Chapter Text
Luz had envisioned the day would unfold differently then it had so far. Being chased through the woods by a giant throwing trees at her had not been part of it at all.
Though she had dreaded it she had woken up and packed her things to spend the entire summer at the “Reality Check Summer Camp” where she would learn to “get in touch with reality” and “appreciate public radio” as her mami had put it. Sure, she knew her fantasies and fiery plunge into the Good Witch Azura fandom could be a little much at times but that was who she was.
A weirdo.
Still, she knew why her mami wanted this because she was worried about Luz. As a second-generation Dominican immigrant Luz’ mom had been isolated growing up. It had not been until her mom had gone to medical school that she had opened up, made friends, and met Luz’ father -Alberto. Luz had never met her father, their relationship had not worked out, they had separated and he had died before Luz had turned one year old. Luz only had the vaguest of memories of warmth on her face.
Her mom liked to tell her that she was the only light in her life - that's why she had been named Luz.
To get back on track, Luz had decided she would go to the camp for her mother. She had even thrown away her copy of the Good Witch Azura book one...but no sooner had her mother left for work Luz had convinced herself that she would need something to do on the trip to the camp and had fished the book out of the trash. All she really knew about the camp was that it was somewhere in Upstate New York, as far as she knew, that was hours of driving and she might as well spend the time reading. That was normal? Right?
No sooner had she put the book in her backpack a school bus painted grey had pulled up in front of her house. In the plain black letters in arial font the words “Think Inside The Box” were decaled on the side. Through the glass windows she saw only empty seats. Her first thought was “Ghost Bus” which was quashed almost immediately when the door opened and she saw the bus did have a driver.
He had to be the buffest, the hairiest, and most coachiest looking middle-aged man Luz had ever seen. He wore an orange polo shirt, baggy sweatpants, a baseball cap that did not cover his mass of brown curls and even a baseball whistle hung around his neck. He was also so little, probably no more than 5” nothing in height - if the rest of him was part of some napoleon complex she would not have been surprised. Strapped into the space above his head was a wooden baseball bat and in his free hand that was not on the steering wheel was a megaphone.
“HEY KID. YOU LUZ NO-CHEDDA?” he had shouted through the megaphone and had made Luz cover both of her ears with her hands.
“Wah!” Luz exclaimed and fell back on her butt. After the ringing in her ears subsided she shouted back, “It's Luz NOCEDA actually.”
“Sorry, cupcake. I’ll get it right next time,” the bus driver picked up a clipboard and seemed to scratch out something vigorously before writing something over it - from the way he moved his lips slow as he wrote she guessed he was writing in the correct pronunciation of her name. Once he was done writing he placed the clipboard back down and pointed a thumb toward the rear of the bus, “Alright, kid, you can call me Coach Hedge now - get in! I don’t wait for anyone and I’m already behind schedule! Well? What are you sitting there for! Move! Move! Move!”
“YAH! Alright, alright!” Luz had cried and jumped up off the ground and onto the bus. She plopped down onto a seat toward the middle of the bus but not far from Coach Hedge who continued to glare at her until she sat down.
“Alright, campers. I’ll reiterate the rules of the bus for the new rookie here!” Hedge cleared his throat before he continued, “Rule number one: Don’t bother me while I’m driving. Rule number two: If you do bother me while I’m driving I’ll send you to camp the hard and short way.”
By the way he had then placed one of his hands on the baseball bat above his head Luz did not need to guess what he meant by his second statement. Luz imagined Hedge hitting her head clear from her shoulders and it landing exactly outside of camp.
“Guh. Having to spend the entire summer without a body would be horrible.” Luz shivered and muttered to herself.
“What was that, Noceda?” Hedge had growled and to her surprise had pulled off the accent of her name perfectly.
“Nothing, sir! I mean, coach! My head is in the game!” Luz forced a smile, she had held it until he had snorted and turned back to the steering wheel.
“Whatever. Now all of you get to know each other, do an ice breaker or something. I don’t care.” Hedge rumbled before he started to drive the bus away from Luz’ house. His words had confused Luz, what did he mean ‘all of you’? Luz looked, left and right, back and forth but there was no one else that she saw on the bus. Her theory of a ghost bus had crept back slowly before she was interrupted by a timid voice.
“H-hello?” a small boy with bushy black hair poked his head above the seat directly behind Luz.
“Ya-I mean, h-hello to you too! Yes, that's what I was saying,” Luz had flinched back but saved herself at the last minute. She told herself to play it cool. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”
“Don’t worry about it,” the boy smiled weakly before he glanced up in Hedge’s direction, “I was doing my best to not get creamed into a pile of Augustus gloop. I may or may-not be the reason for Hedge’s rules for while he is driving.”
“Oh, is your name Augustus?” Luz had asked, eager to turn the topic away from Hedge’s baseball bat.
“Yep! That’s my name, don’t wear it out.” Augustus deflated a little, “Most people do. They just end up calling me Auggy.”
“Ooofa.” Luz shuddered in sympathy, that was a terrible nickname. She thought for a moment before an idea flashed in her head, “How about, I call you Gus instead? Does that sound better?”
“Gus?” Augustus/Auggy raised an eyebrow. She could practically see the gears as they turned in his mind as he thought it over. After a few moments he continued, enthusiasm soared skyward the more he spoke, “Gus. Hey Gus. Looking sharp, Gus. Gus Porter. Gusgusgusgusgus!”
“Do you like it?” Luz asked.
“Do I like it? I love it!” Gus beamed before he thrust both arms into the air, “Look out world, there is a new Gus in town!”
Hedge had made a very loud rumbling noise, Luz looked back to see he was glaring at them both through the rearview mirror.
“Eeep.” Gus dived back behind his seat, his words were timid again when they wafted up from behind her seat, “So, your name is Luz? I heard it earlier…”
The next few hours seemed to flyby as Luz and Gus talked back and forth to one another. Gus was from a small town called Bonesborough and seemed to be very enthusiastic in his personality - at least when Hedge was not looking their way. He was the President of his school’s Historical Appreciation Society and was pretty smart, he loved history and especially myths and legends. His parents had also made him go to the camp because of his interests - namely because they had found out about his detailed summer plan to hunt down and film the Jersey Devil by himself even though he was only twelve.
He had even read the Good Witch Azura books though his interest was more to do with the portrayal of the monsters in the book. Still, Luz felt good about talking to Gus. She had thought about being able to prove to her mom that she was capable of talking to another human, this whole socialization thing wasn’t hard when she found someone with interests as weird as her’s.
As they drove on Luz noticed that since Hedge had picked her up they had not stopped at all to pick up any other campers. She had begun to wonder if it would only be her and Gus at the camp. Then again it was possible they were the only ones on his route, the camp probably had other bus drivers picking up campers or parents just dropped them off. Still, something had not sat right in the pit of her stomach by the time that Hedge had pulled the bus over to a rest stop along the highway.
“Alright cupcakes. Bathroom break, we are almost at the camp and I don’t want any of you showing up and interrupting your orientation by announcing to everyone you have to go potty! Be back in your seats in 15 minutes or I’ll make you do push-ups on the roof of the bus until we get to camp!” Hedge had threatened them, but as soon as he was finished had made a quick beeline straight for the small restroom facility at the rest stop.
Luz desperately wanted to stretch her legs so she had convinced Gus to get off the bus with her. Even if they were both unsure if Hedge’s threat was a bluff or not.
There was not a lot to the rests top, just the restrooms, a couple picnic tables, and a map of the state of New York in a display case that also held a bunch of brochures for various tourist attractions. Woods stretched on either side of the roadway and there were no other cars or people around that she could see.
“Come on, Gus. Let’s see how far we are from camp.” Luz said and walked toward the map, Gus quickly followed her. Once they were at the map she looked for the little dot saying “You Are Here” in the upstate part of New York but she could not find it at all. Her frustration must have shown on her face because Gus had then elbowed her and pointed down toward the bottom of the map - a puzzled expression also on his face. There was the “You Are Here” marker, but it was not anywhere near Upstate New York, no, according to the map they were on the far end of Long Island.
“What, that can’t be right. The camp is supposed to be up by the lakes.” Luz looked to Gus who had pulled out a crumpled up copy of the Reality Check camp brochure.
“Yea, you’re right. The brochure says it's outside of Ithaca by the Finger Lakes.”
“We’re hours away from there. We’re closer to Montauk.”
“Could Hedge have gotten lost? Maybe this is his first time driving to the camp?” Gus provided an answer but he did not seem sure about any of his words, “Are we...are we...being kidnapped?”
“I don’t-”
“We are being kidnapped aren’t we!” Gus slapped his hands to his cheeks, a look of pure dread on his face, “I’m too young to be kidnapped! Wait, no maybe I am the right age for it! GAH!”
“Gus!” Luz grabbed him by the front of his shirt and shook him, “Get a hold of yourself. This is no time to panic.”
“Alright, cupcakes. Back on the bus!” Hedge’s voice called out from behind them, Luz and Gus turned to see Hedge striding toward them.
“Stop right there!” Luz demanded and pointed a finger at Hedge who did stop for a moment in surprise it looked like before he scowled and continued to walk toward them. Kramity she cursed to herself before she reached into her backpack and pulled out the heaviest thing she had - her copy of the Good Witch Azura, “Stop right there or-or I’ll use this!”
“Yea!” Gus chimed in from behind her, “Knowledge is a weapon...though the Good Witch Azura is fiction...still if its fiction you can make it anything you want it to be and we choose it to also be a weapon!”
“What are you-” Hedge had begun to say but Luz slapped her book into the side of the map display creating a loud THUNK sound that drowned out his words.
“I’ll be the one asking questions here! We aren’t anywhere close to the camp!” Luz pointed at the map, surprised that she sounded actually eager to get there “Where are you taking us?”
Hedge’s face showed surprise and then quickly aggravated as he muttered something under his breath, “...ods preserve me” Hedge then growled out louder, “I am taking you two to camp. The camp you are supposed to be going to.”
The camp they were supposed to be going to? What did he mean by that Luz wondered. Her thoughts had been interrupted by Gus pulling out a cellphone from his pocket.
“You better explain everything to us or I’ll call the cops right now!” Gus waved the phone in the air. This actually made Hedge snort with laughter, it sounded like she expected how a goat would laugh if one could laugh.
“You won’t get any cell reception out here. The Mist blocks out cellphone signals.”
The mist?
“Uhh…” Gus swallowed hard as he looked at his phone and then to Luz, “Yea, my phone isn’t getting any signal out here.”
Luz thought the situation was turning out better and better for themselves. Trapped in the middle of almost nowhere with someone who it looked like was kidnapping them and they had no way to call anyone for help. Could things get any worse?
As it turned out. It could get a lot worse.
A truck pulled into the rest stop and it wasn’t any normal truck, it was an actual monster truck. The wheels were easily taller than Luz and Gus together if she had him on her shoulders and they looked like they had been tearing up earth because they were absolutely slathered in mud and grass. The actual body of the car was painted black with green flames and as she looked closer she saw in the decal of the flames were tinier decals of bows and arrows broken apart or on fire. She also noticed what looked like a lyre instrument with its strings all plucked. She thought that was a weird motif to have but to each their own.
The door on the driver side had been facing toward them and when it swung open Luz had expected whoever had been driving to jump out but instead a single barefoot swung out and went down, down to the ground and then another foot, both attached to the longest pair of legs in jeans that she had ever seen. The rest of the driver’s body came out and when he stood up he was easily taller than the truck he had arrived in. He only wore a black, leather vest, his arms covered in hair and his face looked like it had a perpetual sunburn between the leathery texture and the angry, bright red color to it. Luz had been boggled by the clown-car-esque physics of how this tall guy had fit in the truck she almost did not catch Hedge’s words.
“Luz! Gus! Both of you back in the bus now!” Hedge had completely changed in demeanour, now he looked like a goat that was ready to charge. He had both of his arms tucked back to his body as if he was a football linebacker ready to sprint forward. The very tall man took one look at Hedge and chuckled loudly, it sounded like stone grinding on stone and it did not sound pleasant at all. In fact, something in Luz knew that whoever this was, was more dangerous than Hedge was to her at the moment.
“Well, well, well.” the tall man clapped his hands together, “It must be my lucky day. Two demigods, one of them whose blood sings to me, and only an old goat to protect them both! It's Tityos’ lucky day!”
Demigods? Luz wondered what the Bad Place was he talking about?
“Luz…” Gus trembled beside her, his hand tugging at her hand. He pulled her a few steps away from the newcomer.
“Don’t you run off now!” Tityos rumbled and rubbed his hands together, he was staring directly at Luz as he spoke “I am going to enjoy cutting your strings, little one.”
“Like Tartarus you will!” Hedge yelled, and sprung forward and made to charge at Tityos who turned to raise his hands as if he was going to swat Hedge as if he was a fly. Instead Hedge kicked upward in mid run, his shoe flew off his foot and smacked Tityos right in the face which made the tall man bellow and stumble back against his monster truck, “I never leave home without my steel toed shoes!”
For emphasis Hedge kicked his leg in the air, his hoof sending pebbles from the ground up.
Luz had gaped and stared. Hedge had a hoof? She looked closer and it was true, instead of a normal, human foot what was peaking out of his baggy sweat pants was a hoof attached to a hairy set of ankles that looked like they belonged to a goat. Beside her, Gus gasped loudly, his eyes seemed to shine with stars.
“Satyrs are reeeeaaal?!?” Gus looked like he wanted to run up to Hedge and poke his hoof. Before he could get the chance Tityos stomped down with one hairy foot, immediately the ground cracked and split, the earth beneath Hedge shuddered before a jagged mound of earth burst out from under him sending him flying clear across the rest stop and into some bushes.
Tityos turned his head back toward Luz and Gus.
“Gus! RUUUN!” Luz yelled and pulled the younger boy with her as she turned tail and sprinted across the rest stop toward the forest on the otherside.
“You won’t get away that easily! I will have my vengeance!” Tityos had roared from behind them and though she did not look she knew that he had picked up something. A few seconds later one of the picnic tables crashed down into the air infront of her and Gus, it splintered into a pile of broken wood that blocked her path forward.
Thinking quickly she shoved Gus aside around the obstacle as she went around the other side, “Split up! I’ll distract! Go get help or something!”
“But Luz-” Gus looked frightened but she cut him off with a wink she had hoped looked confident.
“Don’t worry! I have a plan!” Luz said, even though she had not had a plan. She turned around toward Tityos and cupped her hands to her mouth as she shouted, “COME AND GET ME YOU OVERGROWN DIRT PILE!”
That seemed to get Tityos attention all on her as he turned to face her and began to menace forward, actually he had begun to make his way across the rest stop much quicker than Luz had anticipated.
“Right, longer legs means longer strides,” Luz smacked her head. She looked to see Gus had followed her order and was already disappearing into the woods. So she took off in the opposite direction into the woods, she hoped it would be enough to lead Tityos away from Gus. She had hoped that when Tityos lumbered through the trees they would slow him down much more than her, and she was right there - but she had not accounted for the fact that now Tityos had more things to throw at her.
“GAAAAH!” Luz screamed out loud as a tree trunk smashed into another tree just to her right. The sound of it crashing and splintering trees had been enough warning for her to zig-zag away from the impact. In her head she swore words in Spanish that if her mom knew she knew then Luz knew she would be grounded for a month.
Luz had always been a good runner, it was only because running in a circle was so boring she had never joined her school’s track team. Then running through the forest while an almost literal giant chased after her was certainly more interesting even if it meant she was in danger of being turned into paste.
Through the treeline she thought she saw a clearing ahead, maybe a hill with a pine tree ontop of it? Her legs had begun to feel like jelly but somehow she knew in her gut if she made it to the tree she would be safe. It was a weird sensation, almost like a sixth sense, but she did not have the luxury of time to think about it then and there.
Just as she broke the tree line she heard the sound of Tityos throwing his fourth or fifth tree but at that exact moment she tripped suddenly over what felt like a root. She stumbled and fell face forward, her arms outstretched and her Good Witch Azura book still in hand. She felt something in her ankle give and knew immediately something had sprained. The tree sailed over her and crashed into the clearing ahead but it was large enough that with her sprained ankle there was no way Luz could vault or run around it.
“Your race is done, Little Arrow. Time to break!” Tityos loomed above her now, his ugly face gleamed down at her with a revolting expression of twisted joy.
“Ugh! Leave me alone! You monster! And make up your mind! Am I an arrow you are going to break or am I a stringed instrument?” Luz cried out in frustration, she cocked her arm back and threw her book at Tityos. She had not expected it to do much but she wanted to cause him some kind of discomfort before she was squashed flat. The book sailed through the air surprisingly gracefully and smacked into the side of Tityos’ chest covered by his vest. The act did far more than Luz expected as the monster’s eyes bulged out and he let loose a roar of pain and agony. Shocked, he stumbled backward, he clutched the spot where the book had hit him and tore off his vest leaving his torso bare. What Luz had seen next made her want to barf.
In the side of his hairy chest was hole, which she could see his insides - muscle, veins, some of his ribs and a shredded looking organ that from her mom’s anatomy charts had to be his liver. It looked like someone had taken a meat tenderizer and gone to town on it.
“RRRagh! I escaped Tartarus but still bear the wound of my torture! That’s why I’ll never give up on hunting the children of your Fath-” Tityos had begun to get back to his feet shakily and looked like he was going to pummel her with his fists - but then a fireball erupted in his face.
“Hey tiny! Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” a voice called down from above Luz. She looked up and for the second time that day her jaw dropped.
There was a woman.
A woman floating in mid-air on a staff which had an owl shaped top.
The woman looked absolutely mad! Her hair was two tones of grey and was bushy and wild like the rest of her. She had to be in her forties but she pulled off the bright orange dress she wore perfectly even if it looked like it had been washed in a wood chipper by the way the hem was torn. It had what looked like a flying pegasus on the front. She had one golden tooth that shined while she smiled and her eyes were colored grey and looked like she knew a terribly good secret.
“Ungh! Owl Lady!” Tityos growled, his facial was singed completely by the fireball which only made his sunburn seem worse. He certainly looked like he was in a lot of pain. “Come down here and fight me like a true demigod!”
“Hmmmm,” the Owl Lady seemed to ponder his question for a second but then shook her head, “Naaah. Where is the fun in that?”
She waved her arms in the air and to Luz’ surprise and delight, circles of red light appeared in the air and once they formed a barrage of red fire erupted and crashed into Tityos.
Magic. She was seeing magic! Just like in the Good Witch Azura! Was she a witch? Could she teach Luz magic? This a thousand other questions erupted in her mind.
“I WILL BE BACK! I WILL HAVE MY-” Tityos yelled in agony.
“Yea, yea, just poof already.” The Owl Lady rolled her eyes and immediately her staff moved through the air on wooden wings straight toward Tityos like she was a living missile. At the last moment she grabbed her staff from beneath her and swung it down like a club into Tityos’ exposed liver. Tityos’ form burst into a cloud of golden dust that left a foul smell in the air.
“Well that was fun,” the Owl Lady said as she stretched and then turned to Luz, “Oh, hey. Uh. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, kiddo.”
Luz had immediately blacked out. She did not know it at the time but this was the start of her new life that would change everything.