Changeling Witch

(S2) Le Cool Aunt

The days following the unmasking were like a simulation for Hunter. He'd get up, get dressed, go to Hexside, stumble through his classwork, go home, write down ideas that Eda and King had about the portal, and go to bed, but barely any thoughts crossed through his mind. All he could think about, even while doing research on his own, was the revelation that had dashed his worldview into tiny bits.

You are related to Emperor Belos by blood.

Hunter turned the page in the book he was trying to read.

The emperor has small ears. That means he's part human, just like you. His magic is fake, just like Luz's.

He looked over at the echo mouse, cheerfully running laps in the little hamster wheel he'd dug out from Eda's trash pile.

The only living biological family you have is a psychopath and a tyrant. He's given you nightmares and tried to kill your surrogate mom. He's the reason you're in this mess to begin with.

Gritting his teeth, he went back to the book, hoping to get some bit of information out of it.

You're related to a madman, Hunter.

"I know," he said aloud, slamming the book shut. "But that's not important right now, okay? I need to figure out what I messed up when I made that door, so stop thinking about it."

A little ding-ding sounded from downstairs, reminding Hunter of what was going on today. Forcing himself to set aside all thoughts of anything portal-related or Belos-related, he went downstairs as quickly as he could.

By the time he got to the living room, though, all of the guests were milling around and chatting amongst themselves—a clear signal that he'd missed something important.

"Hey, Hoots," Hunter said, walking up to the bird tube in question. "I missed the toast, didn't I?"

"You didn't miss the ap-pellet-tizers!" Hooty hooted, displaying a plate full of owl pellets. "You want one? There's an extra one, I'm working on it." He started to gag.

"Yeah, I think I'll pass on that." He looked around. "Uh, hey, where's Lilith? I wanted to congratulate her."

A long, purple whip flew into the room and snatched one of the pellet concoctions, shooting back outside. Hunter pushed past Hooty to see a posh-looking lady wearing mostly magenta—right down to the little glasses—talking with Lilith while examining the pellet.

"Oh, I wish I could stay longer, but I must be off on my next adventure," she sighed, patting Lilith on the shoulder. "It's such a delight to see my little bookworm back in the historical world after all these years!"

Lilith blushed, patting down her hair (which was starting to return to its naturally-curly state). "Thank you, Flora, but it's just a small job. I'm only an assistant." She paused. "I'm actually surprised you even heard about this—"

"The emperor wanted to make sure you weren't getting into any trouble," Flora cut in, a dazzling smile on her face. "And to clean out your office—I left a box of your knicknacks inside. Wish you took more from my tutelage, dear—history's supposed to be exciting, after all!"

She snapped her whip into the air, somehow managing to pull down an entire griffin from the sky. Hunter watched with his jaw fully open as she clambered on and flew off into the clouds.

"Wow," he finally said, walking up to Lilith. "Who the hell was that?"

"Flora D'esplora," Lilith answered. "Bad girl historian, celebrity, and my former mentor in the Emperor's Coven." A sour look crossed her face.