7. Chapter 46: Escape

In Latissa, Eda had brought Luz to be checked up on by Dr. Bride, Lilith and Amity coming along. The mad doctor had managed to repair Luz's skin on her shoulder and was now wrapping bandages around it.

"There, that should do it," Dr. Bride stated. "You should consider yourself lucky, since you could have been left with a scar for the rest of your life."

"Thanks, Dr. B," Luz responded.

"Sorry that you have to go through all of that, Luz," Eda told her daughter. "I wish that I had suspected something about that magical amusement earlier…"

"Don't worry, mom. What matters is that we survived, even if that bastard got a few hits in," Luz pointed out.

"I am surprised that you weren't able to heal on your own," Amity admitted. "Isn't that like a cambion power that you have?"

"It was, but it's been acting up lately," Luz explained. "I still have some of the burn marks from those squirrels." She turned to her doctor. "Dr. Bride, do you have any idea what might be causing this?"

"Well, my best theory is that it is something psychological," Dr. Bride suggested. "You still aren't so used to your cambion side so your subconscious might be suppressing some of your cambion abilities. But of course, the psychological isn't my area of expertise. The best advice I could give you is to find someone who is more of an expert in that field than I am."

Luz nodded, realizing that there was someone she knew that might be able to help her better…

At Hexside, Julia Traveler was waiting in her office with Kitsuni. The window to the office was open and it wasn't long before the individual they were waiting on was carried through the window, riding on a gust of wind with his umbrella.

"I'm here!" announced the green, biped talking cricket. He wore a black formal coat with an orange vest with a single button on the front, a white short sleeve button shirt underneath and a yellow tie on the collar, pale tan pants and blue shoes with yellow spats, a light blue formal hat with orange linings and white gloves that he used to carry his red umbrella. He gave a little bow as he respectfully addressed the two women. "Ms. Kitsuni. Mary."

Julia smiled. "Hello, Jiminy."

"I am ready to give my report to the Order," Kitsuni said as Jiminy brought out a large piece of paper from his jacket and dipped the end of his umbrella into ink. "Let's get started." She proceeded to go over the events that occurred on Pleasure Island, which surprised the Cricket.

"Well I'll be," Jiminy commented as he wrote down Kitsuni's account. "About time someone put a stop to the Coachman's operation. I still wish that I could have done more to stop him when I encountered him." He looked down, feeling guilty.

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Jiminy. You were scared at the time," Julia reassured him. "And it was long before the formation of the Order.."

"If you say so, Mary. But I still wish that the Coachman could have been stopped sooner…" Jiminy contemplated before Kitsuni spoke up.

"There's something else," Kitsuni told him. "The Coachman's soul was claimed by a Loa. More specifically… by the Baron."

Jiminy stopped writing and looked up at Kitsuni. "The… the Baron was here?!" he asked.

"Is here," Julia corrected. "He hasn't left the Boiling Isles and I don't think he intends to anytime soon."

"Why?" Jiminy asked, looking concerned. "What are the reasons for his interest in the Boiling Isles?"

"I have some ideas," Julia answered. "But don't worry about him, Jiminy. I will have a word with the Baron. We have some… history."

After the trip to Dr. Bride's, Luz and Amity decided to enjoy some free time. While Eda and Lilith returned home, the two younger girls headed over to Bonesborough.

"So have you heard anything from your folks yet?" Luz asked Amity.

"No, they're still busy with a new order," Amity replied, looking down with a sigh. "Apparently they are working directly for the Emperor's Coven now."

"Whoa, seriously?" Luz asked and Amity nodded.

"Em told me that they care more about finishing this order on time than they do about their children being turned into donkeys," Amity replied, sounding a bit peeved.

Luz looked concerned. "I'm… sure they still care."

"I know they do," Amity admitted. "I just wish that they would get their priorities straight. But let's not make today about them. We promised to meet up with Cat and Amelia to hang out with them for the day."

"Yeah, it's great that their parents are allowing them to hang out with us now," Luz said. "And honestly, I really should get to know them better. Especially since to be completely honest, previously I saw them as nothing more than background characters."

"And now that they are allowed to hang out with me again, I just want to start being a better friend to them than I was before," Amity admitted. "I just hope that today will be less intense than last night's fiasco."

"Yeah, it seems like we have one or two crazy adventures a week," Luz commented as they made it to the spot where they were meeting Cat and Amelia.

"Hey, you two made it!" Cat waved at them. "So glad to get to spend time with you guys!"

"Same," Amity responded. "Tell your parents that we said thanks for the gift baskets they sent to us, by the way. Hooty ate a few of them, but we enjoyed the ones that he didn't."

"So what is this place we're going to?" Luz asked and Amelia pulled out a map.

"We're going to check out this temple," Amelia said, pointing to the map. "Around the Titan's femur, there's an ancient temple that is meant to challenge young witchlings with puzzles and stuff like that. I heard that they call it the Eclipse Escape Dungeon."

"That's an odd name for a dungeon," Luz commented. "But that does sound fun."

"We asked Skara if she wanted to come, but she said she's not feeling well today," Cat mentioned. "We also asked Willow, but she learned that Skara isn't feeling well and she had to go do her girlfriend duties."

Willow: I heard you're a little under the weather, so I'm going to come over and make you some soup. See you soon! ;)

Skara was super nervous as she read the text. She was looking at herself in the mirror, the patch on her neck still visible. "What am I going to do?" she asked herself. "I… I don't know if it's just a patch or not. If I tell mom, then she's going to go ballistic, if I tell dad, he's going to be super worried about me…" She looked around and quickly grabbed a scarf, wrapping it around her neck and covering up the patch. "There, now just to make sure that I appear to be sick…"

A few minutes later, Skara was knocking on the door to her little sister's bedroom. Opening it was Scabrina, who was wearing goggles, a white apron and gloves. "What do you want?"

"Hey, baby sister," Skara said to her. "Listen, I need your help. I kinda told my friends that I'm a bit sick, but my girlfriend, Willow, is coming and-"

"Say no more, I've seen this trope done in plenty of the cartoons I watch," Scabrina said as she retrieved a potion for Skara. "Here, use this. I was gonna use it to skip swimming lessons, but you can take it if it keeps you from annoying me while I work."

"Great, love you sis!" Skara said as she took the potion from her before leaving her sister alone.

"Alright, now that she's gone…" Scabrina turned to continue her work, which involved a teddy bear tied to a table. Scabrina brought out a toy saw. "It's time for your surgery, Mr. Ursa."

Elsewhere, Edric was on a date with Hunter. The two went together to the Bonesborough Aquarium, where its tanks were home to various sea monsters and creatures, including the disgruntled sea witches that worked there. For Hunter, this was his first time there.

"So this is where sea witches work," Hunter notes in awe, looking at the sea witches waving at him. Of course, their smiles looked strained.

"Just don't accept their offers of letting you swim with them, they'll most likely drown you." Edric mentioned. "I had to learn that the hard way the last time me and my family visited. But it wasn't all bad, the aquarium gave me free admission for life in exchange for my parents not suing them."

Hunter chuckled, before turning to Edric. "Hey um… how are you holding up? I heard what happened at this… cursed amusement park…"

"Eh, it's not even close to being the first traumatizing experience that I've gone through," Edric assured him. At the top of his head Ed remembered Puck transforming into a monster to scare him and Emira, as well as the time when he and his sister were captured by the Slitherbeast. "But really, I'm fine."

"I just… wish I had been there," Hunter said, looking guilty. "I could've done something, I could've protected you…"

"Hey, don't even start blaming yourself, Hunter," Edric started to say, only to be suddenly hugged by his boyfriend. "Hunter, I-"

"I just… don't want to lose you," Hunter admitted, thinking back to the vision his uncle showed him and the nightmares he has had since then. "I… If it weren't for Luz and your sister, who knows where you would be right now because of that Fae…"

Edric hugged back tightly. "Honestly, I'm glad you weren't there. You would just have been turned into a donkey as well. And what's important now is that I'm safe, my sisters are safe, everyone's safe. Let's focus on the now, okay?"

Hunter pulled back, rubbing his shoulder and staring at the ground. "What about the future? Lately I have been having these… dreams about a bad future where you and everyone else-"

"Stop," Edric interrupted. "Look at me. They're just dreams. Don't let them ruin this moment or any other moment. Just… enjoy it."

Hunter nodded and the two drew close, sharing a kiss.

The sea witches in the tank watched the couple in awe. "You know, it is moments like this that make our job worth it," one sea witch commented.

"Yeah, even though it reminds us that we'll be stuck single," the other sea witch replied, souring the other's moods.

"You just had to ruin it, Cheryl," another complained.

Luz, Amity, Cat and Amelia had made it to a large temple in the Femur's Forest, passing by statues of what appeared to be monsters in explicit poses and an old broken fountain covered in moss. The large black temple itself had a red devil-shaped gate with two purple clovers on each door. It had metal claws on each side of the front and at the gate was a bridge that led to a metal black door which was the actual entrance.

"Wow, this looks like something out of Vegas," Luz commented, while Amelia checked her map.

"According to this, the temple was built centuries ago by a witch from another world who wanted it made as a gift to the witchlings of the Boiling Isles." Amelia states.

"I hope this witch left some treasure in their temple," Luz replied, noticing that the moat had no water in it as they crossed the bridge. "So… how did you two learn about this place?"

"From my brother Dog, he recommended it to me after he and some of his friends did the Escape Dungeon themselves," Cat answered as the four girls made it to the door.

Luz looked at the door, then kicked it open. The four went inside and the interior of the temple seemed to be designed like a lounge room, with tapestries on each wall hanging over the decorative chairs. The torches were magically lit.

"Okay, if this turns out to be another magical death trap, I'm jumping ship," Luz commented.

But Amity noticed something on the tapestries, as each had writing on it. "Hey, check those tapestries: To those with enough daring to enter this dungeon, you must now find a way out."

"...Oh shit." Luz turned around, only to see the doors close and lock on their own. "Dammit! I knew this was a death trap! You got me again, Boiling Isles!" But then all four noticed coming out from the ceiling, a large hourglass.

Also coming down from the ceiling was a blue ghost of some kind. The ghost looked to be a short man with pointy ears, long white hair, blue eyes, and a red robe.

"Hiya, welcome to the Eclipse Escape Dungeon!" he spoke to them. "Where you have to get to the exit before the time runs out!"

The four looked confused. "Wait, what?" Amity asked.

"Oh, you four must be new here, I'll explain!" the ghost realized. "I'm the Dungeon Master, tasked with watching over this temple by the maker herself. And don't worry, if you're not having fun and you just want to quit, all you have to do is say so."

He suddenly popped up between Luz and Amity, startling them. "So what brings you kids here? Are you here to test yourselves? Or are you just hoping for treasure?" He popped out of Amelia's map. "Either way, you've come to the right place!" He then popped up next to Cat. "But if you want the prize waiting for you at the end, then you must beat the temple in under two hours!"

The ghost pointed to the hourglass, then teleported next to a closed door. "In order to move on to the next part of the temple, you have to use clues in this room to find a key. Good luck!" He then disappeared.

"Well, this actually doesn't seem too bad," Luz commented.

"But how do we find the key?" Cat asked, while Amelia looked at the tapestries.

"Hey, look at how these tapestries are designed." Amelia noted, paying attention to the details of the patterns, noticing that they each had a triangular pattern that was always pointing in a direction. She realized that they were pointing in the direction of the first chair. "Check that chair."

Luz, Amity and Cat checked the chair Amelia was pointing at. They looked at the arms and legs of the chair, until Luz spotted writing underneath one arm. "Hey, I think I found something." She used a light glyph to read the writing "The Key Is The First Letter You See In This Lit Room. What does that mean?"

"The first letter…" Amity said. "Maybe it refers to the name of the first object we saw?"

"But what is the first letter?" Cat asked, while Luz looked around and got an idea. She grabbed a torch and held up close to the wall, revealing the letter 'A'. "Amity, shed some light on the walls, I think I know what letter we're looking for."

Amity used a flame spell to show more letters on each brick of the wall. "The first letter you see in this lit room… maybe the key is behind one of these bricks!"

"Wait, what if it's the first letter you see in the riddle?" Amelia asked. "Look for the letter T!"

The girls started looking for the right brick, Cat behind the one to find the brick with a 'T' on it. She pulled the brick out, finding a key hidden in the space behind the brick. "Got it!"

They used the key to open the door, leading them into the next room.

"So far, so good," Amity commented.

"Maybe everything will go smoothly for once," Luz said, before noticing that the next room was a staircase going up. "Or maybe I spoke too soon."

Meanwhile, Boscha was wearing her yellow hoodie as she went to meet up with Tom at their usual hangout. But she soon noticed that a commotion was going on nearby, something that attracted the attention of a bunch of pedestrians… and several guards.

'Tom!' she thought worriedly, rushing forward and seeing a guard knocked unconscious on the ground. She grabbed a pedestrian. "What happened!?"

"Some punk went nuts and just started attacking that guy," the pedestrian told her, pointing at a beat up looking yellow bird biped demon with wings on his back.

"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!" Tom shouted, bursting into flames and pushing back the guards that approached him.

"This kid's too dangerous, call for backup!" one guard said to the others.

Boscha's eyes widened in concern, she couldn't let them take Tom away. She pulled a potion bottle out of her knapsack and threw it at the guards. As she put on her mask, the bottle exploded and a light blue smoke drifted around.

While the guards coughed and started to feel sleepy, Tom coughed as well until he felt a hand grab his arm and start dragging him away. "Hey, what the-"

"Come with me if you don't want to get arrested!" Boscha told him as she and Tom ran off.

Zapping bat wings onto her shoes, Boscha flew up onto a roof and hid Tom there. She kept a lookout to make sure that the coast was clear before turning to Tom. "Okay, what the hell was that about?"

"I-I'm sorry, okay?" Tom told her and Boscha sighed.

"Just tell me what happened. What did that bird guy do to you?" she asked him, trying to understand the context.

"It… it's not something he did… well, other than bump into me. I panicked and… next thing you know, I let my anger get the better of me… again," Tom explained. Boscha noticed him rubbing his scarred arm, but she didn't draw attention to it.

"Look, Tom, it was still a really stupid thing that you drew attention to yourself like that by causing a scene. That's guaranteed to get you thrown into the Conformatorium."

"It doesn't matter," Tom said, looking down. "Honestly, they were always going to find out about me sooner or later."

Boscha looked at him in concern, contemplating her options. "Well, I am not going to let them find you. But I can't take you to the Treasure Shack, some of my classmates and old friends still hang out there…" She sighed again, looking out into the distance as she realized what she had to do. "This is probably going to be the dumbest idea I have ever had. And I have had some of the worst ideas."

Thanks to the potion, Skara had never felt so cold in her life despite her hair appearing to now be on fire.

"I'm cold, but my head's hot… yup, this should do it," Skara said as she heard the doorbell scream downstairs. She quickly rushes into her bed, magically changing into her pajamas, and grabbing a thermometer that she kept heated.

"Skara, I'm here! Your sister let me in!" Willow announced as she walked upstairs. "Are you there?"

"O-Over here, Willow," Skara said, sounding sickly. "Come in, the door's open."

Willow walked in and saw Skara in bed with the thermometer. "Are you okay?" she asked, noticing Skara's flaming hair.

"Y-Yeah, must be from what I ate or something from that cursed fair," Skara replied.

"Well don't worry, I could fix you up with some soup. I brought some ingredients over for this recipe that my dads know," Willow told her.

"Y-Yeah, soup from my awesome girlfriend, sounds good," Skara said, while fake shivering from her fake illness.

"Okay, I'll go make the soup while you rest," Willow told her, going back downstairs while Skara sighed in relief.

'I don't know what I did to deserve someone like her,' she thought, while rubbing the white patch underneath her scarf. 'Maybe… maybe someday I'll tell you about this, Willow. Hopefully it'll pass soon.'

As Willow came downstairs, she was met with Skara's parents. "Oh, Willow, I didn't know you would be here today," Calypso said.

"Hey, Mrs. Brooke, I'm here to make soup for your daughter since she is feeling a little under the weather," Willow replied.

"Under the weather? We didn't know Skara came down sick," Slasher said in confusion.

Calypso shared the same confused look as her husband and sighed. "Well, we appreciate you coming over. Do you need any help fixing up the soup?"

"I would appreciate it," Willow confirmed as she went to the kitchen with the parents of her girlfriend.

Back at the Eclipse Escape Dungeon, the girls had made it to another room.

"Okay, walking up stairs is one thing, but running up stairs from giant dentures is another!" Cat complained.

"I don't know what you're complaining about, I got a real good workout out of it," Luz said while stretching.

Looking around, they appeared to be in a triangular-shaped room where everything was shaped like a triangle. There was a triangular table, a triangular window, a triangular mirror, and a triangular couch with a triangular bowl of triangular chips.

"Okay, I think I noticed a theme with this room," Amity said before the ghost popped out.

"Welcome to the triangle room, where as you can see everything here is a triangle!" the ghost declared. "In this room there is no key required, you just have to find the secret door. And how do you find this secret door? Well, you just have to look at your problem from the right angle."

"What does he mean by that?" Luz asked after he disappeared.

"It could be a geometry thing, just look for any right angles around here," Amity said as they started searching for the room.

"Oh… wait, we have geometry here?" Luz asked.

"Well yeah, some spells require good math," Amelia told her. "Construction and Potions, for example. You didn't know this?"

Luz shrugged. "Math isn't really my thing." She noticed the bowl of chips on the couch "At least there are snacks. I hope these are still good." Luz grabbed a handful of chips and ate them, as she went to grab some more she felt something in the bowl. "What the-!?" she said as she realized it was a knob. "Are you kidding me!?"

"What?" Amity asked her, only for Luz to pull the knob as half of the couch opened up, showing a pathway leading down.

"Wait… the couch is a door!?" Cat exclaimed

"Oh, it's the chips in the bowl. They're right triangles," Amelia figured out.

"Look for the right angles… yup, I knew that I'd get that one right," Luz claimed.

'No, that was just luck…' Cat and Amelia both thought as they followed Luz through Luz to the next area of the temple.

As he was walking through town, Gus read a text from Willow that said she was with Skara. "Hey, Gus?" asked Mattholomule, who was walking alongside with him.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I was just reading something," he said while putting away his scroll. "So these um… friends of yours are from Glandus?"

"Yeah," Mattholomule replied, sounding uncomfortable about the topic but Gus didn't pick up on it. "My friend… Bria, contacted me and said that they were interested in meeting some of my new friends, and I thought that you'd like to meet them."

"Oh, really?" Gus asked with a smile. "Wow, I never thought you'd want to introduce me to your friends, being from the Illusions Track and all."

"I'm sure she doesn't mind," Mattholomule states, hiding his nervousness.

"Matty, you're here!"

Mattholomule froze at the sound of that voice as Gus saw Bria coming over to them with two others. They all wore a standard Glandus High uniform, with Bria wearing a gray short-sleeve uniform with tunics that were based on their track colors. Bria's was brown, with brown gloves and black boots and tattered shorts. She wore white and green striped socks.

On her left was a dark-skinned boy with purple eyes, dark hair, and the same uniform but with Abominations Track colors. He wore yellow and white boots.

Completing the trio was a yellow, biped demon boy who wore a black hat with green cylinders on each side where his ears were supposed to be. He had blond hair covering the left side of his face, blue eyes with black pupils, pink nose and fangs. He had on a Plant Track tunic with leggings, and a yellow tail. He also had three claws and a white band-aid on the side of his face.

"H-hey, Bria," Mattholomule said nervously.

"Who's your pal, Matt?" asked the Plant Track boy.

"Hi, the name's Gus Porter," Gus introduced himself with his hand raised up. "Nice to meet Matt's friends from his old school."

"Bria Day, nice to make your acquaintance," Bria replied, shaking his hand "Gavin is from Abominations, and Angmar is the one in Plant. Matty's told us all about his new friends, so we are very excited to get to know some of them better." She shot a glance at Matt, then looked back at Gus with a smile. "We are all just glad that Matty has found a new crowd to hang with…"

Julia entered a crowded tavern, spotting who she was looking for sitting at a table with a plate of food in front of him and a bottle of rum in his hand. She walked over to his table and sat down across from him.

"Hello, Baron," she greeted and the Baron smiled at her.

"It's been a long time," he said to her. "I hear you go by Julia these days. Personally, I was always more fond of S-"

"Why are you here in the Boiling Isles?" Julia interrupted.

The Baron chuckled. "Straight to business, huh? Alright, but first can you tell me what you think of my current body? It originally belonged to one of my bokors, a guy named Facilier. He came from a poor background, so I gave him the power to get back at the rich and the greedy. But eventually he got greedy himself and started to make promises I knew he couldn't keep, and now I get to enjoy his body while he… well, look at him now." He held up a shrunken head and its purple eyes flashed.

"Please, I'm sorry!" said the soul of Facilier. "Just let me have my body back!"

The Baron put the shrunken head back on his belt. "He's a pretty chatty fella, isn't he? I brought him along to force him to watch me use his body for the things he is no longer able to do like drunk, party, smoke-"

"Answer my question," Julia told him.

"Alright, fine," the Baron said, taking another sip of his rum. "Relax, I don't intend to hurt any of your students, if that's what you're afraid of. Their souls don't interest me. The souls of the guilty, on the other hand…"

"The guilty?" Julia questioned.

"Yes, I am here to pronounce judgement on them," the Baron explained. "And while I am here, I thought I would have some fun as well. Maybe try some of the food and drink, mess around with the local fat cats. Not literal fat cats, but those big pocketed wealthy folk that live around here. That's my plan. But what's yours, old friend? Are you going to do anything about me?"

Julia only gave him an indifferent look, before getting up from her table. "Nothing. I will do absolutely nothing," she told him. "All I wanted to know is why you are here, and now that I know, I will let you go about your business." She started to turn away, but stopped to look back at him. "I expect you to stay true to your word about not hurting my students. Because if you do any harm to them…"

"Yeah, yeah," the Baron said to her. "I know better than to get on your bad side." He grinned. "Nice seeing you again, maybe we should get together sometime. Though I remember when you used to be a lot more fun…"

"That was a long time ago, old friend… but it was nice seeing you again too," Julia said before walking out of the tavern.

The Baron chuckled to himself, then turned his gaze to who he was watching before Julia came in. A woman was sitting at the bar, a cup of apple blood in her hand.

"I can't stand them…" Nicole said drunkenly. "I can't stand those damn Clawthornes! They always manage to escape punishment for their crimes, while I get the short end of the stick! I hate them so much!"

"I hear ya, sister, those Clawthornes are the worst."

Nicole turned to the man sitting next to her. "And what do you have against them?"

"Let's just say, one of them cost me my entire career," he said while drinking from his glass. "Would you like to hear some jokes about Lilith Clawthorne and her damn family?"

Back in the Escape Dungeon, the girls burst out of a room that shot out flames and snow at the same time. "Finally, I thought we would never escape that weird weather room," Cat said, brushing some snow off her.

"Whoa, what's this room about?" Amelia asked, looking at their surroundings.

They had found themselves in a room occupied by sculpted figures, all leading up to a portrait of a woman at the end of the room. The woman in the portrait had pale skin, poofy teal hair with mauve eyes, and raspberry red spade-shaped marks on her cheeks. She wore a long, dark purple Gothic-themed dress with a brown ring at the waist, a large black sun hat with gray and white feathers and a thorny branch, a white cravat with a blue crescent moon on it, long mauve gloves, and black flats with pale purple socks. She also had maroon-colored lipstick and black mascara with purple eyeshadow.

Luz stared at the portrait for a while until the ghost popped out of it. "At last! Welcome to the last room! Nobody has managed to beat this room yet, but it involves figuring out what the statues want. Good luck!"

He disappeared, leaving the girls to solve the room. "So we're supposed to figure out what these statues want?" Luz asked. "But how can some marble-heads tell us what they want?"

"Hey, we can hear you, you know!" said one statue in a robe, startling Luz.

"Gah!" she shouted and Amity helped her up. "Ugh, of course the statues talk."

"For your information, we prefer the term enchanted figures," spoke another statue man in a toga. "We were sculpted, then brought to life by our creator."

"We've been living here for centuries," said a female statue in a long gown. "We've seen you young witchlings come and go, one of you even broke Leroy."

"I don't mind since we don't feel pain," spoke the head of Leroy from the ground.

"The Dungeon Master said that we need to figure out what do you guys want, so what do you guys want?" Amity asked them.

The statues all looked at each other, before looking back at the girls. "We don't know."

"You don't know what you want?" Cat asked them.

"Nope, and nobody could figure it out," said a deep-voiced statue man who was flexing.

"We're as simple as rocks," a peaceful looking statue woman said.

"But you're living, talking statues!" Luz pointed out. "Are you telling me you've lived all these centuries without ever desiring anything?"

"We're beings made of stone, marble and clay, what kind of things would we desire?" a hooded statue pointed out.

"Do you guys even talk much or do you just stand around doing nothing?" Amity asked.

"It must make you stiff to stand around in those poses like that," Amelia pointed out.

"Well it does get tiring," admitted one statue woman who was in a swaying pose.

"Yeah, I wish I could be in a different pose besides flexing," the bodybuilder agreed.

"That's it, what you guys want is a new pose," Luz said while Cat pulled out her scroll to look up poses.

"How about these?" Cat showed the living statues pictures of different witches doing poses. The statues looked intrigued by them.

"Interesting! We like those poses!" the hooded statue stated. "However, we've been alive but stuck in our current state for so long, only our faces can move."

"No problem." Luz said as she held up her cards. "My animation cards should be able to get you guys moving."

Luz placed a card on each of the statues, causing their bodies to move again. "Wow, you girls solved what we wanted! Now I can do this pose!" the body-builder said as he did the T-pose.

"I can move around the dungeon whenever and however I want now!" the gown wearing woman added while moving her arms.

"Congratulations!" the ghost Dungeon Master said as he reappeared. "You have finished the Escape Dungeon before the time limit, succeeding where other witchlings have failed!"

"We won?" Amelia asked excitedly. "Oh my Titan, we did it!"

"Yay teamwork!" Cat cheered as an exit was revealed and the girls started to leave the dungeon.

"Make sure you pick up your prizes on your way out!" the ghost told them.

Amity was about to follow, turning to Luz. "Come on, Luz. They probably have a good prize-" She then noticed Luz was in front of the portrait in the room, staring up at the woman in the painting. "Luz?"

"Huh?" Luz blinked, looking at Amity. "Oh, sorry Ams. I was just looking over that painting and… well, this is so strange."

"What do you mean?" Amity asked while Luz walked over to her.

"I don't know, it almost felt… like I know this woman…"

In the Owl House, Lilith was checking the messages on Eda's crystal ball just as Eda burst in with King.

"We're back from flying fishing!" King declared, carrying a big fish.

"You wouldn't believe what we caught while we were out there, Lily. I-" Eda then noticed Lilith's expression. "Hey, why the long face?"

Lilith sighed. "It's nothing, just… I was using the crystal ball to check the news when I noticed that there was a notification from… mom," she said, followed by a long pause.

"Oh, did you answer it?" Eda asked awkwardly.

"I tried but the call was blocked," Lilith said. "And that's when I learned that… mother sends you messages. All unanswered. Yet, she hasn't returned any of the calls I made to her or tried to reach out to me like she has to you."

"Um… this is too awkward so I'm just gonna go outside for a bit," King said as he left.

Eda sighed, putting the bag of fish down. "Was the notification about her finding another cure for my curse?" she asked while walking past her sister.

"Edalyn, does mom… visit you?" Lilith asked her.

"Yeah," Eda muttered while focusing on preparing dinner. "Usually annually. Sometimes more."

"Annually? If so, why didn't she tell me about you? About Luz? I have been trying to contact her for years and now I learn that she still calls you, why don't you have her-"

"Because Gwendolyn doesn't care about anyone or anything besides trying to cure my curse, okay!?" Eda shouted at her, shocking Lilith. Realizing her anger, Eda calmed down as she immediately got out her potion and drank it.

"I… I don't understand." Lilith said and Eda just sighed. Lilith then remembered something Luz once told her.

Though at least you acknowledge that I exist, unlike grandma.

"Does… mom know about Luz?" Lilith asked.

"She doesn't acknowledge that I have a kid to raise," Eda clarified. "Look Lily, Gwen keeps saying that she found a cure and she tries to get me off of my prescriptive potions, but every time it's a disappointment. Been that way for the past thirty years."

"What about dad?" Lilith asked her. "Has he called?"

"I… I haven't gotten in touch with him. I did receive a call from him once, but I didn't answer and then I just… hid out in the human world," Eda said and Lilith looked shocked.

"But why not dad? He should at least-"

"You know why, Lilith," Eda said and Lilith was taken aback. Realizing what she said, Eda reached out to her. "Hey, I didn't mean it like-"

"No, it's okay, Edalyn," Lilith said as she walked out of the living room. "It is my fault that you and dad don't talk. I'll be in my room, call me down when dinner is ready." She headed for the tower.

"Lily, I-" Eda tried to reach out to her sister, but it was too late. She looked down at her own hand, then sat down on the couch. "Shit."

"We went through all of that… for chocolate?" Luz asks while holding a chocolate bar.

"Good chocolate," Amelia corrected while chewing.

"Hey, I'll take chocolate over facing off against a deranged villain any day," Amity commented.

"True," Luz said while biting her own chocolate. She then noticed Cat's stare. "What?"

"Oh, nothing! It's just… I don't mean to offend you or anything," Cat spoke nervously. "But, um, you think you can let me do your hair?"

"My hair? What's wrong with my hair?" Luz asked.

"Nothing!" Cat said apologetically. "I-I don't want to offend you or anything, it's just… I noticed that your hair has a lot of tangles and all. I get you're growing it out, but when was the last time you treated it? I mean… when was the last time you got a haircut?"

"Hmm… pretty much never," Luz answered.

"Never!?" Cat exclaimed.

"Yeah, my hair is usually used to store stuff," Luz explained as an eyeball-spider crawled out of her hair. "I never saw much of a point in doing my hair, outside of prepping for the human world date I had with Amity one time."

"You should really try getting your hair done at least once," Cat told her. "Healthy hair leads to a healthy lifestyle."

"It's up to you, Luz," Amity said.

Luz gave it some thought, reaching up to feel a strand. She had grown her hair out just so she could look like her mom, her idol. But she also had to be her own witch and even if she still did something about her hair, she would still be her mother's daughter.

"Alright, fine," Luz decided. "But I don't like the idea of a stranger touching my hair."

Cat almost looked too happy. "I don't think that will be a problem…"

Later at Cat's house, Luz was shouting in pain while Cat was fixing her hair. "Ow! Is that supposed to hurt!?"

"Calm down!" Cat told her. "How are you this tender-headed!?"

White Cat did Luz's hair, Amity and Amelia were waiting outside the bathroom.

"So… you went on a human world date with Luz?" Amelia asked, sparking up a conversation.

"Yeah, our first date though we weren't official at the time," Amity explained. "It was after the party that Cat's brother threw." She realized that this was actually her first time in Cat's place since the party, but it didn't really bother her. Not while she was with Luz.

"And you really went to the human world?" Amelia asked in awe. "What's it like there?"

"Well, the trees are green, no acid rains, and their version of a painbow doesn't turn you inside out. A lot of humans I met and that Luz knows are great people. Not everything there is perfect, just like how not everything here is not perfect. But despite the problems that the human world has, I still had a wonderful time," Amity recalled. "Even though my mom thought it was a bad idea, a change in scenery was what I needed at the time"

Amelia gave an understanding nod. "I'm glad you had fun there. Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing the human world someday."

Amity rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, unfortunately nobody can go to the human world right now since Luz and her mom kinda… lost their only means of getting there."

"Oh," Amelia said in surprise. "How is Luz handling that?"

"She was worried about the prospect of not being able to see her step-brother and his family, but we are looking for a solution," Amity answered

"Wait, Luz has a step-brother?" Amelia asked.

"I'm sure she will be happy to tell you about him herself later," Amity told her. "So you know about my love life… but what about yours? I remember you and Gus going to Grom."

"Oh yeah, Gus is really fun to hang out with. He was also already cute, but then witch puberty hit and he became-" Amelia stopped herself with a blush, lowering her head. "However, we haven't really talked lately because of all the excitement that happened shortly after Grom and how he has been acting pretty distant lately."

"Right, Amity said, thinking about how Gus has been acting recently. "He is just going through some things right now."

"Yeah, I guess," Amelia responded while Amity turned to look at herself in the hallway mirror. As she heard Luz shouting about her hair, Amity reached up to touch her own. Maybe it was time for a change…

"Say Amelia, do you know how to dye hair?" Amity asked.

Inside the Hieron household, there was an attic. In said attic Boscha was showing Tom around.

"You'll be safe here, at least for now," Boscha told him. "We don't use the attic much, which makes it the perfect hiding place."

"Thanks for helping me, Boscha," Tom replied, examining his new living space.. "I could use the boxes as beds, and-" He noticed a marionette doll on a red unicycle, with a black suit and red cheeks. "...that one's going to keep me up at night."

"My moms aren't usually home for most of the day, but you gotta stay quiet because there is no way they are going to let me keep a homeless teen in our house. Will you be alright up here?"

"Yeah," Tom assured her. "It's better here than living in the streets, at least."

Boscha nodded, while thinking about the way Tom acted earlier. "Hey um… do you want to talk at all about what happened earlier?"

Tom looked down in guilt. "I shouldn't have acted like that. That winged demon didn't deserved it, I just got… triggered and things escalated."

"Triggered?" she asked him.

"Let's just say he has a resemblance to the reason why I don't have a home to return to…"

The magical realm of Avalon was home to the Fae. They once all lived together, but have since separated into two clans.

The ruler of one clan was currently looking at himself in the mirror as he wore a black vest with his white tunic. His ears were pointy, his hair was spiky and platinum blonde with horns sticking out of it, and he had glamouring eye shadow over his blue eyes. Two Fae sang nearby at his command. Another Fae came into the room as the ruler adjusted his tie.

"Lord Oberon!" announced the minion. "We've just got news from the Order!"

Oberon just sighed, not even looking at his minion. "What is it, Child of Oberon?" he asked. "What do those bureaucrats have to say now?"

"They have reported that the Coachman has been defeated," the minion explained. "And it's been confirmed that his soul was acquired by the Baron."

Oberon simply rolled his eyes. "Well, at least now the Order will stop bothering me about him. Don't get me wrong, he was very useful once. But in order to get on the good side of the Order, his usefulness had to expire. I suppose that made him desperate enough to cut a deal with Baron Samedi, but it sounds like it all worked out in the end… for me."

"There is a bit more to the report, my Lord," the minion informed him. "The Coachman was defeated in the Boiling Isles, where your step-"

"Former henchman," Oberon corrected.

"Yes, former henchman," the minion repeated. "The Boiling Isles where the exiled Fae went to was also where the Coachman was ultimately defeated… by two mortal teenagers."

Oberon suddenly paused, turning slowly to glare at the minion.

"What?"

The minion was startled and the other two Fae stopped singing. "U-Um, is there a problem? I thought that the Coachman's defeat was a good thing, sir."

"It is, but the way he was defeated… even if he was forsaken by me, he was still a Child of Oberon. A powerful one at that. To hear that he was defeated by not just two mortals, but two mortal teenagers… that makes me, the true Lord of the Fae, look bad. And that is something that I will not tolerate." The lights in the room went dark and the other Fae began to feel a suffocating presence in the room, a display of Oberon's power. "I want to know who these mortals are. I want to keep an eye on them and in time… I will deal with them. This insult against the Children of Oberon will not go unpunished."

Light suddenly returned to the room and the other Fae could breathe again.

"That is my vow," Oberon declared.

"So how do you like it?" Cat asked while Luz looked at herself in the mirror.

"Wow, I like how the highlights are kept in," Luz commented, seeing how her hair was now short to her head level, but now with long bangs and two smaller bangs shaped like orange L's from her orange streaks. It's in the form of a flip-style bobcut, orange streaks at the tips of her upper hair strands. "Yeah, now this I like. I'm gonna miss keeping items in my hair… at least, until it grows back. But good job."

"Thanks," Cat replied, proud of herself.

"You look pretty cool that way, Luz," said Amity as she came in to look at her girlfriend.

"Yeah, I do. Thanks, Am-" Luz turned and paused. Amity had changed her hair as well.

"What do you think?" Amity asked, showing that her once mint-green hair was now dyed in lilac. Without the scrunchy, she had let her hair down. Brown streaks could be seen through the sides.

"Whoa…" Luz said, walking up to her. "You look… gorgeous as always."

This made Amity smile. "Same can be said about you," she replied. "I decided that I need a new look too. Mom likes it green but I think this is more me."

"I agree, lilac is a cute color," Luz replied, blushing. "I mean even if you dye it orange or blue… you'd still look beautiful to me. Not like if hair color defines you or anything."

"Yeah, but it's nice to be just us," Amity replied while holding Luz's hand, the latter fawning over her.

'They are too cute together,' Amelia and Cat both thought.

"Hey, we'll just go down and get some drinks, you two coming?" Cat asked.

"Yeah, we'll meet you down there in a minute," Amity replied while the two other girls left the lovebirds alone. Luz and Amity couldn't keep their eyes off of each other for a while. It was then that Amity leaned over and kissed Luz on the lips.

Meanwhile, at the Brooke residence, Skara tasted Willow's soup. "This is good, thank you so much, Willow."

"No problem, Skara." Willow replied. "I hope it helps you get better, since I want us to try going on our first date together soon."

Skara smiled. "I would like that," she agreed as Willow got texts from her dads on her scroll.

"I gotta get going, but will you be okay?" Willow asked her.

"Y-Yeah, I will be fine," Skara said. "But… it's nice that you came all the way here to see me."

"Hey, that's what girlfriends do," Willow told her, giving Skara a hug before leaving.

"You are an awesome girlfriend," Skara replied, hugging back.

After letting go and saying their goodbyes, Willow bumped into Calypso outside of the bedroom. "Oh, sorry, ma'am."

"No problem, Willow," Calypso replied. "Just be careful out there, okay?"

"Okay!" Willow said, walking past Calypso. She went downstairs and saw Slasher sitting on the couch. "Thanks for having me over, Mr. Brooke!"

"No problem, Willow!" Slasher waved. As soon as Willow was out the door, a yawning sound was heard and rising from Slasher's lap was his wife.

"Mmm, she left already?" Calypso asked with a yawn.

Back in Skara's room, she saw her mother coming in.

"Hey, are you feeling better?" Calypso asked.

"Oh, yeah I'm… fine," Skara replied while making sure that her scarf stayed on.

"You know, you don't have to pretend to be sick just to get your girlfriend to come over," Calypso pointed out, making Skara laugh nervously. "Are you… hiding something, Skara?"

Skara looked away. "I-I-It's just…"

"Skara, if you have a problem, you can trust me," Calypso told her.

Skara sighed. "Okay, but can I ask you something? What if… we let Willow know? I mean, after everything she has done with me and if I want to be serious with her, then I want to tell her about dad's… condition. Don't you think she deserves to know?"

Calypso stepped closer to Skara. "But who could fall for a monster, daughter?"

Skara's eyes widened, shocked that her mother said that. "Wha… what?"

"Skara, you know why we have to keep this a secret from everyone," Calypso said while patting her daughter's shoulder. "Nicole was this close to exposing us, but how do you think Willow will react if she learns just what your father is? What you are?"

'Something's not right.' Skara started to panic as she felt her mother gripping her shoulder. But then she noticed the scent. Or more accurately, the lack of a scent. Skara threw her bowl of hot soup at Calypso. "Let me go!" she yelled, leaping out of the bed.

Calypso only smiled, the hot soup not even seeming to bother her. "Oh? So you can tell?"

"You don't smell like alcohol…" Skara said as she ran for the door and tried to open it. "Mom! Dad! He-" She was grabbed by her fake mom, who covered her mouth.

"Shhh, don't worry, this will be over soon enough…"

"Skara? Skara, are you alright?" the real Calypso shouted as she and Slasher ran upstairs to their elder daughter's bedroom. Slasher knocked the door down, but it was too late. They saw that the window was now open… and their eldest daughter was gone.

Luz was practicing with her glyphs. "Okay… let's try out this!" she said as she smacked an ice and fire glyph together. They glowed and created steam.

Someone clapped behind her and Luz turned around to see that a stranger was sitting nearby, watching her. "I have never seen magic done like that before. How inventive."

The stranger was a woman, someone who looked familiar to Luz. Like she knew her a long time ago. Luz wanted to ask the woman, but when she opened her mouth the voice that came out wasn't her own and neither were her words. "Thank you. I am glad you like it."

Luz then realized that she wasn't in control. She wasn't the one moving or speaking. She was just an observer.

"I am sure that you will be a great witch someday," the woman said, setting her dark sunhat aside and giving Luz a better look at her face. Luz now recognized that it was the same woman from the painting, the woman with the spade marks on her cheeks. The woman sat down, sighing.

"Anything bothering you, Ms. Butterfly?" the body Luz was in asked as it sat next to the woman.

"Oh it's just that… tensions between the Mewmans and Monsters are increasing," the woman admitted. "I brought it up to the Magic High Commission, but they haven't been much help. I only wish that my people could learn to get along with our Monster brethren, like how the witches and the demons here get along just fine."

Even though Luz had never met this woman before, she couldn't help but sympathize with her blight. "I am still hoping to establish peaceful relations between the Boiling Isles and the human world," said the body Luz was in, the male voice now more noticeable to Luz. "I sincerely believe that such a coexistence would be beneficial for humans and witches alike. I am not going to give up on that dream."

"Nor should you, Philip," the woman encouraged.

'Philip? Who the heck is Philip?' Luz thought as the male voice responded to the woman. "I'm sure things will work out for you. Just keep at it, Eclipsa."

'Eclipsa?' Luz thought. 'Wait, who's-'

" Hiya, Lizard Bat!"

"Gah!" Luz was startled when Bill popped up.

"I just thought I would drop by to tell you about Dipper's latest… adventure." Bill looked around at Luz's dream. "Huh, now this is interesting."

"What? What's going on?" Luz asked him. "Why am I in someone else's body? And who's this!?"

"Hmm, if I were a Betting Bradly, I'd say that you're reliving someone else's memory." Bill states while flying around the paused dream, looking at Eclipsa and the young man whose eyes Luz was now seeing though. "It's not my doing, Lizard Bat. But I am still curious about how this is possible."

"Someone's memory… whose memory?" Luz asked, while looking at her pale, different hands. "Is this… Philip's memory? I don't even know who Philip is."

"Well, I was gonna relay a message from Dipper to you, but this is really piquing my curiosity," Bill explained. "Tell you what, I can get a look into this and see where this memory came from. That way, we can both see what goes on in your teenage head. Wadda ya say? Want to make a deal, Lizard Bat?"

Luz gave it some thought before giving her answer. "No," she said. "Look, I appreciate the offer, but I don't want you or any other dream deity in my head. I don't want you to go through in my mind anymore than I'm comfortable with."

Bill rolled its eye.  "Okay then, fine. Good luck trying to figure this out by yourself, but at least think about my offer since it will still be open to you in the future."  He pulled out some mail with Dipper's name.  "Here's the message, by the way. Dipper had a skirmish with the Liliputts, but you'll know all about once it's in your memory."

And then Bill disappeared in a flash of light.

Luz gasped as she woke up. She sat up and looked around, realizing that she was back in her room with Amity sleeping next to her. Luz sighed and laid back down. All she can think about was the lady in the portrait, as well as who Luz was in the memory.

"Eclipsa… Philip… Mewman…" Luz recounted, then gave a confused expression as she got Bill's message. "Wait… there are little people that control the mini golf course?"