[Not all troubled, though. At one point, he is standing with some teenagers. He knows them. They're his friends. He does a secret handshake with a younger black boy, Gus, who then breaks off to talk with a girl. Willow.]
[He hangs back to speak with a dark-skinned, dark-haired teenage girl. Luz.]
[He knows their names. He has a history with them. Some of it bad. But they reached out to him anyway.]
["Don't you dare... mention that thing around them."
"What thing? That you're a Grimwalker?"
"Shh! Listen, I don't know if I'm a witch, or a human. All I know is that I'm a copy of someone Belos made... disappear."
"I don't know what you three went through, but they seem to like you."
"So I shouldn't worry how they'd react, right? If that's the case, have you told them about helping Philip?"]
[The girl looks mortified.]
["Yeah, I overheard everything. Don't tell them. Please."]
[She nods slowly. She's his friend now, too, he thinks. She's willing to keep his secret. That he's a grimwalker -]
[A grimwalker.]
[He suddenly plunges down. Into the dark. Pulled down into still waters - into -]
[Belos' subconscious? Where he'll fade away, flattened under the floorboards of Belos' mental reality. Not even the sound of his beating heart will haunt him. After all, who knows how many versions of himself have been killed before now. Killed without Belos feeling the tiniest tinge of remorse.]
[His consciousness starts to fade. He hears voices above him.]
["And what about Hunter? What's a grimwalker?"
"He's... a better version of an old friend. But, thanks to you, I'll have to make another one."]
[In reality, in their little fort, he sobs. Because of terror. But also because of heartbreak. Because he knows his parent never loved him at all.]
No.
No no, let go!
[He thrashes, fighting the blanket and sheet wrapped around him. It's too confining. His brain is conflating it with the feeling of being dragged down in Belos' mind.]
no subject
[Not all troubled, though. At one point, he is standing with some teenagers. He knows them. They're his friends. He does a secret handshake with a younger black boy, Gus, who then breaks off to talk with a girl. Willow.]
[He hangs back to speak with a dark-skinned, dark-haired teenage girl. Luz.]
[He knows their names. He has a history with them. Some of it bad. But they reached out to him anyway.]
["Don't you dare... mention that thing around them."
"What thing? That you're a Grimwalker?"
"Shh! Listen, I don't know if I'm a witch, or a human. All I know is that I'm a copy of someone Belos made... disappear."
"I don't know what you three went through, but they seem to like you."
"So I shouldn't worry how they'd react, right? If that's the case, have you told them about helping Philip?"]
[The girl looks mortified.]
["Yeah, I overheard everything. Don't tell them. Please."]
[She nods slowly. She's his friend now, too, he thinks. She's willing to keep his secret. That he's a grimwalker -]
[A grimwalker.]
[He suddenly plunges down. Into the dark. Pulled down into still waters - into -]
[Belos' subconscious? Where he'll fade away, flattened under the floorboards of Belos' mental reality. Not even the sound of his beating heart will haunt him. After all, who knows how many versions of himself have been killed before now. Killed without Belos feeling the tiniest tinge of remorse.]
[His consciousness starts to fade. He hears voices above him.]
["And what about Hunter? What's a grimwalker?"
"He's... a better version of an old friend. But, thanks to you, I'll have to make another one."]
[In reality, in their little fort, he sobs. Because of terror. But also because of heartbreak. Because he knows his parent never loved him at all.]
No.
No no, let go!
[He thrashes, fighting the blanket and sheet wrapped around him. It's too confining. His brain is conflating it with the feeling of being dragged down in Belos' mind.]
Let me out, let me out!
Uncle, please!