Chapter Text
"Azura never thought that in so many years of dangerous adventures, missions, and deadly challenges, and never with the full assurance that she would be standing well the next day, that it should be a simple mission could be her end. The end of The Good Witch Azura.
Oh, right. She should have remembered her first rule at all: never underestimate the opponent or challenge. She was wrong to believe that she would defeat a giant reptile in a blink of eyes, especially when that reptile was not anyone but Gildersnake, the Serpent Queen. Now, Azura was one step away from dying and if she didn't think of a quick escape from that – literally –suffocating situation, her story might end right there.
She looked around, struggling to keep her mind clear as the heat of that scorching place slowly cooked her and the reptile's tail was crushing Azura's body more and more..."
“Mija! Breakfast is ready!” Luz heard her mother scream from downstairs and she sighed with her eyes closed. When she had arrived at the most exciting part of that battle...
“I'm coming mamá!”
Luz looked at her action figures on the empty study table, the ones that radiated a silver-blue aura as they positioned themselves according to the course of story. The storybook was leaning against the closed window, open to the pages of that interrupted climax. Making a circle in the air, she unmakes the magic that had covered her action figures and made them 'come to life', picking up the book and storing her limited edition items on the shelf on the wall of the bed.
Luz grabbed her crossbody backpack and stuffed the book inside. No, she wasn't going out after the meal, she never went out to absolutely nowhere other than the forest close to home since she was a kid.
She took a resigned breath, descending the stairs, her stomach quickly giving a loud and clear sign of life as it roared softly but brutally. With her refined sense of smell, it took just 5 seconds to identify the aromas of the breakfast: Dominican-style mangú, pancakes with candied fruit salad and honey, and juice.
She squinted. If she had a slice of star fruit in her stack of pancakes, it meant nothing good would come for the next 20 minutes.
Cautiously she approached the table seeing her mother's back turn with two plates of pancakes in her hands and placing them on the table. She didn't have to pay close attention to notice the yellow fruit on top of one of the piles and the plate positioned right in front of her chair.
She knew it! Here go again...
“What does that mean, mom?” She asked, curious but suspicious.
“Nothing cariño, I just wanted a change,” Camila replied. The older woman's innocent tone went unnoticed, but Luz was still suspicious. “Come on, I'm on duty at the hospital today and I want to enjoy some time with you.”
“You think you're fooling me, mamá. If it was just that, You would have made the breakfast and gone to work with the excuse that we'd have some time together when you got back... I'm not silly,” Luz said only in thought. She wasn't crazy to say that in loud.
Luz opted to just accept it, sitting down opposite her mother and deliberately bringing the plate without the star fruit towards her. She served with half the mangú, and when it was time to serve the juice, she didn't find any glass on the table.
“Can you get the glasses, cariño? I ended up forgetting to bring it.” Luz nodded and took the opportunity to train her magic further. Luz made a discreet circle on the table and aimed the glasses through the cupboard glass, trying to concentrate on bringing them to the table. Levitation spell was simple, at least as far as she'd read in the weird books she found in the attic months ago, but it required a lot of focus, and that was something Luz didn't have.
I mean, she knew how to concentrate and focus like anyone else, but...
“Luz!” Her mother's sudden call startled her, and her entire trail of concentration shattered. There was only the sound of breaking glass, and the younger Latina grimaced at the noise. “What do you think you were doing?”
"Bringing the glasses you asked me for?” She grimaced awkwardly, forcing a smile.
"No magic, mija! You know you can't use it, look what just happened! If it was on the table you could have been hurt!”
"But I was getting it! You called me and I lost focus, and it wasn't even a dangerous spell!”
“Luz... What do I say to you?” The girl took a deep breath, hated having to say that always.
"Normal humans don't have magic,” she repeated the words with disgust.
“I'm not normal, I'm a freak.”
“And...?” Camila insisted.
“You just want me to be okay, you don't want me to get hurt again...” She looked away, feeling the slight wind that came from the kitchen window touch her face in that sensitive area, raising goosebumps on the back of her head.
Luz never quite understood how she got her 'mark', but she knew she didn't like it at all.
“Muy bien mi amor, and that's why I ask you: act like someone normal. Please.”
Luz glared at her with a spark of anger, clenching her fist on her thighs to contain herself. She was not normal! And her mother knew that very well!
“Okay mamá, perdón,” she said with some difficulty, the tips of her ears falling with her frustrated gaze.
Camila sighed resentfully, sadly. She didn't want to upset her daughter by being a broken record. Neither even mind with Luz using magic, especially when she was holed up in her room reading her books of pure fantasy and fiction and acting them out when she wasn't studying, but her fear was stronger, and Camila just wanted to keep her daughter safe.
“Help me clean up all that mess, I'll pick up the bigger pieces and you sweep up the smaller ones, all right?” the nurse said. Luz just nodded, standing up and helping, manually, to free them from future accidents with sharp pieces.
Afterward, the teenager took another two glasses in her hands and returned to the table, seeing that her pile had that goddamn star fruit. She looked at her mother, who was already seated again, who smiled innocently. She squinted her eyes again but still said nothing.
The atmosphere was still a little tense while they ate, but it has always been that way. They were never close, not in the way Camia would have liked, or Luz aspired in one of her most unattainable dreams, but they wouldn't go so far as to be two strangers under the same roof. They managed to get along, and for the youngest, it was enough.
Luz enjoyed the meal almost, almost forgetting the underlying message in that breakfast pattern. She remembered when she was 8, her mamá took her to discover her Latin origins in the Dominican Republic, where she tried mangú for the first time. It was the only time in her entire life that she left that house to see the world, having to wear a mask and neck bandages or lousy turtleneck shirts that itched, just to cover her 'mark'.
But, mostly, she remembered the cross looks and the nasty whispers directed at her, and they only saw her eyes.
Even with good memories, it wasn't something she wanted to repeat: living with society on the outside.
When she finished eating, Luz gathered her dishes got up, intending to go wash them along with her mom's which finished eating a little before.
"Cariño wait. There's something I want to talk to you about.”
“Ha! I knew it! That star fruit never deceives me again!” Luz exclaimed on impulse, and Camila smiled guiltily. “¿Qué pasa?”
“I think it's time for you to have a real-life.”
The girl was silent, expressionless. Inside her head, she processed the words 'have a real-life' to make sure she understood what her mother was talking about. Being inattentive and a little restless, a lot went unnoticed or didn't matter to her. But not that.
Didn't she have a 'real-life?' In what sense?
“I think I didn't get it.”
“I know I taught you to study alone and even with difficulty you can deal very well, and you certainly know how the outside world works... But soon you will be 16 and you have no friends.” Camila continued.
Yeah... that was definitely not a good thing.
“What are you trying to tell me mamá?“ Luz asked the question calmly, even though her head screamed in panic.
Camila sighed, and that made Luz even more agitated inside “I signed you up for summer camp.
“¡¿Qué?!” The girl stands up all at once, almost dropping the dishes in her hands. “Mamá, what are you talking about? You hide me because I'm not normal, now you want to throw me among them??”
“You're normal darling! You are just... different.” Luz hardened her face, squeezing the dishes in her hands. “I've been thinking about it for a while. I even bought anti-allergenic lenses and makeup to mask your face!
“Are you kicking me out of the home?!”
“Of course not mija! That will be good for you, you'll be independent!”
“Mamá, I'm staying alone in this house for days. I cook my own food and when you come back the house is always clean and tidy, with the clothes washed and dried because I also do all this 'cause I know you are always tired and just want to rest! If this is not being independent, then I don't know what is.” The sordid argument disarmed Camila for a moment, feeling the guilt gnaw away. The younger one was right, even though her innermost motives were the real ones for such a decision.
“Luz, darling...”
“No mom! I'm a bit childish but I'm not stupid, I've been inside this house for as long as I can remember and when I complained about not being able to leave I didn't understand before, but after that trip, I saw all the looks, heard all the words and the fingers pointed at the strange creature! Of course, nobody wants a freak around!”
“Luz Noceda, lower your voice! Look what you're talking about! You are my daughter and my daughter is not a freak!!”
“Am I really your daughter?” Retorted in a low growl, but the eldest heard and widened her eyes.
“Enough! I've decided that you go to this camp and you are!!”
Luz took a deep breath, she knew that if she freaked out, things would end very badly so she needed to calm down. The room was silent in the meantime, Camila not daring to say anything knowing her daughter's temper. After a while, Luz's eyes open and she stared at the woman. She just nodded.
Accept the decision that's all she needed to do.
“I'm going to... wash these dishes here and go upstairs to do my physics and math lessons, I'm having a hard time with them,” was what she just said, and the nurse nodded. “Have a good day mom, see you tomorrow.” She picked up the dishes and headed for the kitchen, ignoring anything that might be said by the other now. Camila ran out of options and she knew it. So what she was left with was just letting Luz know about the leftovers from yesterday's dinner, grabbing her bag, and straightening her hair before heading out.
When she heard the front door close, Luz dropped the cutlery and clenched her fists, squeezing them so tightly that an aura of intense blue glow emanated from them for a few seconds. In moments she calmed down as if nothing had happened. A type of healing spell, almost an anesthetic. With the effect gradually fading away, she would deal with her feelings slowly and without flare-ups.
Of course, her mother didn't know that because Luz refused to take any more medications than her ADHD and anxiety. Also, the spell had more effect than anything else.
When she was done washing the dishes, she dried her hands and went upstairs with her backpack still on her shoulder, her book there to comfort her. She picked it up and left her bag in her usual corner, throwing herself on her bed to reread Azura's battle against the Serpent Queen from the beginning.
She still had the lessons to do, but she would put them off for later. There was still plenty of time before her mother came back.