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Luz knew she had to return to the castle immediately. She should have done it right after the battle — gotten up, helped Lilith lock the Beast in its cage, and gone back to the Emperor with her report. But she didn’t. She didn’t even attack Lilith, though she'd wanted to at first — before the more rational part of her mind took control. Instead, she simply ran away.
She grabbed Eda’s staff (using her own mechanical one still hurt; it always has since she first tapped into real wild magic) and flew off without looking back.
Now she sat alone in an empty house. Even Hooty, strangely enough, wasn’t bothering her. For some reason, they’d taken King too. He’d gone after Eda no matter what. He came just as they captured her and was trying to save her until the very end. And Luz? Luz had bolted from the castle the first chance she got. In some twisted way, she was glad King wasn’t here — she had no idea what she could say to him right now.
What was she supposed to do now? Even if they escaped, there would be no going back. Eda had heard Lilith mention Luz. She probably hadn’t figured it out yet, but if she ended up going to execution, Eda would definitely learn the truth.
Why did it even matter to Luz? She had the key. She had the door. Belos… how would Belos help her? Heal her? No, they’d been down that road already. Send her home? Why would he, after all he’d done to make her stay? Eda had been kind to her. And King had run into danger to try and save her, even when there was no real threat to him. Come to think about it, the only reason she even wanted to go back was…
“Hunter!”
Luz knew he’d be there. Of course, Belos had ordered him to stay at the castle, “big plans” and everything. But Luz also knew how much Hunter hated being cooped up. The fact that the Emperor trusted Luz with important missions while forcing Hunter to sit on the sidelines only pushed him further. “Supervising the Owl Lady’s execution” was too convenient of an excuse.
“What do you want to hear? I won’t stop you, but I’m not helping you betray the Emperor.”
“He’s going to execute Eda!”
“Of course he is. What did you expect? She’s a wild witch and a dangerous criminal!”
“She’s not like that!” Seeing Hunter’s skeptical look, Luz corrected herself: “Okay, yes, she uses wild magic, but she’s never done anything truly bad. She’s only ever helped me. She’s not a criminal!” Luz knew even Eda herself would argue with that, but she needed Hunter’s help — there was no way she could outsmart the Emperor, not after fleeing the battle like that. Seeing that Hunter still didn’t look convinced, Luz played one of her final cards. “They didn’t just take Eda — they took King too! How is that right? He’s just a kid, and they’re going to turn him into a statue!”
Finally, a flicker of doubt crossed Hunter’s face. Small, but Luz knew him too well — it was enough. Despite everything, he was still loyal to Belos, and blaming him outright would’ve only pushed him away. No matter what he said, Luz could see he was kinder than he let on.
“Please, Hunter. They mean so much to me. Eda… she’s like a mother to me.”
His eyes widened. He knew she meant it. Knew how much that meant coming from her. He remembered how Luz, despite being raised in the castle like him, had not even once called Belos anything but “Emperor.” He knew why she feared calling anyone else family — and yet here she was, giving that title to a wild witch.
“You know that whatever plan you come up with, he’ll find out. You’ll lose his protection. You’ll have to face what it means to be a wild witch, even if you’re human. And if your friends abandon you, you’ll be alone.”
“It’s worth the risk.”
“No, it’s not! If you leave, he won’t cure you. He’s the only one who can break the curse!”
“He can’t! Or won’t. What’s the difference? Either way, he told me himself — he’s not going to free me from it.”
Hunter fell silent. He wanted to argue that his uncle wouldn’t do that, wouldn’t lie to Luz. But he knew that wasn’t true. He would lie — and had lied — just to keep her close, to give her hope.
He felt himself slipping. Sure, he still didn’t approve of how attached Luz had become to a wild witch. But he’d be a hypocrite to criticize her — because he’d grown attached to someone who was now preparing to betray the Emperor.
“You can come with me,” Luz offered hesitantly. “We’ll figure something out together.”
They both knew he wouldn’t. He couldn’t betray his uncle — not openly (he was trying his best not to think about the fact that he is doing just that). But still… the fact that Luz cared enough to offer it — warmed his heart a little.
“So… what’s the plan?”
“I understand your reaction to today’s events, even though it was rather dramatic. This time, you’ll be forgiven — as long as it never happens again.”
“Thank you, Emperor.”
“To ensure that, you will remain in your room during the execution, under guard,” Belos said. Luz only nodded. “You may go. The guards will meet you at the exit.”
Luz froze. The silver mask made it hard to read her face, but Belos had ruled long enough to learn how to see through any mask.
“Is there something else, Silver Guard?”
She flinched like she was about to bolt, then forced herself to stay still.
“When I entered the castle, Lilith approached me with a proposition. She plans to free the Owl Lady and stop her from being petrified. I agreed and sent my illusion with her. They’re heading to the cage now.”
The Emperor stood abruptly and made for the door.
“What you’ve shared will be taken into consideration when I evaluate the possibility of your betrayal. Now-” He opened the door. “Kikimora, you’ll conduct the execution. Silver Guard, follow me.”
Hunter adjusted his mask, checking to make sure the illusion held.
“Sorry, Lilith. But you did want to help us.”
At the same time, the real Luz stood at the ceremony, feeling Lilith’s furious glare burn into her. Thankfully, everything was still going according to plan — otherwise, even if they survived, Lilith would probably kill her.
What Belos didn’t know was that not only was “Luz” an illusion — but so was “Lilith.” Luz hadn’t wanted to involve Gus this deeply, but even with illusions, this plan was dangerously risky for all of them — including Hunter. The plan was that the illusions would buy Hunter time to escape, and afterward all the blame would fall on Luz. So far, since the Emperor still hadn’t caught her, things were looking better than expected.
As for Lilith… bringing her in had been a gamble. If she were more loyal to the Emperor than she let on, she could ruin everything. But Luz wanted to believe that Lilith still cared about her sister enough to try and make things right. Unfortunately, for the plan to work, Lilith couldn’t suspect a thing — which meant she was now acting like swapping places had been her favorite idea.
Suddenly, Kikimora stepped onto the platform. Luz tensed — this was the sign. If Kikimora had come alone, the Emperor had already begun searching for Lilith. They had to act quickly.
“Golden Guard, what are you doing here?” Kikimora asked, suspicious.
“I, uh, I was just-”
Suddenly, the statue’s eyes glowed green, and a beam shot toward the cage. Eda, of course, threw herself in front of it — shielding not just King, but also her sister, who she still believed was working for the Emperor (which wasn’t entirely untrue).
It was time to act. Luz pulled out the prepared glyph and activated it, throwing it near the statue. A single plant glyph would never be able to destroy it — but that wasn’t the goal. The most important thing was that the beam stopped, and Eda hadn’t fully turned to stone. She’d be okay. Lilith could treat much worse injuries.
Now they just had to deal with Kikimora and get out.
“What’s going to happen to her?”
“The transformation didn’t complete. I can reverse it.”
“No- how is that possible?!”
Luz tore off her mask, dropping the illusion with it. There was no turning back now.
“Let them go. Now.”
Luckily, Kikimora was too shocked — or scared — to argue. She deactivated the cage without a word.
Luz handed Lilith her staff and gladly threw away Hunter’s, which she had to carry as a disguise.
“Let’s get out of here!” Eda shouted, scooping everyone onto her back and launching into the sky.
Lilith’s patience lasted just long enough for the flight home. As soon as they landed and stabilized the curse — at least temporarily — she turned to Luz, and Luz knew that Lilith had just pretending to have forgotten.
“What was that?! Why did you trick me? I thought you were still on the Emperor’s side!”
“It was the only way to help Hunter! And you wanted to help too!”
“I wanted to save Eda, not get thrown in prison!”
Eda and King watched them silently.
“Kid… what’s going on here?”
Luz sighed. There was a lot of explaining to do.