27. Chapter 64: The Glandus War: Turning Point(2)

"Why in the Underworld would you do that!?" Genie demanded.

"Because those mortals needed it, otherwise none of them would have survived, plus at the time I thought it was funny," Oberon admitted, not seeing a big deal about it. "So yes, I manipulated their development. But so did Rhombulus and the rest of the Magic High Commission, who acted completely independently of me. If I deserve scorn, so does Rhombulus."

"Me!? You're the one who started the mess with Mewni!" Rhombulus pointed out.

"And you wouldn't exist without me, so why are you complaining?" Oberon argued back.

"Oh do you want to bring it, you stupid Fae!?" Rhombulus tried to get up to attack Oberon, but was restrained by the other deities.

"Enough! Both of you!" Yen Sid ordered as the entire Order erupted into chaos and arguing… which was just what Oberon wanted. He smirked to himself, pleased with how this was turning out.

Eda was chasing the Owl Beast through what appeared to be gray woods, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Come back here!" Eda shouted. "Come on and fight me!"

"Eda?"

Eda, who now had orange hair and a red dress, found herself in a spot she recognized. She noticed a young adult Raine next to her, looking shocked. "Whoa, what are you doing?"

The young adult Eda saw that she had her fist raised and she quickly lowered it. "Uh… nothing! Nothing, I'm fine!" she responded with a nervous laugh.

Raine looks saddened. "You're lying again, Eda," they stated. "It's like I don't even know you anymore." They sighed and turned away so that they weren't looking at Eda."I've made a decision."

Eda had to stop her own hands from shivering. "Okay, I already know how this turns out. I hope that I'm prepared this time. You hear me, bird brain!?"

"I'm joining the Bard Coven, and…" Raine held onto themselves while Eda looked away.

"No, no, no, I hate this part…" Eda shut her eyes.

"I think we should see other people," Raine finished. "I'm sorry, Eda, but… it's over."

Eda looked down and saw that her own hands were sprouting feathers and claws. She was gasping and groaning, her eyes darkening. Raine turned to her and looked concerned.

"Eda, are you okay? Is it the curse?" Raine asked her.

While young adult Eda was panting and holding on to herself, present Eda showed up in front of her and placed her hands on her shoulders. "Just tell them," present Eda told her.

"Haha, everything's fine!" young adult Eda declared. "Everything's normal! You can leave now!"

"I… I can't do this anymore," young adult Raine responded, turning back and fading away.

"Stop pushing them away!" Eda yelled at her younger self, who was replaced by the much larger Owl Beast. "You!" she growled as she jumped onto the Owl Beast's back and grabbed at it in anger. "It was always you! It's your fault dad got hurt! Your fault that I kept pushing people away! And Angel is dead because of you!" She fought the Owl Beast until it managed to get Eda off of it with a swipe.

Eda got back up and rushed towards it. "Stop… ruining… my… LIFE!" she said as she headbutted the Beast, everything turning white.

Eda opened her eyes and found herself in the woods again. "Oh great, when am I now?" she asked herself until she saw the Owl Beast prowling around. Then Eda heard a scream. "Huh?"

Both she and the Owl Beast turned their heads toward the scream. As the Owl Beast spread its wings and began flying in the direction the scream came from, Eda ran after it out of curiosity.

Both Eda and the Owl Beast ended up at a house in the woods that looked like it had been broken into. "What the… what happened here?" she asked as she entered the dwelling with the Owl Beast. She gasped when she saw the dead bodies of two witches on the floor. "Oh Titan…" She knelt down and looked at the bodies before turning to the Owl Beast. "There's… no way you could be responsible for this," she realized, meaning that something else had killed the couple. Eda noticed the bloody paw marks on the floor.

"Waaahhh!"

Eda turned her head when she heard the cries of a baby. The Owl Beast heard as well and followed the crying, managing to burst through a door and find a baby in a crib. The Owl Beast hovered over the crib, tilting its head as it saw a young baby witch girl with a truffle of platinum hair and wrapped in a white blanket.

"That child…" Eda said, but noticed something above the owl beast… hanging from the ceiling.

The Owl Beast heard a growl before it got tackled from two directions, claws ripping into its flesh. The Owl Beast managed to get them off of it while putting itself in between the attackers and the baby.

"Well, well, this is surprising," snarled a large werewolf with pitch-black fur, a large white snout, and red piercing eyes that swirled insanely. He was hunched with a muscular physique, wore a ripped red sleeveless jacket, red pants and a blue horned hat. His body was covered in scars and he bared his fangs, showing off a golden tooth. "What's an Owl Beast doing here with my snack?"

"Let me at 'er, boss!" spoke a leopard werecat in black pants and a gray tunic. He charged at the Owl Beast while the large werewolf tried to get to the baby.

Eda witnessed the Owl Beast fighting against the were-leopard as they launched themselves at each other. The werewolf went to linger over the baby, but the Owl Beast saw this and managed to knock him away from the crib. The leopard werecat charged at the Owl Beast again with a roar, but the Owl Beast managed to bite down on the tail of the leopard werecat and send him crashing through a wall.

"Saboris, kill her right now!" the werewolf ordered.

"Yehehe, time to go bye-bye!" Saboris the leopard werecat jumped up in the air with his claws extended, but the Owl Beast swipes its claws at the werecat, slashing his throat. "Gah!" he cried out. The cut was deep enough for the blood to spill out as he hit the floor.

"Idiot!" the werewolf yelled as he saw the Owl Beast take the baby from the crib and place her in its feathers. "Damn it! That's my food you have here!" he shouted as another figure showed up, this one dressed in a purple hooded cloak, his face hidden in shadow.

"Let me handle this," he spoke, raising a snake-like scepter towards the Owl Beast, which was attempting to escape with the baby. In his other arm the figure was carrying a basket and in that basket was a baby boy.

The figure fired a magical blast from his scepter, which struck the Owl Beast. But the Owl Beast managed to fly away despite its injury and Eda ran after it, wanting to see what happened to the baby.

The Owl Beast struggled to fly but eventually landed and dropped the baby at the steps of the Scooter Crane orphanage. An administrator opened the door, wondering what the commotion was about. She found the baby placed there, unaware of the Owl Beast's presence.

Eda was shocked. The Owl Beast, which she always thought was just a mindless creature, had gone out of its way to protect a young baby witchling. After the baby was taken inside, Eda witnessed the Owl Beast changing back to herself. Eda saw her younger self gasping while wincing in pain and holding her side.

"Damn it," thirties Eda said when she noticed a burn mark on her side. She pulled out a flask of her elixir that was hidden in the pouch of her dress and she started drinking it.

"That explains one scar," Present Eda muttered. "But what… what made you do it?" she asked the Owl Beast, who was standing in front of her again. "I always just assumed you were some kind of… worst version of myself… are you?"

The Owl Beast just stared at Eda, then turned around and flew away. "Hey! I'm not done here!" Eda shouted, but then she found herself in a new scene. Only this time she was the Owl Beast again. "Huh?" she looked over and saw that she appeared to be standing over a cliff. She wasn't in the Boiling Isles, but somewhere else in the Demon Realm, since she could see the skeleton of a Titan in the distance, but it was not her Titan.

Suddenly purple light flares hit the ground around her, causing the Owl Beast to step back. But before she could escape, she got engulfed by a black net. That was when she heard the cries of other Owl Beasts.

Much to Eda's shock, she saw a group of hunters that had managed to catch another Owl Beast which was with little baby Owl Beasts. Then Eda heard something else… laughter. And the source of that laughter revealed itself to be a tall, mysterious figure in a black and gray cloak with stars and the sun on it. The figure cackled evilly.

"Don't bother, beast. You and your family can't run away anymore… it's over."

The Owl Beast let out a frightened shriek and struggled against the net, managing to pull itself free. It tried to rush to the aid of its family, but there was a bright flash, followed by screams…

The next thing that the Owl Beast knew, it was plunging into the Boiling Seas. But rather than being burnt to death, it was transformed into a scroll. This scroll eventually washed up onto the shores of the Boiling Isles, where it was found by a merchant. The merchant looked at the scroll in confusion at first, then shrugged indifferently and placed the scroll in a basket with other flotsam. A ways away, Eda was sitting on the shoreline, seeing the tiny Owl Beast trying to fly away, but it couldn't since it was now tethered to Eda by a red thread. Eda looked at it, tired and exhausted. She decided to walk over it, trying to pet it but it screeched.

"Hey, it's okay," she assured it, calming the Owl Beast down. She saw an elixir bottle and she picked it up, looking at it.

"You know, I thought this stuff was a way to fight you, but… I think they're the reason we can stand here face to face," she commented, pouring some into her hand. "You're just as much of a victim as I am. You're… a part of me, and there's nothing we can do to change that. I still don't know if I could forgive you or myself for what happened to Angel… but I do know that without you that little girl would have died with her parents. And if we can't accept each other, then this nightmare will never end for either of us." She offered her hand to the Owl Beast. "So why not a truce? Least for now?"

The Owl Beast looked at her hand and then at Eda before it started licking up the elixir.

Eda snorted. "Like sandpaper," she commented as the Owl Beast snuggled up into her lap. As she started to pet it, she saw colors stretching across the sky. "Wow… out of all my blackouts, I've never had one that ended this nice," she said as a white light enveloped them.

Eda opened her eyes, gasping as the shadows continued to surround her. "Leave… us… ALONE!" she shouted, creating a shockwave that dispersed the shadows away from her and her sister. But she didn't use her hands, rather, she used a newly set pair of wings.

"Edalyn, you're… alright?" Lilith asked, surprised by her sister's new appearance.

"What? Did I turn again?" Eda asked, only to notice her own clawed hand, followed by the wings around her. "What in the…?" She found a mirror and got a good look at herself. She now had longer dark gray hair with light gray streaks on the top, with tufts of hair sprouting out of her long ears. She also had yellow eyes with black sclera. Large gray owl-like wings came out of her back and her two-toned maroon and red dress were now a part of her body, partially covering her face. The dress was split with her now furry gray legs and black talons for feet. Overall she had a more harpy-like appearance. "Whoa… now this is a new look… and I like it."

Back at Hexside, Serkis was picking himself up, his brain expanding and his eyes glowing purple as he glared at Redback.

'You may have fought well, Redback!' Serkis declared. 'But you can't defeat my brain power!' He levitated himself, holding a crystal ball as he channeled it, sending out purple blasts against Redback.

Redback was hit by one of the blasts, which knocked him into a wall.

"Professor Redback!" Jane cried out, glaring at Serkis. "Leave him alone!" she cried as she started to create a spell circle aimed at him. But before she could finish, Serkis blasted her with his crystal ball.

Redback witnessed Jane getting hurt from Serkis' attack. His eyes turned red and he unleashed a yell. "RAAAAAAAAUUUGGGH!" He got back up, magic surrounding him as he started to transform while rushing towards Serkis. His beastly form had more muscular arms and black spikes popping out from his shoulders. His back also started sprouting large spider legs as he grew extra arms. He now had two extra eyes above his larger ones and his mouth split into four.

He charged into Serkis, his four fists punching him down to the floor. He grabbed Serkis again and started slamming him repeatedly. Serkis tried to use his mind powers to fight back by levitating another desk, but Redback threw Serkis into the desk instead, knocking him out. But the demon gorilla wasn't done with him and he was about to slam Serkis into the floor again when he was restrained by a spell.

"Enough, Professor Redback!" Jane shouted, trying to calm him down. "This is not what you are, nor is this who you want your students to see you as! You are a kind and gentle soul, just like your father before you!"

Redback stopped struggling as he heard Jane's words. He had known this woman ever since she was a young ape demon. She had always been there for him, helping him get into the Beast-Keeping Coven and earn his degree.

He transformed back to his normal self and Jane came over to hug him. "There, there, it's alright," she said calmly as Redback hugged his translator back.

On the first floor, Jerbo continued his fight against Goregon using his plant Abominations. Goregon had managed to gain the upper hand by infusing himself with his own Abomination. His Abomination proved to be too tough, even Jerbo's vine Abomination couldn't handle him.

"Hyukyukyuk! Is this the best a duel-tracker can do?!" Goregon laughed as he gloated.

"That's seriously your distinctive laugh?!" Jerbo cried out.

"I got it from my mother, alright?" Goredon stated as he launched his Abomination hands at Jerbo, sticking him to the wall.

"Oof!" Jerbo said. "Fusing all of your classmate's Abominations, that's so cheap." He glared at Goredon. "You don't really deserve your status!"

"I gotta disagree, Jermo," Goredon mocked. "Glandus doesn't care what you do to make it to the top, as long as you find a way to keep yourself there! And I have the strength and the will to do whatever I need to. And one day I'm gonna be the King of Glandus!" He turned to Jerbo's dirt Abominations and formed a grin. "And I'll be making your Abominations as part of my ultimate Abomination!"

Jerbo watched as Goredon used his ultimate Abomination to absorb the blue fungi abomination. "H-Hey, wait!" Jerbo cried out.

"Wow, never knew you can fuse abominations with dirt," Goredon stated, now fused in a mixture of blue, purple, and pink Abomination goop. Then mushrooms sprouted out from his arm. "Huh?" he asked as some started sprouting from his head. "That's weird. Oh well, time to get pummeled!" Goredon declared, raising his abomi-fist and preparing to bring it down.

But it was stopped when another Abomination hand grabbed his. Goredon and Jerbo saw that someone had stepped in between them. It was Professor Snope.

"I do not tolerate threats against my students," Snope stated, his eyes beaming at the Glandus boy. "And while I take no joy in fighting students, I can't let this slide."

"What the...who the hell are you!?" Goredon demanded to know.

"Just a very tired teacher," Snope said as Abomination tendrils sprouted out of his back while he gave a smirk.

Mattholomule was heading back to his post with the healers on the third floor after having lured some Glandus students away.

"I hope I'm not too late," Matt said as he felt his heart rushing in a panic. 'Huh? What was…!?' he thought as he saw a large fist coming toward him. Thinking quickly, he summoned a stone wall and dodged the fist as it easily punched through the wall. He rolled away and Matt mentally panicked when he saw who had attacked in: Cain. "Oh shit."

"I recognize you," Cain said while looking down at Matt. "I remember that you weren't able to make the cut at Glandus. You got pulled out and transferred, but we both know that once Glandus trash, always Glandus trash."

"C-C-Cain," Matt stammered. Cain was blocking his path. Matt wanted to run away from one of the strongest Juniors in Glandus, since he knew he wouldn't stand a chance in a fight. But he also knew he had to get back to the healers. Back to Bo. "I'm… I'm not that witch anymore," he declared as he stood his ground, despite how nervous he was.

"So you do have guts," Cain said as he walked towards him. "Don't worry, I'll make this quick and-" A steel post structure was summoned in front of him, but he swatted it with his hand, denting it. "Painless."

'That was a steel post!' Matt thought in shock. He continued to summon more structures against Cain, who just punched them like they were made out of butter. Matt then uses his illusions to duplicate himself, while summoning more structures and stone walls.

Cain only rushed through them like a steam engine, smashing everything in his path as Matt tried to sneak around him while his duplicates kept him distracted.

"I know you're behind me," Cain said, turning around to face Matt, who nervously tried to barricade the hallway. But Cain just walked straight through the barricade, causing Matt to fall back onto the ground.

"H-Hey, come on, man, there's no need for this…" Matt raised his hands up. "Look, I'm surrendering, you don't have to pummel me."

Cain paused, while staring down at Matt who was surrendering. He lowered his hammer, causing Matt to sigh in relief… only to get struck by Cain's hand, which was enough to knock him out.

"Disappointing," Cain said as he started to walk away.

"Got another one," Dog said as he brought another wounded student in.

"Have you seen Matt?" Bo asked him, worried for Matt.

"No, not yet," Dog stated.

CRASH!

The door got kicked down and everyone turned to see that Tito had shown up, Scotty and Louis in his hands. "Hello there, got some more wounded. Do you know the trouble it was trying to find this place?" he asked, throwing Scotty and Louis across the floor, both shown to be bruised and bloodied.

"Scotty! Louis!" Bo cried out, while turning to glare at Tito. "What… why would you do this to them!?"

Before Tito could answer, he heard record scratching music. He turned to see Dog who had summoned some records, twirling them around as the scratching noises created lightning blasts that were aimed at him.

"Leave this room now!" Dog declared, scratching his records to send more attacks at Tito. However, Tito instantly dodged them and made his way over to Dog, kicking him into a wall, hard.

"Dog!" Cat cried out, rushing over to her older brother.

"Now which Healer wants to-" Tito noticed the mouse Palisman on Cat's head as she went to check on her brother. A vein popped on his forehead. "Is that… A DIRTY RAT!?"

Felicia was still running away from the maniac Glandus students chasing after her. It wasn't made any easier by the first floor being flooded with zombie-weasels. Eventually she found herself in a dead end where she was cornered by the Glandus students.

"We finally caught you~!" sing-sang the brutish student.

"Come on, let's skin her!" another psychotically yelled as they came toward her.

Felicia closed her eyes, preparing for her fate. But then, someone jumped in front of her and delivered a powerful kick to one of the Glandus students, causing them to hit the ceiling. The others were also not so lucky, with one being punched out by a brick gauntlet, another being covered in crows before getting entangled with vines, and one passing out after a ghost phased through him. Felicia opened her eyes and saw her saviors.

"Don't worry, citizen," spoke a girl with platinum hair. She wore a mask that covered half of her face but left her mouth exposed. It was blue with wings on the side and eye holes for her to see out of. She sported a navy blue jacket with golden shoulder pads, a black leotard with a white star inside a pink-line heart symbol, pink leggings, furred brown boots, and yellow gloves decorated with blue stars. A yellow ring belt around the waist with a white bag that had a pink flower. "We won't let you get harmed."

Popping up from the now beaten Glandus students was a tall male teenager with a black hood that was shaped like a crow, spiky shoulder pads, and all black clothing with silver circles on his chest, along black wings connected to his arms and gray gloves. He wore leather pants and black spike boots.

Next to him was a petite girl in a purple hood. She wore a mask that covered her mouth and nose but showed her eyes and light-blue skin. She wore a purple tracksuit with black lines down it and a silver sphere symbol. She also wore black gloves, boots and a black cape.

Another appeared from a large plant. It was a tall demon biped girl with goat ears and horns wearing a green domino mask. She also wore a green leaf dress with purple diamonds on her arm sleeves and leggings. Her hind legs were covered in vines.

Lastly was the tall, dark-skinned witch boy with a metal mask and bull horns. He appeared to be bare chested but was wearing metal shoulder pads, brick gauntlets, black pants with chains around his waist, and boots made of bricks.

"Who… who are you?" Felicia asked in shock.

The leader smiled at her. "We're the League of Witches That Helps, aka…" She and her team struck a pose. "L.O.W.T.H.! You could also call us your reinforcements!"

One of the Rumbler Brothers felt a vine wrapped around his neck before he got pulled back and was slammed into the lockers. "Tumble!" cried out his brother as he spotted who was responsible: Willow.

"Surrender now," Willow warned.

"Bumble, take her down…" Tumble said. before passing out.

Bumble Rumbler charged at Willow along with the Shovelers and other Construction students. Willow's eyes glowed as she summoned much larger roots and vines which slammed into the Glandus students and entangled them. She saw Bumble jumping up and trying to use his pile-diving arms on her, but then a large plant with teeth bloomed out and entrapped him. Willow commands it to slam him onto the floor a few times before knocking him out.

"AAAH!" Willow heard a cry and she turned to see one Hexsidian student struggling to crawl away from someone. He turned to Willow. "Help… me…" he begged before he was suddenly grabbed by a large hand.

"Where do you think you're going?" spoke Coach Grease, who grabbed the student by the head. "I'm not done with you yet!" He raised his fist, which suddenly got entangled in a vine that sprouted thorns, forcing him to let the student go. "GAH!" he cried out, turning to Willow. "You little bitch!"

"What kind of teacher beats up kids!?" Willow demanded with a disgusted glare.

Grease suddenly recognized her. "Wait… you're Willow Park, the general here?"

"Yeah, that's me," Willow responded, glaring at the man.

"So then you might offer me a battle worth my time," spoke Cain as he appeared on the other side, holding his hammer. "Since I heard you were evenly matched against my brother…"

Willow's eyes widened when she saw Cain, who was bigger than Simon and more muscular. "Wait… you're Simon's brother, Cain?"

"Yes, I am," Cain responded proudly.

"And yet you call yourself a Saltstar?" Willow questioned, causing Cain to pause. "How can you tolerate this then? The Saltstars are all about honor, but there is nothing 'honorable' about allowing people around you to get hurt. I heard about what your friends did to Boscha. You're all nothing but bullies… I don't think you deserve to be called a Saltstar."

"What… what do you know about being a Saltstar?" Cain demanded to know. "What matters is strength, which my cousin and brother had to learn the hard way-"

Willow saw that Grease had gotten behind her and tried to launch himself at her, only for her to narrowly dodge his fist and slide down a vine to the other side of the hall. "Seriously, attacking someone from behind? How cowardly are you?"

Grease grinned. "Nobility and honor may sound cute, but there is no place for that in the real world!" he declared as he cracked his own neck, glaring at Willow. "Don't listen to this hippy crap from the plant witch, Cain! She is just trying to make you weak like her! Let's show her what real strength looks like!'

"Everything you said." Willow's eyes glowed green again. "Was pure garbage."

Skara and Viney were flying Puddles over Glandus, where they were warmly welcomed by students firing magical blasts at them from the windows. Viney struggled to fly Puddles safely through the barrage.

"Hang on!" Viney cried out as they were hit by a rogue spell and started to go down.

"We're gonna crash!" Skara cried out, the two girls screaming as Puddles used his wings to cover them. The griffin crashed through a window, Viney and Skara falling into an empty hallway. "Ow…"

"Are you okay?" Viney asked as she got up.

"Yeah… just some scratches." Skara responded, only to see that Viney was talking to Puddles instead of her.

"Oh, well I'm glad you're okay too," Viney said as she healed first her griffin's wounds, then Skara's, and then her own.

Skara checked out their surroundings. "So this is what an inner city school looks like."

"No time to admire," Viney replied after she finished her healing. "We have to find our friends."

"Yeah," Skara nodded in agreement. "But where do we-"

"AAAAAAHHH!"

The two heard a scream, which Skara instantly recognized. "Boscha!"

In another part of the school, Nina's eyes were blank white. She blinked as her eyes returned to normal, but then she saw the state of her prey. "Oh shit."

Boscha was unconscious, her body covered in scratches and her face bleeding. Nina looked down and saw her own hand. Her claws were piercing through Boscha's stomach and was pinning Boscha's body to the wall. She retraced her claws and Boscha's body fell limp as Nina stepped back.

"Oh Titan… oh fuck, shit, shit, shit!" Nina cursed, starting to panic as she realized that she lost control. "I didn't mean… it wasn't supposed to happen…"

"BOSCHA!"

Nina's ears perked up. She turned to see Viney, Skara, and Puddles, the two girls shocked by Boscha's state. "What did you do to her!?"

Even though Nina had been panicking only seconds ago, she no longer showed it. Instead she calmed herself down and tried to brush it off. "Looks like I got too much into it. But then again, it's not like the traitor didn't deserve it. Are you her friends or something?"

ZZAAP!

Nina instinctively dodged a lightning blast from Skara's cricket violin. She leapt away and saw the lightning dent on the wall, then looked back at Skara who was glaring angrily at her.

"I'll make you pay for what you did to her!" Skara declared.

Nina got a good look at her and her eyes widened in realization. "Wait… you're the Brooke girl." She smiled. "Interesting…"

"Breathe in… breathe out…"

Amity used her breathing technique mantra, slowly calming herself after an overwhelming fight with the Glandus teacher which had managed to escape from by somehow teleporting into a broom closet. She sighed. "Okay, time to go find Luz, save Gus, and get Boscha out of here."

She opened the door and stepped out of the broom closet into an empty hallway. She then felt a pull on her sleeve and she looked down to see a shadow. "Huh?" she questioned, not realizing the shadow was her own as it pointed in a specific direction. "A moving shadow… wait… are you… Puck's shadow?" she asked, only for the shadow to fly away. "Hey, wait!"

She ran after the shadow and followed it up some stairs where she found a knocked out Glandus student on the floor. "What in the Titan…?" she asked upon discovering a trail of bodies of beaten up, maimed, stabbed and bloodied bodies of the students and teachers. "What… happened here?" she asked, walking over the bodies, "Did Luz do this? Actually, she would, but this is too brutal for her." she commented, after seeing one student that was partially burned.

SMASH!

Amity looked up and saw Luz smacking down a student that had tried to attack her. Another student tried to stab her, but Luz grabbed her wrist and slammed her into a locker.

"Twenty-six," Luz said as she saw more coming to her. She kicked one in the face and stomped on her while she was on the floor. Another swung his spiked club at her, but Luz's wing grabbed it, crushing it to pieces. Her wing grabbed the student's legs and broke them before throwing him out of the window. "Twenty-seven and twenty-eight! Is that all you got?!" She felt a chair slammed into her back by another student.

"Take that, Clawthorne!" he shouted after the chair broke. Luz turned to him, grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up.

"Twenty-nine." Luz kneed him to his crotch, causing his eyes to widen as he screamed. She then threw him out the window. She saw the last student about to perform a spell, but Luz grabbed his hands, crushing them.

"AAAAHHH!" he screamed as Luz karate chopped him on his head, making his unconscious.

"Thirty," Luz counted before sending another presence. She turned around and swing her fist at Amity, who barely managed to dodge it.

"Luz!" Amity cried out. "Luz, it's alright, it's me!"

Luz stopped herself from throwing another punch, blinking in confusion. "Luz? Wait, I think I know you… Amity, right?"

Amity now looked just as confused "What… what do you mean? Luz, are you okay? And did you change your hair?" She tried to check Luz's head, but she backed away.

"Whoa there, Luz's mate, you don't have permission to touch me," she responded, which makes Amity more confused. "Which these guys learned the hard way when they started ganging up on me after I stabbed some freaky cow boy. Man, Ghost and Flapjack would love to hear this…"

"Ghost? Flapjack?" Amity asked, having heard those names before. "Wait, if you're not Luz… then who are you?"

Luz pointed at her chest. "The name's Maya."

Gus opened his eyes, finding himself in a different room that was basically an office full of knick-knacks. He saw Stella there at the desk and he found himself seated on a chair.

"Where am I? Where's Boscha?" he asked, looking around until he felt a hand land on his shoulder.

"She's not who you should be worried about right now," Emily told him, standing behind Gus.

"You!" Gus tried to get up but was restrained by magic rope.

Emily chuckled and started to pet him. "You are such an adorable little guy, aren't you? And from what I hear, you're smart too." She shook her head sadly. "And a bright boy like you shouldn't waste your time with delinquents and wild witches like Luz Clawthorne."

Gus kept struggling with his bonds. "Luz is my friend. She is practically family."

"Oh, of course you would see her as family. After all, she was there for you unlike your mother," Emily said, shocking Gus. "I have my ways of knowing things, Augustus. I know that you were abandoned by your mother and I know why… because she was a wild witch who drugged your father, which resulted in your birth. Honestly, I sympathize with you. Because that can't be an easy revelation to come to grips with."

"Shut up!" Gus shouted at her.

"And now your father is suspiciously absent," Emily continued. "Maybe he decided to abandon you too, since I've noticed you've been staying with the Parks."

"He did not leave me!" Gus shouted at her. "He had to go on a trip…"

"A 'trip'? Come on, Augustus, you're smarter than that," Emily told him while cupping her hand to his chin. "Don't you find the suddenness of his departure… strange?" She sighed. "My parents left suddenly as well. They said they would be back, but they lied. I had gotten sick and we never had much money, so I was an expense they could not afford anymore. I was holding them back, just like you were holding your father back. He never wanted you and you served as a constant reminder of what your mother did to him. He abandoned you for the same reason that my parents abandoned me."

Gus shut his eyes, turning his head away. "No… he wouldn't…"

"And you don't have to worry about Luz anymore," she told him. "By now she doesn't have much time left…"

Gus looked up to Emily. "What did you do to her?"

"I stabbed her in the gut and left her with our Top Healer, who wanted to cut her up… slowly," Emily answered, shocking Gus.

"No, not Luz…" Gus felt his chest tightening and his eyes started flashing.

"As for Amity… well, I think she could make a cute pet once this is all over…" Emily continued.

Gus closed his eyes again. When he opened them, they were flashing blue, which engulfed him in a sphere and sent out a shockwave.

"What's going on!?" Stella asked in shock.

Emily saw that the room they were in was changing drastically. In one second they were in Hexside. Next they were in the Owl House. Then the room settled into resembling the Mystery Shack.

"It must be his spell," Emily said while looking at the details of the place. "These are from… his memories." She turned to Gus, who is entrapped in a blue sphere. She reached out to grab him, but as she touched the sphere, her eyes flashed blue.

Emily finds herself young again, living in a shed. She could hear her parents arguing. "What… what's happening?" she asked herself as her face started having boils popping out. "No, no! Not again!"

"Don't worry, dear," spoke Emily's mom, who was patting her head. "We won't be long."

"We'll be back soon," her father responded.

"Wait… I know this…" Emily said, while trying to reach out to her parents "No! Please, don't leave me! DON'T LEAVE ME!" She then started remembering her time alone… having to survive on the rotten food… starvation and hunger getting to her… to the point that she had to eat the rats and bugs she found in her home. "Why… why did you leave me behind? WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME!?" she cried out as her eyes glowed aqua-marine, flames burst around her…

Emily was panicking, but she managed to use her flames to disperse the illusion. The blue sphere was gone and Gus woke up to see Emily shivering, with Stella kneeling down to comfort her.

"Emily, are you alright?" Stella asked.

"H-Had to… eat the rats…" Emily shivered, Gus noticing her aqua-marine eyes.

It was then that the Porter boy realized he hadn't been the one to dispel the illusion… and he realized what Emily was.

"Oh my Titan… you've been an illusionist this whole time."