Chapter 9

“I’m not going to commit domestic terrorism!” Adora hissed under her breath to Glimmer, mere hours before committing domestic terrorism.

Glimmer slowly looked up from Adora to the slender witchling who was examining Adora’s spine with a magnifying glass being held in the beak of a remarkably well trained gryphon. Said girl hummed softly. “Well, it looks like your spine is... not broken!” She said, nodding as she stood up, her gryphon tossing the magnifying glass into the air, catching the narrow end in his beak, and eating the entire thing without a single hint of discomfort.

“We knew that already, Viney,” Bow said, tolerantly. “We’re just wondering why it’s not broken. Like, a witch could handle that fall, but...”

“Well,” Viney said, rubbing her chin. “I’ll need to do some basic checkup spells on her. Do you mind, Adora?”

“No, it’s fine,” Adora said, still a little unsettled.

“Let me just get my materials! Puddles, get mommy her materials!” Viney said, clapping her hands twice. The gryphon scampered off, while Glimmer leaned in, her voice soft.

“But if we don’t show my Mom what we can do, as a team, then she’ll never let us into the rebellion,” she whispered.

“I’m not blowing up a warehouse full of abominations,” Adora whispered back. “I’m still not even super comfortable being a ... a ... a superhero!” She shrugged a bit.

“They’re not just abominations, they’re abomiatons.” Glimmer tapped her pointer finger against her palm, her eyes flashing with every tap. “They’re made by Blight Industries-”

“Blight!?” Adora squeaked, jerking up so fast that she almost fell off the makeshift desk that Viney was using as her examination table. Adora had not asked many questions when Glimmer had said she had known exactly who should check her out – and she was beginning to regret going along with the flow, considering her doctor appeared to be the same age as her, operated entirely out of Hexside, and was dressed in the flat grays of the detention track. Despite all those warning signs though, Viney had managed to heal up Adora’s bruises and was now ... taking a gigantic needle from her pet gryphon’s taloned paws. Adora gulped, then snapped her head back to Glimmer, who was nodding at her.

“Yeah, Amity Blight’s mom and dad runs Blight Industries, the biggest abomination manufacturing company in the whole empire,” she said. “You didn’t know that?”

“W-wow. She’s rich too.” Adora whispered, blushing hard. She barely noticed when the needle gently tapped against her temple. She blinked. “Hey!”

“A brain sample is the best-” Viney started.

“Use a different place, I need my brain!” Adora said, squirming almost off the desk, her hands clapping to the sides of her head.

“Oh fine,” Viney said, then slammed the entire needle directly into Adora’s thigh.

Adora sat very still, then as the needle was drawn out and Viney walked over to another desk to start doing lord knows what to it, she said: “ ... ow.”

“You know, Principle Castaspella was almost gonna let me get away with two tracks, but Belos really has been cracking down on wild witch stuff,” Viney said, cheerfully. “Still, I have been studying and working on combining the Beast and Healing magics – the end result has been remarkable. Like, normally, this would require me to carry my own supplies, but instead, Puddles does it all for me.”

Puddles coughed up several large spiders, which started to scuttle along the floor. Adora yanked her feet up and off the ground before any got near her. “Oh my God!” she said. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Huh? Nothing, all gryphons have spider breath,” Viney said.

“Yeah, everyone knows that,” Bow added.

Adora shuddered from her blond hair poof to her toes.

“All right!” Viney said, humming cheerfully. “Well, it looks like other than a very slight deficiency of vitamin R and Evil, you’re actually pretty healthy for a teenage witchling. It looks like you have some old breaks, probably due to being deprived as a youth, but see, here?” She pointed at several glowing lines that shimmered out from a rippling orb of blue light she had conjured into existence above the syringe of blood. “Your R intake has spiked up recently, which means your parents have stopped starving you. Were they using a cage or more of a pit trap?” She asked, sounding honestly curious.

“Uh...” Glimmer said. “Adora’s human, see?” she pointed at Adora’s ears, while Adora reached up with one hand, brushing her hair back to show her rounded ear.

“Hmm,” Viney said. Then she shrugged. “The blood doesn’t lie.”

“But I don’t have a bile gland!” Adora said. “I was born in the human realms! I’m a human, as human as human can be.”

Viney twirled her finger, and a glowing blue circle shimmered to life. A moment later, a circular hole seemed to rip itself into Adora’s chest. It was strange to see flesh peeling back without feeling any pain – nor see any gore. It was as if her organs and her blood were quite politely revealing themselves with as little muss and fuss as possible, the spell showing her heart and her lungs and her ribs. Adora would have been fascinated, but she had no time around being sick to her stomach and growing increasingly panicky and short of breath. Ignoring any of that, Viney walked over, then pointed with her finger. “Ah, see, right there!” She said, her finger nearly touching Adora’s heart, which was pumping and jumping wildly. “See? There’s a surgical scar and some old stitching.”

“ ... wait...” Bow whispered.

“Are you saying-” Glimmer said.

“-that Adora-” Bow added.

“Is-”

“Nope!” Adora sprang off the table, causing the spell to shimmer into a wild poof of blue sparkles. Her chest was once more shut up, and her hands barely shook at all as she snatched up her backpack off the ground, the sword within clinking. “I’m human! I’m so human! I ... I was born in the human realms! I have a mom! She’s my real mom, and she raised me ... a-and I just had ... I had a heart condition when I was young! That was all! There was ... I...” She looked from Bow to Glimmer to Bow, to Glimmer, to Viney, to Glimmer. For some reason the room suddenly bloomed into a million tiny sparkles. She stepped back, then turned to the door.

“Adora!”

She was out the door, choking.

“Adora, wait!”

Then she was drawing the sword and hissing out the words – her voice barely audible even to herself.

But, as it turned out, even Titan-Ra could cry. She charged into the woods, running from her friends and from Hexisde. She crashed into trees and stumbled through brushes, then finally came to a skidding stop, her eyes streaming with tears. Her claws dug into the ground, and she looked up through her altered bangs to see she had come to the ancient manor that she had found the sword at. She didn’t know if she had been called here, or if she had simply been drawn here by some memory. She sniffed and gasped.

“I’m human,” she whispered.

How can you eat the food here?

“I’m human...”

How come the sword chose you?

“I’m human!” she ducked her head down, eyes closing tightly.

Are you?

A faint sound of shifting movement jerked Adora’s head back up again. She had shifted back to her ... back to her normal form without realizing it, and as she looked up, she saw a figure standing in the heart of the manor house. Adora stood, the sword left at her feet, her hands clenched tightly. “Who are you!?” she shouted.

The figure stepped forward into the light. They looked feminine, but demonic – a living stained glass window of a creature, with angular features done in purples and pinks. Their horns glinted and they looked down at Adora, then spoke.

“Welcome ... Welcome ... W-W ... W ... Welcome.”

The word repeated again and again. Like a skipping computer, glitching out. Adora started to walk forward. Her hands were clenched tightly into fists, still, as if she was going to swing a blow.

“What are you!?” Adora said.

“I- I- I-” the figure blinked, then shivered in place. “I am Light Hope. I am ... am ... am ... the house demon of the Grayskull Estate. Protector of the- the- the- the family.”

Adora blinked, slowly, the tears drying on her cheeks. She opened her fingers, then closed it.

“ ... who am I?” she whispered.

The house demon stepped forward. Adora became aware of how it, like Hooty, was connected to Grayskull Estate as much as Hooty was tied to the Owl House. Thin tendrils of smokey light, as if glass had become soft and pliant and then stretched out to connect shoulders to wall and ceiling, pushed into her back and arms, like she was a living puppet. She stepped down towards Adora, moving along the creaky old porch without a noise, then placed her hand on Adora’s shoulder. She gave her a tentative smile.

“You are Adora Grayskull,” Light Hope said. “Daughter of Marlena and Randor Grayskull, former head of the Portal Coven.”

Adora whimpered. “W-What...” She closed her eyes. “Tell me everything, Light Hope. Everything.”

Light Hope nodded.

And, in her glitching, meandering way...

She did.

Something about emotions can be exhausting. Crying. Being told shattering truths. All of it left you feeling hollow. Wrung out. It was why, when Adora came home to find King and Eda were out, she tried to stay awake until they came back to tell them everything. Instead, she fell asleep on the couch.

And again...

She dreamed.

In the dream, she saw another Titan-Ra.

But it wasn’t her.

The Titan-Ra stood in a field of rubble and flowers as rain twinkled and pinged off her halo – and the rain burned. It hissed and sizzed and Adora felt it bite into her flesh, skinning through her body like knives of cold fire. Titan-Ra was looking down at Adora, and Adora was crawling towards her, desperately. The expression of Titan-Ra was unreadable – a mixture of ... disgust and pity. She looked down at Adora as Adora crawled towards her – and the urge to say so many things burned through her.

But she didn’t have to say any of them.

She reached into the sodden mess that was her chest...

And brought it out.

You think you’ve won, don’t you?

Adora jerked up, blinking a few times. The door was opened and King and Eda came in, Eda carrying a bundle on her back, whistling cheerfully. “Adora!” King said, excitedly. “You’re back! Eda got some food and treats and she’s gonna let me eat some of them!” He scampered up to her lap and Adora smiled, relaxing ever so slightly and sliding her palm along his head.

“Yeah,” she said, then hesitated. “Guys.” She paused. “I have to ... say something. Uh. And I don’t know what it even means.” She gulped. “B-But, uh...” She hesitated more, while Eda walked to her side, kneeling down, looking concerned.

“Is it about the domestic terrorism?” Eda asked.

“N-No, uh, heh...” Adora smiled, shakily. “Or. Well.” She frowned. “It kinda is now...”

She smiled, and then felt a momentary twinge of relief inside her. No matter what she had learned, no matter what she was ... she had a family, didn’t she? King and Eda both listened as she spoke.

And in the mirror, the dark shape watched.

And screamed.

Silently, she beat her hands against the mirror, throwing herself against the hardened pane of glass that cut her from the world. She scrabbled against it, everything forgotten but a single furious spark. She sagged against the glass, peering in ... and then closed her eyes and started to sob. She had no tears, no body, nothing in here save the shadow of a shadow, projected into this space that didn’t ... couldn’t ... shouldn’t have existed.

And still, she cried.

“They’re mine!” she sobbed. “My family! You stole my family!”

In the mirror, silently, she could see the blond one speaking, growing animated. She made gestures with her hands. Eda nodded and then looked grave, shaking her head. King spread his paws, his eyes narrowing in anger, then he mimed a punch. Eda and the blond one laughed. And the shadow remained alone.

Trapped.

Forgotten.

The shadow shifted away from the mirror. She crawled in and peered at wrong wrong wrong, not right. She shook her head, moving away from the mirror where the pink haired one was brushing her teeth with her toothhaste. She crawled, inch by painful inch, to another window – and there, she saw Amity, laying on her bed, looking down at her journal. She was writing in it. She looked away, distantly, then sighed softly, her eyes shimmering slightly – soft, wanting, longing.

The shadow put her palm against the pane of glass – the window she was peering from – and then a gust of wind caught the pane and swung it wildly open. The view was now of Bonesburrough – and the day looked warm and sprightly. Amity wasn’t going to close the window.

The shadow pressed her forehead against the glass and screamed.

“Amity!”

Silence. Ringing and vast and absolute.

“Ammmmity!”

Her not-throat felt raw. Torn. Bleeding. She closed her eyes and the window began to grow dark.

And faintly, the shadow heard a quiet, amused chuckle. She released the window and dropped down, landing in brackish, dead water. She crawled, almost like an animal – following the sound of laughter. The actual noise. It was like the first taste of food to a starving woman, even if she knew it was pure poison. She peered around a triangular, jagged gap in the place, then squirmed and wriggled through. She felt herself pressing against a stone wall – a flattened shadow, cast in a chamber that was full of machinery and death. The corpses of drained and shucked palismans were scattered everywhere, and the vast, desiccated heart of the Titan hung overhead, hooked to a machine that pulsed and thrummed with power.

And there, standing in the room, was Belos.

“Are you ready to deal?” he asked, turning to face her. He could see her.

And she could hear him.

His face – twisted and distorted by exposure to magic – was unmasked, unveiled.

She could see his smirk.

She didn’t respond.

“Well, are you?” he asked. “Luz Noceda?”

Glimmer had just gotten her teeth back in when Adora’s head peeked over the edge of her window.

“Psst, Glimmer!” she whispered.

“Ahh!” Glimmer jerked, then spun around, facing her. “How did you get past the guards!?”

Adora grinned at her. “I used Titan-Ra powers!” She hauled herself up and in. “Okay! ... I’m ready to do some domestic terrorism!”

“ ... d-don’t ... you want to talk about the whole gigantic revelations about yourself first?” Glimmer asked, looking nervous. “Like, you ran away really fast.”

Adora sighed. “It’s...” She hesitated. “It’s lot.” She sat at the bed. “Have you ever heard of the Portal Coven?” she asked.

“Yeah, I think so. They all betrayed the Emperor, got declared Wild Witches, and were ... wiped out...” Glimmer’s eyes widened. “Wait. Your parents were in the Portal Coven?”

“They weren’t just in the Portal Coven,” Adora whispered. “They led the Portal Coven. I found this sword in the ruins of their home – and I think that’s why the Emperor destroyed them.” She drew the sword from her backpack, setting it onto her lap. “This sword is important – and Titan-Ra is important. It was important enough for ... for my entire family to be...” She closed her eyes. “Belos is why I ... I grew up in the human realm. Why I have no magic. Why my whole childhood, I was ... breaking bones and ... and...” She closed her eyes. “He has to pay for that.”

Glimmer grinned and nodded. “Well, I’m not going to disagree!” she said, then sat on the bed next to Adora. “Are you ready to head out?”

“Yeah,” Adora said. Then she hesitated. “So, wait, just ... did you really learn portal magic so you can teleport around, despite knowing the Portal Coven was all destroyed by the Emperor?”

“Well, yeah, I’m a rebel,” Glimmer said. “I have to rebel at least a little to be a rebel!” She sounded huffy.

Adora grinned back at her. Then she threw her arm around Glimmer, drawing her in close and hugging her tightly. “Thanks,” she whispered. “This whole crazy adventure has been worth it, just to be friends with you and Bow.” She murmured, nuzzling against the top of her head. She drew back. “Now, I just need to figure out what all my other weird dreams are about.”