O Titan, Where Art Thou

When King opened his eyes, he was glowing in a golden hue. He sat up as he looked around and saw the ship he was on. He looked down to see his collar glowing.

As he walked to the front of the ship he saw the same cubes that Luz and Cruz saw when they entered the portal. Suddenly, he heard chuckling and looked up.

"Almost free, almost free!" The Collector said giddily.

"Luz? Cruz? Hooty?" King looked around before he started to float. "Whoa, whoa! Is someone there?"

"I won't be alone, I won't be alone anymore!" The Collector laughed

"Hello, hello?"

"Who said that? Who's there?" The Collector demanded as he tried to see from his prison.

King started to back away. "Wait! Wait, wait, wait! Don't leave! Come back!"

King suddenly woke up as he gasped and looked around confused.

"Hey, sleepyhead. We're back in Bonesborough," Luz said as King looked out towards the edge of the ship and saw the bones of the Titan.

As Luz and Cruz walked off the ship, they waved to Salty before Luz looked at her game device as Hooty loomed over her.

"Hmmm. 'Mom took Pensta, but we're safe. We'll contact.' Aww, she sent so many hearts! Hope she's doing okay," Luz said

"Skara said that they managed to push away the scouts that were sent over. And Gus managed to take down the Coven Head too," Cruz said as he smiled when he saw the hearts that Skara had sent him too.

"Is that Amity and Skara? It's okay if you want to check up on them. I can get to the Owl House on my own," King said

Luz and Cruz looked down at King as he blinked at them. Cruz picked him up as he put King on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, King. I'm not leaving you again," Cruz said

"Hey, look!" Hooty exclaimed as he pointed towards the town. "Everyone missed us so much they put up pretty signs!"

The twins looked and saw wanted posters for Eda in her harpy form, Luz holding a light spell with King next to her, Lilith holding fire in her hand, a demonic looking Hooty, and Cruz holding lightning.

They saw two townsfolk glare at them as they held up Lilith's poster.

"Let's… take the long way home," Luz said as she pulled up her hood.

"I agree," Cruz said as he took out a little marble before putting on a piece of paper. When he tapped it, the marble glowed for a second before disappearing.

As the three head to the Owl House, they hear someone coming. Luz and Cruz both activated an invisibility glyph as a pair of scouts driving a carriage passed in front of them.

"Without that bird-tube, this place was wide open!" A scout said as he took a swig from a giant jug of Apple Blood.

"I still haven't recovered from that tea party," the scout driving the cart said with a shudder.

Luz and Cruz exhale as they turn visible again.

"I knew I should've called a few J-Units back to the house," Cruz said with a growl.

As the three walked into the Owl House, they see that everything had been ransacked leaving the house empty.

"Do you think they were arrested?" King asked

"You know that they're craftier than that," Cruz reassured him as Luz noticed a piece of paper on the ground.

When she picked it up, she activated a light glyph and saw that it showed a picture of a knee with the words "Here" on it.

"They're hiding out on the Knee!" Luz said.

At the Knee, Eda and Lilith were hiding out in a cave as they discussed their plans.

"So if I'm understanding this correctly, Raine and some other Coven Heads have been gathering information on the Day of Unity to try and stop it?" Lilith asked

"That's right, now the only thing we have to do is contact them. But I'm not sure how," Eda said

"Have you tried… calling them?"

"I can't," Eda protested. "If I call Raine, someone might hear them."

"Then how do you suggest we contact them? Your only idea was to run into town and look for them."

"It could work. And besides, we don't have to look for only Raine. Either Darius or Eberwolf would've worked." Suddenly, they heard a trap go off.

"Someone's tripped the booby trap," Eda said.

Mike Socks and Owlbert were flying above the entrance as they ran to check on it. They were surprised to see Luz, King, Cruz, and Hooty inside of a net.

"Hey, Lulu!" Hooty said

"Hiiii," Luz and Cruz said as Eda and Lilith brought them down before taking them into the cave.

As they gathered around a fire, Luz began to explain how they had arrived there.

"It took awhile to figure out which town you're in from your map," Luz explained. "We had to keep off the streets with all those wanted posters, but that's when we saw your Hex Mix trail and well, you know the rest!"

"Seriously. Who leaves a trail of Hex Mix on the ground. This isn't Hansel and Gretel," Cruz said as Eda put her jacket around Luz's varsity jacket.

"What map are you talking about?" Eda questioned as she sat next to Lilith

"The one you left us. Obviously," Luz said as she took out the map.

"Oh! The one we left them!" Eda said as she had to hold herself back from smacking Lilith.

"Well… someone had to bury our bones," Lilith argued

"That's just morbid," Cruz said as Hooty snaked his way around Lilith.

"Lulu! I got you a shirt!" Hooty said before he threw up a shirt on Lilith's lap as she held it up slightly disgusted.

"I was sacrificed to the Grand Huntsman?" Lilith read in confusion

"What the?" Eda questioned

"That's such a specific shirt. And when did you even have time to grab it?" Cruz wondered

"So... turns out King's letter was sent by a bunch of Titan Trappers. And they may have tried to sacrifice King to the Collector… who they worship," Luz explained as Eda's eyes widened

"They were Titan Trappers?! The one place you go outside of the Isles and there's Titan Trappers?!"

"Well… they couldn't have been that scary without any Titans to trap!" Lilith said

"Actually…" Luz began as she looked over at King as he nodded.

Cruz blinked in confusion as he looked at Eda. "Wait… you haven't told her yet?"

"Told me what?" Lilith asked

"King… is a Titan."

"Guess you and Luz were the last ones to find out that I'm due for a growth spurt soon," King said as Lilith's eyes widened as she gasped in shock.

As Lilith processed everything, King was playing in the snow making a snow version of Francois.

King wrapped his scarf around the snow bunny before looking out towards the Titan skull sadly. Hooty then wrapped his body around King to try and comfort him.

"Sorry about not telling you about King, Luz," Eda said as they watched King continue to play in the snow.

"I guess him being a Titan explains his new powers," Luz said as she looked over at Cruz. "It also explains your new appearance."

"I guess, King and I were pretty surprised when we found out. It does explain a lot of things that've been happening to the glyphs I use."

"I… can't believe this!" Lilith said in surprise as she walked up to the trio. "All this time you've had a Titan under your roof." Lilith then gasped. "I've eaten ice cream with a god! And Cruz is a Demigod!"

"Just 'cause he's got tall genes doesn't mean he's a god," Luz pointed out

"And he falls into the toilet like once a day," Eda said

"Do I really count as a demigod? I wasn't born with half Titan blood. More like a blood transfusion," Cruz pointed out

"Perhaps he's still too young. His powers haven't... awakened yet. If Cruz is any indication, then he'll be extremely powerful. Who knows how he'll be able to help us against Belos!"

Luz looked at Lilith with concern as Eda put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry Luz, we're not putting him in danger," Eda said as she scowled at Lilith. "He's a Clawthorne and technically your nephew, remember… dear sister?"

"Right, of course," Lilith said as she waved her off. "Ha! I'm a god's Aunt!" She quickly stopped as she pondered. "But is he a gentle god or an angry god?"

"That'd better not turn into a whole thing with her. And besides if we need a Titan to fight, then I'll do it," Cruz said as Gizmo barked.

"I don't want you fighting that monster either," Eda said as Luz looked up at her.

"So? Fill us in! How are we gonna defeat Belos and his Draining Spell?" Luz asked as Eda scratched the back of her head.

"Uh, right. Well… I'm not really… sure," Eda said as Luz looked at her in surprise

"Wait, what?! Do you seriously not have a plan? Did Raine not have one?"

"Well the thing is… I haven't been able to contact them yet. I'm not even sure how I'd do it."

"Well you can't use Penstagram. There's a chance that someone will hear them," Cruz said

"That's the point I was making to Lily. Not sure how I'm supposed to contact them."

Cruz dug into his bag before pulling out a small blue radio. "You can use this to call them", Cruz said as he handed the radio to Eda. "Press the button once to send a signal to the radio that Raine has. Once they're alone, they'll answer you."

"It's that simple?" Eda asked

"Yep! Just hold the button when you're talking and let go if you want to hear them talk."

"Wait… how do the radios work here?" Luz questioned. "I thought they needed a specific signal to talk to each other?"

"They do. The radios use the same signal that the J-Units use. I have some of the J-Units hiding out high throughout Bonesborough acting like towers."

"The signal passes through them like a relay. I'm thinking of calling it… the J-Signal." Cruz looked over to see Eda and Luz grimace. "Name could use some workshopping but you get the idea."

"There! All done!" King said as they turned to look at him. "Nice to meet you Fran-snow...ois." The snow bunny's arm fell off as King grew dejected.

"Aw, King, let me help with that," Luz said as she walked over to King.

"So we'll be able to contact them using that little device?" Lilith asked as she looked at the radio.

"That's right. I'm sure that Raine will be happy to know that you're fine," Cruz said with a smirk as Eda slightly blushed.

"You might want to wait just a bit. After all, Luz and King both deserve a day to just relax after all the craziness they've gone through." The three watched as Luz made an ice arm to replace the one the snow bunny had lost.

"And King deserves our praise!" Lilith yelled out as Eda and Cruz gave her an unimpressed look. "Don't worry, Cruz. You deserve our praise as well."

Cruz simply facepalmed as he and Eda walked up to Luz and King.

"Alright, kids! I'll be contacting Raine in a bit, but if you could do anything in the world today, what would it be?" Eda asked

"Thanks, Eda, but I just want things to be normal right now," King said as he looked down sadly

"Well, I wanna go on a heist!" Luz said with determination

"Of course you do," Eda said with a smile

"Are you planning to get our stuff back?" Cruz wondered

"Yep!" Luz said happily. "We're gonna break into the precinct!"

"And we're doing this for… Francois?"

"Exactly! Now let's go!" Luz said as she stood up

"You guys go without me," Cruz said as he took out a notebook before flipping the page to a drawing of a pair of flash drives.

"If you see these flash drives, grab them. They're going to be in a box that says Cruz's key."

"What's on the flash drives?" Luz asked

"All my data on the portal," Cruz said as Eda and Luz looked at him in surprise. "I can't let anyone get their hands on it. It's too important."

"Then why not come with us?" Eda asked

"Well for one, I have some preparations to make before the Day of Unity. I also want to check up on everyone else and make sure they're safe. And besides, I trust you guys to handle it. I know you can take down any coven scout that comes after you guys."

"If you're checking up on a few things, how are you planning to get around? Just with Gizmo?" Eda asked

"Not this time," Cruz said as his gloves began to glow. "I've got way too much ground to cover this time. I'll never make it if I'm only flying on Gizmo. I've got a new trick up my sleeve. Teleportation."

Luz and Eda looked at him in surprise before Luz thought about it. "Wait so you mean… the same glyph that… Belos used?"

"Yeah, the same one we saw in the past. If that roach decided to use my technology for his plans, then I'm going to use any bit of knowledge he had for my plans."

"Stay safe out there, Cruz," Eda said. "Belos won't take any more chances with any of us."

"Don't worry. I can handle myself just fine. I'll meet up with you guys after I'm done getting ready. I'll contact Raine about where to meet up," Cruz said as he held up another radio.

Cruz took a deep breath before tracing a large spell circle into the air and surrounding himself in a gold ring. As the ring dropped down, gold lightning streaked up as Cruz was enveloped in a light blinding Luz and Eda.

When Eda and Luz looked at where Cruz was standing, they saw that he was gone.

"We'd better hurry up with the heist then. Gotta make sure we're back before Cruz is," Eda said

"You've got it! Let's go!" Luz said happily as the two climbed on Owlbert and flew off.

As Cruz opened his eyes, he rubbed them to get the spots out of his vision.

"Note to self: when teleporting, close your eyes." When he looked ahead of himself, he saw that he was standing at the entrance to the Temple of Sound. "Let's see if I can't boot you up."

As Cruz stepped into the hidden room of the temple, he looked around to see if there was a reaction from it. "Hey! Come out! I know you're in here!"

A purple ghost rose up from in front of Cruz. "Welcome, young King. It has been some time since the ritual. I see you are doing quite well."

"My name is Cruz. Don't call me a young King. That's my brother's name."

"Of course, the little one. He shall one day grace our halls." The ghost examined Cruz before smiling at him. "You've changed. You have become something much more than you were before."

"What are you talking about? Are you talking about the Titan blood inside of me?"

"Yes, the king's blood inside of you has changed. It was once a small part of the Titan that dwelled within. But now, it seems like most of the blood within you has turned to be that of the Titan."

"I figured that's what was happening. I drank plenty of Titan blood. It makes sense that I'm more Titan than human."

"You are not just a Titan. You have become a different type of Titan than the little one."

Cruz looked at the ghost in confusion. "What are you talking about? I ran tests on my blood. I'm positive that I have the same blood as my brother."

"Indeed. You and the little one are the same species. However you are what's considered a subspecies. The little one is considered a Royal Titan. You on the other hand are what's considered a War Titan."

"A War Titan? What is that?"

"During the times of peace, when this temple was used more often, Titans were all considered the Royal species, they were all peaceful creatures. However, that all changed when they came."

"Who was it?"

"They called themselves the Archivists."

Cruz frowned when he heard that. The name felt familiar for some reason. Maybe a memory that dwelled in the Titan blood.

"They were a race that came from the stars. They wanted to collect the species in the demon realm. The Titans didn't approve, so they fought back."

"The fight wasn't easy but the Titans figured out that they, and they alone, were immune to the Archivist's magic. So a new plan was made. The Royal Titans would mix their blood with the other species in the realm."

"They were planning to create hybrids. A mixture between a Titan and a witch or a demon."

"Precisely. With the mixture of the bloods, a new type of Titan would be born. They were to be called… the War Titans."

"They were? Did they fail to make them?"

The ghost shook their head. "It wasn't a matter of failing to create them. They were simply too young. The blood did not have enough time to truly mix and bring out the full strength of the War Titan. Unlike your own mixture, the others didn't have enough time to properly become Titans. They were mostly witches."

"I sped up the process, didn't I?" Cruz asked as the ghost nodded. "I used the Titan blood inside of the J-Units to give myself a power boost. I sped up the natural process."

"That's right. By drinking more Titan blood, you replaced your human blood with Titan blood. However your body would not be able to handle it thus there were side effects."

Cruz realized that he meant that time that his body had a negative effect after they broke out of the Conformatorium.

"So tell me, am I more Titan than human now? Or is there still some humanity left in me?"

"You are unique. You are the only War Titan that lives in this day and age. And the only of your kind that has ever existed."

Cruz sighed as he looked at the ghost. "Guess I'm mostly Titan now. Not sure how much of my blood is still human but I guess that's not important right now. I have a question."

Cruz pointed towards the wall where the giant J-Unit had come out of for his trial.

"That behemoth J-Unit. Can it move outside of this temple or is it going to stop moving when it leaves it?"

"Like myself, the Juggernauts are all tied to the temple and the old blood. So they would cease all functions once they step outside."

Cruz scratched the back of his head as he thought about it. "There's not enough time. The Day of Unity is in two days. I don't have the time to reprogram a Juggernaut unit before that. They might attack indiscriminately if I'm not there giving them orders."

"Is there anything else I can help you with, Cruz?" The ghost asked

"It's fine. You answered my questions just fine. I was just hoping I would be able to use the Juggernauts for the Day of Unity, but since I don't have time I'll have to reprogram them later."

"If you are heading to war then your blood will be your best weapon. Your species was designed for war. The Royal Titan was the peace while the War Titan is the wrath. The Royals used their blood to travel. While the Wars used theirs for destruction," the ghost said before sinking into the ground.

Cruz looked down at his hand before clenching his fist. "Wrath and destruction is a good way to describe it. If the Juggernaut won't work then I still have my back up plan."

Cruz traced a spell circle over his head before dropping it down again and teleporting.

As Cruz opened his eyes, he saw the Owl House in front of him. He saw that it looked like the Emperor's Coven had come back and gratified on the walls.

They had scribbled "Emperor's Coven was here" and "Bad Word" on the wall next to the door.

"Seriously? They couldn't come up with anything better to do?" Cruz said with a sigh as he walked into his tower. As he looked around his destroyed lab, he saw multiple bottles shattered on the ground.

"Oh come on. They couldn't have at least not broken all of these. I worked hard on them," Cruz said as he moved the debris on the floor. When he made it to his desk, he noticed that his laptop had been taken.

"Oh great. If I'd known they'd taken my laptop, I would've told Luz to see if it was in the precinct."

As Cruz was about to take out his radio to contact Raine, he heard a commotion from outside.

When he looked out the window, he saw that a group of Emperor's Coven scouts were outside and had Skara surrounded.

Cruz quickly jumped out the window shattering it before climbing onto his staff.

As the window shattered, all of the scouts looked up as they saw Cruz fly down towards them before landing in front of Skara.

"Skara, are you okay?" Cruz asked as he turned to look at her

"Yeah I'm fine!" Skara said with a bright smile. "I was just checking up on the Owl House when they surrounded me."

"It's the kid from the wanted poster!" One of the scouts said. "Blast him!"

As the scouts prepared their spell circles, Cruz quickly made two spell circles and slammed his hand on the ground. A burst of wind shot out of the ground as it knocked all of the scouts onto the ground.

Cruz then made another spell circle as vines erupted from the ground and tied up all of the scouts.

"That won't hold them for long, but it'll keep them down long enough," Cruz said as he turned to Skara. "Is everyone else okay?"

"Yeah everyone is fine for now. We were hiding out in Hexside. I wanted to check out the Owl House just in case you came back. They ambushed me when I was going to head back," Skara said as she looked down.

"I'm just glad that you're safe," Cruz said as he wrapped his arms around Skara causing her to blush.

"We should get back to the others just in case they need our help," Cruz said as Skara nodded. The two climbed onto their staff before flying off towards Hexside.

As they arrived at Hexside, Cruz and Skara noticed that Bump was standing outside as if waiting for them.

"Hey, Principal Bump. How's it going?" Cruz asked

"Cruz, it's good to see you again. Is your sister safe?" Bump asked

"Yeah she's fine. Luz is with Eda right now. And King is with aunt Lily, who's… dealing with some news."

"What happened?" Skara asked

"Nothing bad honestly. Just something that we found out when we went to another isle. So tell me, what's going on here? Last I heard, a Coven Head showed up."

"Ah yes, Graye. He posed a problem but we dealt with him. Or to be more precise, Augustus was the one that dealt with him."

"I heard. Gus is seriously powerful for his age."

"Indeed. And we had Hunter explain a bit of the situation to us, including who Belos truly is."

"He told us that Belos is some guy named Philip Wittebane, and that he's been alive since the Deadwardian era," Skara explained

"Yeah he is," Cruz said. "Belos is actually someone from our hometown. He and his brother are a local legend from back there. That's why we have to take him down for good."

"I understand this, but putting yourself in danger against him won't do any good. He is still the Emperor, the most powerful person on the Boiling Isles," Bump said

"Maybe, but we still have to take him down. Especially with that Draining Spell of his."

"And we will take him down," Skara said as she grabbed onto Cruz's hand. "We'll do it together."

Cruz smiled at her before a thought occurred to him. "Where's Hunter now?"

"He's inside of Hexside. He's with Augustus and Ms. Park."

"Then I'll go check on them," Cruz said as he and Skara walked into Hexside with Bump following after them.

As they walked into the school, Cruz noticed that all of the students were preparing defenses around the windows and setting up healing stations.

"Looks like everyone is getting ready for the Day of Unity," Cruz said as some students walked past holding planks of wood.

"Yeah everyone is getting ready in case the scouts come back," Skara said. "We have Jean-Luc as back up. But we can't rely on him only."

"That's true," Cruz pondered as took J.J. out of his bag. As J.J. started up, they stared up at Skara then back to Cruz.

"Are the rest of the soldiers ready?" Cruz asked as J.J. nodded. "Good. Contact the rest in the storage and have them spread out through Bonesborough. I want all units active and working on their assignment. If they spot any wild witches, help them escape and any scouts are to be knocked out."

"I don't want any of them to be killed. Send for three squads of five to be sent here to Hexside. They're going to help the students with their defenses and anything they might need around here."

J.J. nodded before they started to shake.

"What're they doing?" Skara asked

"Sending out the signal. After it's done, they'll go back to sleep until I need them again."

As soon as J.J. stopped shaking, they shut down and curled up into themselves. Cruz put J.J. back into his bag before turning to look at Bump.

"They'll be here soon. Before they do, let all the students know that they're on our side and that they'll protect them."

"Understood. I'll inform the students immediately," Bump said as he headed towards the gym.

"We should find the others and let them know the plan," Cruz said

"You're right, they said they were going to be in the Human Appreciation Society room," Skara said as they headed towards the club room.

As they entered the club room, they saw Gus, Willow, and Hunter sitting around talking when they noticed Cruz walk in.

"Cruz!" Gus and Willow exclaimed before running up to him.

"Hey, guys! I'm so glad you're okay," Cruz said with a smile before looking over at Hunter. "I'm glad you're okay too, Hunter."

"If you're here does that mean that everyone else is safe?" Hunter asked

"Don't worry. Everyone is fine. They'll contact Raine later so that they can get the rest of the plan and hide out at the base."

"Wait. You mean Raine Whispers?" Skara asked. "Are they part of the rebellion?"

"Yeah. Eda and I were working with them on a smaller rebellion earlier but they got caught by Darius and Eberwolf," Cruz explained

"If they got caught by Darius how did they escape?" Hunter asked

"Darius and Eberwolf have been working with them after they captured Raine."

"Wait seriously?" Willow asked

"How do you know that?" Gus asked

"They contacted me after my last match in the Underground Fight Club. They had me help out with a prison break at the Conformatorium. Trust me it wasn't easy. Especially when I had to fight Tera, Vitimir, and Hettie."

"Wait," Willow started as they all stared at Cruz. "You're telling that you fought three Coven Heads!"

"At the same time?!" Gus exclaimed

"Did I forget to mention that?" Cruz asked as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Yes!" They all exclaimed

"My bad," Cruz said as he laughed a bit. "Listen, I'm gonna contact Darius to see how we're gonna proceed."

They all watched as Cruz took out his radio before pressing the button. After a few seconds, they heard a noise come from the radio.

"Is that you, Cruz?" Darius asked

"Yeah it's me. Listen, I'm at Hexside. Where are we meeting up?"

"I'm near there. I'll teleport to you. Just meet me outside. We have an issue to take care of."

"What's the issue?"

"I'll tell you once I see you," Darius said as the radio went silent

"Wonder what happened?" Cruz wondered as he put the radio back into his bag.

"You want us to go with you?" Gus asked

"Yeah I'll welcome the company. And that way you can see who's on our side," Cruz said as he felt Skara grab his arm.

"If you're going somewhere with Darius I'm coming too," Skara declared.

Cruz smiled at her. "You sure you don't wanna stay here?"

"They can handle themselves just fine without me. And besides, it's been a while since we've seen each other," Skara said causing Cruz to blush

"Alright you two," Willow said, getting Cruz and Skara's attention. "Enough with the flirting for now. We have to meet up with Darius."

Gus snickered as he followed Willow out the door. As he was about to follow them, Cruz noticed that Hunter was quiet.

"What's wrong?" Cruz asked

"Are you sure we can trust him? I mean I know you said that he was on our side. But still, he's worked for Belos for years. How do we know he's not a spy or something?"

"He's only been pretending to be on Belos' side. Ever since his mentor was killed by Belos he's been looking for some way to take him down. We both know for a fact that Belos was the one that killed him," Cruz said as Hunter grimaced remembering that Belos had killed all of the previous Golden Guards.

"And besides, as soon as we were out of Belos' mind, he sent me a message asking me if you were okay. He cares about you, even if he doesn't act like it."

Hunter looked down as he thought about it before a slight smile appeared on his face. "Then let's go see him," Hunter said

As the five walked out of Hexside, they saw Bump standing in front of Darius as the two argued.

"I'm just here to see Cruz," Darius said impatiently

"And as I have told you, Cruz Noceda is not in the school. If you have no further business please leave, Head Witch Deamonne," Bump said as Darius seemed to grow more frustrated.

"And I'm telling you that I know for a fact that he is here. I contacted him a minute ago. Just go and tell him I'm here."

"Hey, goopy! Glad you made it," Cruz said as the two turned to look at him and the rest of the students.

"If you were just standing there, then why didn't you say anything?" Darius asked

"It was funnier to see you almost pop a blood vessel like that," Cruz said with a chuckle.

Darius sighed as he rubbed his temples. "And like that I'm reminded that you're fourteen. Come on, we have a situation to take care of."

"You mentioned that. You just forgot to mention what it was."

"Your sister and Edalyn were captured," Darius said as everyone looked shocked.

"What are you talking about?! How did they get captured?" Cruz asked

"I'm not too sure, they were breaking into a precinct when one of the guards overheard them talking about overthrowing Belos. They got captured soon after that."

Cruz facepalmed. "I swear Eda used to be sneaky before."

"That's not good," Willow said. "We have to save them!"

"I agree," Cruz said as he turned to Darius. "Do you know where they are?"

"I do. They're close to the precinct in Bonesborough. We'll have to move fast if we want to save them."

"I can teleport us near there," Cruz said as Gizmo turned into his staff. "Anyone up for a rescue mission?"

"If you're gonna save Luz then we're in," Gus said

"If you three are planning to come you might be in the way," Darius said as he pointed to Gus, Willow, and Skara who looked at him angrily.

"At least the little prince has been trained in combat and I know for a fact that Cruz is strong enough to take down a Coven Head single handedly. The only other one I would consider taking would be like the little Blight. Speaking of, where is she? I would've assumed she'd be the first to volunteer for this mission."

"Amity went back home for now. She said she was going to try and talk to her parents about their help to Belos," Willow said

"She might be able to convince Alador to sabotage his Abomatons. And besides, Darius, all of my friends are way stronger than you give them credit for. Gus took down Graye. Willow might be as strong as Tera is, if not stronger. And Skara is an amazing bard who I know I can always rely on."

They all smiled as Cruz praised their skills. "Fine. I'll take your word for it. But they still can't come. Too many people will get in the way of the rescue operation."

"He might have a point," Cruz said as they all looked at him. "Back when I broke into the Conformatorium I didn't have to worry about anyone else during the mission since I was working alone."

"So we'll be in the way?" Willow asked

"Not really in the way. But if we want to be discreet about it, then less people will be better," Cruz said. "And besides, you guys can meet up with us later. There's no way Luz or I will leave you guys out of the fight."

Willow and Gus smiled at Cruz. "Then you'd better hurry up with saving Luz," Gus said. "That way we'll meet up with you after."

"Sounds good to me," Cruz said as his gloves began to glow. "Let's go."

Darius and Skara stood next to Cruz as Darius looked at her in confusion. "She's coming too?"

"She is," Cruz said, telling him there was no discussion. Skara looked at Darius with a smirk.

"Fine." Cruz quickly drew a spell circle with his staff into the air as a large ring appeared before dropping it to the ground.

"Close your eyes. This is gonna be bright." Skara quickly closed her eyes as they were enveloped in a flash.

As they disappeared, Willow, Gus, and Hunter looked at where they were with concern.

As the light died down, Cruz and Skara blinked and saw that they were on a small hill overlooking the precinct. "Perfect," Cruz said. "We're just close enough that they won't spot us."

"How'd you get us so close?" Skara asked

"When I first found this spell, it could only take me to the Titan's skull. But I modified it so that it can take me anywhere that I can think of."

"Whoa! That's awesome! Isn't that even better than your spell, Darius?" Skara asked as she looked over to the abomination witch. She and Cruz then noticed that Darius was rubbing his eyes.

"You didn't close your eyes… did you," Cruz deadpanned

"I didn't think it would be so bright!" Darius said with frustration.

"Hey, he warned you. Not his fault you didn't listen," Skara said with a smirk

"Very funny," Darius said as he blinked. "We're close enough to the wagon transporting your sister and Edalyn. Let's hurry." Darius traced a spell circle as they were enveloped in abomination goo.

As the goo lowered, they saw that they were in a forest. When they looked down the road, they saw a wagon approaching them.

"We'll need to be smart about this," Darius said as he turned to Cruz and Skara. "We'll need to put the guards to sleep so that they can't see any of our faces. After that they'll assume that wild witches stole the cart with Edalyn and the human inside."

"Or I can just knock them out and take the carriage," Cruz pointed out.

"That might work but then they'll see your face."

"Then I'll just do it fast," Cruz said

"What do you mean by—" Cruz quickly teleported over to the carts and above the guards before teleporting next to them and knocking them all back and onto the ground.

Cruz quickly drew a spell circle as he summoned stone pillars that trapped all of the guards. He quickly signaled for Darius and Skara to come over.

"Well… that was something," Darius said in surprise

"Cruz always blows away expectations," Skara said as she quickly went over to Cruz.

"Take one of the carts. I'll take the other one," Darius said as he climbed onto the cart

"You got it," Cruz said as he and Skara climbed onto the other one before the two carts drove away.

"How'd you do the stone pillars?" Skara asked

"I modified the petrification spell. I didn't want to use that spell as much, but I knew that I could use it for other things. Took a while but I found a combination that changed it to be a pillar instead."

"Whoa. That's impressive!" Cruz flashed Skara a smile as they followed Darius.

After driving for a while, Darius stopped the cart in a forest near Latissa. In the forest were the rest of the BATs, Lilith, King and someone that Cruz never expected to see.

"Is that Steve?" Cruz asked as he and Skara climbed off the cart. Next to Lilith was a young man with pinkish skin, blue eyes, slightly purple hair and a small white bone horn sticking out of his right side.

"Hey, Cruz. Been a while," Steve said

"Yeah. Since the Emerald Entrails incident. Nice shirt by the way," Cruz said as he pointed to Steve's yellow shirt with a red splatter on it that said Steve.

"Yeah sorry about that. Was just following orders you know. Seriously didn't feel right," Steve said when he noticed Skara. "Oh, hey! You're that girl from the Flyer Derby team!"

"Yeah I am! Sorry about, you know, punching you in the face," Skara said sheepishly.

Steve waved her off. "No worries. I get it, you were panicking and just reacted like anyone would if their boyfriend was blasted."

"You're not a scout anymore?" Cruz asked

"Nope! I'm gonna help you guys with taking down Belos. Seriously, what he's doing isn't right. It's not what the Emperor's Coven should be doing."

Cruz smiled as Darius and Raine opened one of the carriages. From inside of it, Eda climbed out with her hands behind her back.

"Mom!" Cruz yelled as he ran over to her.

"Cruz! You're okay!" Eda said as Eberwolf ran over and bit through her cuffs.

"Did you guys seriously get caught?" Cruz asked

"Yeah, we tried to be careful. Got a little carried away," Eda explained. She then turned to Raine. "Hey, Rainstorm."

"Hey, Eda. I'm just glad you're not hurt," Raine said as they hugged Eda, causing her to blush.

Cruz smirked when he saw Eda blush at the hug. "So does Eda like Raine?" Skara asked

"I think she said that they dated a while ago. Looks like their feelings never really went away," Cruz explained before noticing that Skara was fidgeting. "Are you okay?"

Skara looked startled for a second before calming down. "What? Oh, yeah. It's just, you know that I'm a huge fan of theirs. So actually meeting them like this again is so daunting. Every time we met, I was always with my grandpa."

"I guess you never really thanked them for the autograph I got you," Cruz said

"You're right! I can use that as a conversation starter!" Skara said. As she was about to walk over to Raine, she hesitated before stepping back. "Maybe later. You know, when we're not in danger of dying."

"Good idea," Cruz said with a smile. "I'm sure they'd love to hear you play something."

From the other carriage, Luz burst out of the carriage as she had her eyes closed with tears in them before Darius picked her up with goo.

"Where is she?! Take me to Eda! If you touch a single feather on her head, I'll... I'll..."

"Luz, Luz!" Eda called out to her as she calmed down slightly. "It's okay!"

Luz opened her eyes to see everyone staring at her as Steve and the BATs waved at her. "What's going on? I thought we were captured?"

"I'm going to set you down, please try not to bite anyone," Darius said as he lowered Luz. Eberwolf quickly ran up to her as he bit through her restraints too.

"Luz!" King yelled as he hugged her.

"King!" Luz called out with joy as she hugged him back.

"Seriously, hermana. I thought you were more careful than this," Cruz said as he and Skara walked up to her.

"Sorry, Cruz. I didn't think they would overhear us," Luz said as Raine walked up to her.

"So, you must be the famous human witch. Eda's been bragging about you for hours. I'm Raine," Raine said as they helped Luz up.

"Oh my gosh," Luz said as she squirmed happily. "I can't believe I'm actually meeting you in person! Cruz and I heard all about your adventures with Eda, and how you became Head Witch of Bard Coven, but were secretly a spy! And then you and Eda played that duet and," Luz then gasped. "And then you got captured."

"And your memories got all scram-jambled," King added in.

"Yeah but like I told you guys, they were faking it using that whistle technique," Cruz said

"You mean the frequency technique?" Skara asked as she looked over at Raine. "That's so useful when all the drinks taste like junk!"

Raine laughed as they placed a hand on Skara's shoulder. "It's one of the best techniques I learned. Glad someone else appreciates it." Raine took their hand off Skara's shoulder as they looked back at Luz, not noticing the happy look on Skara's face.

"I'm guessing that Cruz told you all about him breaking into the Conformatorium and how Darius and Eberwolf were helping me out the whole time?"

Luz and King nodded. "I thought I was the only one who found this Day of Unity junk suspicious," Darius said as he hopped off the cart.

"When I heard Raine was causing trouble, I had a feeling they'd know more. You would've been locked away if it weren't for me."

"And a little less bruised! You could've let me in on things before attacking me!" Raine said angrily

"You're a horrible actor! I had to make it look real!"

"Ugh, this is just like Hexside."

"Raine and the others have been working on a plan to stop Belos and the Draining Spell!" Lilith said happily as she walked up to Luz.

"Really? Wait, wait, before you get into that, please tell me you have a cool rebel name!" Luz said with anticipation.

"Actually we do," Raine said

"This should be good," Cruz said with a smirk as he saw Darius look at Raine with a slightly scared expression.

"Allow me to introduce…" Raine began to walk away

"Wait, hold on," Darius said as he started to trail after them.

"The Covens Against the Throne..."

"We talked about this, you promised!"

"AKA…"

"I DID NOT AGREE TO THIS NAME!"

"The CATs!" The original BATs members hissed at the name.

"Everything's come full circle, baby!" Luz said as she pulled up her hoodie. Cruz and Skara laughed when they saw Luz pull up her hood and Darius' exasperated expression.

At the new base, most of the group was standing over a table as Lilith and Hooty slept next to it.

Eda, Luz, and King were sitting on a bunk bed while Cruz and Skara sat on the one across from them.

Eda opened up her bag as she pulled out Francois. King happily squeaked when he saw the stuffed bunny.

"Francois!" King exclaimed as he pulled the bunny in for a hug.

"Look what else is in here," Eda said as she brought out a box with the label "Eda's longest toenails (Don't open!)"

"Why would you bring that?" Cruz asked as he and Luz both gagged. When Luz opened it, she gasped when she saw that the blue palistrom log that Eda had given her was in there.

"It's... palistrom wood," Luz said as she lowered the lid.

"Oh wow! You had some?" Skara asked as Cayenne and Gizmo looked at the log with anticipation.

"I thought you'd wanna carve your palisman. What do you say?" Eda asked as she pulled out a chisel from her hair.

"I shouldn't. The Day of Unity is in two days, I have to focus on stopping Belos, and—" Luz was cut off as Eda hugged her.

"You goob. Hey, this isn't all on you and Cruz," Eda said as she pulled Luz into a hug.

"Yeah, we have teammates now. Meow, meow!" King said as Skara picked him up.

"Sorry, he's too adorable not to hold like this," Skara said as Cruz snickered

"What if the palisman doesn't like me?" Luz wondered

"By my count, you've befriended more enemies than I have claws on my paw," King said

"Seriously, it's crazy to think someone wouldn't like you," Cruz pointed out

"He's right, you've made so many people's lives better since you got here!" Skara added in

"Plenty of witches would've ditched this rock already," Eda said as she released Luz. "But you and your brother keep learning and you keep fighting... what's not to like, huh?"

Luz blushed as she looked like she was about to cry. "Thanks, mom," Luz said as she sniffed and grabbed the box. "I think I'm ready to carve. Um, you're gonna show me how to do this, right?" Luz said with a chuckle

"Oh, duh. My dad taught me the ropes. Its a Clawthorne family tradition. Here, let's make sure we have some space," Eda said as she grabbed the log and sat it upward. "Lay the wood here..."

"Are you gonna carve me?" King asked eagerly

Eda chuckled as she grabbed the chisel and Luz set the box to the side. "Calm down, King."

"That'd be a thought. Not sure how it would work," Cruz said with chuckle

"Now let's take it slow. We've got all the time in the world."