Chapter Text
“Sorry, I’m late, sorry, sorry!” Hunter exclaims, rushing into the dungeon-like rooms beneath the castle.
Vee doesn’t reply. She’s been doing less and less of that lately.
“Amity texted me,” Hunter says. “Well, that’s not why I was late, but she texted me.” Once again, Vee doesn’t say anything. “She told that she was very mad at me for not saying hello when I had to go pick up the Abomitons, but I think she meant that as a joke. She also said- and get this, that she’s been skipping school ‘cause- ‘cause while she and Luz were getting that old human’s diary, she kissed Luz on the cheek!”
Hunter figures that some good, old fashioned gossip might be enough to get a smile out of Vee. And it does. Kind of. Almost.
Vee croaks, “Is she- she finally going to ask Luz out?”
“I hope so.” But he also doesn’t. Hunter doesn’t want to think that everyone’s lives are still going when he’s not around. Even if he knows that’s wrong. “Anyway, I was late ‘cause I got another mission.”
“Nothing bad?”
Hunter wants to agree.
He shakes his head. “Palismen collection.”
Suddenly, a clawed hand reaches out of the cage and takes his own gloved one.
“Hunter, you can’t!” Vee pleads. “You know what he’ll do to them, he’ll-“
“It’s them or you, Vee!” Hunter points out, making Vee flinch back.
“Belos won’t kill me,” Vee says, matter-of-factly. “If that was his goal, he would’ve done so already.”
But Hunter doesn’t know if he’s willing to take that risk.
“We need to get out of here,” he says, only muttering, but then he repeats with force, “We need to get out of here.”
“How?” Vee asks. “You don’t have magic, there’s a spell on these cages that I can’t drain. It’s… fine. Like I said, Belos won’t kill me.”
Hunter exhales. He opens his mouth but only closes it moments after, swallowing. “I’m going on the mission,” he tells her, “but I’ll try to get out of taking palismen if I can. I’ll just- pretend to try,” he muses. “But, while I’m out, I’ll look into a way to escape.”
“Hunter-“
“I won’t get caught, and it’ll just be a quick trip to the Night Market. I’d stop by the Owl House, but…“
“But?”
“I don’t want to go without you.”
“Why not?”
“Because!” Hunter says, but it’s clearly not obvious. “I can’t do that to you. Go back when you’re still trapped here.”
“I don’t want you sacrificing yourself for me any more than I want you sacrificing palismen for me.”
Hunter scoffs. “Vee-Vee, you’re literally having the worst time of your life. It’s hard to get you to talk most days.”
“Your point?” Vee mumbles, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
“This is the bare minimum,” Hunter drawls. He slides their scroll through the bars. “Look, if you take the scroll, and talk to whoever you want-“
“But you might need it-“
“Then I’ll try to find time to visit the Owl House. And if I do, I’ll call you from there. Deal?”
“You better not bring in any palismen.”
Hunter decidedly does not agree. “I’ll try not to.”
It hadn’t taken long for Belos to “trust” Hunter. Or, more accurately, assure that his tactics would ensure that Hunter would remain compliant. Because, despite the image he tried to create, Belos was not omniscient.
Hunter used to be a horrible liar. Lying wasn’t something he needed to do. It was inconceivable, what with the fact that he never stepped out of line and wholeheartedly believed all failures were his own fault.
The first time he’d told a lie was when Luz had taught him to sneak cookies from the cookie jar. Granted, she’d only been messing around. She’d explained later to a distressed Hunter that they were allowed to take cookies as they pleased, so long as there were no upcoming mealtimes in the next hour. She only liked to sneak around because she found it more entertaining. Because she’s Luz.
No good operation is without its precautions, though. And by that, Hunter means that Belos totally told Kikimora to tail him. To babysit.
Like Belos doesn’t know Kikimora wants him dead.
Hunter is, quite literally, a prisoner. Kikimora has decided that Hunter should die for that because he somehow got a high ranking government position out of it.
Which is really just going on fetch missions under threat. Kikimora wishes.
So Hunter flies to Hexside with a plan. He did his research beforehand, looking into palismen trees where he might be able to bring some back instead of palismen. Unfortunately, he came up short. But he did find out that Hexside was having a palismen adoption day that very morning.
It’s weird that Luz hadn’t told him about it.
So Hunter is going to take the adoptees, wait for Kikimora to attack, and then pretend they escaped. And if she doesn’t attack—and Hunter finds that unlikely—he’ll have to stage a crash of sorts. Ideally near the Night Market or something.
It’d be more convincing he had the palismen first before he lost them.
Hunter lands the ship in Hexside’s grugby field.
There’s a little nest resting in the middle, no shield or any form of protection. Bump had, frankly, seemed more responsible than that.
There’s a small door on the front of the nest.
Hunter decides that, yeah, even if he can’t understand palismen, they can understand him and they should probably be aware of the plan. So they don’t get scared and, like, peck out his eyeballs.
He opens the door as slowly as he can, but it still creaks. He expects various spooked animals to look at him with wide eyes. And, that is kind of what happens. But they are also surrounding a sleeping Luz, curled up in the palismen nest as drool drips from her mouth.
Luz has fallen asleep in a few weird places when she was younger but this is kind of a new level. Hunter nudges her. It takes four or five attempts for her to stir. She groans, turning onto her other side and mumbling out, “Five more minutes…” before blearily blinking awake. Then she yelps.
“Hiiii,” Hunter draws out the word with a small wave.
“Hunter!” Luz shouts in surprise before repeating, “Hunter!” with nothing short of sheer joy. When they hug, Luz says into his shoulder, “I’ve been so worried.”
“I’m okay,” Hunter tells her.
“I don’t know if I believe that.”
“Really, Luz, it’s not me you should be worried about,” Hunter mumbles dismissively.
“I can be worried about you and Vee,” Luz says, mildly frustrated. “I’ve been thinking, okay? Now that we have that diary, we can build our own portal. There’s no reason not to get both of you out of there, and-“
“Luz,” Hunter interrupts as Luz speaks quickly, “Vee is being held under the castle, and I’m never in without guards or sometimes Belos himself outside.”
“Then sneak me back in with you! I’ll pretend to be a scout and-“
“You're just being reckless-“
“I’m not!” Luz shouts. Hunter notices the way her hands shake, the shadows under her eyes, the way she's been letting stress eat away at her. “Hunter, I know I’m reckless, but I’ve been planning this! Every second you and Vee are gone I’ve been looking into portals and researching a way into the castle.” She gestures to the massive ship behind him. “And, now that you have your own ship, I can come with you.”
Tiredly, Hunter murmurs, “And what if it goes wrong?”
Luz’s smile doesn’t waver. “I’m willing to take that risk.”
“What if I’m not?”
“You and Vee have been risking yourselves for me. Let me do this.” Luz puts her hands on her hips with a sad grin. “What’s your mission?”
“Palismen. I was going to bring these guys up with me, and then fake a crash.” And he adds under his breath, “If Kikimora doesn’t cause a real one.”
“Huh? Kikimora?”
“She's been trying to kill me recently because she thinks I have a better position than her. Apparently being the Emperor’s favorite little nephew has perks even when you’re technically being held hostage.”
“She’s been trying to kill you? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Hunter blushes at her sudden concern. “I didn’t want you to worry. Like you are right now.” The disappointment on Luz’s face could only be rivaled by their mother, Hunter thinks. “Still wanna get on the ship with me?”
“Let’s hook up these adorable little babies and get flying!”
Hunter rolls his eyes and resists the urge to join in. He should keep insisting Luz stay far, far away from the emperor. Far, far away from the Isles. But he can’t. And, he knows that Luz can’t be stopped when she wants to help. If he doesn’t take her, she’ll hitch a ride.
Luckily, the palismen seem okay with the plan when Hunter reassures them. A little red bird with a scar over its eye even flies onto Hunter’s shoulder and titters into his ear.
“The little rascal!” Luz hisses. “He snuck home in my bag!”
Hunter climbs on the ship, deciding to let the little rascal join them. There’s no harm, and, unlike the others, he seems too hyper to want to sit still in the nest. He keeps nuzzling Hunter’s face and it’s the cutest thing ever.
“Is that why you were sleeping in a palismen nest?” he asks as they take off.
Luz blushes, looking at the floor. “It’s hard to explain.”
“Did something happen at school today?”
“…Everyone got a palisman but me,” Luz explains softly. “They find people based on their deepest wishes, and BQ says that I- I have no conviction.”
“But you’re Luz. You’re chock-full of conviction!”
“That’s what I said!” Luz whines, grinding the heels of her palms into her eyes. “I don’t know what I want, Hunter! I can’t get a palisman until I do!”
What would be the right thing to say here? To convince her that she doesn’t need to have her life figured out so soon. Hunter had a purpose when he was very, very young. He doesn’t like that purpose. He thinks he’d rather choose his own. He thinks that may take a while.
Somehow sensing his thoughts, the bird chitters in agreement. He fluffs his vibrant red feathers. Hunter likes the shade of red.
“Luz, I-“
Hunter hears a thud.
“Oh no.”
“What’s happening?”
The ship begins to shake. Hunter clings to Luz as the balloon carrying the ship is punctured by a massive dragon with a hand for a mouth. It’s Kiki’s. Hunter screams, as does Luz, as they plummet to the ground until it all goes black.
Luz is the first to wake. She’s being nudged by the little rascal, blearily waking herself up. She sees Kikimora send the dragon after Hunter once more, this time with a strange whistle. And, she has the palismen. Luz is going to need to get those back.
But first.
Hunter lays limp, eyes closed and arms spread. The light hits him in kind of a goofy way that makes him look a bit like a princess. Luz should tease him about it later. She clambers over to him, gets close, and slaps him across the face.
“Wake up!”
“Wha-?”
Luz slaps a hand over his mouth. “Kikimora’s after us,” she hisses. “Ditch the uniform and let’s get moving.” She recoils when he licks her hand. “Ugh. Why are you like this?”
He smiles but doesn’t answer, taking off his uniform to reveal a tight blue shirt and what looks like a combination between armor and a vest. Ugh, someone needs to tell Belos that he has horrible taste in fashion.
Hunter and Luz slip away as Kikimora’s dragon finds the uniform and eats it.
“We need to get you a hoodie, dude,” Luz says. When Hunter doesn’t respond, she continues, “Hey, are you okay? You were passed out when I found you.”
“I shouldn’t have let you come with me.”
Does Hunter think she’s incapable? That he and Vee are better off rotting in the castle than on a botched rescue mission with her?
“Hunter, I know I can mess things up, but-“
“It’s not that, Luz,” Hunter dismisses. “It’s that you almost died just now!”
“Almost died is such strong wording.”
“I’m jeopardizing your safety by bringing you with me.”
“We’ve been over this!” Luz cries, grabbing Hunter’s wrist to stop him. “You’re jeopardizing your own safety by not letting me help! I can combine glyphs now, and I’m sure I’d be able to break the lock to some stupid cage! I’m not just sitting around anymore!”
“Luz, we already got separated once. I don’t want something to happen to you. Not when we’ve finally been able to speak again.”
“And what about Vee? Do we just keep meeting up? Without her?”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
“I know. But she’s my sister, and I’m going to let another day go by with her in a cage. Not when there’s a chance we could save her.”
“How? The ship’s totaled. There’s no way you can pretend to be a scout now.”
“Can’t I?” Luz taps her head. “Look, we need to find a way to take down Kiki. She’s got the palismen, and we can’t let her take them to Belos. And, she controls that weird dragon thing with her whistle, I saw! So, we punt Kikimora into the sun, steal her dragon, and bust into the castle!”
Hunter winces. “Maybe something a bit more stealthy?”
Luz hums. “I could make that work, ‘manito.”
Hunter exhales. Luz can tell he wants to trust her. Wants to fix things. Even if he’s absolutely terrified of what may go wrong. Tough luck, because Luz isn’t.
“Okay,” he agrees slowly, “how can I help?”
“Get me some stinging nettles.” Luz whips out some glyphs. “I’ll see about getting me a scout uniform.”
Hunter nods and rushes off, little rascal flying off after him.
Luz slinks up to where Kikimora belts orders at a bunch of poor souls looking like they’d rather be anywhere else.
She’ll need to lure one away. But how?
“Man, Kiki’s really losing it,” a scout mutters, far enough from the crowd that Luz could probably speak to him without others hearing.
“Psst, hey!” she whispers. “I’m about to commit a crime! Someone should try to stop me!”
“Yeah…” the scout agrees. “Wait, that’s my job!”
They turn around and point at Luz accusingly. She yelps and begins dashing off, through the streets of a new place. Kikimora had called it Latissa. It’s so cool!
The scout chases her through the streets until they both reach an alleyway.
“Nowhere to run, kid.”
But Luz had planned on it.
“Plant glyph!” she cries, slamming it on the ground so vines entangle the poor scout. They scream and Luz gives them a winning smile. “I’m gonna need your mask and cape, please!”
Hunter is normally against stealing but he’s desperate. So he lugs the stolen bag of sleeping nettles and goes to search for Luz. Someone grabs his arm and he jumps. It’s a scout!
He lifts up a fist, ready to punch the scout. The scout flinches back, lifting up their mask.
“Luz!”
“Hi!” she chirps with little explanation. “Let’s go on the roof.” She points up to the building beside them. “I’ve got an idea.”
“How’d you get a scout uniform?” he asks as Luz decides to rocket them up with an ice platform.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“That’s a shady sentence.”
“I know.”
Luz doesn’t miss a beat, drawing on the wall on the top of the roof. She holds out a hand for Hunter to hand her the sleeping nettles.
“An ice glyph? And fire glyph?”
“Yeah, I want to make a thick mist, and, combined with the sleeping nettles, it’ll produce-“
“A sleep-inducing smoke! Forcing Kikimora to land!”
“Exactly!” Luz leans against the wall. “Once she takes off, we’ll take her down!”
“You’re a real natural at magic, huh?”
“I don’t know.” The little rascal nudges her foot as if to cheer her up. Luz chuckles. “Thanks, little guy. I just- I really want to be a witch, but I don’t know how. I don’t know what I’m going to do, or how I’m going to do it, and I don’t know if I ever will.”
“Okay.”
“Okay? Not, ‘Don’t worry, Luz, you’ll figure it out eventually!’”
“Luz, you don’t want to have your future planned out. It’s awful, and it’s stifling, and you’ll feel trapped knowing each day is going to go exactly the same for the rest of your life.” He extends a hand to stroke the little rascal’s feathers. “We came here, right? Sometimes, I think the future's gotta be unpredictable.”
The bird chirps in agreement. Luz smiles.
“That sounds complicated. Can’t we do it an easy way?” she jokes, wiping her eyes.
“I would’ve never expected such a boring suggestion from you of all people, Luz Noceda.”
She laughs, and Hunter does, too. Luz misses this. She misses Vee being here, and it being the three of them against the world. And, if things go right, it will be.
She hears a loud roar.
“It’s time,” Luz says. She hands Hunter a bandana. “Put on a mask.”
He nods. With a grunt, Luz activates the spell and the smoke fills the air.
Luz gestures for Hunter to follow her down. Kikimora’s eyes grow heavy, and so do her dragon’s. It crashes to the ground, and, as it’s a yelp, Kikimora falls off its back.
Luz rushes to the palismen nest.
Luz opens the door, where they all appear to be safe and sound, for better or worse.
“Hunter, let’s get them out of here!”
Hunter nods. He says, voice muffled behind the mask, “I’ll get the whistle from Kiki.”
Shaking with exhaustion, Kikimora lifts up her weary head and hurls a spell at Hunter. Luz flinches, and Hunter immediately holds out his hand and barks out, “Glyphs!”
Luz nods and hands the glyphs to Hunter. She doesn’t see him fight often.
But he’s good at it.
Hunter dodges Kikimora’s relentless fireballs, hurling fire glyphs at her that she’s too exhausted to dodge. She can barely get a hit in before she passes out. And all it manages to do is singe the tip of Hunter’s hair, which he easily puts out, leaving the ends burnt.
He swipes the whistle from her neck.
“Let’s go.”
Luz helps him up onto the dragon, blowing into the whistle. The dragon takes off.
They stop by Hexside to leave the palismen back in the field.
The castle always looks imposing. Luz looks like a scout, she’ll be fine, but no amount of reassuring herself makes it any less intimidating. She wants to turn back. But not nearly as much as she wants Vee back.
They are not going to be separated another day.
When they land, all eyes land on her and Hunter. He still stands in front of her. Most of them still don’t seem to recognize him. Luckily, one does.
“Golden Guard! What happened?”
“Scouts! There was a crash in Latissa, big Kikimora was kind enough to lend me her steed to return home to the castle.” He barely masks his sarcasm. “One of the scouts stationed in Latissa accompanied me. I’ll report to the Emperor once I can get a new uniform. Send a team to pick up Kikimora.”
The scouts salute. “Sir, yes, sir!”
Luz whispers as Hunter struts past with false confidence, “Wow, Belos gave you a weird amount of power.”
“This was- was my position before I left,” Hunter whispers back. “Maybe it’s because I’m family, and he’s got some twisted definition of family. Or maybe he’s trying to make me want to be here. I don’t know.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Belos doesn’t make any sense.”
On that note, Hunter silently leads her down the winding castle halls. The only sounds are the click, click, click of his boots against the floor and Luz’s own soft footsteps. Somewhere along a path Luz will definitely not remember, he turns right and goes up a set of stairs until he reaches a door.
She’s in a small, but messy room, cluttered with books and papers.
“Hunter… is this-“
“This was my room when I was little,” he confirms. “Belos had it saved, just for me.”
“Yikes.”
Hunter laughs. “Yeah, yikes.” He opens his closet door, filled with uniforms and uncomfortable outfits. “Okay, we’re going to go to Belos’s throne room. I’m going to give my report, and then ask to visit Vee. And you’re going to be one of the scouts to supervise me.”
“How can you guarantee that?”
“I’ll figure something out.”
Luz doesn’t like that idea but turns around for Hunter to put on his uniform without complaint anyway. She doesn’t want to see Belos again. She knows he’s not invincible, but he’s still ridiculously powerful. And the fascination in his voice when he spoke to Luz put her on edge.
“You ready?” Hunter asks, adjusting his cape.
“Should I be asking you that?”
Hunter’s shoulders stiffen but the only response he can offer is, “I don’t know.”
The way the scouts seem to watch Hunter as he walks to the throne room gives Luz a bad feeling.
And Hunter does not tell her this, but he would be thrilled if this is the last time he’ll ever step foot in the throne room.
He sighs, rolling his shoulders. And then goes still when he hears a chirp. The little red bird twitters, finding him in the hallway as if he has no care in the world. Luz gasps. Hunter snatches the bird from the air and tucks him under his cloak.
“He’s really been following you, huh?” Luz says with a smile.
“It’ll look bad if I go back to my room now,” Hunter whispers. And then, looking down at his cloak, he hisses, “Don’t you dare move.”
The throne room is empty when they enter.
“Golden Guard,” Belos greets. “And who is this?”
“Emperor,” Hunter greets, pulling Luz down into a kneel, “there- there was a crash, and I landed in Latissa. This scout helped me return, but I- I didn’t obtain the palismen.”
Hunter doesn’t need to look up to know that Belos approaches. A hand, once that of a witch but now worn to a dark unrecognizable sludge, grips his shoulder.
“And how am I supposed to believe this was an accident?”
“I-“ Hunter swallows. “You can ask Kikimora. She witnessed the crash.”
Belos hums. “And I trust she’ll tell me the truth?”
“Y- Yes!”
Belos steps away, releasing Hunter for a moment. He exhales. Belos groans.
“You know, the more you fail, the longer I have to be in pain, Hunter.”
Hunter’s head shoots up.
“Then get someone other than me to do it if I’m such a failure!”
And then he flinches when a goopy spike just barely misses his ear, taking off a few blond strands of hair. Hunter tries not to shudder. He hears Luz gasp softly beside him.
“This is an opportunity that you should be grateful for, Hunter. Dismissed.”
The spike dissipates. Hunter stands, and so does Luz.
Hunter adds, “May I visit V- Number Five? While you speak to Kikimora?”
“Is that a privilege you think you’ve earned, Hunter?”
He knows it’s a trick question. But then, strangely, Belos sighs.
“Scout,” he orders Luz, “take him to see the basilisk.” He tosses a strange, marble-like object into Luz’s hands.
“Th- Thank you, Emperor,” Hunter stutters out while Luz salutes.
The doors make an uncomfortably loud clunk when Hunter shuts them. He exhales.
“That went better than expected,” he says.
“Really? Hunter, you-“
“Luz, we have an opening to be alone with Vee. This is great!”
“But, I-“
“Golden Guard?” Kikimora walks up to the throne room, horror in her eyes. “Y- You survived?”
“Luckily, this lovely scout here brought me back to the castle, safe and sound.” He chuckles. “Looks like you had a rough night, though.” She scowls. “By the way, the emperor wants to speak with you.”
Hunter tries not to relish Kikimora’s terror as he leads Luz down the path to where Vee is being kept. Luz keeps fiddling with her gloves. Hunter knows she’s uncomfortable. Hunter finds it uncomfortable, too. Before, a younger Hunter would’ve been embarrassed to see his failures on display. Now, he feels embarrassed that Luz can see how Belos made Hunter do whatever he pleased by dangling affection in front of him like a carrot on a stick.
“So,” Luz speaks up eventually, “what’s the deal with this thing?”
“It’s kind of like the key, into the dungeons. Only Belos can open them automatically, but he doesn’t always have the time to take me here. So he made a key for his trusted scouts to use.”
“Then why let you see Vee at all?”
“Because he knows I need a reminder of why I have to listen to him.”
Luz decides to leave it at that. They venture deeper and deeper into the dungeons.
Outside the large door, Hunter pauses.
“I’ll stay outside,” he says.
“What? Why?”
“Belos gave in too easily. He gave a key to a random scout. He’s planning something.”
“So what good would splitting up do?”
Please, don’t let them get split up again.
“We're not splitting up. I’m right outside the door, Luz. I promise.”
Luz bites her lip, but she doesn’t fight him. She just shoves a stack of glyphs into his hands and rushes inside the room. It’s dirty and small and there are rusty cages in the corner. One has a green tail inside, curled up around a sleeping body.
“Vee!” Luz cries, falling to her knees in front of the cage. “Oh my gosh, you’re here, you’re really here, I-“
She’s crying. She doesn’t know if she can say anything else.
“L- Luz?”
“Vee,” Luz repeats, reaching through the bars, “I’m getting you out of here?”
“How?”
Luz places an ice glyph on the bars, but, like Eda’s chains, the magic fades easily.
“How do I-?”
And then, in a burst of golden light, the door blows open.
But let’s rewind a few moments.
Hunter waits. Something bad is going to happen. He knows it, and there’s nothing he’ll be able to do to stop it. And then, he hears Belos’s voice in his head.
“This really is a clever plan, Hunter. I ought to hand it to you.”
Hunter flinches, turning around. Belos, from the ground, materializes in front the door. He lifts up an arm, already turned to the same mush he had used to nearly impale Hunter just minutes ago.
“But I know you. And your games don’t work on me.”
Moving on pure instinct, Hunter flinches and lifts up his hands to shield his face. The little red bird flies out from under his cloak, turning into a staff in front of Hunter suddenly. He forms a golden shield, deflecting Belos’s attack and temporarily catching him off guard.
Panicking, Hunter grips the staff and blasts the door open.
Belos recovers, wiping the goop from his mask and snarling, “Caleb!” when he sees Hunter’s staff.
Hunter slides past him, moving quicker than he ever has before. It’s nearly teleporting. Is it the staff? Staffs are weird.
“Hunter!” Luz cries. “I can’t-“
“Caleb!” Belos shouts again. “I will not let you leave again!”
And he begins to contort in a way Luz didn’t know witches could. Something dark and angry bubbles beneath his armor as he becomes more monster than man. She, Vee, and Hunter scream as Belos lets out an inhuman roar.
He charges. Luz dashes out of the way as he swipes at the wall, claws tearing through the metal like paper. Even seeming to chip Vee’s cage.
“Hunter!” Luz calls out, pointing.
He seems to understand. He teleports, because he apparently has a staff now, right in front of Vee’s cage. Belos yells something incomprehensible, something about brothers and traitors and witches, before swiping at Hunter.
Hunter dodges, save for a small nick in his left arm that makes Luz gasp.
Luckily, Vee’s cage shatters.
“Alright, little rascal,” Hunter whispers, grabbing her clawed hand and mounting the staff, “let’s see if you can fly.”
Luz runs after them and Vee uses her hand to pull her along with them as the monster that was once Belos gives chance. Vee inhales deeply, gagging at the strange taste as she tries to weaken Belos. He slows, but doesn’t let up.
“There!” she hears Luz shout. “The window!”
“Brace yourselves!” Hunter cries out, slamming through the glass.
It hurts. But then, finally, Vee is free.
The roars from back at the castle fade.
Vee can finally rest, for just a moment.
The Owl House is empty when they return. Vee slithers to the couch. She wants to be warm. She wraps a blanket around herself and tries to remember that she is no longer in a cage.
She’s safe.
“So,” Luz says, as the little bird returns to his palisman form and twitters around them, “I guess he’s your palisman.”
“Is that why you kept following me?” Hunter breathes. The bird tweets. “I… don’t think I can understand you yet.” The bird doesn’t seem to mind, nesting in Hunter’s hair.
He’s cute. And Hunter thinks red may be his favorite color.
“Luz?” Is that Eda’s voice? “Luz!”
Eda rushes down stairs, mud in her hair and a smile on her face. King looks more annoyed.
“Kid, I-“ Her eyes widen and the blue log she’s holding falls to the floor. “Kids…?”
“Hey, Eda,” Hunter mumbles with a wave.
Vee stands on shaky legs, blanket still wrapped around her shoulders. “We’re back.”
And Eda hugs them, gift temporarily forgotten in favor of seeing all four of her children back home.
Scared, but safe. Because they’d be okay. Somehow.