Follies at the Coven Day Parade

At the Owl House, Luz and Cruz stared at the video camera on her phone. "¡Hola, Mamá! I know you don't want me and Cruz staying in the Demon Realm, but I'm recording this because I think we can find a middle ground. This is a world of magic and beauty. Just look!" Luz said as she pointed the camera outside the window.

Unfortunately, she chose the wrong time since Hooty was outside hanging his skin to dry leaving only his skeleton to look back at the camera. As the camera zoomed into Hooty he chose to growl causing the twins to scream.

"Oh, Titan! No! No! No!" Cruz yelled out as Luz cut off the video.

Luz started up the video again in the market. The twins looked disturbed from seeing more of Hooty than they ever wanted to see.

"Well you should know, we're even learning magic," Luz said as she held up a piece of paper.

"These papers that I'm holding are a way that we can cast spells. But Cruz made us a new way to do magic just like everyone else." Luz and Cruz showed the gloves to the camera.

Luz and Cruz traced a spell circle as Cruz held a fireball in his hand and Luz held a light orb in hers. "And as a human and hybrid, it impresses pretty much everyone."

From behind Luz, Boscha walked up before bumping into her. She looked directly into the light orb as it exploded causing a flash in her eyes.

Boscha screamed as she covered her eyes. "Human! If you ever do that again, I will set your eyes on fire!"

As Boscha was getting her spell ready, Cruz quickly stood in front of Luz.

"Whoa there. It was just an accident, Boscha. No reason to start attacking her for it."

Boscha looked at Cruz before huffing.

"Fine! But just this once, you got it?" Boscha said as she walked away.

"Welp… she's mellowed out a bit," Luz said happily

"Yeah, she's gotten better at being nicer to people. She's even leaving Willow alone completely now," Cruz said

Luz turned back to the camera with a smile. "She used to mess with us and our friends, but Cruz ended up getting her to leave us alone for good."

"It wasn't that hard honestly. She's a good person, she just needed a reality check."

Luz cut the video again before starting it again at Hexside. "Sure with a name like the 'Demon Realm' this place might seem…"

"It might seem like it's too dangerous here, but it's not too different from back home. And there's lots of places that we know are completely safe," Cruz said

"And there's no safer place than Hexside School of Magic and Demonics, right, Principal Bump?"

The camera panned to Principal Bump, who was petting his Palisman's tail. He looked up and noticed the camera before clearing his throat.

"Why yes. The well-being of our students is our top priority. Which is why we send all our troublemakers to our new and improved detention pit."

The camera panned to show the entrance of the detention pit as a school guard was dragging a bird student towards it.

"Aah! Please, no!" The bird student yelled as the detention pit's doors opened up. The guard then threw the student in.

"Help me…" the door shut as the guard growled. The camera panned back to Bump as he gave it a thumbs up.

"…That's enough of that," Luz said

"Not looking good so far," Cruz said as Luz covered the camera.

At the front entrance, Willow, Gus, and the twins sat on the stairs. Luz was looking down at her phone as Cruz gave Gizmo a scratch behind his ear.

"You know, I think he does it 'cause he's shy. He's just evil and shy. It happens," Gus said

"I heard there's just a mirror underneath. The real emperor was society all along," Willow said in a whisper

"Maybe he's so handsome that people have a hard time focusing on what he says. I get it… I can relate," Gus said with a smirk as he looked up to the Noceda twins.

Luz was still looking at her phone while Cruz was still petting Gizmo as they got ready to head home.

"Guys!" Luz was startled as she quickly hid her phone behind her. "You've seen Belos up close. What's he like under…" Gus gestured towards his face. "All that?"

"Oh. We never really got a good look," Luz admitted

"Yeah… we were too busy trying to survive," Cruz added

Amity suddenly popped up between the twins. "I heard he's scarred from wild magic."

Luz yelled as she fell to the side. Cruz snickered at her.

"You've gotta pay more attention, Luz," Cruz said

"I heard he was attacked by wild beasts when he was younger," Skara said as Cruz yelled and fell over

"You wanna take your own advice, hermano," Luz said with a laugh

"Be nice, Batata," Amity said as she helped Luz up

"Did you just call me a sweet potato?" Luz wondered

"Yes! Is… that not a term of endearment? I'm still figuring out this human language book from Gus." Amity showed her a cookbook titled "Mamá Pura's Recipes.

They looked over to see Gus give them two thumbs up.

"That's a cookbook," Cruz pointed out as Luz rested her head on Amity's shoulder with a blush on both of their faces.

"Aw! Amity, you're the sweet potato!"

"You two are so sweet together," Skara said with a bright smile

"I can come up with a nickname for you too, hermosa," Cruz said as he pulled her in causing Skara to blush.

"So did the Titan blood ever help you out?" Amity asked as Luz and Cruz tensed up

"Did you finish building the door?" Willow asked

"Did you visit your mom?" Gus asked curiously. "Does she know about high-fives too?"

"How did she feel about your horns?" Skara asked as she poked them playfully.

"Oh, uh…" the twins got nervous as they remembered their conversation with their mom

"Promise me. When you come home, you'll stay with me, and you'll never go back to that place," Camila said tearfully

"Mom, it's not you, it never was!" Luz protested with tears

"Please, listen. It's not—"

"Please!"

"…Okay, mom. We promise."

Cruz tensed up when he remembered that conversation. He knew that the Demon Realm had helped Luz to grow much happier.

This realm had accepted Luz and Cruz for all of their quirks and faults. It treated them like anyone else and the people they had met had been the first people to accept them.

There was also the main problem that Cruz was facing. He had no idea if he could stay in the human realm for an extended period of time.

From what Luz had told him, during her small trip back to the Human Realm, the glyph that she'd used hadn't worked and it had simply disintegrated.

Now that he was a hybrid, he had no idea how his blood would react to being in the Human Realm. The newest theory he had from examining Titan Blood was that the blood he'd taken into his body was Titan Blood.

Cruz had no way to know for sure if he actually had Titan blood, but he hadn't found any record of any demon who could use magic in the same sense that he and King could. He was also concerned about the promise he'd made with his mom.

Whenever he tried to remember the promise, he felt like his brain was giving him the wrong memory. Almost like someone had messed with his head when he was in that cube dimension.

While he was thinking about this, Luz spoke, bringing him back from his thoughts. "Uh… we haven't used the door yet. Waiting for a good moment, you know?"

"Yeah… we have to prepare before just jump in," Cruz added in as they heard a hoot from above.

Luz and Cruz looked up to see Eda approaching with King waving to them.

"Later, taters!" Luz said as she grabbed Amity's face and kissed her cheek lighting up Amity's face.

"See you guys!" Cruz kissed Skara's cheek making her blush as he jumped on his staff before pulling Luz up to it to meet up with Eda.

Amity sighed happily before she looked down and noticed Luz's phone. "Hmm?"

The four flew towards the market as Luz and Cruz explained what had happened in the Human Realm and their promise to Camila.

"Come on, you two. There's no way your mom will make you leave the Demon Realm!" King protested.

"Yeah! When she meets us, I'll make sure to put on the charm... that turns people into obedient zombies," Eda suggested

"You're not turning our mom into a zombie," Cruz said as they landed in front of the bounty board.

All over the market, there were lots of scouts running around holding different boxes as they looked like they were getting ready for something.

"Woah, what's going on?" Luz asked as a couple of scouts ran past them holding a large banner.

"They're probably prepping for the annual Coven Day Parade," King said as he climbed onto Luz's shoulder. "Floats, streamers, fireworks!"

Eda groaned. "Ah, It's just a fancy way to kiss the Emperor's…"

As Eda was about to blurt something out, she looked over to see Luz and Cruz giving her a judgmental look as Luz covered King's ears.

"…Whatever. I'm just here to pick something up." Eda walked off as King followed after her. As the twins were about to follow after them, they heard a familiar voice.

"Mother, please! No, I'm not seeing anyone," Kikimora said as she talked into a crow phone. "Yes, I'm standing up straight." Kikimora stood up straight. "Listen, I can't come home. If I don't lead this parade, Belos will end my—No! No, of course I miss everybody. I... What? I can't choose! Hello? Mother? Mother?"

Luz looked down sadly as she felt sympathy for Kikimora and her situation.

"We should catch up with Eda and King," Cruz said as he and Luz met up with the two at a stand for a "Private Inspectergator".

"Hey, you two! I know what'll cheer you up," King said

"Aw, no bread puns today, buddy," Luz said sadly as Cruz gave a silent cheer from being spared.

"What? No. I'm talking about hot goss, girl," King argued as he leapt up onto the counter as the ghost stand owner handed Eda an envelope before disappearing.

"Hot goss buns. Bread pun. Guess why we're here!"

"King?" Eda said in irritation having a bad feeling where this was going.

"Eda hired someone to spy on her ex!"

"Did you read my diary?!" Eda said with a gasp as an embarrassed blush covered her cheeks.

"And they're Head Witch of the Bard Coven!"

Eda covered her ears trying to block out the sound. "Stop it! Stop it, stop it!"

"You have a diary?" Cruz questioned. He never took Eda for the type of person to have a diary

"And they also—"

"Yes! They secretly led a rebel group against the Emperor and got captured! I was there! Cruz was also helping out!"

"You knew about them?" King asked since he hadn't gotten to that part of the diary yet.

"Don't throw me under the bus like that!" Cruz protested

"Too bad! If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me!" Eda said with a huff.

They then heard Luz gasp. When they looked at her, Luz's eyes were shining as her mouth hung open. She then collapsed onto the floor.

"Well, good job. You broke Luz," Eda deadpanned.

"It was the… yeast I could do," King said as he started giggling. Cruz facepalmed at the joke.

After explaining everything to her, Luz was now reading the file on Raine Whispers and the info the investigator had gotten.

"And then Raine battled their fellow coven heads? And sacrificed everything to save Eda?" Luz said as she was crying. "It's just like Hecate and Azura in book 5!"

Eda grabbed the file back from Luz as she stopped the music that King was playing.

"According to this, Raine is still working with the Emperor's Coven which… doesn't make sense. They were seen as a traitor!"

"Maybe you can ask them about it. Look," Luz said as she pointed towards a Coven Day Parade billboard that had Raine's picture on it.

"If they're here for the parade, they'll probably be surrounded by scouts," Eda said as she put a hand to her chin in thought. "Oh, we'd need someone on the inside to lend us a hand."

"Like a certain coven head?" Luz said as she looked over at Cruz

"First of all, Scooter is retired. And second of all, I'm not going to ask him for a favor like this. I know that Skara would help out with the plan, but I have no idea how her grandpa would feel about it," Cruz argued. "We need someone else."

"Hmm." Luz looked over and saw Kikimora trip over a plank of wood before face planting on the ground. A pair of scouts carrying a pipe walked over her as they continued their job undisturbed.

"Hmm?" Luz looked over towards Eda with a smile

"Please tell me that's a joke. Not the puntable looking imp," Cruz said

"Yeah, right. As if she'd give us the time of day," Eda said with a snort.

Kikimora was crying as Luz had her arm around her shoulder. "A-and then, she said if I don't make it back for the family reunion, I'd be banished from Palm Stings and the family home! But I've failed too many missions, and if I leave my job now, I'll be banished from my life!" Kikimora said as she began to sob.

"There you go. It's gona be okay. Maybe there's a way we can help each other out," Luz said as Eda grabbed her hood before pulling her up. Luz looked to see Eda and Cruz looking at her angrily

"Are you out of your mind? Kikimora nearly turned me to stone. She attacked you and Cruz back in Latissa, and she didn't blink when your girlfriend was thrown down a pit!"

"Not to mention she also attacked me back when we infiltrated the castle to get the healing hat," Cruz reminded as he remembered that hat was still sitting in his room.

"Oh, she is bad, and not the hot kinda bad," Eda said as she glanced away while dropping Luz.

"But this could be your way to talk to Raine!" Luz pointed out. "Isn't it worth the risk?"

"Maybe. But what're you getting out of this?" Eda questioned

Luz looked back and saw Kikimora pacing back and forth.

"On the one hand, I miss my family. On the other, Belos is not a forgiving man. But I'm just a party planner at this point..."

"I'm… just a sucker for romantic reunions?" Luz said. Cruz looked at her curiously knowing that it was something else.

"This is true... Ugh, fine!" Eda said agreeing reluctantly

"Fine?" Kikimora asked as she looked at them wearily. "What's fine? What are you cretins planning?"

"Worry not, Kikimora," Luz said as she put a hand on Kikimora's shoulder. "We're gonna help you... by kidnapping you and Raine!"

"What?!" Everyone besides Luz exclaimed

The next day, Eda was rummaging through a trash can next to a vendor selling linen. She sniffed it before groaning at the smell. She took it anyway and ran off.

Luz was standing by Morton's shop as she bought multiple potions from him.

"Thanks, Morton," Luz said as she took the bag. As she was walking away Hooty retched up multiple snails before barging up a skeleton into his hand. Morton looked disturbed as they walked away.

"Keep the change!" Hooty said as he followed after Luz in his porta Hooty box.

As Luz and Hooty walked away, they passed by King who was talking to Edric who was wearing a dark coat trying to look inconspicuous.

"I call it the Ed Ricochet 11," Edric said as he pulled out a large fire rocket from his coat. It had a drawing of him on a griffin holding up a sword. "That's how many times I was sent to the Healing Coven."

"Ooh! Wait, are these legal?" King asked curiously

"Would that make you more or less interested in buying them?" Edric asked

King thought about it before buying it along with multiple other rockets and fireworks. He was chuckling as he reached the forest with the others.

Luz, Eda, Hooty and Cruz were working on a float as King arrived.

"Nice work, everyone," Luz said as King set down the fireworks

"Let's go over the plan one more time," Luz said as she walked over to a board. "King and Hooty will pilot the float during the parade. Once it gets to the halfway point, you two will set off all the glyphs, potions, and fireworks to distract people."

"With my love of mayhem and Hooty's desperate need for attention, this'll be a cake walk!" King said as Hooty nodded in agreement.

"When Kikimora sends off the guards to investigate, that's when Eda and I will obscure the stage and whisk her and Raine away," Luz said as her tone turned slightly frantic. "The Coven can't banish Kiki if she's missing! She'll get the best of both worlds! She'll set an example for us all!"

Eda, King and Hooty looked at Luz in confusion as Cruz realized why Luz was so desperate to help Kikimora.

"Um, I mean– Eda gets to talk to Raine. It's romantic!" Luz said as she tried to cover her tracks but one look from Cruz and she knew that he understood everything.

"Oh, it's not that romantic," Eda said with a blush

"Witch, this is peak of Mount Romance," Hooty said

"Hooty, what would you know?" King questioned

"I've been around!"

"That's disturbing to think about," Cruz said with a disturbed look

Luz was ruffling through her pockets when she noticed she was missing her phone. "Huh. Must've left my phone at the Owl House."

"Wait," Eda said noticing something was missing from the board. "What's Cruz going to do? You didn't mark him down on your plans."

"I'll be watching from the roof. I'll be the back up in case something happens with Hooty and King," Cruz explained

"Are you sure you're going to be fine?" Luz wondered

"I'll be fine. I've got a mask to cover my face, and there'll be a couple of J-Units that are sticking close to give me cover."

"You've got more of those things running around?" Eda questioned

"Yeah! He's been building up his little army!" King said happily

"They're mostly just patrolling Bonesborough and helping out any wild witch they see escape," Cruz explained. "Now let's go kidnap two people from the government!" Cruz exclaimed before he grimaced. "That didn't sound as good as I wanted it to."

At the town square, Kikimora was pacing in front of a Coven float as it was being finished up by a pair of scouts and an Abomaton.

"This isn't going to work. I can't believe I let them talk me into this," Kikimora said with worry

"Talk you into what?" Raine asked as they startle Kikimora.

"R-Raine? How long have you been there? Shouldn't you be practicing your, um parade wave?"

Raine groaned at her suggestion. "You know I hate these things. Talking to people. Waving to people. People." They both shuddered at that though. "But I'm just happy to do my part."

"You seem so much more… calm than before," Kikimora noted as a shadow loomed over her. She gasped when she realized who it was.

"Oh, why wouldn't they be? They were sick for a while, but thanks to me, they're good as new!" Terra Snapdragon, Head Witch of the Plant Coven, said with a smile as she emerged from a large plant.

"T-Terra! And what brings you out of your greenhouse, Head Witch?" Kikimora asked in shock seeing the recluse out and about

"Terra's been helping me recover. I can't remember anything with these..." Raine put a hand to their temple as they winced. "…Headaches."

"Here, sprout. Drink your tea," Terra said as she handed Raine the horn cup they had earlier. She dropped a couple of flower petals into the drink as Raine took it. Raine blew on the cup before drinking it.

"There you go. Now, you're gonna get on top of that float and wave to thousands of chumps all night. Remember to lead with your elbow."

"I'm on it," Raine said as Terra led them away.

"Terra could ruin everything," Kikimora said as she took out a crow phone to try and warn the others. As she began to dial the phone, Terra loomed over her.

"You're not trying to leave, are you? Come. The parade is about to begin."

At night, the parade has begun. The illusion coven had a large float that suddenly disappeared as the old man from the Looking Glass Ruins was sitting there eating. When he noticed that the illusion was gone he cast another one to disappear leaving birds behind.

On the rooftop, Eda, Luz and Cruz jumped from house to house as they got closer to their position.

The Abomination Coven's float was a large Abomination ballon led by more Abominations. Raine stood on the stage of the Bard Coven float as they nervously waved at on lookers.

"It's almost time," Luz said as she looked down at her watch

"Is that our float?" Eda asked as she looked at the float that looked like Belos

"Not bad right?" Luz asked

"I'd say I did a pretty good job considering it was a rush job," Cruz said

Inside of the float, King and Hooty pulled multiple levers as the Belos float winked and did finger guns at the crowd. The crowd cheered as one person had tears in their eyes.

"It's a work of art!"

"That was the signal!" Luz said as Eda stood up

"Let's move," Eda said as she jumped off

"I'll start watching from above," Cruz said as he pulled out a mask that looked like Jean-Luc's face before jumping off towards another roof.

"Okay!" Luz said as she was about to jump off the roof but struggled. "Uh... I can't get down."

Kikimora checked her watch to see how long until the plan would start. Hooty and King also checked their watch before counting down.

"Four! Three! Two…" Hooty and King pulled down a lever as multiple fireworks shot out of Belos' eyes.

Raine turned to see the fireworks as they made a message in the sky.

Belos, more like Boo-los!*

The crowd gasped as Raine frowned at the message.

"Should we, uh, do something about that?" A scout asked Kikimora

"Yes, of course, you hangnails! I command all of you to invesgtigate!" Kikimora said as all the scouts headed towards the Belos float.

From behind the Bard Coven float, Eda and Luz pulled out a pair of mist glyphs as it engulfed Kikimora and Raine's float.

As Kikimora climbed down, Luz snuck up behind her and picked her up.

"And scoop!"

"Ooh! I cannot believe we are being taken against our will. What sayeth you, fiend?" Kikimora said trying to sell the illusion

"Uh! That's right," Luz said trying to disguise her voice. "I, Hecate, will whisk you away to my kingdom of mirrors and snakes!"

Kikimora gave Luz a look of disbelief as Amity, who had been watching the parade while wearing a cloak, facepalmed.

"Hey, come on. I didn't know I had to prepare lines," Luz said in a hushed tone

From behind her, as Raine was preparing to launch a spell Eda snuck up behind them and tied them up using a plant glyph.

"Knock it off you two," Eda said as she slung Raine over her shoulder. "Let's get crackin'." Eda quickly held her breath as she and Raine turned invisible.

"Right," Luz said as she and Kikimora disappeared.

As the smoke cleared, Luz and Kikimora disappeared into an alleyway. Amity quickly followed after the two.

"Mission success, Hooty!" King said as he looked out through the peep hole and saw that they were surrounded by scouts who were ready to attack. "Now, how do we get out of here?"

"We're gonna have to be sneaky," Hooty said as he lifted the float using his body to make it look like it was standing.

"Hi! It's me! Your good buddy Belos! Worship me!"

"Kill that monstrosity!" A scout shouted to the others

"Not the first time I've heard that!" Hooty said with a laugh as he started to hop away.

"Get him!" The scout said as they ran after Hooty and the float.

From on top of the buildings, Cruz looked down and saw Hooty as he was running away.

"Does… does he even need help?" Cruz wondered as he looked over to the three J-Units that he'd brought with him.

"Oh well. Might as well help them out. Remember, don't hurt any of the citizens. And only knock out the scouts, don't use any lethal force. We're just creating a large enough distraction so that they can get away." The J-Units nodded at Cruz as he jumped from the roof and landed in front of the scouts and the Belos float.

"Go! I've got them!" Cruz yelled as Hooty began to hop away.

"Don't let them get away!" The scout captain yelled

Cruz struck his hand out as Gizmo turned into a staff. "You've got bigger issues to deal with."

"Out of the way! Or you'll be going to the Conformatorium!"

Cruz smirked, spinning the staff with a flourish. "I'm afraid I don't plan on conforming anytime soon."

As Cruz struck the staff on the ground, spikes of ice erupted knocking back all of the scouts. "Come and get me, little scouts."

As the scouts rushed Cruz, he ran from the crowd as they launched multiple spells at him.

As Cruz was running from the scouts, Skara and Scooter watched from the crowd. "Hold on, was that Cruz?" Scooter wondered

"It was! What's he doing?" Skara wondered

"Looks like he's attacking coven scouts. I wonder why?"

"I'm sure he's got to have a good reason for it," Skara defended

Scooter began to think about what had happened right before Cruz had started to attack the scouts. He then noticed that Raine and Kikimora were missing from the parade.

"It looks like Raine is missing. And so is that imp Kikimora," Scooter said with annoyance remembering how Kikimora was always trying to put down any effort his Coven had made over the long years of his service.

"So then Cruz helped someone kidnap them?" Skara asked

"I think so. He's not the type of person to do something like this for no reason. It might be too much for him alone. Especially if Tera is here."

"Then I'm going to go help him," Skara said before realizing that she'd just told her grandpa that she planning to help fight against the Emperor's Coven.

When she looked over to him, she was surprise to see that Scooter was smiling at her.

"You do what you feel is right. I'm not going to hold you back. And besides, I'm sure that Cruz is doing this for a good reason."

"Thanks, grandpa. I'll tell you all about it once I'm back home," Skara said as she ran off after Cruz.

As Cruz ran from the scouts, he looked up and saw that the J-Units were following closely behind on the rooftops.

With a smirk, Cruz stoped as he turned to look at the scouts.

"Are you finally done running?" The captain asked

"Yeah, we finally got to the spot I wanted to stop at," Cruz said as the scouts all looked at each other before they started to approached Cruz.

Cruz suddenly let out a loud whistle. "Remember! Knock them out!"

"Who are you talking to?" Suddenly, the scouts heard clicking noises coming from above them. As they looked up, they saw the three J-Units looking down at them.

"What are those things?!"

"They look like Abominations!"

"It's the moonlit soldiers!"

When the scout called them the moonlit soldiers, Cruz looked confused but then realized that the J-Units had gained a reputation while they were patrolling and attacking coven scouts at night.

"So now what's your plan?" Cruz asked with a smirk.

As the scouts began to back away someone suddenly spoke up.

"Oh my. Are you really having trouble with one Wild Witch?" Tera asked as she rose up from the ground in a large Venus fly trap.

"Head Witch Snapdragon. What are you doing here?" The captain asked

"I was looking for Kikimora but she managed to slip away from me when someone interfered. I heard some commotion and I see this. It's a disgrace to see the Emperor's Coven struggling against one child."

The scouts all looked down in shame as Cruz gripped his staff. As he was about to prepare another spell, vines shot up and grabbed his hand.

"I'm afraid we can't have that. Little sprouts like you need to learn some disciple. The Conformatorium will do you some good," Tera said with a wicked smile

One of the J-Units jumped towards Cruz as it sliced through the vines holding onto him.

"Thanks! Now take the others and deal with the scouts. Remember your orders!" Cruz commanded as the three J-Units jumped back on roof.

"Looks like you'll be a bit busy, captain. Don't worry, I'll deal with the little weed here." The captain and the other scouts all chased after the J-Units as they tried to contain them.

"Now then, weed, how shall I deal with you?" A fireball shot towards Tera as she used a large vine to block it.

"Quite feisty aren't you? Reminds me of another Witch from long ago. Maybe you're related? She also had a few thorns," Tera said as she remembered Eda and Raine when they were students.

"Will you quit it with the plant puns! They're getting annoying!" Cruz slammed his staff on the ground as spikes of ice flew towards her.

Tera summoned multiple vines as they shattered the ice spikes. She smirked before looking up and seeing a fire ball heading towards her.

She quickly brought up more vines to block the fireball but her hair was singed a bit.

"You're better than I gave you credit for. But I'm afraid I don't have time to be dealing with you right now," Tera said as she spun a spell circle.

From the ground, a large plant that looked like it was mixed with a crocodile rose up. Its head was flat while its body was a large plant rooted to the ground. It had a large glowing gold spot on its stomach as vines surrounded it. Some of the vines had mouths on the end.

"It might not be the best plant I have, but it'll get the job done. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to find Kikimora and that human again."

Cruz glared at Tera as she was swallowed up by a plant before teleporting away.

"Oh great now I've gotta deal with this thing." Cruz gripped his staff as the plant's vines whipped around the air.

"Let's do this, Giz!" Cruz spun his staff preparing a spell, but suddenly, vines shot up from the ground and grabbed his arms and legs.

His staff fell to the floor as Gizmo hopped off the staff. As Gizmo hissed at the vines. A vine shot up and wrapped around him.

"Gizmo!" The plant's smaller mouths got closer to Cruz as they prepared to bit him. Cruz continued to struggle against the vines but couldn't break free.

As Cruz was about to let out a roar, he heard a harp playing before a sound wave sliced through the vines in front of him and Gizmo freeing the two.

Cruz looked over to the alleyway where the sound wave came from and saw Skara standing there with her harp.

"Skara! What are you doing here?"

"Making sure my boyfriend doesn't end up plant food," Skara said as she ran up to Cruz. "Why didn't you tell me that you were doing something like this? I could've helped."

"Sorry about that, hermosa. We didn't have too much time for our plan," Cruz said as Gizmo climbed up his arm and wrapped around his neck.

"I hope you'll tell me about it once we're done here," Skara said as she grabbed her staff

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to tell you everything." As more vines shot towards Skara, Cruz quickly spun a spell circle creating a large barrier in front of the two.

"Hey, you stupid weed. Don't you dare try and touch my girl," Cruz said as he took off his mask before throwing it on the floor. Skara looked over at him and saw that his eyes were shining with a hue.

The plant roared at Cruz as it sent multiple vines towards the two.

Cruz and Skara quickly spun two spell circles. Cruz shot lightning towards the front of the plant, while Skara launched lightning from above it.

As the lightning stopped, a large cloud of smoke was left where the plant beast was standing. Cruz and Skara let out a sigh of relief.

"At least it's over," Skara said

"That thing was tougher than I thought. And she said it wasn't even her best," Cruz said not liking what her best plant would be like.

Suddenly, vines shot up from the ground as they grabbed Skara and Cayenne. Cruz looked over and saw the plant still standing a bit singed from the lightning.

"You stupid plant! Just go down already!" Cruz yelled as he looked over to see the vines compressing around Skara.

Cruz spun his staff before slamming it on the ground. A plethora of ice spikes erupted from the ground as they ripped apart the vine holding Skara before pinning the plant down.

"I'm ending this now!" As Cruz spun his staff it created a red spell circle as his eyes began to glow again. Cruz pointed the staff towards the plant as red lightning hit the plant.

From the point where the lightning hit, the plant began to turn to stone before it was completely petrified. Cruz dropped to his knees as he caught his breath in huffs.

Skara looked on in wonder as the plant beast stood in front of them looking like nothing more than a statue.

"When'd you learn that spell?" Skara asked

"I learned it back before they tried to petrify Eda. I… don't like using it. I haven't even told Luz about it yet."

Skara looked at the petrified plant before looking back at Cruz. "Are you… scared of the spell?"

Cruz was silent for a moment before nodding. "A spell that causes this much devastation just feels… wrong. I don't want to be the type of person that can have something that can just… kill someone. It's terrifying."

After a bit of silence, Skara wrapped her arms around Cruz. "You're fine, Cruz. You're not the type of person that would ever misuse a spell like that. Anyone who would is a monster," Skara said before looking at Cruz with a smile. "But you're not a monster. I know you'd only use something like that to protect someone. Just like you did right now."

Cruz looked at Skara with wide eyes before smiling. He could feel a bit of weight off of his shoulders. The guilt he'd been carrying from the Conformatorium was feeling a lot lighter now.

"Thank you, Skara. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me," Cruz said as he kissed Skara's cheek. Skara blushed before kissing him back.

"Should we head back to the parade?"

"I have to find Luz first. Tera said she was looking for her and Kikimora. They'll be in trouble if I don't go help her."

"Oh that's bad. My grandpa always told me to stay away from Tera. He said she was dangerous, and maybe psychotic."

"She might be from what I saw. But I know she makes really dumb plant puns."

"Cruz!" Eda yelled out from above the two.

Cruz and Skara looked up to see Eda heading towards them

"Eda! Are you okay?" Cruz asked as Eda landed. "What happened with Raine?"

"I… don't want to talk about it right now. We should head back to the parade. Luz is waiting for us. So are King and Hooty."

"Oh good, they got away," Cruz said in relief as Gizmo turned into a staff.

The three landed on a roof over looking the parade. Luz and Amity were sitting on the roof while King and Hooty sat next to them.

"Luz! How'd the plan go?"

"Not so great… Kikimora ended up betraying us," Luz said looking down in disappointment

"That's okay, I didn't really trust that imp to begin with. She's too greedy for her own good."

"Tell me about it. She heard something about a promotion and was ready to run back to Belos. How about you? How'd your distraction go?"

"Pretty well actually. The J-Units ended up knocking around the scouts easily. Until I had to fight Tera Snapdragon. That lady was crazy strong," Cruz said as Eda looked at him in alarm.

"You fought Tera! Are you okay? She didn't poison you did she?" Eda asked in a panic

"I'm fine, Eda. I managed to fight her off until she went after Luz and Kikimora. Then she left this big plant monster behind. Skara stepped in and saved me," Cruz said

Skara leaned over and put her head on Cruz's shoulder. "You were doing so great against that thing. I just helped out a bit."

"Don't sell yourself short. I'm pretty sure I would've been plant food if it wasn't for you," Cruz said as he held Skara's hand.

At the front of the crowd, Kikimora, Raine and Tera stood as Kikimora approached the microphone nervously.

"Um, thank you, Bonesborough, for joining us during this year's Coven Day Parade," Kikimora said nervously. "This year is extra special because the Emperor himself has an announcement to make."

A giant projection of Belos rose up as the crowd cheered. "Thank you, everyone. Together we are perfecting the Coven System as the Titan intended. The Day of Unity will be in exactly one month, when the tide is at its lowest and the moon obscures the sun," Belos announced.

From their home, Lilith and Gwendolyn watched on their crystal ball. "At that time, we will journey to the head of the Isles, and there, the worthy shall inherit a utopia free of wild magic."

The crowd gasped at the revelation of a large banner that showed the skull of the Titan while hands with Coven sigils were held up to it.

"Free of wild magic? How's he supposed to do that?" King asked

"Doubt it's anything good," Cruz said as he glared at Belos as his image returned

"There is… one more thing I'd like to share with you. I've always hidden my face, out of fear. But because of your support, I can finally take off this mask."

Eda blew a raspberry. "So phony. He's just trying to distract us from his crazy utopia talk! Too bad it won't work~!"

They all looked back at the projection when they heard the crowd gasp as they saw the large scar across his face. Cruz wondered how he got that scar across that face. The color looked similar to what had fallen from his shoulder the last time they'd fought in the Conformatorium.

"Thank you, Boiling Isles," Belos said

"We love you grandpa!" One person yelled out

Willow and Gus watched the parade from Willow's room. They gasped when they saw Belos' face but then looked unimpressed.

"Happy Coven Day, everyone!" Belos said as the projection ended before turning into a firework. The crowd began to chant Belos' name.

"Is... Belos planning something? And why did he say he's going to meet you again?" Amity asked in worry as she grabbed Luz's hand. "Didn't you already meet him? What else don't I know? What's gonna happen?"

"I– I'm not sure. But for now... we'll take things one day at a time," Luz said as she pulled Amity in closer.

Cruz felt his blood boil knowing that Belos still had plans to hurt his friends and family. But now he knew, no matter what happened and no matter what he'd need to do, he would protect everyone.

After the parade had ended, Tera walked back towards the spot where she'd left her plant. She had tried to summon it again but it had ignored her. At times when it was eating, the plant would ignore her in favor of eating its meals.

As she got closer, she spotted her plant simply standing there in the center.

"Oh for Titan's sake, if you're done eating then come to me immediately. Next time you do this I will starve you." Tera frowned when she noticed that the plant hadn't responded to her.

"What's the matter?" As Tera got closer she noticed that the plant's color wasn't right. Tera's eyes widened in disbelief as she realized why the plant had ignored her.

It wasn't being disobedient. It had been petrified.

"That's impossible. A Wild Witch with a petrification spell? Only the Emperor has a spell like that," Tera said in disbelief before a wicked smile spread across her lips as she picked up Cruz's mask.

"Quite an interesting sprout I've found."