Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The mission is simple: return to the castle with the stonesleeper lungs. Don’t let anyone stop you. Don’t disappoint Emperor Belos. (Hunter’s a pro at that one.) Returning with his life is an added bonus. He should be grateful that he’s even being allowed on a mission after the Eclipse Lake fiasco—to say that his uncle had been mad after he’d returned with only a cracked key and shattered dignity was an understatement. Still, he can’t help but feel he’s being sent on wild goose chase after wild goose chase, meaningless tasks meant to fill his time rather than contribute something meaningful to the coven like he longs to do. Like, seriously, what even is a stonesleeper? He hadn’t been able to find much during his research on them, and he doesn’t truly know what their purpose is, just that the Emperor needs them for the Day of Unity.

He can’t lie and say he’s not glad to be out of the castle, though. Being confined there is enough to drive any sane witch mad. Plus, it seems as though Uncle’s outbursts are worsening with each passing day, and he refuses to hear Hunter out on any of his solutions. He knows well enough by now that bringing up wild magic around his uncle is like detonating a powder keg, but he’s not giving up so easily. He’ll find a way to help Belos, no matter how long it takes, no matter what he has to do.

Deep in the brush of the forest, Hunter pushes past brambles and thorns that jab out at him from mismatched angles, avoiding tangling up in hanging vines or tripping over loose rocks. He would consider himself an expert on navigation and local wildlife, but the job comes a bit easier with his cardinal palisman flying a few yards ahead, scoping the terrain for any important bits of land.

By now, he’s figured out that the connection between the two of them is a true bond. That’s why he can understand her chitters and warbles like he would the words of a witch. Against his better judgment, he’s grown… attached to her. It’s nice to have someone who hears him, who he can speak to freely, without fear or walls he’s constructed, even if she is just a palisman.

No, she’s more than just a palisman by now. She’s Hunter’s friend.

The cardinal tweets excitedly, flapping her wings faster as she stops before a layer of leaves that obscure their view. Hunter pushes the leaves aside, revealing a clearing that’s home to a dozen large stone structures arranged in a semicircle. They poke out of the ground like the Titan’s ribcage, and if Hunter looks close enough, he thinks he sees what resembles a head, chest, arms, and legs on each of the structures. Creepy.

“Alright,” Hunter says. “All we have to do is retrieve their lungs.” He takes a second look at the structures. Sure, they have the basic figure of living creatures, but what part of them are the lungs? Nothing in the books he’d read denoted their anatomy. “…Easier said than done.” The palisman chirps and lands on his shoulder, and he rolls his eyes at her sass. “You could at least help.”

He doesn’t get much of a chance to examine the stonesleepers before the sound of footsteps startles him, and he spins around, holding out his artificial staff defensively. “Who’s there?!” Hunter shouts, slipping his mask over his face. He’s been getting too comfortable without it. “Show yourself!”

Nothing.

More nothing.

Hunter holds his breath, waiting to attack whoever’s come to ambush him. Of course, he should’ve expected that he wouldn’t be the only one after the stonesleeper lungs, because why would he be? Someone always has to be there to foil his plans, but he’s not going to let them get away with it this time. He’s disappointed his uncle too many times to return as a failure for a third time.

The leaves bristle, and a figure steps out from behind a tree. The human. Hunter grits his teeth and tightens his grip on his staff. Of course it’s her.

“Hunter?” she says. “What’re you doing here?”

“Same as you, probably.” He’s not going to let her get his guard down that easily. “Stay back. You’re not getting the stonesleeper lungs.”

Luz raises her arms in surrender. “I don’t want to fight you. Can’t we just… share them, or something?”

“That’s not how this works,” Hunter says. “If you don’t want to fight, then leave. It’ll only be a losing battle for you, anyway.”

The cardinal tweets incessantly at him, insisting that he should just listen to Luz and share the lungs, but… he can’t. He has to make up for Eclipse Lake. If he lets the Owl House residents get their hands on any number of the lungs, it could mean doomsday for the Day of Unity. He’s not willing to jeopardize that.

“Fine, then, you leave me no choice,” says Luz, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her glyphs. She drops an array of them on the ground, stomping on one and yelling, “Plant glyph!”

Hunter scoffs as vines slither their way towards him—he easily sidesteps them. “You know, you really shouldn’t announce your move before- woah!” He’s suddenly face-first on the ground, being dragged back by what feels like a large hand around his left ankle. He rolls over to see a stonesleeper towering over him, a solid rock arm extended towards him. “What the- They come to life?!”

He points his staff at the stonesleeper and shoots a burst of magic at the arm currently trapping him, but to no avail. He tries teleporting. Nothing’s working.

Out of nowhere, ice traps the arm, freezing it in place. Hunter looks up where Luz is standing over him, glyphs in hand.

“Uh, hey, human? I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m still trapped!” he yells.

“Right,” she says, flicking through her stack of glyphs to dramatically reveal her next trick: a blast of earth below him shattering the ice and knocking the stonesleeper back. Luz grabs him by the underarms and pulls him to his feet—Hunter doesn’t understand it. Why is she helping him?

The two of them turn to run in the other direction, but another stonesleeper has come to block them in. They’re surrounded. “I think we woke sleeping giants,” Luz murmurs.

“We? I didn’t do anything!” Hunter says. “I bet it was your plants that disturbed them!”

The stonesleepers move in closer. If they don’t figure something out soon, they’re toast. Wait, why does Hunter care about what happens to the human?

Luz sticks her tongue out at him. “Maybe if we just worked together—“

“As if I would ever work with you. We’re enemies!”

A blue eruption of magic suddenly explodes from the stonesleepers, and Hunter is sent flying back, lying on the ground. He groans and rubs his head as he sits up. The stonesleepers have stopped, returning to their dormant state, and only a few feet away lies… himself?

Wait, what?

It’s him, alright. But why is he looking at himself, and not Luz?

A horrible thought plants itself in his mind. It can’t be true, but… he looks down at his hands, then at his shirt. The stonesleepers’ magic must have caused the two of them to switch bodies.

Luz—as Hunter; it’s so uncanny to watch himself move—sits up, eyes widening and pointing at him when she comes to the same conclusion he’d just reveled in. “Wha- You’re me! Why’re you me? I’m me!”

Hunter ignores her, getting to his feet and walking up to the stonesleepers. He pounds on the rock with his fist. “Come on, change us back!” he demands as if they can hear him. If they did this, they could undo it. This can’t be permanent. Right? He lets out a frustrated shout and sends one last punch in the direction of the stonesleeper, but his fist—not his fist—comes back sore and bloody-knuckled. Weak humans.

“Hey, be careful with my body!” Luz says.

Hunter doesn’t look at her. It’s too weird to look at himself. Even hearing his own voice is strange. Does he really sound like that? He deflates, sinking back to the ground and burying his face in his hands. Belos is going to kill him. But Belos can’t ever find out about this, and that’s an entire dilemma on its own.

Luz sits down next to him. “Don’t give up so easily! We’ll figure something out!”

“Like what? Are you an expert on body-swapping or something?”

“No, but… one time I was in Eda’s body! How did she change us back…?” Luz trails off. “I don’t remember.”

Hunter groans in defeat. “If only I had my notes, but they’re back at the castle.”

Luz suddenly stands up, and Hunter lifts his head to look at her, eyes now lit up in what must be realization. “The castle! That’s it!”

“Huh? What’re you—“

She holds out her hand as the cardinal transforms into a staff for her to grab onto. That bird betrayed him! “Sorry, Hunter. I have to take this opportunity while I can! I promise I’ll get us back to our own bodies, but there’s something I have to do first.”

Hunter scrambles to his feet as she rises into the air, using his palisman. “What’re you doing?! Get back here!”

“I’m sorry!” she says again, soaring higher and higher out of his reach.

Hunter makes the rash decision to jump, trying to reach for the end of the staff, or anything, really, that’ll stop her from getting away, but he’s not quite tall enough in this body to reach. The last thing he sees before everything goes dark is the cold, hard concrete of the stonesleeper he’s about to crash straight into.

-

When Hunter comes to, he’s lying in a bed. It’s not his own; he can tell right away from how much more comfortable it is. He blinks a few times as his eyes adjust to the light, and three figures come into focus over him.

It’s the Blight girl, the one he fought at Eclipse Lake, and two other witches he doesn’t recognize. Must be more of the human’s friends.

Wait.

That’s right. He’s still in Luz’s body, and of course, these three would never be here if they didn’t think he was Luz.

“Luz!” says Blight when she notices he’s awake, a smile breaking over her face. “You’re okay! What happened? Willow and Gus said they found you passed out while you guys were looking for the stonesleepers.”

“I told you it wasn’t a good idea for us to split up!” the witch with glasses says—he assumes that one’s Willow.

Hunter stares at them, brain scrambled. Now that he’s awake, the pain starts to return, concentrating in his forehead and his left arm. What would Luz say? He’s not like her. Is there a normal thing friends would say to each other in this situation?

He decides to stay silent instead. He can’t mess this up if he doesn’t say anything. If he opens his mouth, they’ll know right away that it isn’t actually Luz.

“Luz?” says Gus. “Are you okay?”

“Uh…”

“Do you know who we are?! We’re at the Owl House. We’re your friends!”

“Gus, what are you talking about?” Blight asks.

“Isn’t it obvious? She probably has amnesia!”

“Amnesia? Really?”

Gus nods fervently, dead serious. “I’ve heard it happens all the time in human movies. It must be super common for them! I’ll go get Eda!”

Hunter groans as Gus rushes out of the room. He doesn’t think he can take much more of Luz’s friends, and he’s only been around them for three minutes. Slowly, he sits up, but his body fights back, still aching from the fall earlier.

“Hey, hey, be careful,” Blight says, holding a hand up. “Don’t sit up too fast. You’re still hurt.”

“I’m fine,” Hunter grumbles. He doesn’t need them to look over him like he’s weak and helpless. In the Emperor’s Coven, if he was sick or hurt, he’d just deal with it on his own, and that’s exactly what he intends to do now. He can’t just sit here and waste time when Luz is heading back to the castle in his body. He has to go after her.

However, the door opens, and any plan he’s about to formulate is thwarted. The Owl Lady and that irritating demon dog stand in the doorway, followed by Gus. “What’s all this I’m hearing about amnesia?” the Owl Lady asks as she sits by Hunter’s side.

The demon thing jumps on the bed, getting up in Hunter’s face. “Luz! It’s me, King! Do you remember me?!”

The reality of how out of place he is really sets in now that everyone’s eyes are on him. “I don’t have amnesia,” he says. “Would everyone please just… stop worrying?”

When no one says anything, Hunter takes that as his sign that he’s said too much. Well, whatever. He’s not planning on staying here much longer, anyway.

“Well, that’s a relief,” says the Owl Lady. “I’m glad you’re okay, kiddo.” She looks back at the others in the room. “Let’s all give Luz some space. I think the best thing to do right now is let her rest.”

The others nod and head out. Good. All of them together are like a walking headache, but… they all care so much about Luz. It’s jarring, really, to have so many people worrying about if he’s going to be okay.

When they’re alone, the Owl Lady says, “You really should be more careful, Luz. What happened out there?”

“Stonesleepers,” Hunter says absentmindedly. Wait, the stonesleepers! That’s right, he was on a mission! He jolts up. “I-I’ve got to go, the lungs!”

The Owl Lady raises an eyebrow at him. “Oh, no, you don’t. The stonesleeper lungs may be important, but they’re not more important than your health.”

Hunter holds his tongue, fighting back the urge to say, But they are. They don’t get how important the lungs are; how could they? But right now, he’s not Hunter. He lies back down in defeat. It seems as though he’ll be stuck here for a while, so he might as well not blow his cover by doing something stupid. The best thing he can do is lay in bed and wait for a chance to leave.

Eda pats his shoulder. He tries not to wince. “I’ll bring up some food and something to drink. Burb.”

Hunter stares at her, and she stares back.

“Burb?” she repeats when he doesn’t register what she’s saying. “The abbreviation you sent me the other day? What does it stand for again, ‘be right back?’”

“Oh,” Hunter says, forcing a laugh. This must be a joke he doesn’t understand. “Haha. Yeah.”

“Yeesh. Tough crowd.”

Eda leaves the room, returning shortly with a bowl of soup, then he’s finally left to his own devices. Reluctantly, he picks up the bowl. He is pretty hungry after everything that happened today, and he doesn’t think the Owl Lady would try to poison him. It can’t be that bad.

By the time he finishes the meal, he finds himself wishing he had more. It’s a million times better than anything they serve in the castle, but… it would be too much to ask Eda for seconds. This isn’t his home. This isn’t his life.

Hunter sets the dish aside and pushes himself out of bed with only a little bit of struggle. As he stands, a few stray pieces of paper fall out of his pocket and hit the ground.

He kneels down to pick them up, only realizing what they are when he turns them over. Glyphs. A primary source of wild magic. They’re… beautiful, and intricate, and familiar. He’s seen symbols like this in his (secret) research of wild magic, but he’s never known that’s what their purpose was. All this time, he was so close.

A loud crash from downstairs draws his attention away from the glyphs. He sets them aside, getting to his feet. He supposes Luz would check on whatever the commotion is, so he heads downstairs.

Hunter treads down the hallway, and he peers around the corner before he decides if he wants to make his presence known. The Owl Lady is on the ground, transformed into the harpy form Hunter had seen back at Eclipse Lake, and it looks as though she’s… fighting with herself, struggling to make a move. “Come on!” she says through gritted teeth, eyes panicked. “I thought I finally had control!”

King scurries around frantically, and he’s the one who notices Hunter standing there.

“Luz! Eda can’t get out of harpy mode, and I can’t reach the cabinets that the elixirs are in!”

Hunter’s heart skips a beat. Helping the enemy? Maybe he should’ve just stayed upstairs.

He finds himself walking over to the array of cabinets and shelves anyway and stares at them like a fool. Luz would know which cabinets the elixirs are in. He doesn’t.

“Top left,” Eda says, voice altered by the curse, still fighting against her own body. “Maybe that amnesia thing was more serious than we thought.”

Hunter holds back a sigh of relief—they’re not onto him, yet—as he opens the cabinet and grabs a vial filled with a golden liquid. It doesn’t escape him that they’ve managed to get their hands on something that could stop or slow the curse. If he could somehow get this back to his uncle… No, Belos would ask too many questions that Hunter wouldn’t be able to answer without incriminating himself. Besides, these are probably made from wild magic. Belos would never have any part of that.

He helps Eda to the couch, then hands the elixir to her, watching as she takes a large sip of it. It’s as if the room is holding its breath, waiting for something to happen.

A minute passes. Nothing.

“I don’t understand,” Eda says, frustrated. “Why can’t I control it? The Owl Beast and I had an understanding.”

Hunter feels sick. He doesn’t know why, but something about this situation is familiar to him, and it leaves him breathless with the helplessness of wanting to help but not being able to. He knows it too well. But deep down inside of him now, an inkling of a thought whispers to him, You can help.

Maybe this is what compels him to say, “I… I think I might know something that might help.”

Both Eda and King look up at him, shock drawn on their faces. Even with their eyes on him, he steels his nerves. He’s made his choice. He’s not backing down.

“Curses aren’t just magical; they’re emotional, too,” he says, trying his best to keep control of his words. “I-I read something about anchors. If you anchor yourself to something that you have a strong connection to and hold onto the thoughts and memories, it becomes easier to control the curse.”

His uncle had never listened to that idea. He’d dismissed it immediately, claiming that he didn’t need Hunter’s help, that the curse was a nonissue, but Hunter knew better. Whenever Belos got mad, the curse bared its fangs, emerging from below the surface. It was impossible not to see a connection.

“An anchor, huh?” says Eda. She thinks for a moment, then squeezes her eyes shut, and with bated breath, Hunter and King watch as the harpy feathers fade away, replaced by pale skin. The whites of her eyes return to their natural color, and slowly, Eda stands up.

King jumps into Eda’s arms. “It worked! What was your anchor?”

Eda scratches King behind the horn. “My two favorite people, of course.” She reaches out to ruffle Hunter’s hair, and he finds his chest tightening at the sensation. Why does he feel this way, this warmth infecting his chest? Why won’t it go away? “Where’d you learn about this, Luz?”

Hunter suddenly snaps back to reality, remembering who and where he is. “I, uh…” he stammers, backing up a few steps. “I read a book in the, uh, library, and… I wanted it to be a surprise? I should go rest…”

Before they can retort, Hunter hurries back up the stairs and into Luz’s room, slamming the door shut. Why didn’t he leave just then? The front door was right there; he could’ve run out and never had to look back.

But there’s a part of him that doesn’t want to leave.

He looks in the mirror. Luz’s face stares back. His fingers come up to touch the bandage on his forehead. The Owl House residents had taken him home, patched him up, waited by his side, and given him food. They’d taken care of him the way a family does.

He knows what that feeling is now—it’s jealousy. Bitter jealousy rising up from his core to strangle him. Luz doesn’t have to work for their love. She has friends, family, wild magic, a home… she has the freedom to be whoever she chooses. No responsibility or divine duty.

What does Hunter have? He has his uncle, who loves him with strings attached. He has a destiny that he didn’t choose, one that, with each passing day, he wonders if it’s even worth it.

Titan, he sounds so ungrateful thinking like this. He should be honored to be the Golden Guard, to hold such a high position in the Isles. He should be honored to have been taken in by the Emperor, to have been given a chance, to be loved by him. He should be honored that the Titan has his future laid out for him. He’s been given everything, and for some reason, it’s not enough.

He just wants to choose.

There’s so much more than the castle. There’s love without conditions. There’s wild magic that doesn’t have to be hidden.

I could stay like this. The stray thought pushes its way to the forefront of Hunter’s mind. I wouldn’t have to go back there. I could stay like this forever, and I’d be…

Free.

The word never quite forms.

They’d love him here, if they thought he was Luz.

But that isn’t fair to Luz. It’s not fair to Eda or King, or even Blight and her friends. This isn’t his life, and this isn’t his home. He’d eventually be found out, and everyone would hate him all over again.

It was a foolish thought, anyway. The love of the Owl Lady and her associates was never something he wanted. They’re his enemies, and there will come a day when he’ll have to take them down. He can’t let his defenses come down so easily. The best thing to do is switch back with Luz, go home, and resign himself back to the purpose he was meant for.

After a long while of deliberation, Hunter quietly leaves the room. With any luck, he’ll be able to escape without anyone finding him out, but… something stops him. He has to tell the truth.

The Owl Lady is lounging on the couch. Hunter approaches her, shame burning his face before he’s even said a word. “Eda?”

Eda sits up. “Hm? What’s up?”

“I… I should tell you something. I’m not…” He pauses. “I’m not Luz.”

Hunter braces himself for the impact, for the yelling and anger, but the Owl Lady barely bats an eye. “Yeah, figured as much,” she says. “No offense, but you do a lousy job at imitating Luz, whoever you are.”

“Huh? You knew?”

“Well, yeah. You didn’t laugh at my jokes. Luz always laughs at my jokes, even when they’re bad. And there was the curse thing, too. I knew something was up. So who is it, then? And what are you doing in Luz’s body?”

He doesn’t answer at first. This is where everything comes falling apart in front of him. “It’s… Hunter.”

“The Golden Guard? How’d that happen?”

“We were both after the stonesleeper lungs. The stonesleepers must’ve caused us to switch bodies somehow, and now she’s at the castle in my body while I’m here in hers.”

“She’s at the castle?! Why didn’t you stop her?”

“I tried!” Hunter says. “I tried to go after her, but everyone told me I needed to rest.”

“You did need to rest.”

“Whatever. I’m going after her now, so… you won’t ever have to deal with me again.”

Hunter turns and walks to the door, determined not to look back, but his hand pauses on the doorknob. There’s still something else that’s troubling him.

“If you knew,” he says. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Eda is silent for a long time before a response comes. Every passing second is torture to Hunter. “You were hurt.”

“I could’ve hurt you.”

“But you didn’t. Whoever you were, I could tell that you were someone who needed help.”

Hunter stands there, frozen in shock, grip tightening around the doorknob. His heart feels like it’s being drowned in boiling rain. Even when Eda knows who he is, she… doesn’t hate him.

Hunter goes anyway. He’s never coming back.

He’s got a taste of the life he can never have, and it’s only a matter of time before it’ll turn bitter.

Chapter Text

The castle is scarier than Luz remembers.

Way back when, during the tour of the place, it had been mostly normal aside from the freaky tapestries hung on the walls. She’d had her friends with her, then, too, and it was during the light of day. Now, the rays of the setting sun glimmer through the stained glass, casting an orange tint over the hallway. It would almost be beautiful if not for the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

The guards standing post outside the doors say nothing to her, just bow their heads as she walks past. Courtesy of the Golden Guard mask, she supposes. No one questions her presence as long as she acts like she knows where she’s going. Still, even with the number of coven members here, the castle feels desolate. She can hardly take the silence.

The castle is a maze with dozens of halls and doors, leaving Luz wondering how anyone finds their way around. Maybe it’s intentionally designed that way, to make her feel like she’s losing her mind.

At least she’s not completely on her own. Li’l Rascal hides beneath her cloak, giving the occasional supportive chirp, letting her know she’s not alone. Luz had thought that since she was in Hunter’s body, maybe she’d be able to understand the bird, but it appears that it doesn’t work that way. Oh, well. It’s nice to reconnect with her after not seeing her for so long.

Thinking of Hunter, she can’t help but wonder how he’s doing. Maybe it was a bad choice to leave him on his own while he’s in her body, but she figures that her friends would instantly be able to tell it isn’t her. Besides, she’s not going to be gone long enough for it to matter. It’s not like he knows where the Owl House is.

When Luz finally enters a hallway that isn’t occupied by guards, Li’l Rascal flies out from beneath the cloak, flying alongside her.

“Alright, Rascal,” says Luz, voice carrying down the hall. “We need to find that key. Do you know where it’s at?”

Rascal tweets and flaps her wings excitedly, flying ahead of her. Luz has to run to catch up. She ends up taking off the Golden Guard mask—it’s so hard to breathe in. Seriously, how does Hunter wear that thing all day?

As Rascal comes to a stop in front of a set of large wooden double doors, the lurching feeling in Luz’s stomach only grows. She swallows down her fears and pushes open the doors, and, with a loud creak, they reveal a descending staircase shrouded in darkness.

She takes a deep breath. It’s just a rickety old staircase. Nothing to be scared of.

With each step she takes down the stairs, the pace of her heart quickens until it’s pounding against her ribcage. Finally, she reaches the bottom, finding herself in a spacious room; at its center is a staircase leading up to a large door that looks like it’s under construction, combined with mismatched parts, tubes, and wires running around it.

No, it’s not just any door. It’s a portal.

Just a lot bigger than what it had been before. Belos hasn’t given up on his plan to do… whatever he’s planning to do with the Human Realm.

Luz is starting to get the feeling that she shouldn’t be down here, and maybe Hunter shouldn’t be, either.

“The key’s in here?” she asks.

Rascal leads her to a table strewn with various tools and books, but when Luz follows, her eyes are immediately drawn to the key sitting in the middle of it. Gingerly, she lifts it, not missing the crack in the center that’s been taped over. There’s still Titan’s blood in it. It would be more than enough for another trip back home.

She could destroy the portal somehow, then take the key. Belos’ plans would be ruined.

Luz is torn from her thoughts by Rascal making an alarmed chittering sound and diving beneath Luz’s cloak. She barely has time to process what’s happening before a voice from behind makes her blood run cold.

“Ah, Hunter, there you are.”

Luz does the first thing she can think to do: shove the key in her pocket, hidden away from plain sight. Slowly, she turns and is met with the source of the voice.

It’s… an old man? He has long blonde hair and a dark green scar, or something, across his face and over his eye. The texture of the skin is almost as if it’s made of wood. He’s wearing a long white robe that looks so familiar, but she just can’t place her finger on it.

“I wasn’t expecting to find you down here,” says the man, walking towards her. “Why, I was looking all over the castle for you before Kikimora alerted me that she’d seen you heading to the construction room.”

That voice. It’s… It’s…

Emperor Belos.

Of course. Who else on the Isles is British? But… this is him? Some old, non-threatening-looking man is the one who’s caused all this? It’s underwhelming, to say the least, but the more she thinks about it, the more it makes sense. He looks down at her, and for a moment, Luz thinks he can sense her fear.

Not that she’s afraid of him. She’s faced off against him before and won, but in Hunter’s body, the rules are different. She can’t just shatter his mask or trick him with glyphs. This is the Emperor of the Boiling Isles, and she’s supposed to be the Golden Guard.

“I’m sorry, uh…” What would Hunter call the Emperor? She goes for the safe choice. “…sir?” It comes out more like an unsure question.

“No need to be so formal, my boy,” says Belos, placing a hand on Luz’s shoulder. “We’re alone, aren’t we? We hardly ever get to spend quality time as uncle and nephew anymore.”

Oh.

Hunter never told her about that. Not that she expected him to, but pieces of the puzzle are starting to click. It’s no wonder he’s so devoted to the Emperor, then.

“It seems as though you had an eventful day,” Belos continues, a hint of a smile playing on his face. “Tell me, what do you have to report? Have you secured the stonesleeper lungs?”

Uh oh. Hunter was on a mission. To Belos, it looks as though he’s come back empty-handed, and from what Luz has heard from Lilith, he doesn’t take well to failure. She doesn’t want to say anything. Belos will recognize that his own nephew isn’t acting like himself. But she has to say something. Either way, he’ll be suspicious, and she doesn’t have time to figure out which option is worse.

“There was an… incident,” Luz struggles to get out. “With the human. We fought, but she was too strong for me.” No harm in a little white lie to make the Emperor afraid, right?

Wrong. Belos’ smile thins, the crinkle below his eyes fading, and his grip on Luz’s shoulder tightens. “So you’re saying you’ve returned with nothing?”

She gives a slight nod, casting her gaze down. Making eye contact with him is too much. It’s like he knows who she is just by a glance.

“What will I do with you, Hunter?” Belos releases his hand from her shoulder, slowly pacing back and forth in front of her, yet not quite facing her. His voice is laced with faux patience, but she can sense the thinly-veiled anger behind his words. “Palismen, Eclipse Lake, stonesleepers. Three times, I’ve trusted you to bring me the things I need in order to assure that the Day of Unity is a success, and three times you’ve failed me. Is that what the Golden Guard is? A failure?”

Luz doesn’t say anything. He’s not expecting an answer, anyway.

“I took you in out of the kindness of my heart. I gave you magic, a home, and a position that other witches would kill to have, yet you’re so ungrateful. Do you know why I did all of this for you? It’s because I loved you when no one else would. Even the Titan warned me that taking you in might set me back from my goals, but I didn’t listen. And now here you are, with nothing to show. I expected better from you.”

Even though she knows Belos’ words aren’t directed at her, they still sting. Is this how he always treats Hunter, someone he claims to love? That’s no way to treat family, no matter how badly they’ve messed up.

Luz has known from the moment she met Hunter that he was a bad but sad boy, but she didn’t realize just how bad things were for him. He’s being strung along with Belos’ manipulation just like Lilith had been, and what’s worse, this is what he’s been spoon-fed his entire life. There’s no room for him to think anything else than what he’s been told.

Belos turns back to her. He’s no longer trying to hide his anger. It’s clear on his face now. “Well? Are you just going to stand there?” With each word, the calm, cool, and collected demeanor slips as he descends into pure rage. “Prove to me that you’re worthy of being the Golden Guard!”

Luz’s limbs are lead; she can’t make herself move. Even if she could, she doesn’t know what to do. There’s nothing she can do. Her gaze flicks down to Belo’s hand, which has turned a dark color, less like solid flesh and more like… mud.

Her reaction time is barely fast enough to avoid the muddy tendril that shoots out at her, narrowly missing her head and instead striking the table beside her.

Belos morphs in front of her eyes into what Luz can only describe as a beast. Eyes glowing, antlers extending, it’s hardly humanoid anymore as it moves towards her, and all she can do is stand there in horror.

There’s nowhere she can go, and that thing is closing in.

Luz lifts her arms defensively in front of her as it prepares to strike again, but just as the tendril shoots out, a shield of magic knocks Belos several feet back.

Luz yelps as Belos falls to the ground, recovering from… whatever just happened. She doesn’t know. He’s heaving as he tries to push himself up. Maybe Hunter would help him up, but Luz just stares, pulse racing and breathless.

A small chirp comes from inside Luz’s cloak.

That must be it. Rascal saved her. But Luz doesn’t have time to voice her gratitude before Belos gets up again, dusting himself off as if nothing happened. He approaches Luz, who tries not to flinch.

“You see what happens when I’m upset, Hunter?” Belos asks. That smile is back on his face. It’s haunting more than it is comforting. “This is why I can only accept the best from you. You understand that, right?”

Luz is almost dizzied by the sudden switch-up in his attitude. One second ago, he was enraged, yelling and close to harming her, and now he speaks with a tender voice, like one would calmly scold a child who’d broken a rule. And that thing that Belos turned into… The only thing Luz can liken it to is Eda’s curse. She doesn’t even want to think about that, because the idea of Belos being cursed only raises a thousand more questions that she’ll never get the answer to.

Belos sighs at her lack of response. “I need to rest,” he says, pinching the bridge of his nose and turning to face the door. “We’ll discuss this later, along with what you were doing down here in the first place.”

The doors slam with a resounding thud when he’s gone.

This is Hunter’s home, his family? He’s another victim of the Emperor, a victim of his cruelty disguised as love. She’s sure now that there has to be hope for Hunter, that he might come around one day. He’s not a bad guy, just a product of the environment he was raised in, constantly fighting for any bit of love he can get.

Luz fishes the key out of her pocket as Rascal flies freely now. For a long while, she stares at it. With the key, she could thwart Belos’ plans and use it for herself. She could destroy Belos’ portal and buy more time.

But if the key disappears, or if anything happens to the portal, Belos will think Hunter had something to do with it, and Luz doesn’t want to risk getting him into more trouble. If that’s what Belos is like when he’s mad… Hunter doesn’t deserve that. Not for something she did. Not ever. Besides, she can always find another way to get home. She’ll get another chance. She doesn’t know if Hunter will.

She makes her choice, returning the key to the table.

Luz leaves the castle in haste, desperate not to be seen—it didn’t escape her that Kikimora had ratted her out earlier—and heads back to the stonesleeper forest. Night has now settled over the Isles, and she’s suddenly grateful for the glowing eyes of Rascal acting as headlights.

As she descends into the clearing, she can make out a figure sitting against one of the structures, knees drawn up to their chest. Hunter.

When she makes it to the ground, Rascal flies over to Hunter and lands on his shoulder. He looks up, hastily wiping his eyes when he sees Luz coming. Was he crying? What happened while she was gone?

She sits down a few feet away from Hunter. Neither of them say anything for a long while.

“Guess we’re stuck like this, huh?” she says finally, unable to take the awkwardness any longer.

Hunter just silently pushes something in her direction, a bunch of bluish-gray objects, each about the size of her fist.

“Are those—“

“Yeah. I found them while you were at the castle.” He pauses, lifting his head. “I think they’re what caused us to switch.”

Luz grins, leaping to her feet. “Really? So then they could switch us back, right?”

“We might as well try.”

Hunter picks up two of the stonesleeper lungs, handing one to Luz. “Try splitting it in half,” he says. Together, they pry open the lungs, and a blue light rises, illuminating the darkness. Suddenly, Luz is launched back to the ground.

Slowly, she blinks her eyes open, lifting her arms to look at them. They’re hers! She gets up while Hunter does the same. “We did it!” she cheers, holding her hand up for a high five. Hunter only stares at her like she’s crazy. Regardless, it’s good to see Hunter in front of her again, and not herself. That was just weird.

“Whatever,” he mutters. “Just take the lungs and go. It’s just another failed mission to my list.”

Luz hesitates, watching as Hunter turns away from her. She makes a split-second decision, then, gathering up the stonesleeper lungs before holding them out in Hunter’s direction. He was on a mission to get the lungs, and if he brings back all of them, then maybe that could spare Hunter from Belos’ wrath. “You take them,” she says. “I think you need them more than I do.”

Hunter turns back. “What?”

“Take them,” Luz insists.

“But…” Hunter looks lost, gaze shifting between Luz’s face and the lungs. “Maybe you were right earlier. We should share them.”

“What did you just say?” asks Luz.

“I said we should share them…?”

“No, before that.”

“I said—“ His face goes red when he realizes what she’s getting at. “No way, I’m not falling for that. You’re not making me repeat what I said.”

“Please?” Luz says, drawing out the word. “I just want to hear you say it one more time.”

Hunter crosses his arms. “Fine. You were right. Happy now?”

Luz smiles. “Very.”

The two of them split the stonesleeper lungs into equal groups between themselves. Hunter stares off into the sky in the direction of the castle before returning his gaze back to the situation. “Thanks, Luz.”

Her smile only grows, and he manages a small smile back. That might be the first time he’s called her by her name. Still, if he’s planning to head back to the castle already, there’s one thing she has to ask. “Hunter, wait. About what happened at the castle…”

Hunter’s shoulders tense, smile fading. “I don’t want to know what happened.”

“Is Belos really your uncle?” Luz asks.

“You ran into him?” When Luz nods, Hunter says, “Whatever he said to you, I… I probably deserved it.”

“You didn’t, though! It’s my fault you returned to the castle empty-handed. And then he turned into that thing… Hunter, you don’t have to stay there. How he treats you, it isn’t right. You could come back to—“

Hunter’s eyes widen, and Luz watches as his fingers clench around his staff. “You don’t know the first thing about my life!” he says. “I don’t know what world you live in, but not all of us can just get up and abandon the only life we know and the only family we have just for, what? Playing house with a bunch of people who hate you? Don’t be so naive, human.”

He deflates, turning his back to her. “It’s late. I have to go.”

Luz can only watch as he flies away, disappearing into nothing more than a speck in the sky alongside the stars. She’ll get through to him one day, whenever he’s ready to make his choice.