The angel of the owl house

Season 1: The Demon Realm

Chapter 16: Allusions and Illusions

Gus watched as the Coven Scouts approached, wielding spears, chains, and spell circles, ready to capture Luz. Their other friends, plus the Banshees, threw up defences to protect Luz, but Gus didn't have any magic like that; he had his illusions, so he used them as best he could.

"You want Luz, you'll have to find her first!" Gus yelled, focusing his magic and producing a huge illusion. Countless clones of himself, Luz, and all their friends appeared, completely disguising where the real Luz was. A moment of shuffling around, and even remembering where the original Luz had stood wouldn't be enough to find her!

The scouts hesitated, but their Captain, standing tall and intimidating, just marched forward and lifted her mask, revealing only a swirling void and a large toothy sneer.

"An Illusion? That's the best you can do? Step back little boy; this is a fight way above your pay grade!"

Gus then watched with horror as a stream of yellow electricity arced from the Captain's fingers and jumped between his friends, destroying the illusions and electrocuting the real ones. Gus was rooted to the spot, his eyes wide with horror as he watched his friends collapse one by one. But still the lightning didn't stop, and Gus was forced to watch as they were turned to dust. The Banshees were the first to fall, followed rapidly by Skara and then Amity, who screamed out to Luz in her last moments. King was the next to disintegrate, crying out for Eda to come help them. The last was Willow, who writhed on the ground and reached for Gus.

"Gus! Please! Save us! Help!" Willow begged.

Gus tried to cast a spell circle, conjuring an illusion of a massive monster, but it was ignored completely, and the Scouts laughed and mocked him for creating yet another fake as his friend suffered.

Willow had tears in her eyes as her expression went slack and hopeless, right before her body turned black and burned away into ash under the lightning of the captain. Gus fell to his knees, while Luz, the only other person to avoid being destroyed by the lightning, looked at him from the ground where she lay, eyes filled with betrayal.

"Why didn't you help her!? We're your friends!"

"M-My Illusions aren't helping!" Gus cried, tears streaming down his face.

The Captain stopped her lightning spell and stepped up to Luz, before suddenly shifting and twisting as she transformed. Gus gasped and recoiled in terror as the image of the Captain was replaced by that of Emperor Belos.

"Thank you, Augustus. Your little illusions were a nice sideshow. But it's over now, and I will claim my prize."

The shadows below Belos' robes stretched out and gripped Luz, then began to drag her in. Luz screamed and cried, and tried in vain to claw herself away from the Emperor.

"Gus! Please! Don't let him take me!" she begged, sobbing in terror.

Gus began to hyperventilate. He tried to draw another spell circle, but it shattered and Belos laughed mockingly.

"You can't even conjure the illusion of being useful. You can't protect anyone." Belos declared, as Luz gave one last agonised scream before being consumed by the shadows beneath Belos' robes.

Gus gripped his heart and struggled to breathe. His friends were dead! Luz was gone! He'd failed! He'd stood by and been useless! He couldn't do anything!

Then, just as the spears of the scouts bared down on him, the entire world vanished in a blink, and Gus startled awake.

He panted hard as he shot up in his bed, drenched in a cold sweat. He looked around slowly, trying to make sense of everything, and found he was in his room. Slowly, the visions he'd just seen faded from his mind and reality took it place.

His friends were all alive and free; they'd gotten zapped yesterday, but no one died and even though Luz was captured, she'd escaped with help from Boscha. Everything was fine… it had all been a horrible dream.

A knock on his bedroom door pulled Gus out of his thoughts; "Gus? Is everything alright? I heard a scream."

"Y-Yeah Dad, I'm fine. Just had a nightmare." Gus answered.

His bedroom door opened and his Dad, Perry Porter, walked into the room. He looked a lot like his son, just older and with the Oracle Coven sigil on his right wrist. He smiled kindly at his son, then took a seat on the foot of his bed.

"Are you alright now, son?" he asked, rubbing Gus's back.

"Y-Yeah… it really was just a bad dream. It wasn't real…" Gus answered, before frowning, "...not real… which means it can't do anything…"

The words "Like illusions" filled his mind, but Gus didn't let them spill. His Dad looked at him worriedly; "Are you sure you're okay? Do you want to talk about it?"

Gus shook his head and forced himself to smile; "I'm good."

Perry didn't look convinced, but he didn't want to be pushy; Gus would talk to him when he was ready. "Well okay then. But you can talk to me any time. Now, I better head to work; will you be okay at school today?"

Gus nodded, and his dad smiled and ruffled his hair; "Attaboy. See you tonight!"

With that, Perry left for his job as a reporter at BBN-HXN News, and Gus got himself up and ready for school. The young boy tried not to let his nightmare get to him, but parts of it just kept replaying in his head. His illusions had been completely useless yesterday, and may have even made things worse! If he hadn't tried what he had, then maybe the Scout Captain wouldn't have immediately realised it was an illusion, or whipped out a lightning spell to zap them all! If he'd done something else, Luz might never have been captured! Sure she was free now, but that didn't change the fact that all of their friends had been hurt and Luz had been put through a pretty traumatizing experience because he'd not been able to do anything useful!

It was frustrating, and it must have been obvious on his face, as when he arrived at Hexside, he found Willow, Amity, and Luz looking at him with concern.

"Gus, are you okay? You've got bags under your eyes." Willow asked gently.

"Yeah, just a bad dream. Don't worry about it." Gus waved her off with a smile.

"You sure?" Luz said, tilting her head curiously.

Gus nodded; "Yep. Now enough about me; how are you guys?"

"Pretty good. Dad and Papa watched our game yesterday and were worried I'd be upset over losing, so they're taking me out for dinner tonight." Willow smiled; "I told them it was fine, but they insisted and I haven't spent much time with them lately, so I agreed. It should be fun."

Amity smiled; "That sounds nice. I've got a shift at the library after school, so I'll be busy there. It's a shame Boscha and Grudgby took up our whole weekend; I wanted to take Luz on a real date!"

Luz blushed while Gus and Willow chuckled; "W-Well then we'll just have to go next weekend instead! As for what I'm doing; I'll be working with Rasiel on the Alchemical Silver I need to make the Panacea Mirror!"

Her friends nodded in understanding; since meeting Rasiel, they'd learned about the deal he'd made with Eda to be allowed to stay at the Owl House. Luz had been working pretty hard at preparing for it and trying to find another Black Tomb by feverishly translating Philip Wittebane's Diary.

"How's that going anyway?" Amity asked.

"Good!" Luz chirped, before her face fell slightly; "Mostly…"

"Something going wrong?" Gus asked.

"Not exactly? The Alchemical Silver is coming along nicely, it's just kind of finicky and Rasiel's worried we won't be able to do the next step until we find his body. Apparently my magic isn't suited for it…" Luz sighed with frustration.

"What? But aren't you a super strong High Angel now?" Willow pointed out.

"Well I wouldn't say super strong, but I'm stronger than I was. The problem is that because of the way I've evolved, my normal angelic magic is blended with the magic of the glyphs; Titan magic. But Angelic Alchemy relies strictly on angelic magic, and it doesn't look like I have enough of that to perform the purification ritual that completes the next step." Luz explained.

Her friends looked at her with surprise; unless something was suppressing or actively draining her magic, she always seemed like an endless font of energy! The idea that she didn't have enough undiluted angelic magic to complete the silver was a little odd.

At that moment, Rasiel popped out of his ring; "Strictly speaking, Luz's magic is roughly half angelic and half Titan. As a Cherub, her magic was extremely stunted, and when she first became a full angel, the amount of angelic magic she had was closer to that of a normal Cherub, while the rest was made up of Titan magic. Now that she's a High Angel, she has a bit more angelic magic than a normal angel, but its still only half of what a High Angel should have, with the rest being Titan magic. Making purified Alchemical Silver is a very difficult task; it normally takes a team of angels working together to pull out enough magic to perform the ritual, but without my body and without involving Luz's mother, we only have what Luz has. Sadly it's just not enough right now."

Amity, Willow, and Gus exchanged frowns; "So you won't be able to cure Eda's curse until you get Rasiel's body back?"

"Yeah… we were going to have to wait until then anyway since we need his blood along with mine to complete the mirror, so it's not the end of the world. But I was hoping to have the mirror mostly done so we could complete it as soon as Rasiel gets his body back! Now that we have to wait, it'll be an extra two weeks on top of however long it takes to find Rasiel's body." Luz sighed dejectedly.

Her friends frowned again; their experience with Eda yesterday had proven that she was beginning to build up a resistance to the Elixirs. Luz's Super Elixirs had helped, but they were now about as helpful as the original Elixirs used to be, forcing Eda to drink them daily and take multiple if she became stressed or drained. If things kept going like this, they'd stop working at all within a month or so. It was a race against time to find Rasiel's body and complete the Panacea Mirror before the Curse took Eda over completely.

Gus, feeling fairly useless with his confidence shaken, wracked his brain for a way to help. "Well isn't there any other ways to boost your magic? Like potions or Power Glyphs?"

Luz's eyes widened; "Power Glyphs! That could work! Potions could be dangerous since I'd need to stop the purification ritual to drink one when I ran out of power, but anybody could slap a glyph on me and I'd be able to keep working without losing focus! Gus, you're a genius!"

The boy gave a small smile; "Glad I'm still good for something!" he joked. His friends gave him a strange look, but the bell began screaming before they could question his odd behaviour. With a promise to meet up again at lunch (since Gus had a meeting with the HAS during the break), they all split up and headed to their classes.

Luz's bard classes went by fast, as she and Skara practised together and chatted a bit about what had happened the previous day. Skara happily reported that Boscha really was making an effort to be neutral with others and had begun holding her tongue whenever she would have previously said something insulting. After leaving the Owl House the previous day, they'd gone to the Police Precinct to let them know that Boscha was safe, and they'd pretended she'd been drugged with an Amnesia Tincture just like her mother and the Scout Captain. Since they'd kept the real reason for Luz's arrest a secret and no records had been made due to the Captain wanting to cover it up, no one had bothered to try and come after her, and no one at the precinct wanted to risk the Owl Lady's or Lilith's attention by trying to recapture her, so they were quietly sweeping the incident under the rug. Skara even whispered to Luz that she'd heard a rumour that the Emperor himself had ordered the Bonesborough division of his coven to just observe Luz, but both girls thought it was just the usual rumour mill exaggerating things.

As for Boscha herself, the three-eyed girl was now relying more on snark and sarcasm than outright malice when talking with others, and while not perfect, it was a big improvement.

After bard class was over, Luz spent some time with Amity and the twins during the break, and learned that Emira was now multi-tracking in both Illusions and Healing, having been inspired by her lessons with Viney (and likely so she could spend more time with the other girl). However she also learned that Gus was apparently struggling in class.

"It was the weirdest thing." Edric began, "Usually when the older years help out the younger ones with their work, Gus just keeps working on his own since he doesn't really need the help, but today he was actually making mistakes!"

Emira nodded; "It really was strange. I noticed he seemed kind of down yesterday when he came to get our help, but I figured it was just because Luz got arrested."

"Well he said he had a nightmare last night. Maybe that's why?" Amity suggested.

The twins both cringed at that; "That's rough." Emira said sympathetically.

"Yeah, nightmares always suck, but they suck extra hard for Illusionists." Edric agreed, "Our magic is all about imagination and bringing the non-existent to life…"

"…So our dreams are almost always really vivid." Emira finished.

Luz frowned sadly; it must be awful to have a nightmare that felt that real! Normal nightmares were bad enough! Maybe she could find a way to cheer him up at lunch… perhaps with some stories of the Human Realm?

After the break was over, Luz headed to her classes with the construction track. She'd help Gus out later, but right now she needed to see if she could finally make some more potent Power Glyphs! The ones she'd tried making before Grom had been fairly pitiful, and the ones her classmates had gifted her had ended up being used by King, who'd wanted to see if he could combine them with his regular Glyph magic.

Walking into class, she smiled as she saw that Mattholomule was present. He'd rarely been in classes with her since she became an official student, but since the school's repairs were complete and Principal Bump was using the money sent by Lilith to have professionals complete the expansion, he was back in regular classes again.

"Hey Matty! Good to see you!" Luz greeted happily.

Mattholomule's face twisted uncomfortably for a moment, before he forced himself to smile at her; "Hey Luz."

Luz noticed his expression; "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just not a fan of being called Matty." he replied, rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh! Sorry. What do you want me to call you?" Luz asked.

"Just Matt, or even Mattholomule. I've gotten used to that nickname." he said, relaxing again.

Luz tilted her head curiously; "Really? Even though your name is actually Matt Tholomule? How come you never corrected anyone by the way?"

Matt shrugged; "Honestly, I didn't care enough. It's basically just my whole name, which is better than some of the stuff I got called back in Glandus."

Luz scowled; after the previous day's events with Boscha, her tolerance for bullies was at an all-time low. "Well forget those jerks. You're a Hexoleo now! So Matt, I was hoping for a little favour…"

Since Matt knew her secrets from Grom, Luz freely told him what she was working on, making the boy's eyes widen.

"I'm seriously still not over the whole "Luz is an angel" thing." Matt chuckled nervously, "I know a lot of people know now, but it's still weird to think about. But whatever; you want my help to try and make better Power Glyphs?"

"Yep!" Luz said, pulling out a slip of paper from her pocket. It had a little picture of Owlbert on it, which was the design Luz had chosen for her own Power Glyphs, "I can make them strong enough to give me a tiny boost for one spell, or five seconds of a continuous spell, but it really is a tiny boost."

She cast a simple light spell, then stuck her Power Glyph on the back of her hand and repeated the spell, creating a second, slightly brighter light spell. Matt eyed the slight difference with a frown.

"Yeah, that's good for a pinch, but it won't be much good for what you're planning." he said, before grinning confidently; "Lucky for you, I've been practicing my Power Glyphs lately! I'll show you a few tips and tricks to make them better!"

Luz grinned; "Thanks Matt! You help me with this, and I'll consider us even for the whole Detention Pit thing."

Mattholomule winced at the memory; Luz had been nice to him and accepted his apology, but she still hadn't completely forgiven him for that screw up. He didn't blame her though, and was happy to finally make things square between them.

The two decided to partner together to complete their assigned work faster; Professor Freed taught them a spell to make magic swirl around their fingers and arms, allowing them to push them through stone to drill holes. Matt showed his skill in construction magic by completing the task second (only behind the top student Leia), then helping Luz. She was better with construction magic than she was when she started, but she still struggled with it since neither her angelic abilities or the glyphs she had lent themselves to construction magic. She eventually managed it though, and they had enough time to begin working on the Power Glyph problem.

Power Glyphs were one of the rare examples of modern magic still using elemental magic as a component, as it used the element of earth to weave a strengthening enchantment into paper, so that when the paper was pressed against skin, the enchantment could then flow into the user. This allowed the earth element to saturate the body, and since earth was the element of strength, endurance, and determination, it filled a witch's body (or an angel's in Luz's case) with increased physical and magical power. However, this use of elements also made Power Glyphs hard to make in the modern era, since few knew how to harness elemental magic beyond simply conjuring and manipulating the element itself; enchantments using the element's symbolic representations were an entirely different kind of magic that bordered on being forgotten.

However as Mattholomule had said, he'd improved his ability to make them by secretly studying earth magic. His older brother, a Scout in the Emperor's Coven, had brought home some old books about it after shutting down some criminal's stand at the recent Book Fair; Matt didn't know the details beyond the crook trying to scam Head Witch Lilith, but his brother had let him keep a book on the elements, which had explained the relationship between the elements of Earth and Fire, and construction magic.

Luz had watched with awe as Matt had drawn his spell circle, then seemingly dissolved it, and a huge clump of earth he'd conjured, into brown coloured magic particles which he'd then woven into some paper. He'd shaped the enchantment into his own design, which was a cartoonishly handsome version of his own face. He'd then grinned expectantly as he handed it to Luz.

"Try that!" he said.

Luz giggled at the idea of essentially giving herself a Mattholomule temporary tattoo, then obediently put the glyph on the back of her hand. The rush of magic it gave her was noticeably more than her own attempts, but it was also still far from what she needed.

"Better, but we're still not there yet." she said.

"Well then, let's do it together. Maybe try mixing some of that angel magic in." Matt suggested.

The young angel nodded, then began following Mattholomule's lead. He proved to be an actually competent teacher, as he gently instructed her in how to improve the enchantment. Luz couldn't use elemental magic that she didn't possess the glyph for, so she'd had to rely on just angelic magic to make her enchantments, which was why they were so weak, but with Matt providing the earth elemental magic, the two were able to weave a surprisingly decent enchantment. The finished product was shaped like Matt's face again, but Luz's contribution had resulted in the image having owl wings sticking out of it's head, much to her amusement.

"Feathers are a good look on you." she teased, making Matt roll his eyes.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up. Try it out already, I want to see how strong our combined magic is!" Mattholomule ordered, leaning forward eagerly.

Luz didn't need to be told twice, and happily slapped their Power Glyph on her hand. Immediately, she gained an aura of gold and white magic, and felt her power skyrocket.

"Whoa! I feel like I could vaporise half of Bonesborough with one light blast! This is crazy!" Luz laughed, casually producing light balls from her hands like they were soap bubbles from a bubble wand.

Mattholomule rubbed a finger under his nose proudly; "Am I awesome, or what?"

Luz nodded happily, but unfortunately, the Power Glyph faded after only a few minutes of use, reducing Luz back to her prior level of strength. She frowned; if it faded that fast, it would never last long enough to complete the Purification Ritual needed for the Alchemical Silver.

"This is better, but it's still not enough! I think the potency is right, but I need something that lasts longer, like the Power Glyph I got at the Covention." Luz sighed, remembering how effective it had been when Amity had used them against her, the Mandragora, and the Ice Wyrm.

"If you got it at the Covention, then it was probably made by Head Witch Mason. There's no one on the Isles better at construction magic than he is." Mattholomule crossed his arms, "Sorry to disappoint, but this is the best I can do for now."

"Can we ask some of the others to help?" Luz asked, pointing to the other construction students, as well as Professor Freed, who were working on their own personal projects.

Mattholomule shook his head; "Adding more power will just make the enchantment stronger; it won't make it last longer. We need to improve the basic quality of the enchantment itself. Professor Freed and Leia are probably the only ones who could do it better than me, but it still wouldn't compare to Head Witch Mason."

Luz pulled on her lips in thought; "Most of the Isles thinks I'm Eda's daughter now, so I doubt he'd give me another Power Glyph if I asked…"

The only other people who had Power Glyphs from him were Willow, Gus, and King, but all three had used them. Willow had used hers during the confrontation with Odalia, in anticipation of having to fight Alador too. Gus had used his in the fight with the Detention Pit, and King had destroyed his while trying to see if he could replicate it (which he sadly couldn't).

Sighing in defeat, Luz said; "Well, I guess that plan's a bust. Thanks for the help anyway Matt. Consider us even."

Matt nodded, but inwardly he felt dissatisfied. Back in Glandus, there was no way anyone would let him off the hook so easily after screwing up so badly. People at Hexside were a lot nicer, and Luz was obviously in a league of her own, being a Kindness High Angel, but that just made Matt feel worse about not being able to actually help her out.

He thought for a moment, before looking around to see if anyone was watching them. When he saw everyone else absorbed in their own work, he silently pulled Luz over to a corner of the room so he could whisper to her.

"Okay look, this is kind of a long shot, but I might have another way for you to boost your magic enough to complete this ritual thing." Mattholomule said quietly.

"Really? What is it!?" Luz asked excitedly, leaning in close.

"Have you ever heard of something called a Galdorstone?" Matt asked.

Luz frowned, then shook her head; "No, never."

"Well they're these ancient relics that are supposed to massively boost the power of any spell cast by someone holding one." Matt explained, "I heard about them while I was still a student at Glandus. Some of the guys I hung out with overheard some Coven Scouts talk about them, and when I asked my brother in the Emperor's Coven, he confirmed it."

Luz gasped; "If those things are real, then they might be just what I need! Do you know where they are, Matt?"

At that, Mattholomule frowned and looked away; "Not exactly. My older brother might know; he actually mentioned them again recently. We could ask him?"

Luz's first instinct was to jump at the opportunity, but Mattholomule's brother was in the Emperor's Coven. It could be risky for her to get involved in anything to do with one of them.

"Maybe… Hey Rasiel, do you know anything about these relics?" Luz asked, looking down at her ring.

Rasiel didn't emerge, and just spoke into her mind; "They sound very familiar… but I'm afraid I couldn't say more than that. But so long as they aren't related to my lost personal memories, I should be able to recall them with time. I don't know how long that'll take though."

Well that torpedoed Luz's plan to find the Galdorstones without getting involved with the Emperor's Coven. She debated with herself for a few minutes; she needed one of the Galdorstones to finish the Alchemical Silver needed to cure Eda, but if she made the wrong move around a Coven Scout, she could get arrested again! Still, scout or not, this was Mattholomule's big brother…

"Is your brother cool?" Luz asked.

Matt nodded with a big grin; "He's the best! I look up to him! He's the inspiration for my awesome haircut!"

That made Luz smile; she didn't have any older siblings of her own, but she could understand the feeling of looking up to someone and wanting to be like them. She felt the same about her Mami and Eda.

"Well then, let's do what you said and ask him about the Galdorstones. If he can really lead me to them, then it's worth a try!"

Matt smiled and agreed; "We can go after school. He has patrols around Bonesborough in the afternoons, but always makes sure to be near our house when I get home from school."

With a plan decided upon, the two spent the rest of their classes before lunch working on making more Power Glyphs, just in case they needed them. Then when lunch came, Mattholomule joined Luz as she went to sit with her friends as always, and listened as she filled them in on her plans for the evening.

They'd listened with interest to the story of the Galdorstones, especially the otherwise listless Gus, and were keen to find out just what these stones were, and what they could do. Once Luz was finished telling the story, she turned to Gus.

"So Gus, did you want to come along with me and Matt? It'll be a fun adventure! Probably!" Luz chirped, trying not to think about any potential danger. As a High Angel, she should be able to handle most dangerous beasts. Probably.

Gus looked at her with surprise; "You want me to help you?"

"Sure! You look like you could use a pick-me-up and hanging out with Matt and I should be just want you need!"

The Illusionist boy smiled brightly, but it quickly fell as self-doubt crept through his mind; "W-Wouldn't you prefer Amity or Willow?"

"Not specifically. I'd love if they could come too, but Willow's going out with her Dads tonight and Amity has a shift at the library." Luz replied.

"I do wish I could go too, but I've already promised the children that I'd read to them, and I can't bring myself to break that promise." Amity said.

Luz leaned close to Gus and put an arm around his shoulders; "Besides, I've been on adventures with Amity and Willow, and even technically with Skara and Boscha! But I haven't been on an adventure with your or Matt since the Detention Pit incident, and I don't think that really counts…"

Gus didn't look totally convinced, but it still felt nice to know he was wanted. He forced himself to smile and say; "Well if you put it like that, then sure. I'll come along. Maybe the Galdorstones will do something cool for me too!"

Luz nodded happily, but Matt burst their bubble; "Sorry to break this to you Gus, but the Galdorstones don't work on illusions. You can't really make an illusion more powerful after all."

That made Gus deflate a little with disappointment, though he didn't feel too surprised; of course they wouldn't work for the one kind of magic he knew. Still, Luz had asked for his help and he wasn't going to let her down two days in a row, so Gus forced himself to perk up a bit, regaining some of the spirit he'd lost since his nightmare.

Lunch ended soon after and everyone headed to their own classes with a plan for Luz, Gus, and Matt to meet up on the school's front steps before they headed to Mattholomule's house. After a wild but entertaining afternoon of caring for both a Unicorn and a Bicorn in the beast-keeping track (the former liked Luz a lot, while the latter didn't), Luz found she was the first to arrive at their meeting spot, followed soon after by Gus.

"Hey! Gustopher! Gusteban, Augustabeth! Any of those working for you?" she grinned teasingly.

Gus smiled despite the bitter feelings swirling inside him. "You're already the one who nicknamed me Gus. One nickname per person." he joked, gently elbowing her.

"Fine fine. Are you ready for an adventure? I've got no idea where the Galdorstones are, but it can't be anywhere obvious or people would have already found them." Luz said, getting herself pumped up. She'd already sent a message home to Eda letting her and King know she'd be late home.

Gus's smile faltered, "I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Just… don't expect me to be a lot of help."

Luz frowned; "Okay, spill it Gus! Are you okay? And I mean honestly? You've been down all day and I'm getting kind of worried. Is it really just because of your nightmare?"

Gus averted his eyes; "Well the nightmare is part of it… I've just been thinking; what if it's time for me to explore different kinds of magic?"

Luz blinked, thrown off by the seemingly random shift in topic; "You mean you're thinking about Multi-Tracking? I'm all for trying new things, so I'll happily support you, but is that really what you want? What's wrong with Illusions?"

"Illusions are just so…" he waved his hand, trying to find an answer, "insubstantial. They're good for a distraction or putting on a show, but they're useless for everything else. I can't…" he hugged himself; "I can't do anything real with illusions."

Luz frowned sadly; "Gus… what brought this on? You've always been really proud of your skills as an Illusionist."

"It's because I was useless yesterday." he frowned, refusing to look directly at Luz; "Everyone else was ready to fight and protect you from the Coven Scouts, but all I could do was throw up an illusion that immediately backfired! Because of me, our friends got zapped by lightning and you were left alone to heal us, letting the Scouts arrest you!"

"Gus, that wasn't your fault!" Luz protested; "The Scout Captain is the one who cast that lightning spell!"

"But she wouldn't have done it if I hadn't used an illusion like I did! Lightning magic is really hard to control, especially when your targets are surrounded by your own allies wearing metal masks and using metal spears! She'd never have used it if I hadn't made the illusion I did! And it was such an obvious one too! It was clear it was fake from the start, but if I'd made something else; like the illusion of a monster attacking, it wouldn't have been immediately obvious that it was fake and it would have actually worked as a distraction! Or better yet, if I'd just used any other kind of magic, I might have been able to actually defend you and the others!" Gus ranted, sinking into a seating position on the school's front steps and hugging his knees. "I was worse than useless!"

Luz sat down beside him, "I get it Gus, but it really wasn't your fault. There's no guarantee she wouldn't have zapped you all anyway. Plus, you were hurt too. It was a fight we couldn't win; we were a bunch of kids against the Emperor's Coven; the best of the best!"

Gus looked at her, but it was obvious he wasn't completely convinced. Luz hated seeing him so down; he was two years younger than her and most of her friends, but she'd always thought of him as an amazing witch, and while illusions may not be real, they were still really useful. Luz couldn't count the number of times even her visual only illusions had saved her butt.

"Okay Gus, if you really feel so strongly about learning more magic, then I'll help you. Amity and I were already teaching you how to use the ice element as a component of illusion magic, but I can probably teach you how to use ice magic on its own. Just don't give up on illusions; you clearly love them." Luz said, taking Gus' hand and looking him in the eye.

The younger boy managed to smile and nod; "Thanks Luz. I'd like that."

Luz grinned and held her fist out to Gus, making him blink in confusion. "It's another human thing. You bump your fist against mine! It's sort of like a high-five, but less like a celebration and more like a bonding thing." she explained, trying to verbalise something that those growing up in the Human Realm just sort of knew.

Gus carefully bumped his fist against Luz's, then grinned; "Okay, I love this."

Luz giggled as Gus kept bumping her fist until Mattholomule finally showed up. "Sorry I'm late, I was asking Leia to show me her Power Glyphs to see if I could make mine better. Are you ready to go?"

Luz and Gus got to their feet and nodded happily, the latter feeling a little more cheerful. Matt then led the two of them into Bonesborough and over to his house, which was not far from the central bridge that stretched between the two upper districts. Almost as soon as they arrived at Matt's house, they saw a nondescript Coven Scout approaching them, and Matt waved happily.

"Bro!" he called, smiling broadly.

The Coven Scout reached over and ruffled Matt's hair; "Hey Little Bro. Brought some friends over today?"

Luz could have sworn she'd heard this scout's voice before, and her guard was up as he turned to her and Gus. "So you two little dudes are friends with my Little Bro? That's cool." he reached up and pulled back his hood and removed his mask, revealing his face.

He was a fairly handsome looking male witch, with dark brown hair like Matt's and even cut in a similar style, though Steve's looked more layered and a little messier, making it look cooler. His eyes were a clear blue, and he had a pair of moles on his left cheek, and a short white horn poking out from the right side of his forehead. He also had an openly friendly smile.

"The name's Steve. Good to meet you guys." he greeted.

"I'm Luz."

"And I'm Gus." they replied, returning his smile.

Steve narrowed his eyes on Luz for a moment, then snapped his fingers; "Oh I know you! You're the Owlet Girl!"

"Owlet Girl?" Luz raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah! You're the Owl Lady's kid, which makes you the Owlet Girl. Just a little nickname I came up with. You're also Head Witch Lilith's niece! I watched your duel with Amity Blight back at the Covention." Steve grinned.

Luz, honestly kind of liking the nickname, suddenly gasped; "Wait! You were the scout that stuck around even after Amity and I started playing Rock-Paper-Scissors!"

"That's me alright! You guys used the power of friendship to make the Owl Lady and Head Witch Lilith give up their bet! That was some real friendship goals." Steve said, pumping his fist.

"If you think that was great, you should see the two of them now. They're dating." Gus grinned, amused by how much Luz was blushing at Steve's enthusiastic compliments. He summoned his scroll and showed Steve a picture of Luz and Amity cuddling together.

Steve began to tear up; "It's beautiful! All hail true love!" he cheered, throwing his fists into the air.

Seeing him get emotional made Luz feel strangely attached to Steve, so she reached up to pat the happily crying scout's shoulder. He seemed to enjoy that, saying; "Aw yeah, shoulder pats for Steve!"

Luz and Gus couldn't help but giggle at the odd but endearing scout, and he quickly composed himself. "So, what are you kids up to? Just hanging out?" Steve asked.

"Actually Bro, we had a favour to ask. Can we talk inside?" Matt asked, pointing to his front door.

Steve smiled and gave a thumbs up, then opened the door to let the kids in. The inside of their house was fairly typical by witch standards, and looked similar to when Luz had visited Willow and Gus's houses in the past; it was nice and cosy, with a lot of pictures on the wall. They showed Steve and Matt's father; a bearded and moustached man that had similar facial features to his sons, as well as two different women. The first was a demon with two white horns (both on the right side) and a forked tail, who was shown holding hands with a young Steve, while the second was a witch with short dirty blonde hair and eyes like Mattholomule's.

"That's my Mom, and the other one is Matt's Mom and my Step Mom." Steve explained as he took a seat on the sofa, watching Luz and Gus look at the pictures.

"Steve and I are half-brothers." Matt added.

"Yep! Mom lives over in Palm Stings now, but she's cool, so Matt and I go on vacation there all the time." Steve grinned, "But enough about us; what's this favour you wanted to ask me?"

Luz and Gus sat on the opposite sofa while Matt sat beside his brother; "Matt told me about something called a Galdorstone. I really need it for an important project, and he said you might know where to find one." Luz said.

Steve raised an eyebrow; "That's a big ask, Owlet Girl. The Emperor's Coven has been on a hunt for Galdorstones for a long time. Apparently the Emperor used to have a whole bunch, but he used them up while unifying the Isles into his Empire, so we're supposed to be finding more."

Luz and Gus exchanged worried looks; if the Emperor wanted them too, then it couldn't be for anything good. Still, Luz really needed that stone!

"Please Steve, if you can help us, I'll use it for what I need and then give it to you!" Luz promised, "You'd get a big promotion if you brought the coven a Galdorstone, right?"

Steve grinned; "That's sweet of you, Owlet Girl, but I wouldn't feel right taking a promotion over your achievement!"

"Is there anything we can do to convince you? Please Bro, I really owe Luz after the whole Detention Pit thing." Matt pleaded, adding that last part as a whisper.

His older brother's eyes widened for a moment; "No wonder your names sounded familiar!" he pointed to Gus; "You're the one he was trying to usurp that club from!" he then pointed to Luz, "And you're the one he threw into the Detention Pit! Hoo boy was Mom and Dad mad about that!"

Matt shuddered; that was an understatement! He'd been grounded for a month on top of all the extra chores he'd had to do! Steve had also been disappointed in him, which had stung.

"Yeah, that was us." Gus confirmed.

Steve looked surprised; "And now the three of you are friends? That's really cool! Thanks for giving my Little Bro a chance!"

"We were happy to. He worked hard to make it up to us." Luz smiled.

"And he's actually a pretty cool guy when he's not being all conniving." Gus agreed.

Matt felt a fuzziness in his chest; these two had more reason than anyone to hate him, yet they were still accepting him as a real friend. And since Luz was an angel and couldn't lie, he knew she really meant it too!

Steve grinned and slapped his little brother on the back; "You've got some good friends, Matt. Alright, Steve is gonna help you kids out!"

Luz and Gus cheered and thanked him profusely, while Matt beamed. Steve got up and headed up to his room, then came back a moment later with a box of scrolls.

"Here; these are maps that I confiscated from a stall at the Book Fair last month." Steve said, "The owner got caught selling fake maps to different treasures, but they were actually traps he used to prey on them. Head Witch Lilith took him down, and we confiscated the rest of these."

"Oh yeah! I remember that! Eda, King, and I bought a copy of a map leading to the Bloom of Eternal Youth. We ran into Tia Lily and ended up beating up the guy who tried to trap us." Luz grinned.

"Now that you mention it, Head Witch Lilith did mention running into you guys that day." Steve hummed.

Gus frowned at the scrolls; "But doesn't that mean these are all fakes? None of them will actually lead us to the Galdorstones."

"Not quite Little Dude, Steve isn't done yet." Steve grinned; "The reason I have these is because Head Witch Lilith said the fakes were way too high quality to have been just made up by the crook she nabbed. She believed that he had to have copied the style from a real map. We confiscated all of them and then Head Witch Lilith gave them to me; I'm supposed to follow each one when I'm free and see if they lead to a treasure or just another trap. Most have been duds so far."

Steve began pulling out scrolls wrapped in black ribbons; "Map to the Tomb of Ancient Head Witch Maximus? Nope, led to a bog down in the toes. Map to the Lost Fang Island? Nope; just led to empty ocean."

He tossed the black ribboned scrolls back in the box, then pulled out one with a green ribbon; "But this? Map to the Great Sword Graveyard; actually real. The place was overrun with plants and the enchanted swords there had all rusted into uselessness, but it was real."

Steve then replaced the scroll with a new one, this one without a ribbon at all; "And this one? This is the Map to the Looking Glass Ruins, were several Galdorstones are said to be hidden. I haven't followed this map yet, so I don't know if it's real or fake, but it's the only lead I have for you."

He handed the map to Luz and Gus, who gasped as they looked it over, while Matt looked up at his brother; "So this map is why you mentioned the stones!"

"But surely if this was real, then the guy who was selling the maps must have already followed it and found the stones." Gus said worriedly.

Steve shook his head; "Not necessarily. The map mentions a powerful guardian protecting the ruins. If the map is real, then the Crook might not have been able to get in and grab the stones."

"Well I think it's real!" Luz grinned, looking at the picture of the guardian creature; "This guardian looks pretty tough, and wouldn't the crook want to make the maps look inviting rather than threatening? He wouldn't be able to sell this if people were scared to go after the treasure!

Gus rubbed his chin; "Huh, you both make pretty good points. But we won't know for sure until we follow the map."

Luz nodded and turned back to Steve; "Can we please borrow this? If it turns out to be true, we'll give you the Galdorstone once we're done with it!"

Steve nodded casually; "Sure. I'm supposed to go and confirm whether this is a fake map or not, so you'd be saving me a trip and I could really use some Steve time. Just be careful; I'd hate for my little Bro and his buddies to get hurt. But first, you've got to pay the toll…"

The three students exchanged looks, while Steve gave them a mischievous grin and held up his fist; "35 noogies from Steve!"

Luz and Gus panicked for a moment, but Matt just rolled his eyes fondly; "My Bro likes giving people noogies. I'll handle the "toll", so don't worry about it."

"No! You guys are doing this for me, so I should be the one to pay the toll!" Luz argued, getting to her feet, ready to march over to Steve.

"Wait Luz, you guys should let me do it." Gus interrupted, "I'm just an illusionist, so I'm probably not gonna be a lot of help on this adventure. I should at least be able to do this."

Luz and Matt both looked worriedly at Gus, while Steve stopped smiling; "Little Dude, I think you're being kinda hard on yourself. Don't put yourself down so hard, it's not good for you."

Steve then stood up and grinned again; "But since you guys insist, I'll knock the price down to 30 noogies and split it between the three of you! Ladies first, Owlet Girl!"

Luz squeaked as Steve pulled her to his side and put her in a loose headlock. It was more like a one-armed hug, one that Luz could easily escape from, but she stood her ground and braced herself, only to be shocked when Steve actually got started. She'd gotten noogies from school bullies in the past, and it hadn't been a fun experience, but Steve's idea of a noogie was more like using his knuckles to lightly mess up her hair. It was almost like he was petting her head, which was kind of nice, and it only lasted ten seconds to boot. Apparently "10 noogies" to Steve actually meant 10 seconds of being noogied.

Steve chuckled at Luz's bewildered expression as he released her, then repeated the process with Gus. The boy was equally confused, and both he and Luz wondered if Steve was going easy on them because they were his brother's friends. But then it was Matt's turn, and the boy laughed and playfully squirmed as Steve gave him the same treatment, being only a tiny bit more forceful and certainly not enough to actually hurt.

Once Steve was done, he laughed happily; "Well, Steve has had his fill! I should get back on patrol before the Captain realises what's up. Have fun on your adventure, guys; nice to meet you Luz and Gus!"

He then packed the other scrolls back into their box and sent them to his room with a spell, before putting his mask and hood back on and heading out, waving goodbye as he did. Luz and Gus were left unsure of how to respond, making Mattholomule smirk.

"That wasn't like any noogie I ever had…" Luz murmured, absent-mindedly touching the top of her head. Gus nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, Steve is kind of a touchy feely person, and he likes to tease me and my friends. His whole "toll" was just him messing with me a little. But anyway, we've got the map so we can go! Just give me a sec to change out of my uniform and I'll be right there."

His friends nodded and returned to the sofa as Matt went to his room to change. Both were still a little shocked by their encounter with Steve; they hadn't expected such a kind person to be part of the Emperor's Coven! Of course, both were a little more biased than most due to the arrest the previous day, but they still hadn't thought a Coven Scout would be so… nice!

Matt returned from his room a moment later, now wearing a tan yellow tunic over a grey hoodie with torn sleeves. He also had a rough-looking brown sash, white pants, and dark grey boots.

"Well, I'm set. I'll hold onto the map if it's cool with you guys; I want to make sure I can return it to my bro in good condition."

"Sure thing." Luz handed over the map, "Now do we need to do anything else in town?"

"I'd like to change out of my uniform too. I don't want it getting messed up while we're chasing these stones." Gus said. The other two nodded, and they left Mattholomule's house and headed for Gus', which was in one of the upper districts.

Gus went inside to change, but Luz and Matt opted to wait outside and enjoy the fresh air.

"Do you need to change too?" Matt asked.

"Nah, I've got more than one uniform if this one gets messed up. Eda insisted, since I always seem to get into trouble." Luz giggled.

"I'll say. Excluding the stuff that was obviously my fault, you sure get into a lot of weird situations. Is that normal for people like you?" Matt asked, obviously hinting to her real nature but not wanting to say it out loud in public.

Luz shrugged; "I don't know, but I have a feeling it's more normal than not for us to get into crazy situations in the Demon Realm. There was another one of my people, Cassiel, who came here 19 years ago, and she got into some crazy stuff too from what Principal Bump told me. There also had to be others too, since I'm translating the diary of a human who lived on the isles and encountered my kind here 400 years ago. Plus there's got to be a reason for why Wild Witches hated us."

Of course, their was the fate of Rasiel and his companions too, but Rasiel's true nature and relation to the Black Tombs was still a secret to everyone but the residents of the Owl House, the Blight siblings, and Willow and Gus. Everyone else just assumed he was some kind of angelic oracle spirit that Luz had brought with her. She hadn't even told Skara, Matt, or the Multi-Trackers yet, though that was because Rasiel wasn't eager for more people to know.

Matt hummed; he barely knew anything about angels and honestly wasn't that curious about them, since Luz made them seem like just another type of ordinary person. He was about to change the subject when a painfully familiar voice called out to him.

"Matty?"

The boy went stiff and pale, while Luz looked over to the person who'd called out to him. It was a girl, one dressed in the grey tunic uniform of Glandus, with a brown mantle and shorts denoting her position in the construction track. She also had matching brown gloves, and wore a sword on her right hip. Luz couldn't help but think the girl was cute; she wasn't on Amity's level, but she was still rather pretty, with dark purple hair in a slightly messier version of Amity's new hair cut, shiny orange eyes, and adorable freckles.

However, the way Matt reacted to her calling to him made Luz frown, as did her calling him Matty.

The girl came over and smiled sweetly, tapping Matt's shoulder; "Hey, Titan to Matty! Are you in there? You're not ignoring me are you?" she asked with a mock pout.

Matt turned stiffly and forced himself to smile, though it looked more like a nervous grimace; "Hi Bria. Long time no see."

"It really has been! I've barely seen you around since you transferred out of Glandus! I thought you were hiding from me." Bria giggled.

The overly sweet mannerisms was beginning to make Luz's skin crawl. If she'd met Bria on her own, she might have believed them to be genuine, but Matt's reaction made it clear Bria wasn't what she seemed to be.

"Well Glandus High is all the way in Pancrea City. It's pretty far from Bonesborough, so it seems normal not to run into each other much. Unless you live in Bonesborough too?" Luz chimed in, smiling politely.

Bria looked her up and down, noting her uniform, then smiled back; "I guess that's true. I'm only in Bonesborough because I wanted to come visit my old Pal Matty." she put an arm around the boy's shoulders, making him stiffen even further, to the point he might as well be a statue. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend, Matty?"

"Uh sure. Bria, this is Luz. Luz, this is Bria; my old friend from Glandus." Matt said nervously.

"Nice to meet you!" Bria grinned.

"You too." Luz replied.

"So what are you two doing out here together. Oh, are you two on a date?" Bria smiled teasingly, making Matt blush crimson while Luz frowned.

"No, we're just friends. The two of us and a third friend who lives here are going on a trip together." Luz said casually.

Bria seemed disappointed that Luz had reacted more to her teasing, but she was soon distracted by the map in Matt's hands. "Ooh, what's this?"

She snatched it without asking, and Matt briefly opened his mouth to protest before Bria's eyes turned on him sharply, and he promptly shut his mouth with a click of his teeth. Bria unrolled the map and glanced at it.

"A map to… the Looking Glass Ruins? Why do you want to go there, Matty?" Bria asked. She was about to peer closer at the map, but a vine suddenly shot out of the ground and yanked the map away from her before depositing it into Luz's hand.

"Sorry, but this is ours. We had to pay a price to get this, so I'd rather not let anyone else mess with it." Luz said, her face neutral even as she eyed Bria coldly.

Bria scowled at her, before faking a big smile; "I understand. But those ruins look really interesting! I'd love to tag along with you Matty! It could be like old times again."

"Sorry, but this is something Matt is doing as a favour to me, and it's kind of personal." Luz cut in.

Bria ignored her and continued to look at Matt; "What do you think, Matty?"

Matt gulped and looked shakily up at Bria, who was smiling sweetly even as her orange eyes seemed to drill into him. He shuddered, then looked over to Luz, who also smiled at him, though this time with genuine kindness. It made him feel a little better, and he was able to gather his courage enough to turn to Bria and say; "S-sorry, but I promised Luz I'd help her today. M-Maybe we can hang out another time?"

Bria's eyes flashed dangerously, but then Gus emerged from his house, now dressed in his casual clothes (a cyan coloured tunic with a white collar and matching sleeves, dark blue pants, and reddish-violet boots). "Sorry to keep you waiting guys. Everything alright out here?" Gus asked, noticing the tension.

Whatever Bria was originally going to say vanished from her mind and she gave a false sweet smile; "Everything's just fine. It's a shame we can't hang out today Matty, but I'll be sure to catch up with you another time."

That sounded almost like a threat, and Matt found himself gulping again as Bria began to walk away. Luz put a hand on his back to comfort him, while Gus, who didn't know exactly what was going on, decided to call out to Bria.

"Hey, just so you know, his name is Matt. He doesn't like being called Matty."

Bria paused mid-step and turned back to Gus; "I'll be sure to remember that. Bye bye now." she said with faux-kindness, before walking off down the street. As soon as she was gone, Matt released a huge sigh of relief.

"Oh man, that wasn't fun… Thanks for having my back there Luz, Gus." Matt said.

"No problem, Matt. I'm guessing that was one of your bullies back at Glandus?" Luz asked. She remembered Matt talking about how his "friends" at his old school actually just used him as a lackey, and figured Bria was one of them.

"Yeah… Bria was pretty low on the Glandus social ladder. The only people lower were her two other lackeys, and me. She wasn't happy when I transferred out, since it meant she was closer to the bottom. She still comes by every now and then to drag me into doing her dirty work." Matt confessed.

Luz and Gus looked concerned, but Matt quickly changed the subject; "But forget Bria. We're on an adventure, right?"

Seeing that Matt didn't want to talk about his past at Glandus any more, Luz and Gus decided to drop the subject. Luz unfurled the map again and the three of them leaned over it. According to the map, the path to the Looking Glass Ruins began in the Forearm Forest, which was the stretch of woodland that sat between Bonesborough (located near the Titan's elbow) and the Titan's right hand. The Forearm Forest wasn't quite as dangerous as the Bat Queen's forest, but it was still a risky place to venture, especially off of the beaten path.

The trio left Bonesborough and headed west through the Forearm Forest, using a light spell to help them see, since the tree canopy was so thick that very little sunlight got through it. They followed the path at first, until they reached a section of the path that was flanked with thorny vines.

"This looks like the first landmark on the map. From here, it looks like we need to head south." Luz said, checking the map.

Gus and Matt eyed the vines warily; they were thick and covered in pointy thorns that looked ready to shred them. "Okay, so how do we get through these?" Gus asked, once again feeling a little useless.

"Maybe I can make us some cutters to slash our way through?" Matt suggested, already preparing a spell.

Luz waved him off though; "Let's not cause any damage unless we need to. Here, watch this."

She drew a plant glyph in the air, making the vines glow green and bend to Luz's will, moving out of the way. Luz then smiled and clapped her hands; "Right this way, Gentleman!"

The two boys grinned and followed her, leaving the paved road and heading into the thick of the forest. As they walked, it managed to get even darker, so Luz asked Rasiel to come out of his ring so they could use his glowing spirit as additional light. Gus took another look at the map and saw they still had a ways to go before the next landmark, so he decided to ask Luz for a favour.

"Hey Luz? Remember what we talked about earlier? When you said you'd teach me some ice magic?" he began. Luz nodded, so he continued; "W-Well would you be willing to show me some now, while we're walking?"

Luz smiled happily; "Sure! You want in on this Matt?" she offered.

Matt considered it, but then shook his head. He was aiming for the Construction Coven and the book he'd read on elemental magic had stated that only the earth and fire magic was used for construction magic. He didn't see the point of learning something he'd eventually be forced to give up due to the Coven System. Instead, he decided to use the map to guide them all through the woods while Luz and Gus were distracted.

For the next little while, Luz showed Gus some ice magic, and demonstrated some of the things ice could do, and how it grew as it was created so he would have an idea of what to do. She then parroted many of the things Eda had taught her and Amity back on the knee, and even taught Gus how to draw ice glyphs so he had something to work with as he got the hang of this new magic. After all, it was easier to manipulate an existing element than it was to create it from scratch and Gus was just a beginner.