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Chapter Text

Matt laid, anxious yet peaceful, under the covers. Though the night he had just slept through was filled with the banging and sizzling of boiling rain over his roof, his bedroom wasn't all that annoyingly humid. Actually, it was quite cold. Cold enough that his blanket became all the more warm and soft. He didn't want to get up. Especially not today. Though he'd been told that Hexside wasn't as cutthroat as Glandus, there was no way that being a completely new student from Hexside's number one rival school would be easy. Matt knew he was weak, even for Hexside's standards. He'd barely passed the school's entrance exam: though he knew the spells required, he had a bit of a slip up that may or may not have involved a trip to the school's healing homeroom. due to being unable to transform his head back to its normal size. His neck still ached from that.

There was no way he was gonna make a mistake like that on his first day at this new school...

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEECH!!"

...His alarm. Again. Right. He was supposed to get up thirty minutes ago. That was fine. He could just get a ride on his brother's motorbike. Steve loved taking him to the right arm and showing him around. He would always get up bright and early anyways. Honestly, it was weird he wasn't shaking Matt awake already, lecturing to him about how "In the Emperor's Coven, they have to get up at 6:00 sharp!" and "If you wanna be the best, you gotta work for it!" His brother truly was the craziest and most dedicated of them all. It was no wonder that he got into the Emperor's Coven this spring.

Matt darted up.

Crap.

Crap crap crap crap crap.

Steve was living in the Emperor's castle. Not their house. Matt was the only one here.

And that included the bike too.

"CRAP!"

He flailed his way out of the bed and shambled to the door, wrestling with the knob before throwing it open and barraging through the hallway, frantically waving his finger to change into his uniform. He barreled out of the house and broke out into a full sprint, his body running on not even a single eyeball from the fridge. 

By some sort of miracle, Matt had only been late by a couple minutes. Sure, this led to some unfortunate scolding from his homeroom teacher and the watchful smirks of the kids around him as he trudged to his seat, but at least he didn't get into any real trouble. This didn't stop his body from thinking he was about to get thrown into detention though, and it was at this point he was exceedingly thankful that the Hexside uniform was so good at hiding even the most nervous of sweats.

He made it through the school day. There was nothing much else of note to say about the school, which may have been a good thing. He'd gotten pretty used to something terrible happening every day at Glandus: someone fighting, failing, or framing him for something that usually wasn't even his fault. The boringness was honestly refreshing.

But photography class caught his interest. He'd heard of creative vessels such as cameras, minds, and canvases being used to cast magic before, but he'd never gotten the chance to really dive into it. That kind of magic was for nerds and half-witches anyways, according to anyone you'd meet in Latissa. Bonesborough seemed a little more open to witches like him.

Though it clearly still had its problems.

Just as he was ducking his way out of the classroom, he stumbled directly into a fierce argument between a potions student and an illusionist. The former had apparently pushed the boy's friend into a puddle of abomination goo, refusing to apologize and taunting her "half-a-witch" victim. No one in the crowds around the group seemed to care. They walked by like nothing was happening, some actively averting their gaze while others whispered anxiously to each other. Matt, pulling up his hood, shimmied his way to the lockers before attempting to appear as if he were simply checking his penstagram. He listened on. After some angry threats from both sides, the bully stomped off, yelling about abominations and grudgby, for some reason. The illusionist helped his friend to her feet, wiping the gunk out of her hair and offering reassurances. He seemed like a good friend, which was... weird, to say the least. All his life, standing up for someone like that just made you another target. It made you weak. That kid must've been real dumb.

Matt smirked a little as he closed his scroll and headed off. If only everyone was dumb like that.

Chapter Text

Gus laid on the floor of his room, as per usual. The ceiling itself was... boring. But that made it a good background for his eyes as his mind ran off. When he and Mattholomule decided to meet up today, Gus forgot completely about the Gland Prix this weekend. Or rather, he chose not to think about it. Not that he was competing, of course; he had only just met his palisman and definitely didn't fly good enough to even think about racing. He could barely keep his balance without sending Emmiline and himself crashing into, well, anything. But his dad was making him help with the event's visuals. Again.

Okay, maybe that wasn't entirely true. Maybe Gus offered to help in the first place. But now he definitely couldn't take it back. He couldn't just disappoint everyone looking forward to the event! They needed his illusions to see the race, live, as it happened! But Mattholomule...

He promised to meet him in forearm forest today. He could already tell that the boy had his suspicions about this promise. Even before Mattholomule stopped being outwardly hostile it was painfully obvious how bad he just wanted someone around. And after meeting his old "friends"... Yikes. No wonder he had his inhibitions. Gus had to show up for him or else the poor guy would be devastated.

Oh, and also taking care of the graveyard itself was important, of course.

So far he'd come up with the perfect solution: Don't think about it. But that solution didn't work anymore. So now he resorted to thinking about it. On the floor. In his room. It's not like he could do anything. He didn't have Mattholomule's penstagram. He couldn't tell his dad about it or he'd flip out about him hanging out in a graveyard in the middle of the forest. So the best thing he could do without hurting anyone was nothing.

Gus was no longer doing nothing. Since his father was also attending the race, he couldn't really do much to hide from it. He was now standing on a large stage, casting illusions onto a giant crystal ball. Why was he even needed here? All the explaining his dad was giving to the crowds and contestants could've been easily understood without his help. And he didn't even need illusions to show the race! They could've just gone with oracle magic and a couple of cameras! This was stupid. Technically he was being helpful, but it was still stupid.

Apparently he wasn't very good at hiding his annoyance, because as soon as they got offstage, his father immediately shot him one of his quizzical brows.

"And what's the matter with you?"

"Nothing" he replied as enthusiastically as possible. "I'm doing just great."

An even more quizzical brow. Dang it. He was going for something a little more innocent and cheery. Instead he accidentally leaned into the realm of aggressive sarcasm. 

"What's going on? You've been upset ever since you came home yesterday."

Unfortunately there was no more hiding it. He had to come clean.

"Look-" He had to pause to soften his tone. "Look. I..." 

Looking up, his father met him with a face of caring concern. 

"I told a friend I'd meet with him today. But I forgot about the race and the illusions and how I promised I'd help you out-But he doesn't know me very well so I don't want him to think I'm bailing out on him and that we were never friends and well..."

"Augustus-"

"I'm sorry dad. I know you said it would help you out a lot and I promised that-"

"Augustus." He patted a hand on Gus's shoulder. "You can go see your friend."

"What?"

"I can take care of the broadcast. Just because your help is appreciated doesn't mean it's needed." His father smiled at him. "And it sounds like it's much needed elsewhere." 

Gus felt eyebrows loosen and realized just how tense his entire body was. With a grin he wrapped his arms around his father.

"Thank youu!!!" 

 He hugged him back, yet after a second or two his son pushed himself away with a speedy force.

"Right! I have to hurry!" He summoned his palisman, turning her into her staff form and rushing onto it, darting to and fro in a manner not unlike a hummingbird. A very young, very clumsy hummingbird. 

As the boy disappeared from view, Perry wished to the Titan that his son would make it to his friend on time.

And that he would only crash into one or two trees on the way. 

Chapter Text

Though he was hesitant to admit it, Matt was honestly pretty excited for today. Heck, he got up early on the weekend. Though clearly Augustus did not. Maybe. Maybe he bailed out on him. It wasn't like they didn't agree to meet at this time, on the hill by the entrance to the forest. Was he on the right hill? No, that's stupid. Of course he was on the right hill.

At this point his brain was screaming at him. Why would Augustus actually want to spend time with him? Regardless, it was to help former illusionists, but still. Anyone would be hesitant to spend prolonged amounts of time alone with Matt Tholomule. Outside of his brain though, he couldn't shake the feeling that maybe Gus would show up. Maybe it was hope? And that's what kept him sitting in the middle of a clearing on a Saturday looking like a big loser to anyone passing by.

Stupid. He's not coming. Just go home before you waste any more time on this. He could only handle so much dread and embarrassment in his throat. He starting pushing himself off the ground...

...Until he got knocked down again by a sudden blur of blue whizzing by him and crashing directly into a tree.

"What the...." he confusedly jogged over to it, and at the base was-

"Augustus?!"

Okay, he didn't mean to yell it that loudly. The boy was upside down with his head in the grass and the rest of him shooting face up against the tree. Ouch. Gus offered a confused groan in response. By the roots of the tree lay a very dizzy blue chameleon. Matt leaned down to get a closer look.

"Is this your palisman?"

"Oh! Yeah..." Gus flailed to his feet before bending down and patting the dirt off his pants. "Meet... Emmiline Bailey Marcostimo!" He offered a dramatic 'voila' gesture. "My new palisman."

Matt glanced at the boy walking up behind him, then back at the little creature.

"Dude... she looks messed up."

"Hey!" Gus trailed off, offendedly.

"Look at her!"

Gus kneeled down next to him. It was true. The impact must've really hit her hard, because she was knocked out. And covered in little scratches and twigs. He scooped her up in his hands and held her to his face, crying apologies and nudging his forehead against her tiny face. A sad little chirp echoed from his hold.

"Emmy!" He yelled, immediately quieting down as not to startle her. "Emmy, I'm so sorry!"

A long, confused chirp in response.

"Yeah, I shouldn't have rushed like that."

More little chirps.

The two continued their conversation. Matt had never seen Gus with this palisman before, but already they acted like she had been his little baby forever and ever. How did he manage to do it? Not just with her, but with everyone. Something about him and his energy was just so infectious and just... overall, likeable. If only Matt could be like that.

The two ended off their conversation with Gus giving her a little peck on the forehead and her climbing up to rest on his shoulder. He then looked over at the boy next to him.

"Sorry about all that. I didn't mean to be so late."

"Yeah, what was with that?"

Something in Gus's face changed as he looked away. Crap. He sounded a lot more hurt than he meant to.

"I'm really sorry. I got- wrapped up in this thing with my dad and this race and- I just messed up."

"Eh, it's fine." Matt lightly punched him on the arm. "I'll only hold it over your head forever."

"Wha-" Gus's sad, kicked-puppy look was now replaced by a playful grin. Success. "Hey, that's not fair!" He laughed as he pushed the jerk back. Matt shrugged as he giggled along.

"I don't know, Augustus, it sounds to me like you're just a slowpoke."

"Yeah, right!" A mischievous glint entered the illusionist's eye. "And I bet this slowpoke could beat you to the graveyard!" He pushed him again, this time using the force of the push to kickoff into a sprint. It took Matt a second or two to process the challenge before chasing the boy into the forest, leaving only an echo of laughter on the hill.  

"Oh, it's on."

Since neither Gus nor the Keeper of the ruins knew many spells other than illusions, it was up to Matt to do most of the rebuilding. Yeah, he'd fixed it up earlier in the week but... being honest, it wasn't his best work. If he were the ghost of an old illusionist master, he'd probably prefer if his statue was a little more polished. As he figured out how to go about the remodeling, Gus mostly just sat on the ground, talking to either him or his new palisman about anything and everything.

Right now, he was giving a passionate lecture about different genres of human music. Matt mostly listened, sometimes chiming in to call him a nerd or something. The truth was, it honestly pretty interesting. He kinda liked the sound of the little tunes Gus was excitedly and almost definitely inaccurately singing aloud. At some point, he even hummed along a little once he got the melody.

Huh. When was the last time he let himself be dumb like this with someone else? Yeah, he was definitely anxious to make a good impression so that Gus wouldn't think he was a total weirdo, but it felt like he was less nervous than usual. It was refreshing.

"Oh, wouldya look at that!" Gus laughed a little. Matt looked over at him, but the guy was just smiling straight back.

"What is it?"

He gestured to Matt, who confusedly looked down. On his leg was a little blue chameleon. she crawled up to his arm, chirping a little along the way.

"Awww," her owner cooed. "You guys are friends now!"

Matt nervously looked back between Gus and the palisman, who was now sitting on his hand. She was really cute. Like, super cute. He felt it welling up in his face. He cautiously raised up his other hand in front of her, which she curiously sniffed before huffing a little bit in understanding. Matt turned his head over to Gus, who was watching like this was the most interesting thing in the entire world. Matt looked away before lightly scratching the top of her head. Her entire face happily squished into itself as she let out a soft purr.

"Holy titan." Matt's eyes widened.

"I know, right? She's so cute."

Matt didn't even know what to say. 

"Yeah."

Once it got late, they parted ways back at the hill and walked to their homes. The whole thing went incredibly well. Surprisingly well, to Matt at least. Like, if that social interaction was a grade, he'd get a solid A. Maybe a B plus. But he was definitely winning in the friend-making department. He only realized how tired he was once he got home. Damn. He forgot he did so much magic earlier. 

He collapsed onto his bed, sighed, and looked up at the walls. Lots of posters and his own drawings of his favorite series, Blademage, including a signed poster of the cover art of the first book, Blademage: The Five Swords of Friendship. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before sighing again. 

And with it, he could've sworn he heard a muffled chirping noise.

He froze, slowly sitting up and looking around him.

The noises continued.

He looked to the source of the noise, hoping he was hearing things.

Unfortunately, as he looked to his hand, he saw a familiarly adorable blue chameleon looking around, confused, on his bed. 

Chapter Text

It wasn't that Matt didn't like having Emmiline around. She was super stinkin' adorable. And it wasn't like Matt was jealous of Gus for getting to have his own palisman, even if he and Matt should have been in the same class, if Gus wasn't such a big nerd. It was just... Well...

He wasn't Emmiline's partner. And Gus was almost definitely freaking out about her being gone right now. Yeah, Matt hadn't known him for too long, but the one thing he did get to know was that Augustus Porter jumped to the wildest conclusions and made the brashest of decisions. He had probably noticed her absence by now. Matt could already see it:

Gus, moseying his way through the streets of Bonesborough before checking his pockets to give his beloved palisman a soft little smooch on the forehead. Then, to his absolute horror, the little critter was gone. Wherever could she be? What if she's lost? What if she's hurt? What if she's been kidnapped by the angry ghost of an illusionist long past because of the shotty job done on the refurbishments of their statue? Gus would fall to the floor in dorky yet emotional anguish.

"NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"

As Augustus Porter lay all bundled up in his bed, he made a very normal and not weird at all mental review of his endeavors today.

Morning: Awfully done. Just lied around doing nothing. F.

Gland Prix: Fine. He could've been nicer to his dad. C-.

Flying: Okay, definitely better than any flying he'd done before. F-.

Helping at the graveyard: Perfect. A.

His total grade for the day probably wouldn't end out very well, but that was honestly okay with him. He hadn't disappointed his brand new friend. The kid definitely didn't seem all that uncomfortable either, which didn't really happen much before today. He really did seem like just another dorky kid: not some weirdo jerk. Gus noticed that, when he felt safe to be himself, that jerk kinda went away. And the guy behind that was honestly really fun to be around. Not to mention what he said to him the first time they were at those ruins together. Even though he tried masking it with some sharper words, no doubt trying to still keep up some semblance of that tough guy persona, the message still stayed incredibly sweet. Gus mumbled the words to himself as he burrowed deeper under the covers. They made him feel more confident.

"I used to think that.... But then I met.... Dork..." He couldn't help but smile in disbelief. He was the dork? The first day they met, Mattholomule was practically begging Gus to take him along with his friends. He was desperately grasping at straws for people just to think he was slightly cool.

"If.... could save a jerk..... like me...." He yawned, his entire body warm and comfortable. Today was good.

"Maybe it's not as useless as you think..."

And he dozed off without a care in the world.

Matt was completely and utterly freaking out. Though, no doubt, much less than Augustus must've been right now. Damn it! Why hadn't Matt gotten Gus's crow-ne number? Or his even his penstagram? Or his crystal ball? He didn't even know where he lived! The poor guy was probably running around Bonesborough like a griffin with his head cut off trying to find the elusive little reptile. He could never possibly guess that she was in Matt Tholomule's bedroom of all places.

He turned around on the mattress. Emmiline paused her adorable rolling around to stare back at the witch, of whom she seemed completely clueless to the panic of. The palisman must have snuck her way into Matt's bag back at the ruins and fallen asleep.

They sat there, face to face, as Matt was met with one of the dumbest little smiles he'd ever seen. Yeah, she may have been a palisman, but there was definitely not a single thought going on in that tiny little brain of hers.

No wonder she was that dork's palisman. The two were dangerously similar.

Matt's eyes widened upon this connection. He couldn't help letting out the loudest, most disgusting sounding snort that broke off into equally gross sounding bouts of laughter. He stopped immediately upon realizing how stupid he probably looked.

The chameleon just kept staring at him, blinking one eye after the other, tilting her head a little bit in innocent confusion. Right. She wasn't supposed to be here. He glanced sideways before slightly bending down towards her.

"You wouldn't happen to know how to get back to him, would you?"

She stared at him blankly.

"Of course not."

Fine. That just meant he'd have to bring her back to Gus at school. It's not like the illusionist would think he kidnapped her in a meticulous plot to antagonize him further, as if every interaction they had this week was all just an elaborate ruse in Matt's evil, malevolent schemes...

He wouldn't think that...Right?

...

Shit. He was definitely gonna think that. 

The night sky was cloudy, covering the dark, damp air in a haze that made it annoyingly difficult to see anything. Matt hunched over on that familiar hill, gasping for air as his legs and lungs screamed at him. Not a single Augustus Porter in sight. He better not have ran all the way here for nothing. It was cold and dark and definitely not super scary. He scooped Emmiline out of his bag.

"You sure you don't know how to get there?"

This time she responded with a sad little chirp and a slight head shake. 

Light thunder rolled in the distance. Matt rolled his eyes and heaved a deeply annoyed sigh. 

"Ugh. Whatever."

Maybe Augustus was in town looking for her. But Matt was so tired. Like, so tired. He held his head back to the sky in grumpy complaint...

And got hit by a drop of boiling rain directly in the eye. 

"OW!"

Painfully, he rubbed his eye before slipping Emmiline into the safety of his bag and breaking into a sprint back to cover. There was a light sprinkle of rain; not enough to seriously injure someone, but enough make them want anything other than to be outside. 

"FUCK!"

And he tripped and hit his nose square against the root of a tree. 

"Owwwwwww..."

as he lay there, occasionally attacked by a stray droplet or two, a bright blue crawled its way into his sight. It nudged into him and made a bunch of sad chirping noises. Emmiline. His vision blurred, but he could still make out the sadness in her face. He paused his self pity to push himself up a little.

"Emmiline,"  he groaned. "Get back in the bag." 

He felt another nudge on his cheek.

"You're gonna get hurt."

A pause. Pathetic eyes met pathetic eyes. The light sizzling and tip-tapping of the rain was the only sound either could hear. Matt's nose was still throbbing with pain, though now it was a little more manageable. And then Emmiline Bailey Marcostimo stepped her little legs backwards, rising to the air with a bright glow...

"Wha-"

...And falling to the floor as a fully formed staff. She made an insistent chirp that Matt could only understand as having one meaning. Wide-eyed, he cautiously held the staff before boarding and beginning to fly off. 

He'd never ridden a real staff before. Yeah, he'd had tons of practice with enchanted broomsticks, but this was... different. The staff itself felt alive. Like he wasn't the only one in control of the movement. He definitely understood why Gus was having such a hard time getting used to this. 

Emmiline was incredibly fast and unpredictable. They zipped around, darting left and right through the air, avoiding the rain as it sprinkled all around them.

They made it home without running into anything. (No, the way he slammed face-first into the front door did not count.) He was definitely going to brag to Gus about this later. As Matt collapsed back onto his bed, Emmiline returned to her animated form, crawling her way onto the blanket.

Matt grumbled face-first into his pillow. "Titan, that was... Something, wasn't it?" 

Emmiline left an exhausted hum in agreement. 

"We'll just get you home tomorrow morning..." He yawned, shimmying into a more comfortable position.

He was nearly unconscious when he felt a little puff of warm air blow onto his face. Opening his eyes, he was met with the face of a sleepy palisman, of whom was stretched out on his pillow like she'd slept there a thousand times before.

She was so trusting and gentle with him, even if he didn't deserve it. She really was a lot like Gus. 

A tiny, comfortable sigh came from in front of him. He wasn't sure what to think about this development. But he was so tired. Today was way too long for him to think about anything else anymore. So he let himself fall asleep, careful not to move, as not to disturb the little critter that rested beside him. 

Chapter Text

Camila's basement was awfully quiet today. Gus didn't hear the hum of the old sewing machine, or the tweeting of a crimson bird. He didn't even hear footsteps above him, or the muffled laughter of the girls as they'd shout out words and phrases he couldn't quite fully hear from his little space.

They'd all begged Gus to go with them today. Apparently they were going to that human 'mall' (Or actually, he supposed it was just called a 'mall' here...) to see some sort of parade. It did sound interesting...

But no matter how badly he wanted to go, he just wasn't feeling it today. The idea of getting out and being around people was just too much right now. It tightened in his chest so tautly he thought he could vomit all of his insides out at any second. He knew this feeling: well enough to know that he wasn't sick. There was just... something wrong with him. With his brain. With every day that passed he made more and more mistakes that chipped little cracks into the world around him. One day it would all crumble and fall and crush him into the dirt. He was just—everyone—was just... Waiting for him to strike the nail in the coffin. He hadn't found a way to put himself to use all that much.

All he did was weigh all the others down. Luz was clearly depressed, Amity was worrying about the resulting strain on their relationship, and Willow was just trying to pick up all the pieces. They were miserable. And Hunter...

Gus choked guiltily on that last thought. The memories came back.

Fire. Veins. Cracks in wood. A rusty knife crusted over with blood.

A man. Hundreds of them. Thousands of people. But all the same man. But... Each one was his own person, wasn't he? And the others: the witches, the demons... The palismen...

It was all too much.

Only the Titan could've known how long he sat there motionless. It felt like a lifetime, maybe hundreds of them. Hundreds of lifetimes ended all at the same hands...

The only thing that brought him back to Earth was an odd little lick on his elbow and the worried chirping of a blue little Emmiline. She crawled up his arm and perched on his shoulder, pushing her tiny face into his cheek.

He responded with a weak smile. He couldn't lie. It'd offered a little bit of comfort.

She pushed and complained in his face for treats, which he supposed served as a decent distraction. He'd be able to get up and stretch his legs.

He grabbed some human fruits and berries from the fridge and tossed them into a bowl, maybe sneaking a few into his mouth. They were so much sweeter than the berries they had back home. Was this a wonder of the realm or the result of those who'd lived in it? He'd have to ponder that one for a while. 

Maybe Emmiline was a good distraction. One of Gus's favorite pastimes he'd picked up was feeding Emmiline different foods and watching her snatch them up with her tongue, like it was some sort of super-powered grappling hook from the human movies he'd always found washed up on the beaches back in Bonesborough. The suave, well-suited hero would effortlessly swipe the contraction from his belt, maiden in his other arm, whisking the two away from danger in a masterfully dramatic sequence. Human movies truly were something else. Watching them with his friend back home they'd always try to reenact the beauty of the scenes right after. Though that loser always insisted that he was the knight in shining armor despite not being nearly as dashing and graceful in the role as Gus was. 

One time, when Mattholomule tried to deliver the hero's emotional monologue, he waved his hands too far in his theatrical motion, slamming his hand against Gus's dresser of human relics and causing it all to come crashing down on him. He needed some help getting back to his feet afterwards, to say the least. Typical damsel-in-distress behavior.  Gus felt his chest lighten up at this silly memory. What a dork. It was like he couldn't go five minutes without falling flat on his face. 

But now it'd definitely been longer than five minutes. The feeling soured a little. 

He hadn't seen the guy since the Day of Unity. And it wasn't quite the best farewell. Not that Gus was planning to get stranded in the Human Realm for Titan knows how long...

But Mattholomule was definitely cold that day. Like he was mad at Gus for being around. So he didn't push the goodbyes. It made sense, given the situation. He was probably just on edge, and Gus made it about himself again. Looking back he wished he'd at least given him a hug or something. (No, wait, he didn't like being hugged...)

What would he do now, when he saw him again? 

If he saw him again...

Would he ever come home? See him? See his dad? Go back to school and do magic? 

He just wanted things be normal again.

But if he came back, would there even be anything left?

Chapter Text

Crap.

This was bad.

Like, really bad.

Augustus Porter had had his new palisman for less than a week. And he already had no idea where she was.

After rolling his way out of bed and shambling to the kitchen to feed the cute little chameleon before school, he'd realized that she was nowhere to be found. He had already come to know that this was very out of character. If he had learned one thing about Emmiline Bailey Marcostimo, it was that she loved her food. And she loved being very vocal about that fact.

But this morning was quiet.

This quietness left Gus all the brain space in the world to wonder and worry about her whereabouts. When was the last time he even saw her? Before bed last night? Did she even have dinner? He was too caught up in his dumb little excitement about friends and graveyards and-

Graveyards.

Emmiline.

She must've been left behind at the graveyard. No, he distinctly remembered her nesting in his bag as he walked home. So when did she…?

A sharp, red pain gnawed into his wrist. His watch. He had to go to school.

But Emmiline…

Where in the world was she?

"Augustus?" A tall shadow crept up behind him, breathing onto his shoulder.

Craaaaaaaaap.

"What are you still doing here, young man?"

He turned head as slow as possible, as if this could hide his presence. His father, Perry Porter himself, was clad in selkidomus pajamas, which contrasted very jarringly with his disapproving scowl.

"You should be at school!"

"I- Well-" Gus's voice cracked embarrassingly loud. The corners of his mouth quirked up in an uncertain smirk that complimented the heavy bullets of sweat dripping down his sleeves. "I… Uh…"

His father sighed into his coffee. "Did you stay up late on your scroll again? I can fly you to school if you're tired, but I have an interview at 8, so you'd better hurry up!"

"What? No, I—" He gasped a deep breath, trying to suck in his embarrassment. "I…"

"I lost my palisman."

No one warned Gus for the waves of shame and embarrassment that would come from dropping to school from behind his dad's palisman. Or the looks and whispers that convinced him everyone in the school would know that he was a reckless palisman owner. That he was just a little kid that shouldn't have been trusted with such a grown-up responsibility. Maybe he should've never skipped those grades in the first place. Honestly, he probably should've been held back a year or two to make up for his stupidity.

To avoid as many gossiping eyes and giggles as possible, he pulled up his hood and walked as inconspicuously as he could, making sure to maintain eye contact with whatever abomination goo the janitors had missed as they were mopping the floors of the hallways. He only bumped into two or three kids. He counted that as a win.

The fourth student he ran into had also seemed to have been part of the floor-staring tournament, as they both rammed into each other with such speeds that the kid's messy armload of books and paperwork flew to the floor, an explosion of hastily doodled-over assignments.

"Owww…" A familiar voice. Gus perked up to see that the student in front of him wore a matching 'hood-of-embarrassment' covering some bluntly cut bangs that were parted in the center.

Wait a second. He recognized those bangs.

"Mattholomule?"

The construction student looked up at him, still rubbing his forehead.

"Augustus?!" he shouted while grabbing at his things. Gus, though shaken from this unnecessary noise, supposed he should do the same.

"Crap, I'm so sorry, dude, I—"

"Hey—"

"I wasn't paying attention, I really messed up—"

"You left—"

"I wasn't watching where I was—"

"Augustus." the boy snatched the rest of his papers from Gus's arms. He didn't seem mad, per se, but there was definitely an urgency in his eyes. It was enough to get Gus's attention. "Emmiline."

Gus was completely dumbfounded as the boy reached into his bag. "How did you—?"

He stopped as a blue chameleon crawled its way up Matt's arm and onto his shoulder.

"Wha— Emmiline?!"

Matt rolled his eyes jokingly. "What'd you think I was trying to tell you?" The palisman chirped some laughter in response.

"I— Well… I don't know!" Not that, he thought. That was for sure. "How'd this—" He gestured his arms about the two. "even happen?"

The boy and the reptile paused and looked to each other.

"Well, she kinda, like, fell asleep in my stuff yesterday, at the graveyard." Matt looked away, stuffing his things into his bag as Emmiline jumped into Gus's arms. "By the time I figured that out, it was already pretty late, so…"

Emmiline chirped to Gus about how nice and sweet his friend was. Especially since he let her curl up all warm and cozy next to him. Matt jumped and reddened a little.

"Whatever your palisman is telling you is probably a lie. Just so you know."

"Do you… Understand what she's saying?"

At this, the boy froze. "…No…"

That was definitely code for yes. Huh. Witches only understood palisman if they'd reached a certain level of comfort with each other. 

"Well. Uh. I gotta go to photo. You know." Matt got up, nervously dusting the dirt off his pants. "It was nice to-" He caught himself, coughing in hesitation and deepening his voice with a scowl. "Erm. Take better care of your lame little palisman. You coulda lost it for real."

And he walked off as if he'd never known the two.

Gus smiled at Emmiline. "That guy's a lot dorkier than he tries to let on, huh?"

She chirped more about just how well she was taken care of.

"And he fed you?" His eyes widened. "What's next, he gave you a little kiss on the forehead?"

She laughed back at him.

"…No way."

The two exploded into laughter and chirps and conversation as Gus walked on to class.

That Mattholomule was oddly a really sweet dude. In his own, weird way, of course.

But why was he so shy about it?