Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

For the hundredth time that day, Luz cursed the door that had brought her to this world internally. She had cursed many things over the last few hours, cursed the Azura books, cursed the author of the Azura books, cursed herself for being so stupid, cursed her captors for what they were doing.

In one rare moment, she had even cursed her mama. It hurt to admit that she’d done it, but she had, and it wasn’t like she could apologize to her. Not soon at least, and likely not ever.

For what felt like the hundredth time that day, but was probably only the ninth or tenth, she slammed her feet against the bars of her cage, letting out a grunt before speaking. “Let, me, OUT!”

A terrible pressure from the ring around her neck and up her spine, eliciting a shriek of pain. “Shut up!” The force made it feel like her skull was being crushed by the weight of a mountain, but upon the order from her guard, her teeth snapped shut and her lips sealed together.

She whimpered as she curled into a ball on the metal floor of her cage. At least this wouldn’t happen to anyone else. At least she’d taken care of that.

The day had started how she’d expected it to, with disappointment and sadness. Even the overcast nature of the sky seemed to pair with her lack of anticipation, giving the morning a lack of any real sunrise.

“Oh, oh my baby.” her mama had said before hugging her. “Don’t worry, summer camp is only going to be for three months. You’ll be so busy balancing checkbooks, and learning to,” she paused, “appreciate public radio, the time will fly by!”

Camila was optimistic, a trait Luz would normally share, but not in regard to this camp.

“But I don’t like any of that stuff! I like editing anime clips to music, and reading fantasy books with convoluted backstories!”

“Mija, your fantasy world is holding you back. Do you have any friends? Real ones, not imagined, or drawn, or reptilian.”

That one hurt. It wasn’t like she hadn’t tried to make friends, really! It just seemed like people didn’t want to make friends with her. Her whole life, she had always done or said the wrong thing, like everyone else had some kind of playbook that she didn’t have any access to. The implications were obvious, and Luz felt her shoulders slump as her eyes drifted down to her book, an Azura book, one of her favorites.

“Summer camp is a chance to make friends, but you have to try. Can you do that?”

“Yes mom.” She said, putting the book in the trash to her mothers smile.

Before any more response could be made, Camila’s phone had buzzed. “Oh, I gotta go to work,” She said, walking up to Luz and kissing her on the forehead three times in quick succession. “Your bus is coming soon, text me when you get there. Cuídate mucho, mija. ¡Qué te vaya bien!”

“Bye mom.” Luz said, watching her mother drive away. She almost dove for the trash, when something else caught her attention.

“Ugh,” said one gruff voice, “You’d think she’d set up closer to something she could use, you know?” It was coming from the woods, quiet enough that the person speaking was probably trying to be stealthy, but just loud enough that Luz could make out what they were saying.

“Shut up and keep hiking. We’ll find something eventually.” Two gruff voices now. “You see anybody?”

“No, not yet.” Replied the voice. It was at this point Luz realized that she had been walking closer, because it was at this point she realized the voice had gotten louder. Why were these two voices searching for people?

“Should we split up?” Asked the one, clearly having never read a book before.

There was a smacking sound before the second responded. “Are you a moron? Have you ever read a book before? Of course we’re not splitting up!”

“This whole thing is a waste anyway!” The other voice yelled back, losing all pretense of stealth. “I’ll bet the portal didn’t even lead to the human realm, and the Owl Lady has just been selling a bunch of junk and passing it off as human!”

The human realm?

“Wait, what was that?” Oh she hadn’t spoken out loud, had she? There was the rapid sound of brush being broken in her direction before out from the woods behind her house popped two of the strangest people she had ever seen.

The first, and the one who came out first, was a very pale teal, with an eyepatch, and fully exposed teeth. Actually, it seemed like he didn’t even have lips. And one of his eyes was red. And the other was covered in an eyepatch. And there were two preserved heads hanging from his neck.

She would have opened her mouth to scream, but the first’s hand came down across her mouth, fingers clasping around the side of her face before she could even get out a sound. “Got ya.” He said with a grin as the second came into view. Funny how the first thing had the second voice.

The second. It. It didn’t have a nose. Its chin was gigantic, spreading wide and curving to a cleft in the middle, almost making it look like a giant butt, and it had a brow to match. Also it was entirely green, and had pointed ears, and oh no.

“See!” Said the first, turning around while still holding her around the mouth. “I told you we’d catch one! A Human, this’ll get a lot of snails on the night market.” She was trying to scream now, but barely any sound was making its way out. She was flailing her hands, hitting this thing's arms, its chest, its face, anything she could reach. Branches of trees and bushes snapped at her furious onslaught that seemed to do naught but frustrate the creature holding her.

This wasn’t. This couldn’t be happening, these weren’t humans, she had to be hallucinating, her mama was right, all those fantasy books must have been rotting her brain! Right?

But the pain that rushed through her face as the teal one clenched its hand tighter, pushing her cheeks into her teeth, drove home the reality of the situation. He pulled her closer to his face before saying, almost in a whisper. “You try to scream again, I’ll make it hurt a lot more.”

She went quiet before the words he’d said soaked in. The night market. The snails comment she couldn’t be sure of, but. ‘Told you we’d catch one’. ‘Night market’. She knew what was happening to her. She’d been warned about it often enough, everyone had. Human trafficking.

She hadn't given out information online, even though that's where all her friends were. She hadn't followed any strange flyers for unspecified jobs. While it hadn't happened, if it had, she wouldn't have opened the door to some random person calling for help in the middle of the night.

She really hadn't expected the traffickers to not be human themselves.

Tears started to flow as she looked around, seeing empty houses that were normally filled with people, but were currently devoid of life, their humans having left for work, camps, or just hanging out with others. She was alone. Even if she could get a scream out, nobody would hear her.

“Hey, look!” Said the teal one, holding her up to the green one with a grin. “She’s already figured out how to behave.” The pair laughed as they dragged Luz through the woods, destination unknown, telling strange, incredibly screwed up jokes the whole way there.

She had to think. She was smart, she knew she was creative, and this was the kind of situation her whole life had prepared her for! Except for her lack of any upper body strength. That. That may be a problem here.

Already it was obvious that she wouldn’t be able to overpower this guy, so she just had to wait for an opportunity, something she could do to escape, some moment she could slip away, something. The woods were darkening as they went deeper, only to grow lighter as they seemed to reach a clearing. She really wished she could see where they were going.

The sound of feet hitting wood and the appearance of stairs beneath her, stairs that she didn’t even have the option of stumbling up, were a good indication. She was still being held, still by her face. Her neck was really starting to hurt.

“Take a goooood look Human, this is the last time you’ll ever see the human realm!” said the green one before bursting with laughter.

The other looked at him, hand loosening on her as they stepped through a door and continued moving. “You’re messed up Tom. That’s messed up.”

“Aw, but boss, we’re literally selling her!” The green one, Tom, apparently, exclaimed.

‘Boss’, or the one holding her, sighed, bringing the hand that was previously holding up Luz to his face, and pinching the bridge of his nose. “Tom, we’re hunters, not monsters.”

While the two argued over the morality of their actions, Luz took a moment to look around. They appeared to be deep in a square stone structure, with a lot of torches and a gigantic fireplace directly in front of her, and behind the two arguing things.

Behind her, there was nothing she could use, just some crates. To her left side, stairs led out, and to her right, there were cages. Lots of cages, actually. Only one was currently occupied, with some strange greenish brown snake thing with arms. It looked miserable.

Between her and the cages was the door she’d walked through. She could see the forest behind her house through it, hear the birds, even smell it.

Looking toward the stairs, the two were still arguing over the morality of her actions. She could do this, she had the opportunity, she had this! Home free!

When she stepped forward to reach the door, her foot landed on a chain she hadn’t seen, rattling it. As she stepped off of the chain, she accidentally kicked it, rattling it further. The room was silent for a moment, and she looked behind herself to see the two monsters staring at her.

“Get her!” The boss of the two yelled, as they both began to run toward the frightened human. She ran toward the door, hoping she could get there, and get home, but before she could even get close, the door flipped itself closed into a briefcase. She managed to grab it, and then vault over Tom as he made a grab for her midsection, thank you cheerleader training.

As she dodged around Tom, the boss went to stand at the only door leaving the place, holding some kind of key in his hand, apparently content to watch as his subordinate struggled with containing her.

“Just, stop, moving!” Yelled Tom as he made another dive for her. She narrowly stepped out of the way, only barely avoiding another grab before running to the other side of the room again. She couldn’t keep doing this forever, she really couldn’t.

Luz looked down at the briefcase door portal thing in her hand, looked at all the empty cages to her side, and looked at the two strange creatures who had kidnapped her. On this side of the wall, she was directly next to the fireplace. It was roaring, burning bright. It was almost the same size as her.

Her favorite characters were always making sacrifices for the greater good. Saving people, helping them, putting others above themselves. If they still had this way to reach other humans, how many of those cages would be filled with her neighbors, her classmates? One might even contain her mama.

Both of the demon hunters were looking at her now, Tom angrily, and the boss with a wary glint in his eye. His one eye widened as he realized what Luz was about to do. “Wait, NO!” He yelled, hand moving in a circle as a blue line followed, eventually to form a ring.

It wouldn’t move fast enough.

“I’m sorry mama.” Luz said, tears just starting to flow as she cast what she was holding into the fire.

“No, so much money!” Tom screamed, but that was the last Luz heard before waking up in a cage. The odd circle the boss had been making had been finished, and sleep had settled over the human like dust settles over that small area behind a couch.

This was how she’d ended up in her current situation. Stuck in a cage, wearing some weird collar, asleep for who knows how long first, crying, and alone.

They'd taken her backpack, her phone, her wallet. All she really had left was the clothes she was wearing.

The walls around her were the same, but viewed through a filter of iron bars, and with less light than before. Now that she could take time to observe, she saw that there was a single window, set high in the same wall as the door up the stairs was set into. The stairs themselves had no railing, simple things coming out of a wall, leading up to a landing that a wooden door with metal supports holding it together was set into. It didn’t even have a knob, just an iron ring hanging from where she assumed she could have pulled it. The floor wasn’t totally even, but it was close, with similarly sized stones fit together to block out the dirt, though she could still see a little in between those to the side of her cage.

As much as it galled her to say it, the collar that her captors used worked. This time it had been handled by a purple haired lady, who looked almost human if not for her pointed ears. Wherever Luz was, she was near certain it wasn’t earth.

“Can’t believe they stuck me on guard duty alone.” The purple haired woman grunted. She fixed Luz, and the being in the cage next to her, with a venomous glare. “I’m stepping outside for a smoke, if either of you start anything, you’ll be sorry.”

The door slammed shut, and immediately Luz started to look around. It was hard to see through her own tears in the dim light of whatever basement they were in, but she’d already gotten the better of these people once when they were distracted, why shouldn’t she try again? She wiped her tears away and gathered herself.

Looking around the cage, she found the lock easily enough. A simple thing, made of old metal. One of the earrings she was wearing found its way into her hand, and her tongue found its way out of her mouth in a look of concentration.

There was a shuffling from next to her, one cage over, and the monster she saw earlier finally came into view. It was kind of like a really weird mermaid. Big eyes, frilled ears, and some kind of fin-mohawk thing.

She really wasn’t expecting it to talk. “What are you doing?”

“Ah!” Was the sound that associated her dropping the earring outside of the cage, scrambling back, and hitting her head on the bars. “Oww.”

“I’m sorry!” Said this other new creature, followed by another, quieter, “sorry.” as it shrunk back in its own cage.

Rubbing the back of her head with one hand, Luz edged forward. “No, no, it’s okay! I was just surprised.”

The new monster scooted back in it’s cage before apologizing again. “Sorry.”

Luz held her hands up in what she hoped was a placating gesture. “No, really, it’s okay! Not like you were trying to surprise me or anything.” There wasn’t much else to do but talk in here, was there. “I’m Luz.” She said, extending her hand.

The creature looked at her outstretched hand, but didn’t reach out to grab it. “Vee.” She said, continuing to watch.

With her new friend not offering up anything more, Luz shrugged and returned to the task at hand. Another earring was removed, and the lockpicking began again, in earnest.

After a moment of trying, her fellow captive asked again. “What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to pick the lock and get us out of here.” Said Luz, sweat beading on her forehead.

“It won’t work anyways.” Said Vee, a sad look over her face. “They spelled the locks.”

“Huh?”

“The locks have magic embedded in them. They can’t be picked.” Vee responded, her arms crossed and face downcast.

“Oh.” Said Luz, slumping back onto her butt. She put the earring she could still reach back into her ear before turning to her new compatriot. “So, how’d they get you?”

“I was hiding in the sewers, and they found me while I was asleep.” She reached up and tapped at her own neck, revealing a collar similar to Luz's own. “I woke up in here, and they managed to get the collar on me before I could drain any magic.”

Luz cocked her head to the side while looking at the disappointment covering the other girl's face. "Drain magic?"

Vee nodded before continuing. "I'm a basilisk, we can kind of, consume it? I've never been good at it since I'm so young, but my older siblings could drain a full grown witch in seconds."

Luz nodded in turn. Yes, this all made sense and was definitely subject matter she had the background to understand. One hundred percent.

The other girl looked over at Luz, before asking a similar question. “What about you? How’d you end up here?”

Luz sighed, hugging her knees to her chest before answering. “They came through that magic door and found me in the human realm, and just. Dragged me back here. I’m glad I managed to throw that portal they used in the fire though. At least they can’t take anybody else like they took me…”

“You’re human?” The other being asked, eyes widening and mouth dropping open.

At the tone of voice her new friend used, suspicion and fear came over Luz even more than before. “Yeah, why? Is… is that a bad thing here?”

“No, no, well, yes, but.”

“But what!?”

“Well, you’re already about to be sold on the night market, so, the bad, kind of, already happened.”

“Oh.” Luz said, rolling onto her side and pulling her hoodie up so the hood concealed most of her face. “That does make sense.”

“Yeah.”

Silence reigned for a few seconds before Luz started trying to pick the lock again.

“Why are you still trying? You know it's got magic on it so you can’t pick it.”

“The good witch Azura never gave up, and neither will I!”

In another world, this would have been a triumphant moment. The lock would have sprung open, the cage fallen over, Luz having shown her new friend the power of belief and positive thinking!

In this world though, there was a snap as Luz’s earring broke off inside of the lock, before falling out and rolling into one of the cracks. “No! My earring…” Luz cried, but her arm just wasn’t long enough to reach either the broken piece or the other earring that had previously rolled away. “Dangit, that was the only thing I had I could use as a lockpick too!”

Her fellow captive sighed and affirmed Luz’s belief. “Yeah, we’re stuck. I’m gonna get cut up for parts, and I don’t even know what someone would do with a human…”

“What!?” She asked, taken aback. It took Vee pointedly looking at the entry door for Luz to lower her voice before continuing her line of inquiry. “Why would somebody cut you up for parts?”

Vee shrugged as Luz looked on, terrified. "I'm a basilisk. I might be the last basilisk actually. And apparently our parts are really useful for a lot of spells. Something to do with the magic eating, but I was always better at changing shapes anyway." A small, almost triumphant grin came over the other girl's face. "I'll probably be no good for whatever spell my buyer tries to cast, so at least I have that."

The grin faded before the basilisk continued. "Since we’re so rare, we’re really expensive too, so they’re gonna get rich off of me.” The basilisk curled up further. “Human parts aren’t useful like that, so at least you’ll be alive.”

For a moment Luz’s face didn’t move, before a smile quickly grew over her face. In another circumstance, one might call it an evil grin, but in this circumstance it was. Well. It still looked like an evil grin, but is it really evil if you’re doing something to mess with people who kidnap and sell children? The answer is no. “I think we might be able to get out of this. How good are you at acting?”

Chapter Text

The night air was cold on Edas face, and she was moving quickly enough that she had to squint her eyes to see through the wind that was shipping by. Sure, flying was convenient, but ugh was it annoying sometimes.

“If I were a thieving, conniving, penny-pinching bounty hunter, where would I hide…” She asked herself as she gazed over the market. It took a moment before she realized her own mistake and laughed. “Well, If I were a thieving, conniving, penny-pinching bounty hunter and I wasn’t already me, where would I hide.”

It wasn’t like she didn’t know what she was and how she survived. She’d been surviving like it for nearly thirty years, what else could she possibly be doing?

It had been four nights since the inciting incident for this particular hunt. She was out searching for this other group of jerks who somehow had managed to steal her portal door.

She’d come back from the human realm in her shop, flush with merchandise and ready to sell, and sell she had. It had been a good day at the market, lots of easy marks, lots of people willing to pay for dang near anything that she called ‘exotic’. Buncha weirdos.

But, hey, weirdos paid the bills!

Sadly, the influx of customers had proved just the distraction that one group needed to try to steal some of her merchandise from the tent. There had been a crash from the interior, and she’d had to abandon what she was selling up front to go check. When she did, oh, she’d been angry. Sure, she stole from people, but somebody stealing from her? That’s her scam!

She was lucky that she’d caught sight of the guy doing the stealing, and luckier still that she knew him. Tom.

An incompetent buffoon, and someone she’d known since Hexside, and he still couldn’t even steal right. Sadly, he’d joined an organization with some level of power.

Demon hunters were frightening folks, even for her they’d be a challenge to mess with. “You know,” she said, to an imaginary Tom, “If it weren’t for you, I could be at home, in bed, watching Beating Hearts Two. But no, you just haaad to steal my portal door.”

“Ugh.” She’d been at this for hours. “Might as well call it a night.”

As Eda turned her staff around to go back home, a sign someone had set up in the Night Market caught her eye.

‘Demon Hunters rare parts auction! Tonight only!’

Well. That was one way to find them. Pulling up closer to the venue, she noticed a crowded interior, and a lot of murmuring patrons. They’d even set up a stage.

“I hear they have a basilisk.” One crowd member whispered to another.

“That's impossible, basilisks are extinct!”

“Well that’s what makes this one so expensive!”

“Do you think they’re already preserved or do you think we have to do the preserving ourselves?”

“Well that’s half the fun!”

On and on the crowd went, and the consensus was that while the Demon Hunters had some big ticket items, people weren’t sure that they were legit. She could use that, if she had an opportunity.

The house lights dimmed and people found their seats as somebody wheeled out something covered in one large tarp.

The spotlights came on, highlighting a witch, something covered in a large tarp, and a stool with two spell collar activators sitting on it.

“Hello, loyal customers!” Yelled the purple haired demon hunter, Samantha something if Eda was remembering right. “Today, we bring you the fiercest beast to ever roam the isles, and a creature that’s never roamed the isles before!”

“Get on with it!” Yelled a voice anyone familiar with the Owl Lady would have recognized.

Samantha sneered in her direction, not that she could see Eda with spotlights on and Eda covered in darkness.

“The basilisk, an ancient terror, thought extinct for centuries but we have proof that they were never truly gone! Found in the sewers of Bonesborough, why, it could have siblings swimming through the pipes beneath your very feet! Into the homes of your children! Who wouldn’t want to have one of their own to figure out all of their weaknesses before another of their kind finds you?” Looked like she’d found her rhythm again. “Plus, some of the rarest spell components in the isles to boot.” she added with a wink.

“Ooh, I’m so scaaaared!” Yelled the same voice.

Samantha's face of intrigue turned to one of rage as she pointed her finger into the crowd in the vague direction of whoever had done the heckling. “If you pipe up one more time I’m going to have you escorted off the premises!”

The purple haired witch took a deep breath, and ran one hand over her hair before continuing. “And in the other cage, something arguably even rarer… their trash washes up on our shores, falling through the portals of titan blood that seeps into the depths of their worlds waters. Their names are synonymous with intrigue and the unknown. Many don’t even know what they would look like.”

There was an intake of breath as a hush fell over the crowd. The basilisk was fake, of course. They'd been extinct for centuries, but if Samantha was saying what Eda thought she was saying…

She held up her hand to the tarp, grinning as she grasped it. "A human." She said, beginning to yank the tarp off. “They’re being sold as a pair, bidding starts at 1,000 snails!”

This was. This was disgusting, these weren't some animalistic demons being sold, this wasn't fairies.

Eda had met humans many times, interacted with them, had their food. And the demon hunters had stolen her door, they obviously figured out where it went.

She knew slavery still happened on the isles, but in Bonesborough? In her home town?

And it was her fault these people had the door.

It was enough to turn her stomach. If she didn't know that there were almost definitely more demon hunters backstage, she would have shot a fireball through Samantha's head then and there. Then, somehow, it got worse.

Inside the tarp, there were two cages. In each cage there was a nearly identical human girl. One was wearing a hoodie, some shorts and leggings. The other seemed to be in loose jeans, a white t-shirt, and a loose yellow jacket over the top. Both looked scared out of their minds.

“Please, my name is Luz Noceda!” Yelled one, pressing forward on the bars of her cage. “This is my twin sister, Vee, please help us!”

Kids. They were selling kids, and trying to pass one off as a basilisk to make more money, knowing full well that if anyone bought a basilisk they'd cut it up for parts.

Edas knuckles were even whiter than usual as her grip on her staff tightened. She had earlier that same night thought that she and these demon hunters were similar types of criminals, comparable, but this was beyond the pale. Feathers started to poke out of her arm, a warning that she had to reel herself in and think about this, find the smart way out.

The crowd was surprised, and that was something Eda could use. The demon hunters had a reputation for legitimacy, but these things were both obviously not basilisks. Time to sow a little chaos.

“Hey! They’re trying to scam us!” She shouted from where she was before casting a small spell to throw and distort her voice.

“They think we’re so dumb that we can’t even recognize a basilisk!” One more spell…

“This is insulting, I’m outta here!”

There it was. She had always been good at riling up a crowd. She couldn’t get them to follow her into anything, but getting people to dislike something? That was where she thrived.

As the crowd dispersed, grumbling as they went, leaving only Eda, the demon hunters, and the two kids in cages, Samantha picked up two activators and walked toward the cages. “Alright, I don’t know what kind of game you two little pains in my butt are playing, but-”

The hand had been being raised, and the kids were both shrinking back. But, before a finger could come down to turn on the collars, Eda had finished stepping forwards, and her hand caught Samanthas with enough force to surprise the witch out of taking her action.

“Don’t you morons get taught not to mess with the merchandise?” She asked, using the opportunity to glance backstage. Dangit, there was backup. At least three witches, if not four, and demon hunters were the elite, not something she could take on lightly.

“I, what, you!” Samantha said, clearly struggling for her own words.

Eda sighed, putting on the impression of some disappointed authority figure. “Look,” she said, gesturing out to the empty seats, “You’ve lost the crowd, and your reputation will be more shot if you don’t get rid of them somehow. Here, here’s 100 snails,” there were 10, but she’d painted the one piece snails a shiny gold instead of their usual red. “And I’ll take them off your hands for you, alright?”

Samantha was still processing what was happening as Eda took the keys to the kids' cages and quickly unlocked them, leading the two out and grabbing their spell collar activators as she left. “Byeee~!” she said, waving her hand to the still dumbfounded Samantha.

And Lily told her that acting class would never come in handy! Showed what she knew.

She tucked the activators into her hair as she walked away with the two rescued rugrats. Sure, she hadn't gotten her door back, but one of these two had to know where they were keeping it, and they both probably wanted to go home. Easy deal to make.

Turning around to greet the kids she just rescued, she began to speak. "Alright you two, you want to go home, and I want-"

The kids' eyes widened in what Eda assumed was fear of her. Poor things. Humans weren't used to the kind of stuff the boiling isles could throw at you, of course they'd be terrified, even of her!

Sadly, she was wrong about what they were scared of, and in the darkness of the night, she hadn't noticed another presence approaching until it was too late.

Something heavy hit her in the back of her head and she fell forward, barely feeling cuffs being placed on her wrists. “Finally got you, Owl Lady.” Said a voice in her ear, the last thing she heard before blacking out.

Camila's day had been long, longer than most were for the nurse. There’d been a pile up on the freeway, and the hospital she worked in had been closest so they’d gotten all the injuries.

How one bus crashed into another, she couldn’t be sure.

Luckily, nobody had died, but that didn’t mean the day hadn’t been long, tiring, and terrible. The drive home was another long, tiring endeavor, her eyes threatening to drift shut as the headlights kept the road visible in front of her. No other cars were on the road, but almost all of her drive home was lit by street lamps.

She mumbled to herself the whole drive home, aimlessly venting the frustrations of the day into the air. It was her ritual, in a way. She liked to let it all out in the car, making sure she didn’t have any of that anger in her when she got home to her daughter. Being angry around her kid wasn’t an option.

The most annoying, frustrating part though, was that her phone had died before she could check it to see the text from Luz. The battery was going, and soon she would need a new one.

Finally arriving home, Camila was quick to plug her phone in, and let it charge while she took a shower, washing the grime of the day off of her. It was weird, to not hear Luz moving around the house. Sure, sometimes her daughter would be sitting in one place, reading a book, editing videos, or some other creative hobby, but more often than not she would get up to change position often enough that if Camila didn’t hear her every five minutes, she was probably asleep.

Letting out a sigh as she got into her pajamas, Camila’s pace turned to a sad, downward facing frown. “I miss you already, mija.”

The house was dark as Camila made her way back to her room, and by consequence, her newly charging phone. Looking down at it provided a disturbing surprise though.

“Huh, that’s weird…” No texts, but one missed call. Luz didn’t like calling, and it wasn’t from her number, it was from a number Camila didn’t have saved in her phone at all. Maybe Luz had to use a pay phone at camp for some reason?

Listening to the message did not provide the relief Camila craved.

“You have, one, new, message.” A beep followed, as one would expect.

A tired, nasally voice took over the other end of the line. “Hello Miss Noceda, this is Daryl with Reality Check Summer Camp, calling to inform you that when you fail to cancel a reservation, there is a forty-five dollar no-show fee, you can either pay the bill in our online portal, or call me back at this number to pay, we hope you have a very nice day.”

She hadn’t cancelled a reservation. What was this guy talking about?

When the phone on the other end of the line began to ring, she wasn’t really expecting a response. It was… Oh no, it was 10:30 already? She had a 6 AM shift tomorrow!

She was about to hang up when a sleepy, but recognizable voice came over the line. “Hello?” Slurred the same somewhat nasally voice of Daryl. “Reality Check Summer Camp?”

“Oh, yes, hello, this is Miss Noceda, I got a call earlier today saying my daughter's reservation at your camp was cancelled, but I didn’t cancel it.” She didn’t have time to beat around the bush, she had to clear this up and get to sleep.

There was a rustling of papers as she heard Daryl’s voice mumble. “Noceda, Noceda, Noceda, ah!” One paper being pulled from something. Or maybe it was a file? That didn’t really matter. “Yes, I see. While you didn’t call to cancel us, yourrrr…” There was, once more, the sound of paper being flipped through. “Daughter never arrived. When this happens, we assume cancellation. I take it you didn’t intend to have your daughter pulled from the camp?”

Her hand was tightening around her cell phone, tightening enough that she had to hold herself back from fear of breaking it, it was an old thing. “No.”

Before her stress could really take hold, Daryl began to speak again. “Don’t worry about the fee then, lots of kids do this. Once you find her hiding in your laundry room or wherever, feel free to bring her in and we’ll get her going with the rest of them. Have a nice night Miss Noceda.”

“Thank you.”

With that, the other end hung up with a click, but Camila didn’t take the phone away from her ear. Did her daughter hate this idea enough to hide? Had she really sent her child somewhere that would force her to run away from home?

“Luz?”

She started looking around her home, turning on lights as she went.

“Luz? I’m sorry for sending you to camp, if you really don’t want to go we can figure something out!” She wasn’t sure what, but her daughter was a good child. If this camp was going to stress her out this much, then first of all, there was no way she would send her, and second of all, it wouldn’t help with anything. It would just give her little girl anxiety problems worse than she already had.

“Luuuuz!”

Her search proving fruitless, Camila decided to activate her secret weapon. A quick scroll through her contacts later, she had reached her daughter's phone number and pressed call. She loved that girl, but she was never without her phone.

There was an ascending order of three beeps, instead of a ringtone. “The number you are trying to call is out of service, please try again.”

That shouldn’t be happening. She called again.

Another ascending order of three beeps. “The number you are trying to call is out of service, please try again.”

No no no.

“The number you are trying to call is out of service, please try again.”

“The number you are trying to call is out of service, please try again.”

“The number you are trying to call is out of service, please try again.”

Her breaths were coming faster now. Faster and faster as she struggled to dial 911. Something was wrong, something was really really wrong.

Only an hour later, and she had her answer, even if it wasn’t one she wanted to hear.

“Signs of a struggle.”

Her baby had fought back.

“Footprints indicate two adult men.”

She couldn’t have won.

“Going back the way they came from the bushes next to your home, one’s tread depth indicates carrying something around 100 pounds.”

They’d taken her.

“Trail goes cold around that abandoned house in the woods, dogs couldn’t pick up any further scent trail.”

Nobody could find her.

“We’ll keep looking ma’am, don’t worry.”

“I’m a nurse.” Said a hoarse voice, destroyed by sobbing. “I know the statistics. I know what people like you have to say to people like me.”

“Oh… I’m so sorry ma’am.”

That was what confirmed her worst fears.

They weren’t giving up of course, they assured her of that, but they had… they had nothing to go off of. Not even boot tread, both footprints had weird custom imprints. The only DNA on the scene was her daughters and some weird animal hairs. Nobody had any cameras set up looking in her home’s direction. It had been a cloudy day, not even satellites could help.

After the police went away, Camila was left on her own. Hours of crying later, she finally allowed herself to ask the question she needed an answer to more than anything else. “Where are you, mija?”

Chapter Text

For the second time in as many days, Luz was unceremoniously thrown into a cage, but at least this time she had company. Not that it was really a good thing that Vee was thrown in here too.

After letting out an ‘oof’ from the impact, she rushed forward as the door to the cell came down, barring her from exiting. “Hey! Wait, we aren’t criminals!”

The guard looked back at the two of them before bursting out laughing, not even answering her shout with a cruel word. After wiping away his tears of mirth, he chuckled to himself, walked through the exit of the strange tower they were in, and shut the door.

“Aaaah!!” Luz screamed, hands clasped on the bars in front of her as she shook them. It didn’t take long for her to run out of strength before she let herself fall backwards to the ground, huffing. “Not again,” she said as she stared at the ceiling. “Not again…”

Movement sounded to her left as her cellmate, Vee, walked up to her. “I, I’m sorry, if I’d been faster, I could have. I don’t know. I could have done something.”

She looked up to see the Basilisk, no, her sister she reminded herself. Vee had to be her sister, or else the other girl was in danger. She looked up to see her sister nervously wringing her hands as she glanced around, looking anywhere but Luz.

Almost like she expected Luz to be angry at her that their plan had failed.

With that realization had, and put away to unpack at a later time, Luz responded. “Hey, not like it’s your fault.” She said with a forced laugh. “You didn’t get us kidnapped, or thrown in cages, or any of that stuff really.” Yes. She was the master of pep talks. Perfect.

“Okay.” said her new sister, still not meeting her eyes. Her voice turned to a whisper before she continued. "I never wanted to be here again…"

That ominous statement required exploring. Maintaining just enough level-headedness to follow Vee's example, Luz lowered her voice to a whisper. "Again?"

Vee looked from side to side, continuing to wring her hands. If she kept this up, she was going to rub them raw. Her skin almost seemed to ripple as she sat down to whisper in Luzs ear. "I was made here…"

Trying to hide her surprise was nearly impossible as Luz openly gaped at her new sister. Not born, made. What did that mean? Was she a combination of two other people? Was she made of a magic spell? Was she grown in a test tube? The possibilities were near endless!

"What!?" She caught herself, lowering her voice. "What? Made? Are you fusion like in that magical space rock's cartoon?"

There was a rant fully prepared. Question after question, bouncing through Luz's head, ready to be unleashed, and then she saw it. The hand wringing that had turned into a tight hugging of arms to the chest. The rippling skin having been joined by actual shivering. Her breaths were now coming in quick, shallow gasps, and her eyes were darting around in fear. This was not the face of someone ready to talk about her origin.

For the first time since they had met, Luz had the chance to actually give Vee one of her favorite things, and so she did. “Hey, it’s going to be okay.” she said, as she put her arms around the basilisk, initiating what may well be the first hug the girl had ever received. “I'm sorry, you don't have to talk about anything you're not ready to talk about."

Oh how that hurt her to say.

But it was worth it for the muffled response of "Thank you." The basilisk's shivers slowly came to an end, and her breath returned to a steady pace, but the hand wringing remained. It struck Luz as odd that she hadn't shed a single tear.

She rubbed her sisters back, like her mami had done for her when she was little. "It'll be okay, we're getting out of here."

The newest Noceda led out a snort. "Yeah? How?"

Their whispered conversation finally returning to a normal volume, Luz decided that she wasn't going to let their stay here be permanent. "Well, our plan kinda worked for the demon hunters, I’m sure we can escape from here too!”

Laughter sounded from the adjacent cell, followed by a gruff yet femenine voice. “Yeah, good luck with that.”

Putting her face to the front of their cell, Luzal thanked whoever made this place for the width between the bars and the building's circular design. Straining her eyes, she barely could make out the speaker.

Next to them there stood an older girl, maybe in her late teens, early twenties? She had black hair tied back in a ponytail, a purple dress, brown skin, and a gold choker. Her fangs jutted out of the sides of her mouth, but the mouth itself was turned into a despondent frown.

Luz chose to take her remark at face value. “Thank you, strange criminal!”

“Hey, I’m not a criminal!” Ah, the woman was suddenly angry. “The stupid warden just likes to lock people up who don’t fit in.”

That did not bode well for Luz’s chances of escaping via convinving whoever was in charge that she and Vee weren’t criminals.

Oh, the other prisoner was continuing. “Like, I write fanfics of food falling in love! I like food, I like love, just let me write about it!”

Before Luz could respond, another prisoner told his story, albeit briefly. “I’m here, because I like eating my own eyes.” He punctuated this statement by eating one of his own eyes, which, ew, but not a crime.

“We are agents of free expression!” Came another shrill voice. “They will never silence us!”

Before anyone could say another word, a booming voice sounded from somewhere far above. “Silence!”

It’s demand was met, and the five quickly fell silent, before Luz scooted over to the wall adjacent to the first prisoner who had spoken up.

She whispered, so as not to call down the wrath of whoever had just done the yelling again. “So, how do people get out of here? Like… do we have a sentence, or what?”

The black haired woman shook her head before responding. “No, you only get out of here when the warden decides you’re going to be ‘normal’.” She emphasized the normal with air quotes. Good to know some things were the same across realms. “But I’m never gonna stop writing, nobody destroys Katya’s spirit! That’ll show him.” Her look of defiance quickly turned to defeat before she looked over at Luz, and Vee who had at some point in her rant came over to join in. “So what about you two? Why are you in here?”

This time it was Vee who responded, not Luz. Good to see that pep talk had worked. Already, she was nailing this 'being a sister' thing. Vee lifted her head to expose her neck and tapped at where her collar was. With each tap the thing flashed with a bright light, becoming visible for just a moment. “Our owner got caught, and we got thrown in here while the warden talks to her upstairs.”

Katya’s eyes had narrowed at Vee’s tapping on her neck, and narrowed further at her words. “Your owner?”

Luz let out a sigh before looking down. “Yeah. We got kidnapped by demon hunters a few days ago, and sold today. We almost escaped, but, well.”

Katya nodded along, looking at the girl’s necks. “Yeah, I can see how that wouldn’t have worked out.” Her eyes continued to dart over the kids, suspicious and worried before widening at their ears. “Wait, are you two human?”

The pair quickly covered their ears, Luz with her hood and Vee with her hands. “No! Why?”

Katya scooted closer, or at least scooted closer in the way that one could when in adjacent cells and speaking through the doors. She waved her hands side to side in a placating gesture. “No, no, it’s okay, I don’t care! Just, surprised is all. I didn’t know there were any humans on the boiling isles.”

“There weren’t.” The look that came over Luz’s face was more of a frustrated sneer than anything else.

Before Katya could respond, the door the guard had left through earlier slammed open, revealing a tall, broad, heavily muscled man in a plague doctor mask, with what looked like bells for eyes.

The denizens of the prison shrunk back to the rears of their cells, Luz and Vee following suit. This was, however, in vain.

The man stopped in front of the cell containing Luz and Vee, staring at them for a moment. His arm reached over to the lever that would open the door, and he pulled it. His breath was loud as he walked forward. “You two.” His arms reached out, grabbing both around their necks. “You’re coming with me.”

Vee let out a quiet whimper as the large mans hands wrapped around Luz and her sister, and then Luz could hear and see no more.

It was embarrassing to be caught by an average guard. She was the Owl Lady, the most powerful witch in the Boiling Isles! Feared by all, admired by many!

Another of her claws snapped in the keyhole of her cuffs. "Ow, dangit!" She stuck her next claw in. Four down, six to go.

And of all the possible people the guard could have turned her over to, Warden Wrath. “Eeugh.” She let out a little shiver at the thought of the man. Who thought that capturing someone and putting them in a cell was a way to get a date?

At that thought though, she finally looked up from her efforts with her chains. This didn’t appear to be a cell, actually. The bed wasn’t plain, it actually looked plush. And large. There was a desk in the corner, with lots of papers built up on it, a little trash can to the side. There was a door in the back, slightly ajar through which she could make out a restroom.

“Oh no, don’t tell me.” Her gaze continued to drift, and eventually it landed on the worst thing she could see in this little room.

There on the interior of the door was her wanted poster, vandalized in the most vile way she could imagine.

Around her face, there were drawn a little pink hearts. She was going to be sick.

“This is what I get for trying to do a good thing, huh?” She fixed a glare in the vague direction she knew the Titans skull to be. “Chained up, with the kids in a cage. You got one screwed up sense of humor, Titan.”

Before she could continue her little pity party, the door to the room she was being kept in was thrown open.

“So!” The large form of Warden Wrath stepped in, hands behind his back. “You won’t go on a date with me? I give you your little pet's paper crown, I set you up in a nice room, and that’s still your answer?”

Eda let out a defeated sigh, but inside, she was smirking. “You know, I. I have to say.” She shut her eyes. “Come closer?”

“Oh no, I’m not falling for that again!” The Warden yelled, his shout shaking a few flecks of Edas earlier spittle from his mask. “Fool me thrice, shame on you, but you won’t fool me a fourth time!”

“Can’t blame a girl for trying. Now lemme go you creep! I’m not gonna date you because you caught me, that’s gross!”

The laughter that came from his much larger form was foreboding, to say the least, and Eda began to wonder if she would regret her earlier statement.

His arms were brought forward, little bodies dangling from each bulbous hand. His flesh slowly peeled away to reveal the upper halves of their content. There were the kids, alive if not well.

The one with the more wild hair looked angry, flailing her little fists around in an attempt to do… well, whatever it was, it obviously wasn't working. Eda could respect the effort though. The other looked a terrible combination of terrified, and resigned. Neither looked good.

"Now, I could threaten both of their lives, but that would leave me with no leverage." He sounded like he was grinning beneath his mask. "So, here's how it's going to go." One of his arms thrust forward to point at the captured wild witch.

"You are going to go on a date with me, or else I'll kill, hmm…" he looked from side to side before settling on the more active one, the one wearing the hoodie. "This one. Then, if you still refuse, I'll kill the other."

After his ultimatum, silence reigned for a moment before Eda let out a sigh, lowering her head. And in doing so, concealing her hands from the warden.

"Alright, you win." The muffled sound of confusion that came from one of the warden's hands wasn't something she missed. Oh shoot, they still thought she was going to use them for parts or whatever the Demon Hunters had said! She was very good at making it sound like she was holding back tears, but that little tidbit of information certainly made it easier. "When and where?"

Wrath laughed as he twirled around. "Excellent! I already have it all planned out, first, a play at the amphitheatre, then, a dinner reservation at the Screeching Ferret, and afterwards-"

As his voice reached a lascivious tone, Edas handcuffs finally popped off, and she decided it was time to act. "Yeah, after that how about nothing? Sssssssleep spell!" She yelled, in a sing-song tone.

While him tipping over was a gratifying sight, what came after was not. The sound of someone as large as Wrath hitting the ground almost definitely alerted the rest of the guards.

Untangling the kids from his weird hands took longer than she'd like, but, well, in for a snail, in for a slug.

Just as the last tentacle finger thing came loose, Owlbert arrived, and she finally spoke to the two of them. "Alright, let's boogie before the rest of these squares get here, come on!" She felt a heat from the tags in her hair, and both of the humans followed her immediately.

Before she could take off though, the same one who Wrath had threatened with death first jumped off, dragging her sister with her. Her eyes were brimming with tears, but still hard, and her hands trembled as she spoke, whether with fear or fury Eda couldn't be sure. "What about everyone else who's stuck here? And why should we come with you, you bought us!"

Just her luck, this kid was a bleeding heart. Eda turned her head to the side to listen at the door. Sure enough, the guards were almost there. No time to argue. She raised her right hand up in the air. "Alright, hop on and I promise we get everyone free as we flee, deal?" With the end of her statement, she held out her left hand to shake.

It took the human a moment, almost a moment too long. She was considering, distrustful. How else could she be, after the demon hunters?

"Deal."

The exit from the prison was quick and dirty, flipping every switch for the cells as they rocketed down the spiral that formed the pathway to the exit of the conformatorium. The sounds of battle were vibrant behind them, along with one easily recognizable yell of “Revolution!” Coming from the same shrill voice that had claimed to be an agent of free expression.

By the time Luz noticed that the trio had left the building, they were at least a good 100 feet off the ground. Not a jump she could make.

But maybe, if they flew over some body of water, or a market with reeeeeaaaally big tents…

Before that thought could continue, the woman who had bought the pair of girls finally let out a weary sigh. “I’m getting too old for this kind of stuff.”

She glanced behind herself, looking in turn at Vee and Luz. If Luz hadn’t known better, she’d think the woman had a look of pity in her eyes, a strange compassion from her new owner.

“Are you two okay?” Not what Luz was expecting. As their new owner asked, one of her hands came off the staff they were all sitting on, poking at Vee a little.

Her new sister shrunk backwards and cringed as Luz smacked the woman's hand away, daggers flowing from her eyes.

The hand was quickly snatched back, and held up in a placating gesture. “Whoa, whoa, not trying to hurt you kid, are you alright?”

Vee nodded before responding. “Just bruises.” Her voice was so small, but it wasn’t quavering, not like Luz knew hers would be if she tried to speak right now.

A scowl fell over the face of the pale skinned woman as she mumbled something to herself that Luz could barely make out. “I should’ve done a lot worse than put that creep to sleep.”

This was. This was not at all how Luz had been expecting this woman to behave. She had bought children to use as slaves or parts, what in the world was she doing?

The woman looked up, glancing at each of them in turn. “I’m sorry this happened to you. I should have.” She flinched, her eyes squinting. Her teeth were gritted. “I should have kept a closer eye on my portal door, then they never would have gotten you.”

She wasn’t. She was apologizing? "Your portal door?" Curse her inquisitive nature!

Their captor sighed, and nodded. "Yeah, my portal door. That jerk Tom stole it from me about a week back, and I've been hunting him ever since." The woman showed what may have been her attempt at a comforting smile. "Gotta keep the human trash stand open, right?"

Both girls looked at her in confusion, and she waved a hand at them. "Eh, you'll get it later. Point is, it's my door, and I want it back."

This wasn't going to go well. "Whole reason I bought you really. I don't need slaves, or parts." The woman stuck her tongue out in a display of disgust. "I just want my door back."

She looked up again, and took a deep breath before continuing. “So, do either of you know where they’re keeping my portal door? I’ll go steal it, and we can get you two back home.”

Neither girl spoke.

The older woman let out a sigh, before placing one hand over her chest and raising the other. "This is how you humans do it, right? I, Eda Clawthorne, promise I don't want to make soup out of you or whatever. Just lemme know, do you know where my door is?"

Luz felt the thing around her neck exert, something on her. Some force, some unstoppable need to answer the question that had started the moment Eda said 'just lemme know'. “Yes.” She glanced at Vee, who had said the same thing at the same time, both with looks of horror on their faces.

“That’s great!” Said the older woman, clapping her hands together and apparently oblivious to the horror of her new charges. “Tell me where it is, and we can have you two home faster than a demon in a rainstorm!"

The same feeling crept from Luz’s collar, up her neck, and wound its way into her throat and around her tongue. “I burned it to ashes.”

They were useless to this woman now. She’d bought them in order to get her property back. Luz had no idea what she would do to them, but it probably wouldn’t be good. It escaped her attention that Vee had said that she had burned it up at the same time, her eyes focused on the strange look flowing over the woman's face.

It was a moment before anyone spoke. Their apparent owner silent for reasons they could not fathom, Luz and Vee silent out of fear.

After that moment had passed, whatever had been flowing over the woman's face was replaced with obviously forced cheer. “Well, then. New plan.”

Here it was. They were going to be dumped in the woods.

“It’s my fault you two are here, and I may be a criminal, but I’m not going to abandon two human kids to the Boiling Isles.” She let out a snort of a laugh, but not a happy one. “So, here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to break those collars they got on you two, I’m going to keep you two safe, and I’m going to get you two back home.”

The fake cheer had turned at least somewhat real in the middle of her little speech. There wasn’t a reason for her to lie about this, was there? Why would she?

The woman must have noticed her and Vee, still worrying, still fearful, still without the trust in her that she seemed to want.

“Don’t worry kids.” A rush from her neck made her feel suddenly, unnaturally, calm. “I’m the most powerful witch in the Boiling Isles. Nobodies going to mess with you so long as you’re under the protection of Eda the Owl Lady.”

Chapter Text

After a long, stressful, and life changing day, there was nothing Eda loved more than a good night’s sleep. It was a shame that she hadn’t had one.

Two new house guests, which she would continue to call them even if their stay was indefinite, were not easy to set up for in the best of times. Eda was not having the best of times. She didn’t really have a guest room, but Hooty had helped her clear out a closet while the kids were occupied with a late dinner (And thank the Titan that King was asleep).

They’d set it up with some human winter lights, those little glowing yellow things on a thick string, two sleeping bags that took up nearly the whole floor, a dresser, a carpet, and even an alarm clock. Looking at it, it was an incredibly bare display, but it was what she had and she had been too pooped to do any more.

The kids, Luz and Vee, had liked it well enough to quickly fall asleep. It was cute, to check in on them later and see the sisters cuddled up against one another in their slumber. She missed that kind of familial comfort.

It wasn’t long after this final check that she’d actually managed to sleep. It also wasn’t long after this that she was awakened by a shrill squeal that she had come to know so, so, annoyingly, alarmingly well in the last eight years.

“Edaaaa!” It came, with childlike fury. “I demand snacks!”

The grumbling witch climbed out of the bed and began to head for the stairs, muttering under her breath. “I’ll show you snack’s…”

As she reached the halfway point another door creaked open, and she saw Luz … or, maybe Vee? She couldn’t tell the difference yet. In any case, she saw one of the twins suspiciously poking her head out of the door. Probably not a good time to do her usual routine of pretending not to know people in the morning. No way to know how these two would take it.

She simply raised a hand to wave, receiving a confused wave in return, the door left slightly ajar as the human looked back and forth down the hallway.

Eda paused at the top of the stairs. She looked over one pink-sweatered shoulder to see the face peeking out of the room saying something back into the room. “Hey,” the human’s gaze snapped back to her, “do you two wanna come down for breakfast?”

The enthusiastic nodding came near immediately, and it was all Eda could do to make it downstairs before the two girls. Jeez, what were they, starving?

…

She swore to the Titan, if she ever got her hands on those Demon Hunters, nobody would find the bodies. The Owlbeast had been well behaved lately, maybe she could give it a treat. A savage grin spread over her face at that particular fantasy, and she felt some strange feeling of satisfaction deep inside of her.

Before she could think more about that feeling, the voice that woke her came again. “Ah! Who are you and why are you in my house!?”

“¡Ay, que lindo!” There came sounds of scuffling before one of the twins, Luz if Eda had to guess (Vee was so quiet) continued, yelling loud enough that she could hear. “Eda, he's so cute! Who's a widdle guy? Who's a widdle guy? Is it you? Is it you?”

“No! I don't know who your little guy is! Eda, who are these people!?”

Arriving in the kitchen revealed a small black-furred demon wielding a spoon as a weapon in an attempt to escape the grasp of, yup, Luz. Vee stood back to the side, stifling a giggle with one hand while Luz stared starry eyed at the demon she was cuddling.

“King, these are Luz and Vee. Luz is the one holding you hostage, Vee is the one holding back laughter.” At this comment, the laughter Vee was holding back weakened enough that she lowered her hand from her mouth, revealing nothing but a wide smile, and a blush covered Luz’s face as she unconsciously held King just a little tighter.

“Luz, Vee, this is King, my roommate.”

None of the children moved for a moment, and internally, Eda sighed.

“I would appreciate it if you could put him down.”

Luz’s face turned red as she let the little rascal go, the poor girl trying to stammer something out in her embarrassment, but Eda waved a hand to get her to stop. It wasn’t like she’d actually done anything wrong, just gotten a little over excited. “Kid, it’s fine, really. Just, you know. Maybe ask before you pick King up in the future.”

“Yeah!” shouted the indignant little creature, punctuating his fury with a stomp.

“And you,” She said, bending down and pointing a finger at King. The little guy gulped, quickly hiding behind his former foe. “How many times have I told you, don’t yell like that in the morning? We put your snacks in the low cupboard so you could reach them, you don’t have to wake the whole house up.”

As she spoke she bent over further, grumbling. She would never say that she was getting too old for this, but her back was certainly killing her at the bend she had to do to reach the box of kid brand spider snacks.

“But, but, they taste better when you get it!” He said, with an adorable whine.

Eda rolled her eyes as she got out the box. She spoiled that kid far too much. “I’m sure they do, King, I’m sure they do.”

After her roommates happy little dance at getting what he wanted, and the resultant carnage of said child eating said snacks with glee and rapidity, it seemed his earlier question was finally remembered.

King's head lifted from his plate, spider legs still sticking out the sides of his mouth, and one notable one wiggling near perfectly atop his adorable, skeletal head. “Wait, so… why are they here again?”

Eda smirked, steepling her hands before her face. “They’re here,” She began, preparing half a dozen lies that made her look tough in her head. ‘They’re here because they owe me for destroying my door,’ ‘They’re here because I bought them so now they’re my responsibility,’ ‘They’re here because I say so, how about that?’

Then she saw the way that the sisters were reacting. Vee was already shrinking behind Luz, something about Edas tone or the way she was holding her body making the kid quake in fear. Luz was glancing around, glaring, but Eda could see the tremble in the kids knees. She wasn’t half as intimidating as she was trying to be, nor a tenth as subtle about looking for an escape route.

Yeah, if she ever got her hands on those demon hunters again, in a situation where she didn’t have to worry about kids? She was going to rip their throats out, and then some.

Eda sighed, letting her head dip below her still steepled hands, and then letting those hands fall upon the back of her head. She looked back up with a groan.

King was still confused, possibly more than he was before, and Luz was… attempting to subtly shove her sister toward the back door. Ugh, curse her still bleeding heart.

She took a deep breath before beginning again. “They’re here because it’s my fault that they’re stuck here, and sometimes you have to take responsibility for your actions.” There, at least that stopped the way that the human girls were trying to ‘escape.’ Though it did cause an entirely new fear reaction.

“Eda would never say that! Who are you and what did you do with Eda!?” Yelled King, brandishing the bowl that his spider snacks had been in as a weapon.

She could already tell this was going to be a long day.

After a good fifteen minutes of convincing King that she was who she said she was and not some weirdo with a really good illusion spell, Eda was finally able to make herself and the two new girls of the house breakfast.

A nice omelet, with all the fixings. Spider milk to add some fluff, burnips for a bit of extra flavor, even some kraken tentacle for that extra wriggle factor. A real banger of a meal, if she did say so herself.

The omelet was split into thirds, and two of those thirds were placed in front of Luz and Vee. “Alright you two, eat up. We have a big day ahead of us, and I can’t have you two going weak on me.”

This was her first mistake.

She felt the pulse in her hair before she could do anything about it, and before her both of the girls started inhaling the food, not even stopping to see if it tasted good. On the lucky side of things, Vee handled the food fine, like a champ even But Luz was a different story. The poor girl was already turning green after about five seconds, but she showed no sign of stopping.

Fuck, she knew she’d forgotten something, fuck fuck fuck “Stop, stop, you two have to eat that stuff if it’s gonna make you sick!” She was already pulling the plates away, and Luz was looking greener by the minute.

“King, get a bucket!”

“But-”

“Bucket, now!”

The youngest denizen of her home gave a small ‘Weh!’ and scampered off while she did her best to comfort the more protective of the sisters. Figured that the one who always put herself in front of the other would be the one with a whole host of allergies, heh. Just like her and Lilith.
Wait, no, not the time to reminisce, focus Eda!

Luz was breathing hard, wheezing really, and Vee looked completely out of her depth, eyes flicking from side to side as she continually reached for her sister, only to shrink back moments before even touching her shoulder. Alright, so it was up to her, easy, so easy, she could do this.

The kid was swaying as Eda crouched down next to her, slowly putting one hand on the human's back and rubbing in slow circles. “Hey, you’ll be alright, you’ll be alright.”

Luz was just turning greener.

Eda grimaced. “Think you can hold it in till King gets back with the bucket?”

The girl paused for a moment before nodding. Eda breathes a sigh of relief. She had been worried she would have to clean-

Luz’s cheeks ballooned outward as she was proven wrong. Eda’s eyes widened, she scooped the kid up and ran for the bathroom. “If you can, just hold it in for a second longer, okay?”

Luz nodded, and then looked more green for having done so.

Eda decided to run faster.

In the end, they barely made it to the bathroom in time.

Luz was laying on the couch, still looking queasy, while her sister rubbed her back in a comforting manner. King was standing nearby, bucket still in hand, glancing between the sisters and the hall that led to the bathroom Luz had just been in moments before.

A flush could be heard, and as it echoed heels clicked down the hallway before Eda entered the room and got to see the sorry state one of her new human wards was still in, and the worry slowly overtaking her roommate of eight years.

She clapped her hands together, cringing when Vee winced. Sensitive to loud sudden noises, another thing to keep in mind while dealing with these two.

She sighed internally.

“Alright, now that that mess is cleaned up, we really gotta deal with the elephant in the room.”

One of her hands went into the mess behind her head that she called hair as all three kids watched her with confusion.

“Ah ha!” She cried out triumphantly, the formerly searching hand raised above her head, and the two collar activators she had put in her hair the previous evening held within.

Vee was already cringing backward, and while Luz was obviously still sick she had managed to find a stick from somewhere and was in the process of stumbling to her feet and holding the thing like a sword.

If it weren’t for the reason the kid was so gung ho about beating the hell out of adults that she didn’t trust, Eda would have felt proud. Instead she just felt a profound sense of sadness and guilt.

Before the kid could hurt herself, or her sister could start hyperventilating, Eda struck. One activator found its way into Vee’s hands, and the other into Luz’s, nestled alongside the stick.
Both just looked confused before Eda opened her mouth again.

“Okay, long as you two hold onto those, the collars you got stuck with should be totally useless, and I won’t be able to accidentally order you to do stuff that’ll get yourselves hurt, got it?”

Eda finished her sentence with a smile, and for just a moment too long silence and stillness reigned together before Luz started nodding her head, holding the activator tight in the hand that wasn’t still clutching the stick.

It was at this point that the poor kids legs finally gave out, and she landed next to her sister on the couch who was herself uncoiling from the panicked position she’d been in and looking at the activator like Eda’d given her the Titan damned Desecrated Grail.

“You’re just… you’re just giving them to us?”

It was Vee who’d spoken, eyes tearing up while Luz continued to just stare into the middle distance. Not who she’d expected to speak first, but a question is a question.

“Kid,” Eda said, putting what she hoped was a comforting hand on Vees shoulder. Blessing of all blessings, it seemed to make the girl relax a bit instead of tense up. “I should have given them to you last night, ideally the second we got out of the auction house. Yeah, you got em. I’m sorry you didn’t earlier.”

The girls lower lip started trembling and the wetness that had been threatening to spill out of her eyes moments before started to come back.

“Whoa, hey are you okay or-”

Eda was cut off by Vee lunging to hug her around the neck while sobbing almost uncontrollably, tipping the pair backwards and onto the floor. “Thank you, thank you thank you thank you” the same words continued but through the sobbing they stopped being understandable soon enough.

Awkwardly, Eda wrapped one of her arms around Vee as well, patting the humans back while her other arm supported the awkward half sitting position. “Uh, there, there? It’s. You’re okay?”

There was another sniffle and Eda looked up to see Vee's sister standing again, though not looking half as bad as before. She was grasping one arm with the other and obviously trying to hold back tears. Eda sighed, before readjusting so she could sit up without the support of one of her arms and held the now free appendage out. “Come on, you can get in here too.”

It didn’t take long for King to join the trio after that.

She wasn’t sure how long the quartet remained there on the carpet, one girl sobbing herself to exhaustion, one girl trying to hold back any displays of emotion at all, a little demon who still hadn’t had the situation fully explained to him she realized (She would have to do that later, after asking the girls how much they were alright with him knowing) and an old witch who was almost definitely in over her head.

But at the end of it, Vees hiccuping sobs finally gave way to the soft breaths of sleep, and Luz’s barely there tears to the same. They may have slept the whole night through, but emotional exhaustion is a bitch and a half, and the pair of them certainly had their fair share of trauma recently.