Spirit Animal: Pride of the Panther

Ch. 35: Home Again?

The group was stunned, they didn't know who or what this kid was, or where he came from. He has tan, yellow skin, bushy white hair and eyebrows, an upward-pointing nose, and a large pale blue blotch that eclipses the left side of his face, giving the right side the appearance of a crescent moon shape. wears full-body clothing resembling pajamas with an oversized collar and sleeves. His clothes are split between dark blue on the right and periwinkle-gray on the left. The sleeves have these colors switched, with the right sleeve being periwinkle with blue suns and the left sleeve being blue with periwinkle crescent moons, as well as a magenta border on the rims of the cuffs. His head has a nightcap with a magenta border and light spots like stars and wears dark blue shoes with light gray poms on them. Hunter looked closely and realized something.

'Collector.' Hunter thought.

Belos seemed... scared.

"Collector... y-y-you're free... just as promised." Belos said.

"As promised? I distinctly remember someone tossing me off a bridge. I'm not mad, though. Hey, want to play tag?" Collector spun his finger, pulling Belos close, "I'm it."

He pressed a finger into Belos head, sending him flying and making him splatter against the wall above the portal. The group looked terrified, mostly Luz.

'W-w-why am I so... scared?' Luz thought, 'I... I've never felt this way before, even when I face Grom.'

"Too slow!" Collector said

The Collector looked back at the group.

"You look slow too; do you need a head start?" Collector asked, walking over to them.

He was about to "Tag" them when the young Titan got between them.

'King!?' Luz thought, 'He's alive!'

"Collector, buddy." King said, trying to hide his nervousness.

"King!" Collector said, happily.

"Remember what we talked about." King said, "You gotta help all my friends outside, or, uh, we won't get to play 'Owl House'."

King looks at the group, trying to get them to play along.

'King, what did you do?' Luz thought.

"O-o-oh yeah... I... I love playing that." Luz said, completely terrified.

"The... the memories last a lifetime." Amity said, becoming even paler than normal with her blood loss.

"I... I play it every day." Willow said, with a scared smile.

"I play... every hour." Gus said, barely able to stand.

Hunter, beginning to get overpowered by the sigil, just let out a weak smile and chuckle.

"I'll explain the rules later, but we need a lot of players." King said.

Collector walked over to the eye socket and saw the Draining spell, all the witches slowly dying.

"Okay!" He said.

He put his finger up and moved the moon away from the sun, stopping the draining spell.

'If he did that to the moon, I'm afraid of what he could do to an iPad.' Luz thought.

Hunter's Sigil began to recede and he began to feel better than the rest of the group, which wasn't saying much since the others were insanely injured. Collector began to look around.

"If we're going to play Owl House, we're going to need an Owl House!"

He started floating and the skull began to crack. The group didn't waste time, Hunter grabbed Amity's arm and began to help her move, while Gus helped Willow. Luz's legs felt like they were going to give out, she felt like her entire body was made of stone, like she couldn't move. She was knocked out of her thoughts when King grabbed her hand and began to pull her away from Collector.

"The portal, it's our only way out!" Hunter said.

They ran to the portal, stopping at the stain that was once Belos. They shared a look before getting the courage to run over it. Hunter was running on adrenaline so much, he didn't notice that a small bit dropped on to him. They made it to the portal and Gus opened it. On the other side, the Human Realm appeared. It was night, it was raining, and they all knew that rain boils.

"Well, it's either boiling water or certain death." Amity said, barely able to stand on her own, "I think I know which I prefer."

Amity began to stumble her way through the portal, only to stop and realize that Luz wasn't with them.

"Luz?"

Luz had lost control over her legs since Belos took her spirit animal, and it didn't help that the floor was falling apart beneath her. Luz fell to the ground, the blood from Belos slamming her head into the floor, was beginning to run into her eyes and made it hard to see. She saw Willow make spell circle and had vines grab the floor Luz was on, despite the fact that her ribs were in pieces. King helped Luz up and began pushing her. Collector looked back and saw King with Luz.

"King, you promised you'd play with me! You pinkie swore!"

King began to float and Luz grabbed his hand.

"King!" Luz said.

"Luz, you need to go through the portal." King said.

"N-n-no! I'm not leaving you!" Luz said.

"I'm sorry." King said, "But you need to go back to your world. You'll be safe there."

"No." Luz pleaded.

King started crying and used his scream, sending all of them through the portal. Luz tried to get back up, but kept stumbling, and only managed to get to the door by the time the portal closed.

"King, no!' Luz said, "King!"

She grabbed the doorknob and opened it, seeing the old run down cabin. She let out erratic breaths and looked back at her friends, who looked just as defeated as she did. Luz stumbled over and grabbed her bag, before standing up.

"F-f-follow... m-m-me." Luz said.

Luz led them through the woods to a house, her house. She looked up and saw that the place seemed to be fine, there was almost no indication of the fire, of the fight... of the intruder. Luz leaned against Hunter in front of the door, unsure of what to do. She looked at her friends, and also noticed a moving van next door.

'Huh, guess I have a new neighbor.' Luz thought, 'I'll go introduce myself later... maybe.'

Luz looked back at the door, very nervous.

"W-w-what if my mom isn't... what if she... what-"

"Luz, if you're anything like your mother, she's here, waiting for you." Amity said, "And I hope she is... because I am bleeding out right now."

Luz nodded and let out a small breath. She knocked on the door and waited with her anxiety at an all time high. She saw the doorknob turn and the door opened. Luz gave a weak smile.

"H-h-hi, mom... I'm... I'm back." Luz said.

Camila let out a gasp at the sight of her daughter, who she honestly thought was dead, and immediately hugged her. While this reunion was going on, the family next door was having the opposite problem, as a girl around Luz's age was in her new room, staring at a picture. The picture had two other girls with her, one with curly brown hair and tan skin, the other with blonde hair and white skin, along with a mole under her eye.

"Well, girls, this is my new home. Gravesfield, Connecticut... it's a lot different than LA." She said, "Hope you girls are getting by without me."

"Marcy, come help us unload this last box!" Marcy's dad said.

"Coming, dad!" Marcy said, putting the picture down, but still looking at it, "Bye, Anne. Bye, Sasha... I'll miss you girls. Hope you two can become friends again without me."