven has plans to stop multi-track studies, by inducing every Hexside student into a coven, before the Day of Unity."
Shocked gasps erupt in the crowd. Wild whispering everywhere.
"Don't worry, everyone. No one's magic is going to be sealed away.", Bump speaks up in an attempt to calm the crowd right in front of him, "Head Witch Graye supports us, and has come to help."
Luz and Amity exchange skeptical glances. Both of them have had more than enough experience with the coven leaders to rightfully doubt Graye's intentions. Luz notices one of the professors looking around at the students, apparently to choose someone for something. She comes up with a plan.
Luz looks directly at the professor, who walks right up to her, and gently pulls her out of the crowd. Amity steps in, holding Luz by her arm, glaring at the professor.
"Hey.", Luz addresses her girlfriend in a soft voice, "It's okay. Nothing's going to happen."
Luz winks at her mischievously. Amity seems to understand and lets her go. Amity rejoins the others while the professor leads Luz up the stage.
'I really hope you know what you're doing.', Amity thinks to herself with worry before Head Witch Graye speaks up again, explaining his plan.
"Before any Coven Scouts come by, I'm going to make Illusions of sigils on your wrists.", he explains, pointing to his wrist where his own sigil is located, "They'll be temporary, and harmless. Once a scout sees the fake sigil, they'll move on, and you can continue your studies in peace."
Graye begins to draw a magic circle in the air, while Gus notices a strange shimmer on his hand.
"An illusion.", he mutters to himself. Both Amity and Skara have heard this and turn to him. "He's hiding behind an illusion. It's a trap."
Both girls turn back to Luz, who looks confident and cocky. Gus continues.
"I could dispel the illusion, but not without damaging Luz's as well."
"I think, she already knows about the trap.", Amity doesn't look away from her girlfriend for a single second, not recognizing a trace of uncertainty or fear, "I think she might have a plan..."
Luz's own gaze wanders to her wrist, on which Graye places a finger. A few seconds later, he raises his hand again.
Several puzzled looks fall on the spot where the coven sigil should be... But there is nothing there. And Luz tries with all her willpower to hide her inner smirk and not reveal that she knows exactly why it didn't work, while at the same time sheer confusion spreads across Graye's face. Dumbfounded, he searches Luz's face for answers, but her poker face is impenetrable.
"What the-", he mutters, before trying again. He draws another magic circle, while quiet voices of confusion and amusement emerge from the front rows of students, all directed at the Coven Head.
Once again, Graye finishes his spell, raises his hand... and Luz's wrist is still empty.
"CUT!", a loud voice suddenly shouts, with no visible source, "Just cut."
Graye sags in disappointment before clouds of illusion obscure him, revealing a Coven Scout moments later, twice Luz's height. Luz backs up immediately. Bump and Professor Ilora place themselves protectively in front of her.
Behind Luz, three more scouts appear, one of them holding a large microphone. On the other side of the stage, three scouts appear as well, one of them holding a stage light on a raised platform. Right in the center of the stage, the real Head Witch Graye appears, sitting on a director's chair with a coffee in his hand.
Scouts also appear at the top of the stands on both sides, as well as directly at the entrance to the auditorium. They are surrounded and a sense of disturbance begins to spread.
"What in Titan's name is going on here?", Bump asks, but is interrupted by the real Graye.
"Bup-bup-bup... Shush.", he holds out his hand, silencing him, before turning to one of the scouts on the sidelines. "All right, couple of notes, Tom: That Adrian-illusion was lacking a certain... hm. You get me?", Coven Head Graye just waves a hand around, at which Tom just shrugs in confusion. A confusion that is shared by most, if not everyone currently present in the auditorium. Graye turns to a scout who is involved in the lighting. "Severine! That was really... poor work. You're on thin ice."
She whimpers at that, before the Coven head turns to the captain, who had previously pretended to be Adrian.
"And youuu... ugh...", a terribly frustrated grunt escapes his mouth, "You had a job to do. ONE. All you had to do was give those- traitors, a sigil. AND YOU MANAGED TO MESS IT UP!"
"HA! I KNEW IT!", Luz shouts at him, excited about her assumptions about him being correct. She quickly realizes that she shouldn't have done that. He immediately glares at her and tries to approach her, but Bump and Professor Ilora stand right in his way. Graye draws a magic circle in the air, vanishes, and reappears moments later right behind Luz, visually examining her, looking for any anomalies.
"Who are you?", he asks as he circles around her in a thoughtful pose.
"Uh, Luz. Luz... Batista.", she lies, swallowing nervously and hoping fervently that he can't see behind the illusion of her concealment stone. With a help-seeking look, her eyes turn to Bump, who seems to be just as nervous as she is.
His gaze wanders to Luz's wrist, under which she is trying to hide her concealment bracelet. He grabs her hand.
"Hey!", Luz yells, trying to free herself, but in vain. Graye takes a closer look at the stone.
"Interesting... A completely flawless shape. No microfractures, no cracks in the outer visualization membrane... a true masterpiece.", he mutters, " This must have been quite expensive... What exactly are you hiding?"
Luz swallows hard before gesturing with her index finger for him to come closer. Curious, he leans down towards her.
"I... I haven't showered for two weeks.", Luz whispers in his ear, whereupon he abruptly lets go of her.
"Ew, ew, ew, no- nope.", he turns around and walks briskly back to the center of the stage, frantically cleaning his hands on a towel carried by one of the scouts.
Just after, he rips the branding glove from the captain's hand, putting it onto his own.
"Let's try this again, won't we?", he speaks in a menacing voice, "And this time: properly."
"Why are you doing this?", Luz shouts.
"I work for the Emperor, duh. It's my job.", he replies as an idea comes to his mind. He turns to the crowd of students, glancing over them. His gaze ultimately settles on Gus.
The Head Witch elegantly leaps down from the stage and heads straight for the young illusion student, who, increasingly terrified, takes a few steps backwards.
Before Graye reaches him, however, a loud crash rings through the auditorium. All the students, teachers, and even some of the coven scouts are startled and turn towards the doors. Coven Head Graye sighs in frustration as he sees who has just disturbed him.
"Ughh... What are you doing here? You were supposed to be doing this... this other thing...", he addresses the figure standing in the entrance, who is taking of their golden mask.
Luz, who has a better view due to the fact that she is still standing on the stage, immediately recognizes this figure from their last encounter.
'The Golden Guard...', Luz thinks to herself, followed by a shocked mental gasp. 'Honestly, I don't know whether to be excited or terrified...'
With his artificial staff in hand, he makes his way directly to the Coven Head. As he walks, the crowd in front of him forms a straight, open path along which he walks with purposeful steps. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Luz can't help but observe him with interest.
'He looks so puny... Huh, one could almost believe he was a student here...'
The Golden Guard's gaze remains fixed on Graye, his expression unreadable to anyone.
He stops only a few steps away from him.
"Hello, Hunter."
Both the Golden Guard and the Coven Head look at Gus in surprise. Graye speaks up, sensing a chance to get rid of the Golden Guard.
"I don't think it was a good idea to take off your mask, Golden Guard. Your identity has been compromised. You should probably go back to the palace-"
The Golden Guard raises his hand, interrupting Graye. Successfully. His gaze slowly moves to his right, where he briefly looks Gus directly in his eyes, an uncomfortable feeling spreading through his mind. Right next to Gus, he spots Willow and looks directly into her eyes as well, in which he recognizes nothing but contempt. The feeling is the same as Gus's, but not only in his head, but also deep in his chest. So deep that it hurts. Not that he lets any of it show.
He turns his gaze away and looks to his left. His gaze meets Skara, who becomes visibly nervous at his look. His feelings for her are rather mixed. He remembers her kindness as part of the Emerald Entrails, but he also remembers her act of betrayal at the Looking Glass Graveyard.
Immediately behind Skara, he recognizes someone he would definitely call one of two personal enemies.
"Amity Blight!", he shouts. The students around her immediately move away from her. All except Skara, who remains standing in front of her. The Golden Guard steps closer to her. "Yes, I know your name... Parents Alador and Odalia Blight, siblings Edric and Emira Blight, Abomination student at Hexside, former apprentice to the traitor Lilith, and a traitor yourself...", he lists in an ominous voice, audible for everyone, "But luckily for you, I'm not here for you specifically. You see, Emperor Belos gave me the mission to find the greatest threat to the Boiling Isles that has ever existed. And I think you in particular can help me with that... So, tell me, where is the human?"
Amity doesn't have to think long about how to answer. Because instead of answering, she simply crosses her arms. The Golden Guard grins smugly.
"Bad choice.", he replies, glancing at Graye, who immediately understands. He grabs Amity's forearm and brings the branding glove into position.
"You'd better answer quickly, or else...", the Golden Guard threatens her, but she remains completely unperturbed.
"Wasn't sealing everyone's magic away the plan anyway?", she accuses the Coven Head.
"That's right, but-", Graye closes the glove, and instead of a seal for the Abomination Coven, the seal for the Illusion Coven appears. Suddenly, panic begins to flash through her body, and she tries to free herself from Graye's grip. "- no one said the sigil had to match your track..."
"No, don't-", Amity now struggles to free herself, her gaze momentarily jumping to Luz, who now looks back at her, frozen in fear. Hunter leans a little closer to Amity.
"So, last chance: Where. Is. The. Human? Tell me, and maybe I'll reconsider locking you up, charging you with treason, and petrifying you. It's your decision. Choose wisely."
"I am here."
The voice comes from the middle of one of the clusters of students. The crowd disperses, revealing Luz Noceda, who is holding her staff firmly in one hand.
"And here."
This voice comes from another source from behind one of the stage curtains, from which another Luz Noceda emerges.
"And here."
"Here too."
"And here."
A total of fifteen versions of Luz Noceda appear scattered all throughout the auditorium, while the real Luz is still hidden by her concealment bracelet. She looks around in amazement at all the other versions of herself, until she begins to ponder who is behind it all.
Unfortunately, her gaze immediately falls on Gus, who has both hands hidden behind his back and is straining to keep his concentration.
"Oh no...", the real Luz whispers. Gus seems to have noticed her and gives her a knowing wink, at which she merely shakes her head at him.
'What are you doing?', she thinks to herself, mouthing the words.
"The Human is here!", the Golden Guard calls out, heading for one of the Luzs. Before he reaches her, however, she sits on her staff and all fifteen of them take off into the air, circling and flying in all directions. "SCOUTS! GET HER!"
"Okay, what's going on here? Who's responsible for this?", Coven Head Graye takes off his loupe-shaped earring and looks through it at one of the Luzes. "An Illusion..."
Frustrated, Graye watches as all the guards try to capture all these illusions while all the students duck for cover. Sighing, he drops his head into his hands.
'Just for once, I would like to work with professionals...'
"ENOUGH!", Graye exclaims loudly and angrily, startling nearly everyone. He takes his magnifying earring and draws a large magic circle right in front of him. Moments later, all the illusions of Luz flying in the air begin to freeze, and from each illusion, a slightly glowing beam begins to appear towards its source.
As the beams form, a few of the students and teachers begin to glow as well. All the ones who use concealment stones. Graye's interest, however, is focused exclusively on the illusions in the air, whose origins seem to be...
"YOU!", the Coven Head grabs Gus, causing him to interrupt his spell in terror, making all the remaining Luz Nocedas vanish into thin air. "I've had enough of this. This mission was supposed to be smooth and easy, and so far, nothing's happened except that my plan's been screwed up by incompetent fools. No more niceties now! No more distractions!"
Gus tries to get out of his grip while Graye activates the branding glove. The Head Witch leans forward towards Gus.
"For that little stunt you pulled, you get something veeery special...", Graye changes the setting on the glove from illusions to abominations, Gus' eyes widen as fear begins to course through his body, "Let's make sure you can never use your little illusion tricks again. Shall we?"
"No, no! Stay back!", Gus exclaims as the branding glove comes closer and closer to his wrist. Sheer panic floods his body, his gaze wanders to Luz on stage. Luz knows she has to do something. She summons the first few golden sparks for a spell when something unexpected happens. "I said... stay BACK!"
Gus' eyes suddenly begin to glow a bright blue and a shockwave of light and shadow, images and memories spread out from Gus in all directions. Illusions begin to appear all around the room from across the Boiling Isles. Loud panic breaks out in the auditorium, students run in all directions and from one illusion into another.
"How are you doing this?!", Graye looks at Gus, astonished, still holding him tightly.
Amity stands directly opposite him and spots an opportunity. She sprints off, shoves the coven head out of the way, grabs Gus' hand, and runs with him out of the illusion, out of Graye's reach.
"Today really can't get any worse...", Graye sighs, before his gaze shifts to Hunter.
The panic within the auditorium has vanished, but so have the students and teachers. All that's left are the coven scouts, Graye, and Hunter. Graye continues.
"This kid... He knew your name. Who is he?", Graye demands to know.
"About a month ago, I was here undercover on a secret mission to find new recruits for the Emperor's Coven. He was one of the prospective candidates.", Hunter reports, "I didn't choose him at the time because his magic didn't seem powerful enough.", he lies.
"That was clearly a misjudgment.", Graye motions to the illusion of a dense, dark forest surrounding them. "What's his name?"
"I... I don't remember. Gustopher, maybe...", Hunter lies again.
"Okay... Scouts!", Graye calls out, calling all Coven Scouts to him, "Search the school and find the boy, the one who did... this."
The scout captain speaks up at this.
"This is a complicated spell, Sir. I-if we could have some direction...", he requests.
"Am I the only one who knows how to do their job? Just... figure it out!", he groans in annoyance before turning to Hunter, "Golden Guard, you should join them. The boy will be able to help you track down your own target."
Hunter nods at him in affirmation before Graye continues, "I will remain here and examine this... incredible work."
Amity and Gus continue to run from one shifting illusion to the next and the next, practically blind to what might lie just beyond.
Fortunately, since they are both quite intelligent, they don't run head first into things, but with their outstretched hands ahead, it saves them both from injury when they suddenly find a wall in the middle of an illusion.
Amity braces her arm against the illusion, which begins to form small ripples acting just like a body of water, and for a brief moment reality shines through in the form of the red lockers. It quickly subsides and a now permanent illusion of the streets of Bonesborough has overlaid the corridor the two witches are now in.
"I think we're out of danger for now...", Amity says as she takes the opportunity to catch her breath.
"Thanks for getting me out of there.", Gus also takes a deep breath and tries to calm himself down a bit.
"Yeah, that was pretty scary- Whoa...", Amity interrupts herself as she looks at Gus. "Your eye... Are you okay?"
Gus blinks at them in confusion, one of them still glowing bright blue. He rubs his eyes, but without any effect.
"My spell, it's still active. I can partially see past the illusion."
"Can you cancel it?", Amity wonders.
"No, I - I don't know how. I've never made one this big.", Gus speaks in a slight panic.
"Okay, okay. We'll figure it out.", Amity tries to calm him down, "I'm guessing all of Hexside is covered in illusions. Perhaps a teacher could help. Professor Ilora, for example."
The two of them start walking together. At the bottom of a few steps, a couple of strange voices appear. Amity positions herself protectively in front of Gus before two coven scouts appear around a corner.
"Hey! That's the kid!", one of the scouts calls out. Both scouts raise their spears. Amity, however, remains calm, draws a magic circle in the air, and with a good amount of Abomination-goo, she slaps the Scouts flat against the wall before they have a chance to react, rendering them immobile.
"Ouch.", one of the Scouts whines quietly as Amity and Gus walk past them silently, "Hey! Surely you don't just mean to leave us hanging here..."
"This is so humiliating...", the other one whines. Amity and Gus stop and turn around. The scouts see an opportunity for themselves. "Please let us back down. We won't even arrest you.", one of them offers.
"Hmm...", Amity hums thoughtfully, "You know, I think I am in a pretty good mood right now, despite all of what's happening."
"You are putting us back down?", one of the scouts asks, getting his hopes up.
"No.", Amity replies calmly, taking out her scroll, and starting to take some pictures of the scouts, "I'll post these on Penstagram, titled 'Wrong Career Choices'."
Amused, Amity and Gus set off again. Both of them looking at the rather strangely shameful pictures on Amity's scroll and not paying attention to their immediate surroundings, they turn around a corner, unaware that someone in front of them has spotted them.
A notification suddenly appears on Amity's scroll.
"Uhh, a message from Luz. She seems to be hiding with Willow and Skara in the-", Amity, who hadn't been paying attention to what was in front of her, bumps into another person. "Whew, sorry. My bad.", she says before standing up and only now realizing who exactly she bumped into, "Yoouuuu..."
The Golden Guard.
"Go on. What did she say? Where's she hiding?", he asks in a disgustingly friendly tone. Amity unsummons her scroll instantly while glaring daggers at him.
"How did you even get here?", Gus asks, far less hostile to him than Amity.
"Oh, yeah, you guys ran in a circle.", he replies, "So once again, Blight. Where is she?"
"Why do you even want her so bad, dude?", Gus speaks up, "And how is she a threat? She's human. And humans don't have magic."
"Oh you poor, naive Augustus...", Hunter speaks sarcastically, spinning his mechanical staff around, "Your friend has far more-, and also more powerful magic than you think... "
His gaze wanders from Gus to Amity, who has now taken out her staff and is holding it out to him threateningly. "You don't seem to know it, Gus, but this young Blight here is a wanted criminal."
Amity scoffs at him and Gus also looks incredulous. He continues. "She and the human have joined a small rebel group who have convinced themselves that they must stop the Day of Unity and overthrow the Emperor."
"Oh, we didn't just try to...", Amity now speaks up, closing the distance between them, "We did manage to prevent your mission from succeeding at the Looking Glass Graveyard. Must have been painful to watch the Galdorstones disappear into the molten rock. Uhh, I can just imagine how angry Belos must have been with you..."
"That's enough!", the Golden Guard shouts, taking off his mask to look Amity straight in the eyes. "You will tell me immediately where the human is hiding, or I will personally ensure that you are never accepted into a coven. Your dream of joining the Emperor's Coven will be history."
Hunter firmly believes that this threat will work. Amity, however, only reacts with a tired laugh.
"Ha, please...", Amity begins in a sarcastic tone, "You can make me promises and threats all you want, but nothing will make me hand over the person I love. And you don't know anything about my dreams. Yes, it was once my dream to join the Emperor's coven, but that dream is dead. And if you don't wish to meet the same fate, then I suggest you step aside and leave us alone."
Gus watches this intense verbal exchange with tense interest. He observes the anger and hatred for him in Amity's eyes, and the pulsing veins on Hunter's forehead.
"Okay.", Hunter backs off and steps aside. Both Amity and Gus are genuinely surprised.
"What?"
"Come on, what are you waiting for? You may leave. I won't stand in your way any longer.", Hunter explains.
"That smells fishy...", Amity says, "But maybe it's just you. Come on Gus."
The two witches immediately run off again. As they turn at another corner, entering a narrow alley, they notice out of the corner of their eyes that Hunter's gaze is still following them.
"He's going to follow us, isn't he?", Gus asks her quietly.
"Yup.", she replies.
"I might know where we can hide.", Gus tells her, hurrying ahead, "Come on."
WITCHCHICK128
(Luz): Willow, Skara, and I hide in the greenhouse
(Luz): Are you and Gus safe?
(Luz): Ami?
(Luz): Ami?
(Amity): I'm sorry. The Golden Guard followed us. We had to find a place to hide.
(Luz): Oh Titan, I've never been happier to read your texts…
(Amity): I have no idea where we are, but Gus thinks we're safe here for now.
(Amity): The Golden Guard really wants to get you
(Luz): Yeah, and he's threatening my friends to do it. Not cool :(
(Luz): We need a plan to get rid of him, that Graye guy, and the scouts
(Amity): Gus and I are trying to find Bump or Ilora for help
(Luz): We should also let the CATS know what's going on. They could help too
(Amity): Speaking of which, I told Gus about them. You might want to fill Willow in too, if the time's right
(Amity): But yeah, that's a good idea
(Amity): We have to keep moving. Please be careful
(Luz): You too
Luz smiles at her scroll before rolling it up and tucking it away. She, Willow, and Skara have been here for almost fifteen minutes now. When panic broke out in the auditorium and Luz saw Amity running off with Gus, she immediately jumped off the stage, ran to her friends and, hidden inside one of Gus's smaller illusions, effectively teleported the three of them to the other end of the school. She did that fully expecting both Willow and Skara to reproach her for risking her cover. Nevertheless, Luz would do it again to protect her friends.
When the three of them teleported, they realized three things. One, that they did end up near the greenhouse. Secondly, that they are not surrounded by Gus' illusions, and thirdly, that they are all in big trouble. Luz's thoughts however initially revolved around just two questions: Where are Amity and Gus? And: Are they safe? If Willow and Skara hadn't stopped Luz, she would have teleported back immediately to look for Amity and Gus.
And now that Luz knows they're safe, a massive weight is lifted from her shoulders.
"They're alright.", Luz reports, "The Golden Guy is following them because he thinks they'll lead him to me, but they're okay, and they seem to have something of a plan."
"Really?", Willow wonders, "What sort of plan?"
Luz's gaze shifts to Skara and remains there for a moment before she interrupts the anticipatory silence.
"There are some people we met, 'we' meaning Amity, Skara, and I, a while back...", Luz tells Willow, and Skara's eyes light up as she just now grasps what Luz means, "Long story short: They are rebelling against the Emperor, and we directly helped them destroy the Conformatorium-"
"-which was unintentional.", Skara chimes in. Luz nods in agreement.
"Yes, and we stopped the Golden Guy from recovering some powerful artifacts."
"Okay...", Willow speaks slowly as she is still processing what her friends have just told her. "I have two questions. First, why have you kept this from me until now? And secondly: Can I join you?"
"If you don't mind waiting until we've saved the school before answering your first question, yes.", Luz replies in a cheerful tone.
"Of course.", Willow replies, mirroring her tone.
"Okay. Then I'll make a quick call and you two think about what we can do in the meantime.", Luz suggests, to which the two witches immediately agree.
Willow and Skara stand a little apart from Luz to give her some privacy while they brainstorm. Or at least, are intending to.
"Willow...", Skara begins, keeping her voice small, "Are you mad? Because we kept something so big from you?"
Willow sighs, "I'm sure you had your reasons."
She sits down on the floor, leaning her back against one of the cultivation containers, looking a little disappointed. Skara sits down right next to her and they both share a moment of silence. The only noise they hear is Luz talking on her scroll.
"You're around often, aren't you?", Skara eventually speaks up. Willow giggles at that.
"Is that supposed to be a pick-up line?", she asks, her eyes wide with amusement, while Skara blushes.
"N-N-No...", she stutters her answer, "I-I actually meant the question seriously."
"It's all right, I'm just teasing you.", Willow defuses the situation a little, "But yes, I'm here a lot, and I love it. I've actually cultivated most of the plants here. So I tend to them a lot, but I also like caring for them."
Skara looks around. There are many different types of plants in the surrounding flowerbeds. Many of them merely look pretty, while others are locked up behind a kind of wire barrier. One plant in particular looks as if it would drool all over her if it had a face. Skara flinches as the plant bites the air in her direction, baring its fang-like edge bristles at her. Willow notices this.
"Heh, don't worry. Robert won't hurt you.", Willow says chuckling, "Besides, he already ate today."
"Robert?", Skara asks incredulously, her heart pounding, "Do all the plants here have names?"
"Of course.", Willow answers as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Skara smiles at her before remembering that she also named her instruments when she was learning to play them, "The red, green, and blue primroses in the corner over there are called Sarah, Marie, and Anna. You already know the big guy Robert over there, and the bracken fern behind us is called Kupala."
"Kupala?"
"Uh-huh. And don't tell the other plants, but she's my favorite.", Willow whispers, at which Skara smiles, not taking her eyes off the witch, "She can be slightly poisonous under certain circumstances, but she's always brought me luck when I've carried her."
"You carry a poisonous plant around with you?", Skara wonders skeptically. Willow lifts up the inside of her gray tunic and a small transparent pouch falls to the ground from a pocket she apparently has sewn on herself. Inside is a piece of the fern.
"It was always my lucky charm."
"Who's whose lucky charm?", Luz's voice rings out, who sits down unnoticed right in front of her two friends, startling them both as she speaks up.
"Oh my Titan, Luz!", Willow admonishes her sternly as her heart is still pounding strongly in her chest. Luckily, she is recovering fast.
"Hehe, sorry. Sorry.", Luz grins mischievously, "So, do you have a plan?"
Willow and Skara exchange nervous glances.
"Um, no...", Skara replies, "Have you been able to get hold of anyone from the CATS?"
"Actually, yes. I've managed to reach Liwin and Katja. They're on their way.", Luz replies, a grin developing, "And until they arrive, I have an idea of what we could do."
"Really?" Willow asks, growing curious.
"Yes. Well, it went like this: When I spoke to Liwin, she said at the end that I shouldn't do anything stupid. So then I thought-"
"No.", Willow answers sternly.
"But I haven't told you anything yet.", Luz speaks dejectedly. She starts to sulk slightly.
"Luz, listen to me. If it were up to me, you wouldn't even be here in school right now.", Willow puts her hands on her shoulders, "The whole school is full of scouts, and you're just one person. No matter how powerful your magic can be, you're not invulnerable."
At that, Skara speaks up.
"Willow, I've seen her magic. And I can't say I've ever seen stronger magic.", Skara chimes in, at which Willow gives her a dismissive look. Luz, on the other hand, smiles at her gratefully.
"So you want proof that I'm not in danger, do you?", Luz challenges Willow, raising her forearm and holding it in front of her head, "Grab my arm with one of your vines."
Willow sighs in defeat, summoning a thorny vine that loosely grabs Luz's arm.
"Tighter! Let the thorns pierce my skin.", Luz orders determinedly. Willow looks to Skara for help, but she just shrugs at her. The plant witch then looks into Luz's eyes and finds nothing but confidence. Luz continues. "Don't worry, you aren't going to hurt me. Trust me."
Willow merely huffs out a breath before strengthening her spell circle and wrapping the vine tighter around Luz's arm. Judging by her friends, the thorns must have already cut deep into Luz's flesh. Luz herself, however, shows no reaction so far.
Seconds later, an increasingly strong glow appears around the entwined area. The vine wrapped around her arm begins to wither away. Within a few seconds, her arm is released completely.
"You see? Nothing happened.", Luz shows her forearm around and even rolls up her sleeve. There are no injuries on her arm. However, she finds a few holes in her sleeve, one of which she sticks a finger through. "Well, nothing to me at least... Do you believe me now that nothing will happen to me? That I'm not in danger? Magic cannot harm me. I'm part Titan in case you don't remember..."
"You really want that, don't you?", Willow asks.
"My friends are in danger. And there's no world in which I'm willing to just stand by and watch.", Luz speaks with unbroken determination.
"Uggghhhh... Okay.", Willow decides, Luz's mood instantly improving a hundredfold, "If I can't hold you back, at least I'll support you. You too Skara?", she asks.
"Of course I'll be there. I don't want to miss this."
"Great. So, first of all, we have to find the others..."
"Knock knock."
Adrian Graye, who is still in the auditorium, hears from the side of the entrance. He turns his head towards it and watches as a student, accompanied by two scouts, steps into his illusion bubble. A student from the Potion Track. Three-eyed, and with pink hair.
"Head Witch, we saw this one snooping around in one of the corridors.", one of the scouts reports proudly. But the girl interrupts him.
"WRONG! I deliberately sought them out because I knew they would bring me straight to you.", she corrects the Scout while giving him an angry look.
"Matt, your lies really are more transparent than the air around us.", he scolds the Scout, who lowers his head, visibly disappointed. He turns back to the girl, "And you're either very brave or very stupid to come here alone. Who are you and what do you want?"
"I'm Boscha van Nejd, and I'm here to make you an offer.", she explains. Adrian merely rolls his eyes.
"Ridiculous. What would someone like you have to offer me?"
"I know where all the other students and teachers are hiding.", Adrian raises an eyebrow in interest, "And I'm willing to tell you."
"Tempting. Quite tempting I must admit. But I might as well dig into your memories, take whatever I'm looking for, and leave you here branded with a coven sigil, drooling and leeching on the floor. What reason would I have to accept your offer?"
"Think about it. That asshole with the golden mask ruined your performance earlier. It would be a great opportunity to get revenge on him by not only completing your mission, but also handing the human over to the Emperor. I know exactly where she's hiding as well.", Boscha argues, but Adrian doesn't seem entirely convinced yet.
"And what do you expect to achieve by betraying your friends?"
"They are not my friends anymore. They betrayed me, made my friends turn their backs on me, robbed me of the prestige I deserve... I just want to return the favor.", Adrian thinks about her words, a slight smile forming on his face, "And if you still don't trust me: Here.", Boscha rolls up her sleeve and holds out her arm to him, "Give me one of those sigils. As long as I can keep playing Grudgby, I don't mind."
Adrian is genuinely surprised by the gesture. "Deal.", he accepts it. He changes the setting of the branding glove to Potions and holds it over Boscha's wrist. It lights up briefly and when Boscha pulls her hand back just seconds later, she recognizes the Potions sigil on it. To test if her magic still works, she creates a small flame in her hand, and is pleased with the result.
"So, where are they hiding?", he demands to know.
"Many have left the school. But most of the rest are in the Healing Homeroom.", Boscha reports with a diabolical grin, which she has a hard time suppressing.
"Good, take me there. We'll pick up more scouts on the way."
"Do you think we're rid of them?", Gus calls out to Amity as they run through an illusion of the Bonesborough Library together. "This way!"
Gus drags Amity through an illusory bookshelf.
"YOU CAN'T ESCAPE ME!", they hear Hunter yell as they run through yet another bookshelf.
'Thank Titan that Gus can see past his illusion...', Amity thinks to herself as it looks like they've left the immediate radius of Gus' illusions and are now finding themselves in what appears to be a classroom. "Are they still following us?", Amity wonders.
Gus turns around briefly peeks back into the illusion. "No, I think we've lost them."
The two of them take a deep breath after running for what feels like an eternity.
"This can't go on like this.", Amity complains, catching her breath, "And there are still no signs of the others… How's your eye? Better?", she asks as she notices him rubbing it. He squints back at Amity.
"No, not really."
"GUS? Is that you?", a voice rings out from somewhere, though it's not Hunter's or one of the scouts they were running away from. Gus ponders for a moment as Amity turns towards the door, ready to attack anyone who might step through. After a moment's thought, Gus speaks up.
"Viney? Is that you?", he asks cautiously.
"Yes, it's me.", she calls out to him. Neither Gus nor Amity can determine the source of her voice, "I'm hiding here with Jerbo, Bo, and Cat."
Gus and Amity both still seem unconvinced that this isn't a trap. "And where exactly is 'here'?", Amity asks, keeping a firm grip on her staff.
The two of them expect someone to step through the illusion that's covering the door into the classroom, but it doesn't happen. Instead, a square area on the left side of the chalkboard begins to light up.
"But of course...", Gus slaps his forehead and Amity screws up her face in confusion, only for the glowing square to turn into a door opening outwards, behind which Viney appears.
"Climb in, quick!", Viney urges them. Amity glances uncertainly at Gus, who has already climbed halfway into the corridor immediately beyond. Inside, he holds a hand out to Amity, which she only accepts after a trusting look from Gus. She climbs in, and closes the door again from the inside.
"Amity, welcome to the 'Secret Room of Shortcuts'. Gus, I think you remember this place...", Viney leads the two of them into the tall main room with the stone ramp that winds its way to the top. On the way up, there are countless doors and windows of different shapes, sizes, and orientations, many of them marked with a white X. Jerbo and Bo sit at the bottom of the ramp.
"Where is Cat?", Viney asks. Jerbo and Bo both point up at the same time. Viney, Amity, and Gus look up and see Cat listening at a door.
"She thinks she heard Boscha somewhere and is trying to find out where she is.", Bo explains.
"Um, if you don't mind me asking: What are you doing here?", Amity wonders, "This looks like more than just a hiding place to me."
"You are right.", Jerbo replies. Viney proceeds.
"The thing is, nobody from the main covens knows about this place. So we use it to get people to safety if possible, or out of the building altogether. While this isn't really a 'secret room' anymore, it's worth it."
"Admittedly, I'm still not entirely sure this isn't a trick...", Amity says, "We already fell for a fake Willow earlier. I didn't realize it until she started acting scared. And that's not her at all."
"You can punch me to convince yourself I'm real.", Viney offers, which Amity gratefully declines, "But yes, the illusions can be quite convincing."
"Just out of curiosity-", Gus starts, "How do you know we're not illusions?"
"Because I watched you run away from the Golden Poop.", Viney replies, "I'm afraid I couldn't help you without giving ourselves away. I hope you're not mad."
Amity and Gus look at each other before shaking their heads dismissively.
"Nah, you're good.", Gus replies.
"Yeah, but maybe you can help us.", Amity begins pointing as Gus' glowing eye, "We're looking for Professor Ilora. Have you seen her?"
"Actually, yes.", Viney replies, "She's in the Healing Homeroom with Principal Bump and some others. However, you might also be interested to know that Luz, Willow, and Skara passed through here shortly before you guys arrived. Luz also mentioned something about a plan..."
"Oh no...", Amity whispers to herself, a look of horror drawing across her face, "Which door leads there?"
"Jerbo, take Gus there. Amity, I need you for a minute for something else though. In private."
Amity nods toward Gus, and he and Jerbo make their way up the ramp. Viney takes Amity a few steps back into the hallway they just came from.
"So, what's going on?"
"I-I'm... I'm worried...", Viney states, suddenly looking a whole lot smaller than she did a moment ago.
"That's understandable. I mean, the school is under attack-"
"No, not about the school. I'm worried about... Emira.", Viney interrupts her. Amity looks taken by surprise.
"About Em? Why?", she asks, "I mean, it's been a while since I've spoken to her or Ed, but I didn't get the impression that they had any problems."
"Well, since your sister and I have been... you know, dating for a while... Um, and we're chatting almost all the time.", Viney looks at Amity, looking for some kind of reaction on her face. Instead, though, she just listens intently, "From what I understand, she's at the Knee right now at your mom's new factory, right?", Amity nods at that, Viney continues, "And from things I've heard, there's some very strange things going on at the Knee right now, that makes me think she won't be safe there for much longer."
Amity's ears perk up as she says this.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I have a cousin on St. Epiderm, and she told me that the entire region has been completely evacuated by the order of Emperor Belos. St. Epiderm is closed, and all the inhabitants living around the knee have already been moved away. I had also asked Emira about the evacuation since the factory is still within the evacuation zone, but I didn't get the feeling that she really took my concerns seriously. She's still there and I have the feeling that something bad is going to happen. Call it a hunch if you like."
"Do you think it might have something to do with this Day of Unity?", Amity wonders.
"I don't know. All I want is to know she's safe.", Viney says in a trembling voice. Amity has never seen the healing witch so anxious, "Do you think you can talk to her? Maybe she'll take you more seriously..."
Amity places a hand on her shoulder sympathetically.
"I'll talk to her. She and Ed originally didn't want to stay much longer than absolutely necessary anyway. She'll be back soon.", She smiles slightly.
"Thank you.", Viney gratefully places her own hand on Amity's. "Now come on, I'll take you to the others."
"LUZ!"
"AMI!"
No sooner has the hidden door to the Healing Homeroom swung open, Amity rushes towards Luz, shrieking loudly. She grabs her tightly in her arms, whirling her up into the air, feeling as happy as if the two girlfriends hadn't seen each other for ages.
And while some people just roll their eyes at this, most of them find the sight quite adorable and heart-warming.
After this happy reunion, the tight embrace breaks up again, and Amity's facial features gradually change from joy and euphoria to concern.
"Please tell me you're not planning to do anything to fight the scouts...", Amity pleads at which Luz grimaces, from which she can directly deduce the answer to her question: Shenanigans. "Okay, what's your plan then?"
"I'll tell you as soon as Gus is feeling better.", Luz replies, pointing to Gus, whose glowing eye is currently being examined by Professor Ilora. Willow and Skara stand with him. Amity waves to them before she and Luz also join them, holding hands, and listen to the professor try to explain his situation.
"-actually not as rare as you might think. In most cases, the cause of glowing eyes as a symptom lies, as in your case, in an extreme overexertion of your bile-sack when you cast a particularly powerful spell. It is usually not possible to sustain such a strain for an extended period of time without suffering long-term damage. There are witches and demons who are able to train this state to sustain their powerful spells for an extended period of time, and there are others who have a natural predisposition to do so. You, for example, Augustus, fall into the latter category, but you still lack the control to actively influence this state."
"What can I do?", Gus asks.
"Well, your current state doesn't seem to have been brought about on purpose, but was a reaction to immense stress.", Professor Ilora explains, "I would say that the spell should dissipate if you manage to relax. Have you ever practiced meditation?"
"Uh, uh, uh-", Willow speaks up excitedly, catching the attention of those around her, "Gus, remember those breathing exercises I showed you?"
Gus nods and holds out a hand to her. "Will you help me?"
"Of course."
Willow and Gus sit down a little away from the rest, where the two friends begin their breathing exercises together. To give them some space, Luz gathers the others in the opposite corner of the room. 'The others' in this case consist of the two teachers, Amity, Skara, Viney, Jerbo, Bo, Cat, Celine, and Mattholomule. The last two, while all the attention was centered on Gus and Ilora, were found by Cat in her search for Boscha and swiftly brought to join the others in the Homeroom.
"Okay, so... Willow, Skara, and I had been working on the beginning of a plan to rid the Hexside of the invaders.", Luz starts, "Umm, quick question though: There isn't everyone here, are there? Aren't we missing a few hundred more people?"
"Yes, but most of them managed to escape the school.", Viney replies, "There are still a few smaller groups hiding, but I don't know exactly where."
"Okay, good enough... Um, our plan consists of several steps. The first of which is that I need to show you all something."
Luz rolls up her sleeve and removes her concealment bracelet, revealing her human form to all those who have previously seen only a red demon with goat-like legs standing in her place. No one really reacts to this revelation.
"Somehow I was expecting more of a reaction...", Luz says, sounding almost disappointed.
"Luz...", Mattholomule speaks calmly, "I think I speak for everyone here when I say that we all knew it was you."
Luz smiles slightly at that, but before she can add anything herself, Cat surprisingly speaks up.
"Well, I didn't know.", the brunette healer witch with the square glasses remarks. Luz doesn't really know what to say to that.
"Well, now you know.", she comments eventually, "But that's not everything. There's a reason why Belos wants to get me so desperately. The thing is, when I disappeared, that... that there were some things that happened to me. Long story short: I'm not fully human anymore."
Quiet, questioning whispers break out among the people in front of her, among those who don't know Luz's story yet.
"What do you mean by 'no longer fully human'?", Principal Bump asks inquisitively.
"Well, I don't want to go into details. But what I can say is that I'm half human... and half something else. This something else lets me do things like this, for example." Luz clenches her fist at eye level with everyone in front of her. Golden lightning bolts emerge and swiftly slide down her arm and into her fist. She opens it and a small light orb rises up into the air, hovering above her open palm.
"Remarkable...", Bump marvels. Luz chuckles awkwardly at the compliment. The group reacts with a mixture of surprise, amazement, and curiosity before Luz continues.
"Yes, and the Golden Jerk being so obsessed with my capture is not only because of the high reward on me, but also because I've, admittedly, foiled more than one of his missions.", she recounts, "Granted, he had it coming. And the fact that he's still going at it does show a certain degree of persistence..."
"Guys, Guys!", they all suddenly hear Gus exclaim, "It worked. My spell dissolved."
Luz is delighted that her friends have managed to remove one of the obstacles to her plan. At that, both Willow and Gus also join the group.
"Great. So, here's part two of my plan. All of us will split into exactly three groups, led by Skara, Willow, and me. Now that the illusions that covered the school are gone, it will be much easier-", Luz starts to reveal her plan when there is a sudden, not-so-quiet knock at the door.
In an instant, everyone falls silent. All eyes wander there.
"Not- a- peep!", Bump whispers urgently, waiting for whoever is outside to identify themselve.
"It's me, Boscha. Let me in!"
Cat, overcome with joy and relief to hear from her friend, sprints to the door, but gets stopped by Principal Bump. She looks at him questioningly.
"Boscha, where have you been? And were you followed here?", he asks insistently.
"I was hiding in the cafeteria. And no, nobody followed me. I'm alone.", Boscha speaks in an annoyed tone from the other side of the door.
'Wait. Boscha… hiding?', Amity thinks to herself with doubts about her explanation. At the same time, Bump lets go of Cat again, and she is about to open the door. "NO, STOP!", Amity shouts at the top of her voice, but it is already too late.
As soon as Cat has unlocked the door, it is kicked violently to the inside of the room, throwing Cat violently away and against the thick wall. The noise she made on impact sounded anything but healthy.
Within seconds, numerous scouts storm the room with their spears drawn, surrounding the group.
"ON YOUR KNEES!", one of them yells.
"SURRENDER YOURSELVES!", another shouts.
At first, no one really wants to give in. But as Bump spots Cat in all the chaos, looking badly injured and not moving, he is the first to give in to the demands. And one by one, they do the same until all of them are kneeling on the floor.
"What did you do to Boscha?", Bump demands between angrily clenched teeth.
"Oh, they did nothing.", Boscha's voice rings out from the direction of the door. Between the scouts who have surrounded all of them, the direct view of the door is blocked for many, but some can catch a glimpse of Boscha entering the room, side by side with Coven Head Graye, holding up her wrist with a clearly visible sigil on it, "We made a deal."
"Oh Boscha...", Amity takes pity on her.
"WHAT?", Boscha snaps at her, but Graye holds her back. Needless to say, she doesn't like it, but the deal stands above that.
"I finally managed to track you down. Every single one of you here is guilty of committing treason today.", Graye accuses them with a subtle smirk on his face. He's really enjoying this right now. "I will personally ensure that none of you will be able to use magic ever again. Not only will you not be able to join any coven as a direct consequence, you won't even be recognized among these Wild Witch criminals. You will be ostracized and cast out if you are unfortunate enough to not to be petrified immediately. However, that is up to Belos alone to decide. But if it were up to me-"
It didn't take long for the Coven Head's speech to dissolve into nothing more than background noise. Apart from himself, absolutely no one is interested in the irrelevant threats he's making, and how much he hates and despises all of them. In fact, everything he says rather sounds like a wounded ego.
Even the scouts are starting to get bored, evident in the way they're lowering their spears one by one.
No one is quite sure exactly how long his speech was. Only when he clears his throat loudly do some people snap back to reality.
"Did any of you listen to me?", he asks loudly, veins of rage visible on his face.
"No."
"WHO SAID THAT?", he nearly snaps. With a look of rage, he looks between all the students, but also his scouts. Everyone is suspicious in his eyes. "Doesn't matter. I need a moment..."
Similarly furious as Graye is Skara, who decides to get up from her knees. The guards' spears immediately turn on her. Willow, who has been kneeling beside her, speaks up quietly.
"What are you doing?", she whispers. Skara doesn't answer, but instead seeks direct eye contact with her former best friend.
"Are you proud of yourself?", she asks her in a reproachful tone.
"Oh honey... this is nothing personal.", Boscha replies, her tone beginning to shift, "Oh what am I talking about? Of course it's personal. This is my revenge on all those who betrayed me!"
"Your revenge?", Skara follows up, "You are the one betraying everyone you've ever known, just because I no longer wanted to be friends with you?"
"Oh, don't think it's just about you! Amity, you, Amelia... You've all stabbed me in the back. And this-", she points to her Potions sigil, "-this is inevitable for all of you. Face it, it's over. I merely played a part in speeding all this up.", a grim grin appears on her face.
"Oh please, as if you care about that guy's plans!", Amity, now also standing, objects, "You've been hurt, and now you're taking your hurt out on everyone else, regardless of what happens to yourself or others."
Boscha merely rolls her eyes at her. "What do you even know?"
"I know that you attacked the only friend you had left.", Amity tells her. And for a brief moment, there was actually something like fear in her eyes.
"No, I didn't.", she replies defensively.
"Then go and take a look next to the door.", Amity points to the opposite side of the room. Boscha actually turns around and gasps in shock as she finds Cat lying motionless on the ground. All the color drains from her face as she stumbles back a few steps.
"No...", her voice tiny, "This- this is a trick. An illusion. Isn't it?", She looks directly at Graye for help, whose cold gaze does nothing to alleviate her fears. Amity speaks up.
"She was the one who let you in. She was the one who has been looking for you all this time. She was the one who was more excited about your arriving than anyone else."
As Amity speaks, and Boscha approaches Cat's body, she notices tears gathering in all three of her eyes. She steps closer to her, and with each step her knees begin to soften and her guilt grows heavier and heavier.
Her knees finally give way as she gets right next to her. Cat's glasses lie broken and in pieces right next to her face, which itself is smudged with blood. She notices her arm twisted at a very unhealthy angle lying on her stomach.
"C-C-cat?", the tears begin to stream down her face, her voice quivering, "Please... talk to me. Please..."
"Yes yes yes yes, it's all very sad, we're all emotionally distressed.", Graye speaks up in a mocking tone, "Can we all please focus on me again?"
The annoyed tension in the room is clearly noticeable to everyone, except him. But no one anticipated that Luz would be the first to stand up and confront him.
"No!", she says in a serious tone as she steps out from between Amity and Skara, who have been trying in vain to stop her from doing so.
"Heh, if it isn't the infamous human girl...", Graye ridicules her, "It will be my pleasure to personally present you to Emperor Belos and put this Brat of a Golden Guard back in his place. SCOUTS! GET HER!"
Within a fraction of a second, Skara summons her violin, creating a shockwave in one fluid motion that instantly knocks all the scouts to their feet. Sheer outrage graces Graye's face.
"You dare oppose a Coven Head?"
"Oh, we're going to do a lot more than that.", Luz replies ominously. While the scouts slowly get back on their feet, Luz's friends do exactly the same and get into fighting positions. Bo and Jerbo, who have little no fighting experiences start behind with Professor Ilora covering them. Skara with her violin at the ready, Amity wielding Abomination-fluid, Celine summoning a few spirits, Willow growing vines from the ground, and Luz creating golden lightning bolts dancing across her arms.
"I'm giving you exactly one warning! Get out of this school and nothing will happen to you or your scouts. Don't challenge me!", Luz threatens him with a grim expression on her face. Graye himself can't help but laugh derisively at this.
"That's very cute... Scouts, grab them!", Graye orders, and with their spears pointing ahead, they run towards the students.
Nine students and Principal Bump facing fifteen scouts.
Principal Bump delivers the first blow by summoning an Abomination Carpet, with which he manages to bring down two of the guards. They quickly recover and once again charge directly at the principal, but he draws another magic circle and creates a wall in front of him, causing them to run straight into it.
Willow charges forward and grows two very thick vines from the ground, which she uses to ride forwards and hurl herself at several guards, knocking several of them straight to the ground. One guard, however, managed to throw a spear at her beforehand and manages to hit her in the leg, causing her to fall and abandon her attack. The scout approaches to attack her again, but Viney positions herself protectively in front of her as she summons a shield. The scout boosts his spear with fire and hits the shield multiple times, causing it to shatter, leaving Willow and Viney unprotected. Before he could deliver the final blow using his spear, his arms suddenly stopped working. The two girls noticed Skara, who had started to play her violin. With a powerful bard spell, she renders the scout unable to move himself, and instead forcing him to move from his position and run straight into the abomination carpet that Bump had created earlier.
As the attack began, Gus summoned several illusions of himself and spread them out to hide beneath them. They rushed forward and attacked two scouts while he himself hid in the crowd. He managed to hit them a few times before his illusions dissipated, exposing his position. Gus draws another magic circle and vanishes into thin air before he could hit the guard again while he was invisible.
Matt summons rocks to his fists and attacks the scouts with his enhanced fists, while Celine directs her ghost spirit to charge at another group of scouts.
The fight goes well. Nonetheless, Luz knows she has to end it. She summons her golden lightning and from her fingertips, she directs it to every light source in the room. She activates a darkness spell that absorbs all light, plunging the entire room into total darkness.
Amity, with whom Luz had briefly discussed her plan earlier, has her Abomination liquid flowing into the cracks and grooves between the floor tiles, and is now exploiting the darkness to spot any remaining and currently confused scouts. The Abomination fluid rises up from the floor to the Scouts, allowing her to overpower them without further ado, placing massive arm cuffs on them, pinning their arms behind their backs.
Luz dissolves her darkness spell, and all the scouts find themselves lying on the ground, struggling and writhing, trying to break their restraints.
It was a short fight, and an unfair one. And it has not yet been won.
Graye is the only one standing, but even as Head Witch of the Illusion Coven, his options are limited when he has no subordinates left to do his bidding.
Stunned, Graye looks at the chaos around him. His scouts are all incapacitated, but some of his opponents, most of whom are merely teenagers, are also injured. The sight fills him with both a slight sense of triumph and fear. But fear of what?
While most of her friends are tending to the wounded, Luz isn't finished yet. She crouches behind the back of one of the scouts, her gaze locked on Graye.
"I warned you.", she speaks in a somber voice, "I told you that if you just left, nothing would happen to you or your scouts. But your fragile ego got in the way..."
"And what are you going to do now? Well, okay, you do have magic, but-"
"Shh, no buts. Watch what I do now.", Luz puts her hand on the Abomination shackles, lets the golden flashes slide into her hand, causing the shackles to petrify completely. Graye watches in great bafflement as this simple human manages to turn objects into stone. And if she can already do it with objects, then...
"O-O-Okay.", he stutters, "N-no need to get overconfident. You- you've won. Yay."
Luz stands up, walks to the next scout, and repeats her spell, not turning her fierce gaze away from him.
"Remember, there's no cure for petrification.", Luz reminds him, and beads of sweat appear on his forehead. He would really like to run away at this moment, but deep down he knows that it would only make things worse. "All these people won't be casting any more spells anytime soon. "
"O- Okay, I get it."
Graye now knows what he's afraid of. An angry human girl who shouldn't even know such powerful spells. Spells that not even the Coven Heads are capable of.
Luz repeats her spell on four more scouts before confronting Graye directly. Some of the other students are watching this exchange intently.
"Here's what you're going to do now: You will order a retreat, and we will escort you out of the school! You will leave, and never return. Understood?", Luz orders him, deliberately emphasizing every detail, "Otherwise you won't be able to cast any more spells either. Is that clear?"
"Y-Yes.", he stutters, "Ouch."
"And I'll take this too.", Luz has just taken his magnifying glass shaped earring from his ear, "As a reminder that you remember what happened here."
"This way! I think the noises came from over here!"
Hunter and the Guard Captain run through the maze of a school to get to the source of the fighting noises the two of them recently overheard. "Where did all the other scouts go?"
They run through the corridors, their gazes darting into empty classrooms and branching hallways. All of them empty. That is until the two of them turn down another corridor, their legs being grabbed by vines, sending both of them to the ground.
Hunter drops to all fours, looks up, tosses his blond curl out of his face in a casual motion, and locks his gaze with Luz's.
"YOU!", he states angrily. Luz, on the other hand, looks down at him rather indifferently. Hunter tries to reach for his mechanical staff, but thick vines hold it firmly pressed against the ground.
"It's over.", is all she says to him. Yet he still resists with all his might.
"Caleb?", Willow speaks up, at which point Hunter ceases all resistance. He looks past Luz and spots the plant witch leading Graye and all the other scouts through the corridors with Vines attached on all of them as if they were on a leash.
"Captain?"
"Yes?", both Willow and the Guard Captain reply. The two look at each other questioningly for a moment. Willow continues.
"It's really over.", she tells him with far more coldness in her voice than he had, "You've lost. You should leave and never come back."
"No, I-", the sound of breaking wood interrupts him. One of Willow's vines has snapped his staff in two. She looks at him with a shocked expression.
But before either of them can say anything, Graye speaks up.
"Oh please... Can you please save your couple bickering for another time?", he whines. At that Willow turns to him, draws a magic circle, and a tendril snakes up along his body and wraps itself tightly around his mouth.
"Luz, could you take the others outside already? I need to have some words with our friend here.", she asks in an extremely friendly tone.
"Of course.", Luz replies, before Willow releases the plants that are wrapped around the Scout Captain and handcuffs him into the line of prisoners. "Onward, people."
Luz leads the prisoners on and out of earshot of Willow and Hunter before Willow crouches down in front of his broken staff.
"You know, when we first met, I actually thought you were a decent guy. You were engaged, committed to the team, and admittedly, you were pretty cute too...", Hunter blushes slightly before Willow's voice darkens, "But then you showed your true colors. Not only did you want to force our team to become coven scouts, you also planned to kidnap my best friend. And then today again, I mean, what in the titan's name is your problem?"
Hunter opens his mouth, but Willow doesn't let him get a word in.
"Don't... I don't want to know... But, you know, deep in my heart I believe that every person deserves a second chance, even someone like you. But after all the suffering you've helped to cause today, I can only conclude that you are a bad person. You are officially no longer a member of the Emerald Entrails, and we will not see each other again. Goodbye..."
Willow draws a magic circle in the air, and the plants holding Hunter by the arms and legs drag him into the ground in a matter of seconds. He doesn't even have enough time to scream before he finds himself back outside Hexside, where Luz is in the process of loading the scouts onto their airship.
"What- where's my staff?", Hunter scans the ground around him in panic now that he's free again, drawing Luz's attention to him.
"You won't be needing it anymore.", she comments, "Now get on board. I don't want to see you here ever again."
With an aggressive huff, he pushes himself off the ground, and reluctantly boards the airship, where he only now realizes that most of the scouts' arms are locked up in petrified abomination goo behind their backs.
As the airship takes off, Luz catches herself waving after them.
"Bye, and don't come back!", she calls after them in an overly friendly tone. She actually waits outside the school building for a quite while to make sure they really are not coming back.
Instead, three witches she recognizes come flying in her direction on their staffs.
"Liwin! Katya! Alsa! It's soo nice to see you.", She greets them just as they have landed.
"We just saw the airship.", the older healer says, "I assume they didn't leave voluntarily?"
"No, we managed to chase them off.", Luz reports proudly, "But not without problems."
"Well, that's still something. Even more so, it's quite an achievement, kid.", Liwin praises her, "By the way, I'm sorry it took us so long. We would have been here sooner, but we had to take care of another problem first. I don't want to give too much away yet, but we were able to locate an important person who we didn't know was still alive or not. But we'll deal with that later."
"Good idea. Um, do you have time to come in? There are a few people I'd like you to meet, and some others who could still use some help.", Luz says before looking directly at Alsa, "And there was an incident with Boscha."
The four of them make their way into the school, where Luz gives them a rough rundown of the previous events.
"... You seriously petrified them?", Katya asks, looking wide-eyed in shock.
"Oh no... Just their shackles. They'll get them off with a hammer and chisel. I just had to make it look like I was doing more than just that."
"Yes, but still... Petrification? I mean, where did you learn that spell anyway?", Liwin asks.
"I learned the glyph a while ago when I was experimenting.", she explains, "I actually swore I'd never use that spell... Granted, today was the first time I had ever used it. And I was genuinely worried that it wouldn't just petrify the shackles."
"I can understand that..."
"Anyway, we'll be right there. Alsa, I want to take you to Boscha first.", Luz says, to which Alsa herself just nods.
When Luz had just told them about what had happened today, she had deliberately left out the details about Boscha. She likes Alsa and doesn't want to upset her any sooner than necessary because of the mess her daughter has pulled.
"M-Mom?", Boscha mutters as soon as she sees her mother come through the doors into the homeroom, "W-What are you doing here?"
Alsa splits off from the group and heads straight to Boscha, who is being attended to by Principal Bump.
"I'm here to help.", she replies to her with a tone that is partly stern, but also empathetic. She looks at Bump and holds out a hand, "Principal Bump, I am Alsa van Nejd, Boscha's mother."
"I am very pleased to meet you, although I would have wished for better circumstances.", he shakes her hand.
"My wife usually takes care of everything to do with the school, but I think it's better that I'm here now.", Alsa says, before turning back to Boscha. Only now does she notice the red eyes and the slight swelling on her face. "Oh my baby, what happened? Have you been crying?"
"Mrs. van Nejd, I'm afraid that and more is her own fault."
"More?", Alsa asked, shocked. The two adults look down at Boscha expectantly, who hesitantly reveals the sigil on her wrist, which she had previously hidden behind her back. Boscha actively avoids her mother's gaze. "How did that happen?"
"Do you want me to tell her about it, or do you want to do that yourself?", Bump asks, addressing Boscha directly. She remains silent with her gaze firmly fixed on the floor. "As you wish. Mrs. van Nejd, your daughter actively exposed her classmates to great danger today, and out of something as ludicrous as revenge, she conspired with a hostile faction and revealed the hiding place of her classmates. As a result, her friend was seriously injured.", Bump points to a table at the end of the room where Liwin is casting various healing spells together with Viney.
"Sweety, is that true?", Alsa asks her daughter, the feeling of bitter disappointment hanging in the air. Boscha sheds a few more tears before nodding slightly.
Alsa sighs in disappointment. "What am I going to do with you?"
"I'm afraid that whatever you're going to do, Mrs. van Nejd, that it's not going to happen here.", Bump states before standing up. He looks sad, "Boscha van Nejd, you are hereby expelled from Hexside, permanently. You have until the end of the day to empty your locker and leave the premises. I'm sorry it had to come to this."
And with that, Bump walks away from her. Boscha begins to cry again and clings tightly to her mother, who returns the gesture without hesitation.
"Shhh... It's all right. You know we'll find a solution.", she tries to comfort her.
It took a while, but Liwin and Viney managed to heal the worst of Cat's injuries. There were some external lacerations, but it was the internal ones that created the biggest problems. Not only had the force of the initial attack broken several of her bones, there were also several internal bleedings that she might not have survived if Liwin hadn't been there.
At the same time, Katja used her scouting skills to search Hexside for any remaining scouts, as well as for any still hiding students and teachers, accompanied by Professor Ilora and Jerbo.
"And this is Willow and Gus. Willow is one of the best plant witches on Hexside, and Gus is by far the most talented illusionist I've ever met. Coven Heads included."
After most of those present had been largely taken care of and the school looked halfway tidy again, many of the students had already made their way home or been picked up by their parents. Luz, however, wanted to take this opportunity to introduce Liwin to her friends and persuade them to let her join the CATS.
"So, what do you think?", Luz asks Liwin expectantly.
"You know, until you came to me, I was totally against the idea of children among us. And that's just because things can get very dangerous very fast. But I have to say that since you and your friends have been with us, our success rate has shot up to nearly one hundred percent. So welcome to the CATS. Luz will fill you in on the details at a later stage."
Luz hugs her two friends solemnly from behind, almost knocking Gus over in the process.
"Sorry, sorry.", she apologizes to him, but definitely feeling overjoyed for her friends.
"Yes, but I think I should start heading home.", Gus says, a big yawn escaping him, "I'm sure my dad is already waiting."
"Yeah, I think mine are too...", Willow adds, before turning to Skara and Amity, who'd moved a little further away, "Skara!", she shouts, "Do you want to go home with me and Gus?"
Skara jumps up, visibly excited, and calls back. "I'd love to!"
"Speaking of going home-", Luz speaks up, "Alsa's already gone, I presume?"
Liwin nods, "And I don't think she'll necessarily be at our next meeting either."
Suddenly Luz notices how Amity wraps her arms around her shoulders from behind and hugs her tightly. Luz smiles.
"Shall we?", she asks. Luz just nods.
Amity steps next to her and takes her hand.
"We're leaving now too.", Luz says goodbye, "See you around."
A little later, in the Emperor's throne room...
"-we simply got overrun. There were just too many of them. If you would allow me, Emperor Belos, I would return shortly with a larger contingent to complete my mission."
Head Witch Graye and Hunter both kneel before Emperor Belos while Graye has just given his, very embellished, report.
"This... won't be necessary.", Belos replies calmly, "You had a mission and you failed. You will not get a second chance."
"But-", Graye speaks up, but restrains himself, "Yes, Emperor Belos."
"You may leave."
Graye nods affirmatively, stands up, and leaves the throne room quickly. Now only Belos and Hunter are left there. The Emperor removes his mask.
"I understand you accompanied him on his mission today, Hunter. For what purpose?"
"I had it on good authority that she was still attending school there since her return. I was convinced that I could capture her for you, unc- um, I mean, Emperor Belos."
"The human is of no importance at this point.", Belos states, standing up from his throne, "How is the evacuation from the Knee getting along?"
"All permanent residents within the evacuation zone have been removed. However...", Belos raises an eyebrow, "There are isolated individuals who refuse to comply with an unjustified evacuation."
"Well...", Belos begins, "I'm afraid that's their problem then."
"If you don't mind me asking... Why are these measures necessary at all?", Hunter wonders.
"As I'm sure you've noticed, the Day of Unity is only a week away. And for this very special and joyous occasion, we are expecting some very important guests."
"Guests? Who?"
"That's irrelevant. The only thing that matters is that they will be joining us for the celebrations. And as for the human... I'm already working on ways to eliminate the threat to our all safety.", Belos hints gloomily.
"When are these guests supposed to arrive?"
"In a few days. All the preparations for their arrival have already been completed following the evacuation of the knee."
"So, do you have no further tasks for me, Emperor Belos?"
Belos chuckles slightly. "Heh, always so loyal and dutiful... The titan is very pleased about that, do you know that? But no, not for the time being. You may now leave as well."
Hunter nods in confirmation and leaves the throne room through the imposing entrance gate. A feeling of uncertainty begins to spread through his chest.
Author's Note / Announcement:
Hey everyone. I have an important announcement regarding the future of this fic, here on in particular. One that I'm sure many, if not all of you, won't like.
Once I've posted the last chapter for Arc 2 (which will be chapter 42), I will no longer post chapters on this platform directly after I finish writing them.
About a year ago, I started posting this fic as kind of an experiment bc I wanted to see how this site works. And over this past year, I learned to hate it whole-heartedly, all because of many different reasons. Therefore I decided that, after the next chapter, I'm only going to post chapters here in batches of 5 or 10 chapters at a time. If you want to read chapters as I finish them, you would need to move to AO3.
I hope you're not too mad upset with my decision...