Scott gave the guard such a death glare, Crystal was surprised the guard didn't pee himself in front of everyone and then die of embarrassment. That would have been one hell of a way to go.

“What are you waiti--”, the soldier didn't get the chance to complete his sentence.

Scott threw a punch in his face, but his glare never wavered. “I'm not waiting.”, he growled. “Someone needs to teach you some respect.”

The soldier tried to hit the boy back, but Scott was faster and dodged the punch easily. Clearly annoyed, the soldier grabbed a chair and threw it at him. Scott attacked again, kicking and punching.

Crystal seemed a little dazed by everything that was going on and hadn't moved from the floor. Who could blame her? That guy had hit her pretty hard and she had never been much of a fighter anyway. She'd never been hit before either. Now, if she had a bow and arrow things would have been pretty different, but she didn't, so there wasn't much she could do. She tried to help Scott ask much as she could by staying out of his way. Don't worry, Scott appreciated that.

Meanwhile, the three other guards tried to join in the fight, but the guard who was getting his butt kicked motioned them to stay back.

Things started getting hard for dear old Scott, though, a while later when his opponent grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and threw him across the room and onto the wall.

“Leave him alone!”, Crystal yelled and staggered to get on her feet.

“What are you going to do about it, princess?”, the soldier smirked. She shivered again. “That's right. Stay back and do nothing.”, he sneered and yanked Scott from the throat, pinning him against the wall. He couldn't breathe and was struggling to free himself.

Everyone was too busy watching Scott fightimg for his life to notice Crystal was back on her feet. They only joined her again when a loud "thwack" made the "big boss" freeze, loosen his grip on her friend and slowly fall to the ground with a bang.

She was standing behind him, holding the leg from the chair that had been broken earlier in the fight, and was giving everyone a daring glare.

One of the soldiers approached her angrily. “Stay back.”, she growled. He ignored her.

She glared at him harder and waved her hand lightly, slamming him against the ceiling and the floor a couple times, before letting him fall down, unconscious.

“Who's next?”, she hissed. The two remaining guards glanced at each other and then ran for the door.

Ignoring the two others, Crystal ran to Scott, who was sitting against the wall. He seemed pretty shocked at what had just taken place and flinched away when she kneeled next to him.

“I- Are you okay?”, she bit her lip.

He nodded. “You?”, he asked her.

“I'm fine. You're the one who got beat up, not me. Let me see that...”, she frowned and tried to look at his bleeding cheek and lip.

“I said I'm okay. I've had worse.”, he glared at her and got up. “Let's just get out of here before these two idiots wake up or before the other two come back with reinforcements.”

“Oh... Okay, then.”, her face fell as she stood up. They grabbed their stuff as fast as they could, loaded them on Ash and then rode away.

Their trip was silent. Crystal rode Ash as fast as he could and Scott spoke only to tell her where to turn.

I'm finally going back home. Crystal thought and couldn't help but smile at that.

If only things had been that simple...

°~*~°

Alastor had gone to talk to Lux. Her visits were rare and most of the time they ended with most of the stuff on his desk being broken, but whenever she passed by the palace she had something important to say.

“You know, notifying me before coming here would help a lot. I wasn't prepared.”, he grumbled as he walked into his study to greet her.

“Is that how you welcome all your guests?”, she rolled her eyes.

“I see you're still as light as ever. Have you tried tanning?”, he sat opposite her.

“It doesn't work for me. Besides, it wouldn't go with the title.”

“Let's get right to the point, okay? Why are you here?”, he glared at her.

“Cheryl.”

“Could you be more specific?”

“She ran away. She and some other witch, a younger one. The other one shouldn't be much of a concern, but I thought you might want to know about Cheryl.”, Lux said quietly.

“How could you let that happen?”, Alastor slammed his fist on the desk.

“Watch your tone with me, I'm not your daughter for you to scare me. I can make sure you have no hand to hit the table with.”, she glared at him. “She's probably going to come here. You still have the others around, don't you?”

“Crystal left. She ran away.”

“Seriously? This is why we can't work well together. Cheryl ran away and I came here as fast as I could to tell you. The girl ran away, and you didn't even send me a goddamn letter to let me know!”, she yelled and got up.

“I thought I had it under control.”, he hissed.

“Well, you clearly didn't! Have you secured the village in case she goes there?”

“I'm not that stupid, Lux. Of course I have.” , he scoffed.

“What did you do? People must have asked questions.”, she said, a lump forming in her throat.

“Come on, you already know... I can see the scar.”, he smirked slyly.

Her eyes widened. “So you killed him. You actually killed Benny.”, her voice cracked.

“Who? The peasant that took care of the brat?”

“Hey! Watch your tongue when you talk about him!”, Lux snapped.

“Why did you ever care so much about him? He was just the gardener's son and then a mere peasant.”, Alastor rolled his eyes.

“That's none of your goddamn business.”, she glared at him.

“Oh, please... Don't tell me you have a heart now... You didn't love him, did you?”, he smirked.

“Past tense. You had him killed him.”

“Of course I did! He knew too much!”

“Too much of what? Of your lie? He didn't know the truth!”

“You just proved that you were in love with him, so you had probably told him some parts of the story he shouldn't know. This one is on you.”, he sneered.

“On me?”, she scoffed. “Seriously, Al? How could you possibly know about all that? You went on a blind.”

“And hit bullseye. I wish I had known earlier that you still had feelings for him, though... Maybe I would have kept him as blackmail against you. He really went to waste... Such a pity.”

“Go to hell. I'll go get Cheryl. Take care of the other one yourself. After this is over, we're done.”, she glared at him and rushed to the door.

“I don't think so, Lux. I might not have your ex, but I still have a lot on you. You are a pretty secretive person and I know many things that you wouldn't want your people finding out.”, he smirked.

“Remember the day you dared blackmail me, Alastor Cornel, because the moment I sense weakness I'm going to turn on you and take you down.”, she stormed off.

Walking down the hall so fast, she didn't notice Tristan and Violet hiding near the door and eavesdropping on the entire conversation.

“Dammit. Do you know her?”, Violet asked Tristan.

He nodded. "Yeah, she's a friend of my dad's and Caroline's godmother. She visits from time to time. I didn't know he was blackmailing her... I wouldn't want to be her.”, he frowned.

“Don't pity her! She's one of the worst witches out there. Pretty powerful too.”, Violet hissed.

“You're that other witch she's after, aren't you? You and aunt Cheryl.”, Tristan inched away, eyeing her suspiciously.

“It's not like that! Cher- Cheryl isn't a bad person.”

“Of course you would say that! You work for her!”, Tristan whisper-shouted.

“I don't work for her! I wish I could explain, but I can't. Not right now. It's not the time yet.”, she bit her lip.

“How can I trust you?”, he asked. It wasn't in a disappointed kind of way, it was sincere. He really wanted to trust her and be on her good side. He didn't want her to leave and he certainly didn't want to be the reason why she would do such a thing.

“I promise I'll tell you when the time comes, but- I just can't. Not yet.”, she pleaded.

“You keep saying "not yet". When will the time come?”, he asked her again.

She thought about it for a moment. “When it's time for it to come.”, she shrugged in the end.

“Seriously? That's it? Are all witches like that?”, he frowned.

“Mostly.”, she grinned. “Look, I'm sorry I can't talk to you about this yet, but let's be real. We just met and I'm a wanted witch. I can't just go around telling people my story.”, she said seriously.

“I get it. I'm just pretty curious and worried about why you're wanted. And what you're doing with my for years presumed dead aunt.

“I know. I'll tell you, just not now. I promise.”

“Alright. I'm not saying I trust you, but I'll go with it for now.”, he shrugged.

“I hope this hasn't changed anything about tonight.”, she smirked.

He blushed immediately. “Not yet.”

“I don't like that "yet"... Couldn't it just be plain "no"?”, Violet frowned.

“Oh well... Maybe "not yet" will be our always.”, Tristan replied dramatically.

“You're so cheesy... We just met.”, she rolled her eyes.

“Am I not allowed to flirt?”, he laughed.

She seemed to be thinking about it. “Not yet.”, she smirked again and walked away. “See you tonight!”

“Yeah... See you...”, he blushed and walked the other way.

°~*~°

Caroline reluctantly got dressed and waited for her brother to come get her. It was a little over midnight, and Alastor was asleep.

A few minutes later, there was a light knock on her door. She opened it to see Tristan arm in arm with Violet and eyed them suspiciously.

“Wait, you're seriously bringing me along on a date? I thought you were joking!”, she raised an eyebrow.

Tristan bit his lip. «More or less.”, he shrugged.

She shook her head in disappointment. “I'm sorry, sweetie. I didn't know.”, she told Violet.

“Don't be. It's okay. Trust me, I've been at worse.”, Violet shook her head. That made Caroline wonder to what kind of dates Violet had been to.

“See? She doesn't mind. Come on!”, Tristan told his sister.

“Fine...”, Caroline sighed and followed them.

“I'm sorry if we're making you feel awkward...”, Violet frowned.

“Nah... I don't mind. I'm going through a rough patch in my relationship, so I don't really pay attention to other couples.”, she shrugged.

“Oh. Sorry to hear that...”, Violet bit her lip. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Uh... Not rea--”, Caroline started but was interrupted.

“How did I not think of this sooner?”, Tristan exclaimed. “You've got Faith's letter, don't you?”

“Of course I do.”, his sister replied.

“Violet, can you do a tracking spell or something?”, he asked his date.

"It's a little advanced for me, but I could give it a try. Just tell me what you need it for.”, she shrugged.

“Caroline's missing girlfriend.”, Tristan told her.

“Ex, and you don't have to...”, Caroline shook her head.

“Yeah, but I want to.”, Violet smiled.

Caroline was silent for a few moments. “Thank you, Violet. You too, Tristan. You're a bloody genius.”

“Don't mention it.”, the witch shrugged.

“I know I'm a genius. It was about time you realised it too.”, Tristan laughed and rolled his eyes.

Soon, they were out of the palace, where they met up with the rest of the attendees, and were heading towards the tavern along with them.

“Wow. You got more people than usual.”, Caroline observed, furrowing her eyebrows. She started glancing around nervously, as if anyone from the group would betray them by ratting them out to her father.

“We can hide better in a bigger crowd.”, Tristan grinned.

“I'm not so sure about that...”, she but her lip. She looked at everyone suspiciously.

“Calm down! No one's going to tell dad! They'll get themselves in trouble too and they won't be ably to go out partying again.”, her brother reassured her.

“If you say so...”, she shrugged, but wasn't convinced. Violet didn't seem to be paying attention. She looked even more nervous than Caroline did, was sweating bullets and jumped in terror a couple times until they reached the tavern.

They kept asking her what was wrong but she didn't reply.

“Is this about Lux?”, Tristan frowned. Caroline was curious, but didn't say anything. She knew that if she seemed interested, Violet wouldn't say a thing so she stayed quiet.

Violet looked down, but nodded softly. “I don't want us to get busted. She'll find out about me and then Cheryl will have to rush to save me again. I don't want to distract her... Lux will use me as a trap.”

“Don't worry, she won't find you. Just try to enjoy the night!”, he smiled at her.

“I guess it's worth giving it a try...”, she smiled back. “What do you say? Are you going to dance with me or what?”, she gave him a flirty wink.

Tristan blushed. “Alright, I guess...”, he rubbed the back of his neck as she grabbed his hand and pulled him into the crowd.

Caroline tried to process the conversation that had just taken place. Not the flirty one; she couldn't care less about that. She wondered what Violet Lou, undercover witch, had to do with Cheryl- probably another witch and quite possibly her aunt. Why was Lux after them? Was her godmother secretly a witch too?

Tristan would have to be thoroughly interrogated once they returned to the palace, so she let him have fun for the night.

Caroline walked to her usual corner, the one she and Faith had talked to each other for the first time, and watched everyone else.

Tristan and Violet were dancing near a wall, as a girl kept glancing at them furiously. She approached them and glared at Violet.

“Hey, Tristan!”, she smiled. Violet scanned her from head to toe suspiciously.

“Oh! Hey Melissa!”, he chuckled nervously. The girls stared at each other, tension building up between them. “Um, Melissa this is Violet. Violet, Melissa.”, he introduced them to break the silence. “Her father owns the tavern.”, Tristan whispered to his date.

“Pleasure to meet you.”, Violet lied.

Clarissa gave batted her eyelashes and gave her a sickly sweet smile that could only be fake. “The pleasure is all mine.”

“Uh... We were in the middle of something here...”, the witch tried to say politely.

“Right. Past tense.”, the other girl's smile never wavered. “May I dance with you, Tristan?”, she turned her attention to the Prince.

“Actually, I'm here on a date with Violet...”, he cringed.

“Oh.”, Melissa looked taken aback, but soon regained her confident composure. “Can't we dance as friends?”, she smiled flirtily.

“He already told you, why do you have to make him feel uncomfortable?”, Violet frowned. It wasn't out of jealousy, she could see just how pale Tristan had gone and how hard he was trying to avoid causing a catfight between the girls.

“Why do you have to get involved in other people's business?”, Melissa batted her eyelashes again.

“Melissa, please. I told you, I'm on a date. My dance schedule is full tonight.”, Tristan frowned.

“Okay then... Sorry for the interruption.”, her face fell but she didn't really look sorry. She was mostly disappointed and kept glancing at Violet furiously all night.

“It's okay... I just- I'm sorry I can't save a dance for you.”, he told her sincerely.

“Don't worry about it. There's always a next time.”, she winked and walked away.

Violet tried not to glare at Tristan, she really did, but she couldn't help it. She was a little jealous, even though she knew she shouldn't be. Tristan was his own person and he was free to date who ever he wanted, but for some reason she wanted to be the one to be with him. She didn't really get why, she had just met him and it was supposed to be just a mission. This wasn't the way things should be and she shouldn't really get attached.

At first she only flirted for the fun of it, but things had started getting out of hand. Violet realised she was crushing on Tristan, and this was bad.

She decided she would have to withdraw herself.

“Are you okay?”, he noticed her frown.

“Huh? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine.”, she smiled, shrugging it off.

“Are you sure?”, he raised an eyebrow. She nodded. “Are we going to get back to dancing or what?”, he asked her, nudging her lightly with his elbow.

Hm... I'll withdraw myself tomorrow. She thought to herself and smiled. Tristan grabbed her hand and they went back to dancing.

°~*~°

Phoebe and her mother had split up. Her mom was in no shape to travel any more, her sickness was getting worse. Phoebe needed to find Scott before it was too late, and she was closing in.

She had arranged for her mother to stay with some family friends they hadn't seen in a long time, but they understood the problem and said they would take care of her.

Only one thing was certain; Scott was in huge trouble.