Chapter Text
Hunter watched as his sister climbed out of the palismen nest, his heart hammering away at his chest. "It's going to be fine," he muttered to himself, "It's going to be fine. Luz can take care of herself."
He glanced back at the shivering palismen. He tried to smile.
The cardinal, the painfully familiar cardinal, hopped towards the open door. They cheeped at him, tilting their head.
Hunter sighed. "Yeah, I know I'm the older one, I'm the one that's supposed to protect her."
He should have been the one to go first, and Luz should have been the one here, safe–well, as safe as she can possibly be–in the palismen nest. She’d still be in danger, but at least she wasn’t fighting the coven guard that was piloting the blimp.
He stood up, making up his mind. He should help her fight-
Cold metal, stroking his cheek. “Forgive me for being so rough.”
A slight pinch on his shoulder.
Hunter turned to the cardinal on his shoulder, scowling. “Go find another perch, bird,” he shooed, “I’m on a rescue mission. I can’t have you distracting me.”
The cardinal twittered, fluffing up their feathers, before flying to the door. They hovered there, head tilted, waiting.
Hunter inched his way out of the nest, grabbing the vine Luz had made earlier. He took a deep breath. “It’s just a coven guard,” he muttered to himself, “It’s just a coven guard.”
Suddenly, he heard a loud roar come from above them. “Luz!”
He hoisted himself up the nest, dragging himself up the vine as fast as he could. If Luz gets hurt when he was supposed to be watching her, if Luz got hurt because he was too much of a coward to go with her-
He got a glimpse of a green dragon, tongue lashing out at the blimp, before he was falling.
He could hear the wind whistling in his ears. He could hear his cloak, flapping wildly as the wind caught on the red fabric.
He was falling.
He was-
Weightless, as red magic wrapped around him and lifted him into the air–
Hunter cursed, shoving his hand into his pocket and grabbing a fistful of paper glyphs. “Fire, fire, light,” he muttered to himself, trying desperately to focus on searching for the right glyph rather than the fact that he was falling through the sky , “Ice, light- shit !”
The wind ripped the papers away from his fist.
A red blur flew towards him, chirping frantically.
“Flapjack!” The name burst out of his mouth without thinking. “Plant glyph! Get the plant glyph!”
The cardinal grabbed a paper in their beak before tucking in their wings and diving towards him. Hunter reached out, his fingers brushing against the paper.
Immediately, thick vines shot out from the glyph, wrapping him up in a tight cocoon.
Just in time for his back to slam into the hard dirt.
Hunter groaned, pain radiating from his back. At least the vines saved him from breaking any bones. He wriggled in his cocoon, slowly pulling himself out of the vines.
As soon as he shook off the last vine from his foot, the bird slammed into his face, chirping up a storm. “Hey, get off me!” He hissed, pulling the cardinal away from his face, “I’m fine, you dumb bird, stop fussing.”
The cardinal struggled in his tight fist, letting out a distressed cheep. “Oh!” Quickly, Hunter let go of them. “Sorry.”
They fluttered around him, searching for any injuries, before landing on his shoulder. He sighed, reaching up to rub gently at the bird's head. “You really saved me back there, huh?”
They replied with an affirmative trill, bumping their head against his finger.
Hunter smiled at them. “Thanks,” he said, “But how did you-”
“You would not believe where I found this one,” you told the red cardinal as they hopped up to peek at your notebook, “I found it in a flower, right outside the door!”
They chirped, tilting their head at you.
“I was surprised too! After all this time searching, the final glyph was right in front of me all along!” You tapped the glyph, watching as the page crumbled into a small vine. “I’ve won this race, little brother!”
Hunter stared at the cardinal on his shoulder.
Do I know you?
He shook his head. “Nevermind, it doesn’t matter,” he muttered to himself. He could think about it later. “I need to find Luz.”
They cheeped, and took off to the sky. Hunter followed, deciding to trust the bird to lead him to his sister. The bird would be able to see far, far more from up in the sky, after all.
Still, he kept an eye out. This wasn’t a place that he recognized, so they must be outside of Bonesborough. They couldn’t be too far from Bonesborough though, they’ve only been flying for fifteen minutes at most.
He didn’t bring any snails with him, so he and Luz would have to walk back to the Owl House. However, he had no idea where they even were , and walking back wasn't an option if Luz was injured-
He sighed, dragging a hand through his hair. "Find Luz first," he told himself, "Worry about everything else later."
He glanced around himself, hoping to see a hint of purple. Instead, all he could see were glowing yellow spheres.
A part of him wished he had the foresight to bring his journal along. He definitely wouldn’t remember enough details about these things to accurately ID them when he next visited the library, so it would have been nice if he had a record.
"Are these… poisonous?" he muttered, carefully inching closer to the glowing… fungi? They could be a type of lichen or moss, but with the way they stuck out of the tree so obviously made it more likely to be a fungi.
He poked it, feeling its gel-like texture against his bare skin. He pushed at the fungi, watching as his hand sunk into the fungi.
The fungi bounced back into a perfect, spherical shape as soon as he stopped pushing. His hand was left slightly wet.
Hunter cringed, quickly wiping his hand on his pants.
Suddenly, the bird flew to his side, twittering rapidly. “Did you find her?” Hunter asked, holding out a hand for them to perch on.
Instead of replying, the bird began to yank at his hair strand, pulling him towards the direction they came from.
“Hey! Stop that!” he yelped. Before he could do more than frantically try to swat at them, he spotted a familiar flash of purple among the bright yellow. “Luz!”
He ran towards her, quickly checking her over for any sign of injury. Thankfully, there wasn’t any that he could see, but the ropes around her…
He should have been there.
Hunter skidded to a stop, grabbing her shoulders and beginning to shake her. “Luz! Luz, wake up!”
The bird landed on the ropes, beginning to peck at them as Luz groaned. She blinked blearily at her brother. “What…?” She mumbled.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, brushing away the remains of the rope once the cardinal finished cutting them away. He glanced at her arms, relieved to see that at least there wasn’t any rope burns.
“Just hit my head, I think.”
There was a loud groan from behind them, and Hunter glanced over his shoulder to spot a scout laying in some of the golden fungus. The pilot of the blimp, probably.
Served them right, he supposed.
Luz started to crawl over to them before Hunter stopped her. “What are you doing?” he whispered, “That’s a coven scout !”
“Yeah, but we can’t just leave him for dead,” she replied, elbowing him in the rib.
Before he could retaliate with a shove, a nearby voice called out, “Kikimora, ma’am!”
They both froze, glancing at each other.
Hunter gestured frantically at the opposite way from the voices, suggesting that they run and never look back. Luz made a face at him, wordlessly calling him a coward, right before she crawled closer to the voices.
He sighed, making eye contact with the palisman that had been perched on a nearby fungus. He gestured towards her, trying to communicate his frustration with her recklessness. They cheeped, and flew off to land on Luz’s shoulder.
Wow.
Betrayal.
Hunter crawled up to crouch beside his sister and the cardinal, giving them dirty looks all the while.
“We found the palismen,” the masked captain said, “They seem rattled, but unharmed.”
Right, the other palismen! He’d forgotten about them in his search, but at least they weren’t hurt after the crash.
Kikimora turned the scout’s mask in her hands, smugness dripping from her voice. “Very good, Captain. Return to the city and prepare them for travel.”
The captain saluted her, then turned to the rest of the guards milling about the area. “Scouts, to Latissa!”
Once the rest of the scouts were gone, Kikimora whistled, summoning a familiar, green dragon to her side. “Excellent work, my pet,” she said, stroking its snout, “Now, find the rest of him and have yourself a nice little snack.”
The siblings cringed as a long tongue slithered out and swallowed up the helmet. “I’ll call for you soon.”
Together, they glanced back at the still passed-out scout.
And together, sister and bird turned to look at Hunter with a raised brow.
Hunter sighed. “Fine, we’re not leaving him for dead.”
Grinning triumphantly, Luz skipped over to the fallen scout. Rolling his eyes, Hunter followed. “Huh,” he said as soon as the scout’s face came into view, “He looks… less intimidating than I expected.”
The scout looked like a normal man. Brown hair, brown skin, with the only notable feature being the white horn that jutted out of his forehead.
When he thought of what coven scouts looked underneath their masks–
Something was rotting, something was rotting behind that mask.
The Emperor’s face was close to his own, the empty sockets of the golden mask boring into his own.
The Emperor’s grip on his jaw tightened, and for a brief, painful moment, Hunter could see–
–he thought of something more monstrous than your average witch or demon. But the scout looked normal, familiar even.
As he pondered on who exactly it was that the scout reminded him of, Luz leaned forward and slapped him awake.
“Gah!” the scout yelped, “I wasn’t-”
She slapped a hand over the scout’s mouth, shutting him up. “Listen, you were trying to kidnap me, my brother, and the palismen, so I don’t like you,” she told the scout, glaring, “But Kikimora is trying to kill you, and I’m too nice for that to happen.”
Before the scout could do anything more than nod, a growl sounded from nearby. Quickly, Luz helped the scout up as he shed his cloak. Hunter gestured towards a nearby tree, large enough for all three of them to hide behind.
The scout shuddered when the dragon ate up the cloak. “Uh, thanks, kids,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck, “If you guys hadn’t woken me up, I would’ve been toast.”
“Yeah,” Hunter replied, crossing his arms, “Which is why you owe us.”
The scout’s eyes landed on him, eyes widening.
Suddenly feeling self-conscious, Hunter pulled his hood over his eyes and bowed his head, hopefully hiding his scar from the scout. A small weight landed on his shoulder, chirping reassuringly in his ear.
His sister stepped between him and the scout. “And since you owe us, you’ll have to lead us to the palismen!”
“What?” he hissed at her. Did she forget who that guy was working for? Before he could say anything else, Luz yanked the hood further down his face. “Hey!”
The scout shrugged. “Sure.”
“Wait, really?”
“Well, you kids saved my life, so helping you guys out is the least I can do after that.” The scout held out a gloved hand. “My name is Steve, by the way.”
“Huh, that was easy,” Luz mumbled to herself. She shook Steve’s hand with a smile. “I’m Luz, and my brother over there is Hunter!”
Steve grinned. “Nice to meet you two then! Sorry it wasn’t under better circumstances.” He glanced at Hunter once more.
Reflexively, he smiled back, feeling his stomach twist.
+++
Walking around Latissa made him increasingly aware of his skin, shifting minutely as his muscles contracted and relaxed with every movement. Hunter pulled his hood further down, to the point where he couldn’t see what’s ahead of him. He didn’t dare to let go, lest his hood slip back far enough that enough of his face was identifiable.
He didn’t know Latissa, not like he did Bonesborough, and certainly not like he did Gravesfield.
If someone recognized him, then he’d be running blind. He’d eventually run himself into a corner, and then–
Something sticky wrapped around his neck.
Something sticky climbing up his face.
Something scraping–
–Chirping in his ear.
Gentle bumps against his face.
A hand slipping into his, guiding him and grounding him.
Hunter squeezed her hand. Luz squeezed back, even as she didn’t stop chattering to Steve the Coven Scout. “Kikimora really did that?” she gasped.
Steve the Coven Scout chuckled. “Yeah! I expected she’d try to kill me actually since the Emperor assigned the mission to me instead of her. She’s got a bit of a jealousy problem.”
“Understatement of the century, I bet,” Luz snorted.
Hunter sighed. He didn’t know what to make of his sister’s burgeoning friendship with the coven scout, but at least he seemed nice.
The comforting weight on his shoulder disappeared. He jerked, head whipping around to stare at his empty shoulder. Where did they go? Did the cardinal get stolen? Did they-
A cheep sounded in front of him, and the palisman was snuggling up to his cheek underneath his hood. “Jeez, you scared me,” Hunter whispered. The bird just rubbed their soft feathers against his cheek.
He smiled, reaching up to scratch at the bird’s head.
He could feel eyes on him. When he looked up, Luz was staring at him. He raised a questioning eyebrow.
She averted her eyes before rushing back into the conversation with Steve the Coven Scout. “So!! Steve, my man, my dude!” She laughed awkwardly. “Uh, you never told us where we’re going?”
“The captain’s probably taking the palismen to the police station,” Steve explained, “So that’s where we’re going.”
“The police station,” Hunter deadpanned, “You’re taking us to the police station.”
“Yup,” he replied, popping the ‘P’, “I’m just gonna drop you kids off at the front.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Then I’ll walk in and face the music.”
Luz patted his back sympathetically.
Soon enough, Steve the Coven Scout led them into an out-of-the-way alley and stopped. “Around that corner is Station 206,” he said, gesturing at the exit, “So this is where I drop you kids off.”
Luz and Hunter stepped forward, carefully peeking out of their hiding spot. A large, imposing building stood before them, the sigil of the Emperor’s Coven emblazoned on several banners that hung from its brick walls.
But Hunter’s eyes were drawn to the large fungus that hung from the tower at the center of the station. It looked like a bell hanging from a church’s bell tower, except it glowed. And presumably didn’t make noise.
“Woah,” his sister whispered.
“Woah,” he agreed. Maybe the fungus–which he really needed to learn the name of–had the same purpose as a lighthouse would, guiding people to safety.
Or warning them away from danger.
“Those are a lot of coven scouts,” Luz continued, “Guess we can’t just barge in there and nab the palismen.”
Hunter blinked. Then refocused his gaze back to the ground in front of the police station.
Scouts, several of them, casually just milling about the area. Scouts, even more of them, likely working inside the large building.
A crowd of scouts that could easily overpower two human teenagers.
His breath hitched–
Being caught off guard as the Emperor’s arm suddenly burst–
–Chirping in his ear.
The cardinal’s wings brushed against his scarred cheek as they flared their wings, puffing out their feathers.
Luz cooed at them. “Awww, are you going to help protect us, lil’ guy?”
Hunter huffed out a laugh. “What’re they gonna do to a bunch of scouts? Peck at them until they go away?”
The bird let out a sharp, offended chirp.
“Hey, take that back!” she hissed, pinching his arm, “You hurt their feelings!”
He smirked, about to retort, but then he was–
Weightless, seconds before his back slammed into a pillar .
–encased in a familiar bubble and being lifted up into the air.
He froze, staring at the light walls.
Luz, in another bubble, banged her fist desperately against the solid wall. “Hunter!” she shouted, “It’s fine, you’ll be okay! Just- just try to hit it and it’ll break! Steve, could you-” Then she turned to look at him, her eyes widening.
Steve the Coven Scout stood behind them, two glowing spell circles around his wrist. “Look, I’m really sorry about this,” the scout began, sighing deeply, “But I already messed up this mission and I don’t want to lose my job. So please, just come quietly, okay?”
“We bonded ! How could you?!”
“I’m not turning you in, I’m just taking blondie here with me and I need you out of the way.”
The cardinal was chirping frantically, flying around the bubble Hunter was in and pecking at the walls. Hunter watched them fly, feeling strangely detached.
You hid behind a tree, eavesdropping on the strange woman with pointed ears that had emerged from the lake. “I was not expecting that to work,” she muttered to her bird, “Well, now that we’re in the Human Realm, what should we do?”
The bird trilled, and the woman laughed. “Cause some chaos? Obviously, but what kind?”
You covered your mouth, holding in a gasp. You needed to warn the rest of the town, get your knife and-
You stepped on a twig.
And then you were being lifted into the air, surrounded by–
A glowing bubble, gently rocking as the palisman continued to try to break it open.
Hunter took a deep breath, and forced himself to refocus. Focus on the faint weight of the hood over his face, focus on the metallic taste on his tongue, focus on the voices.
“-assaulted the Emperor ! He’s a wanted criminal for a reason!”
“Hunter didn’t even do any of that!” Luz yelled, glaring at the scout, “ I was the one that fought Belos, I was the one that cracked his mask, not my brother!”
Without the mask, he could see the way Steve faltered at that, the way his eyes flicked between him and Luz.
He could see the way his eyes landed on the scar on his cheek.
“You’re-” Hunter started. He swallowed, suddenly aware of his dry mouth. “You’re Mattholomule’s brother, right?”
He didn’t wait for a confirmation as he barrelled on, ignoring the way his heart began to pound in his chest. “I don’t know what Belos wants me for, or why he’s specifically targeting me. But when Lilith captured me and brought me to Belos, he…”
He couldn’t breathe, something squeezing his neck.
He couldn’t breathe, something blocking his nose.
Hunter took a deep breath, grounding himself. “Nearly killed me,” he said in a rush, “Matt says you’re a good guy. So, please.” He looked up at the scout, eyes pleading. “Let us go.”
He just hoped Matt was right to trust his brother. He just hoped this wasn’t another Bria situation.
A long pause. Then: “Are you his friend?” Steve asked.
“I think we are,” he answered.
At his words, the bubbles gently floated downwards before popping. Immediately, the palisman was in front of him, feathers puffed out. Immediately, Luz scrambled towards him, pulling him away from Steve.
The scout sighed deeply. “I’ll trust Matty’s judgment on this one,” he said, rubbing the heel of his hand over his face, “Whatever you kids plan to do after this, try not to get caught by any more scouts, alright?”
Wordlessly, he and Luz nodded.
With a final, long look, Steve strode away, leaving the two teens in the alleyway.
Hunter sighed in relief, collapsing against his sister. "That went better than expected," he exhaled out, "For a minute, I thought we'd be toast."
Luz stared after Steve with pursed lips. "Yeah."
Slowly, he pushed himself up on shaky legs, grabbing onto the wall for support. "At least we know where the palismen are now." He held out a hand to his sister. “Shall we?”
Luz stared at his hand for a moment, before shaking her head and grabbing his hand. She smiled, though it looked a little forced. “We shall.”