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Vee watched from inside the house as Camila said her goodbyes to the glowing apparition of Luz. She couldn’t hear what was being said, but she wasn’t dense. She knew how painful this must be for the poor, confused woman.
Not even an hour ago Camila Noceda didn’t know about the existence of magic or demons and was living peacefully at home with her daughter. Her daughter that she loved so, so dearly.
But now? She was living with a shapeshifting demon who had been living in her beloved daughter’s skin. Her daughter was far, far from home in a strange and dangerous land. Nothing was alright anymore.
If nothing else, Camila standing out in the rain sobbing kept her clued in.
Vee gripped the stack of cards tightly. She’d eaten enough to restore some of her magic for the time being. She thought about trying to slide back into her disguise as Luz. That form had come to symbolize safety and happiness for her. When she’s in that form she’s loved. When she’s in that form she’s happy.
But how cruel would that be to Camila? To finish sobbing out in the rain over her missing daughter only to walk back inside and see her face again? It was a completely selfish thought.
It pained Vee how badly she wanted it. Not to hurt Camila, but to just… be someone else. Someone who Camila would be happy to see. Someone who could actually make a difference in the life of this wonderful, generous woman.
Now that she’d gotten to spend some time with Luz, she knew that the human was a sweet girl at her core. But she couldn’t help but resent her. To have everything Luz had? To live with someone like Camila? She could never understand Luz’s decision to leave.
She knew it wasn’t fair. Luz had her reasons and it had clearly never meant to be a permanent decision. She found her temper flaring up again as she recalled Luz’s casual suggestion that she keep playing this part for a bit longer. Just keep pretending, lying and pretending like the real thing wasn’t going to return and uproot everything.
She saw Camila finally try to dry her eyes and put on a brave face as she walked back towards the house. She wanted to put her own feelings aside and do whatever it took to make her feel better. So she took a deep breath and tried to push this burning resentment down.
Camila seemed to hesitate once more, presumably to steady herself one final time before entering. Vee had to fight the urge to change her form in the brief hesitation. What form would she even take? What would comfort Camila at a time like this?
Before she had a chance to return to her nervous spiral, the door finally opened. Camila was soaking wet from standing out in the rain, but she had a big, fake smile. “I was going to cook dinner, but I’m a little worn out. Will leftovers be fine?”
Idle chatter caught Vee completely off-guard. She didn’t know what to expect but this certainly wasn’t it. How could Camila possibly just attempt to continue like nothing was wrong? Like she was just speaking to her daughter as always?
“Sure…” Vee said, feeling her courage draining.
Camila seemed so nonchalant as she headed towards the kitchen and began digging through the refrigerator to decide what they would have. After a moment of hesitation, Vee made her way to the table. She found it much harder to sit comfortably in the kitchen’s chairs without legs.
Camila finally pulled out a container with some of the previous night’s meal left in it and quickly popped it in the microwave. For the next few minutes neither of them spoke. The only sound was the hum of the microwave.
When it finally dinged, Vee jumped a bit. She’d been so focused on trying to figure out what to say that it caught her totally off-guard. Not only was it a bit embarrassing, but it also ruined her train of thought.
Once she was given a plate, Vee stared at the food before her. As far as what she’d eaten today it had been a snack bar for breakfast and a couple of the magic cards. By all rights she should be hungry. She should be starving. But she wasn’t sure she could eat a bite.
A quick glance over at Camila’s plate revealed that she was likely feeling the same way. Vee was new to the concept of the microwave, but her time with it so far had taught her important things. First, it gets things very hot very quickly. Second, the things it heats don’t stay warm for very long. So lightly picking at your food was ill-advised.
“Even if you’re not feeling hungry, you should eat. It will help.” Camila said in that gentle voice that Vee had come to find so comforting.
The basilisk’s only response was a smile before she made herself eat. It was good. Not nearly as good as when it’s freshly made, but it was still Camila’s cooking all the same. By the time she finished, she saw that Camila was still just picking at her plate.
“So…” Vee felt so small and fragile as she spoke. “Where do we go from here?”
Camila heaved a heavy sigh. “I don’t know. We’ll figure it out though, don’t worry. Did those, um, magic cards help you any?”
“Yeah. It was super refreshing. I’ve still got a bunch more, but I should probably still be careful with my magic usage. So long as I pick a single shape and don’t change it much then I can really minimize how many cards I have to eat through.” Vee was nervously approaching the question she really wanted to ask.
“I think I understand.” Camila smiled even though she didn’t really understand.
“I guess that just leaves the question of what shape I would take.” Vee couldn’t bring herself to keep eye contact with Camila as she asked. Her eyes darted nervously around the room.
“Oh! I suppose that would be up to you. It’s your body after all. I’ll be here for you no matter what you pick.” There it was again. That smile. That warm smile and gentle tone.
“If it’s up to me, then… I would keep being Luz. But that’s not fair to her. Or to you! I need to figure out something else. I need to…” Vee gripped the table a bit harder than she meant to as she spoke, but she hated this feeling coursing through her. She could never be the real Luz.
Camila was honestly not sure how to respond to that. She felt like her hesitation was likely hurting Vee more than anything she could thoughtlessly say, so she tried to find the words as quickly as she could.
“You’ve made a lot of friends as Luz. I wouldn’t ask you to give all of that up. When Luz gets back we’ll figure it out then.” Camila found it much more difficult to smile this time, but she needed to be there to comfort this poor, mistreated child.
“And then what? She comes back and I just give all of it up? Now that the real Luz is home? Because I’m not the real Luz. I’ll never be. I’m just… some monster, I guess.” Vee was fighting back tears. She was so frustrated with herself. Why couldn’t she just let this go? Worry about it later?
Camila got up from her chair and hurried over to Vee’s side. It started out as kneeling down to be level with her, but quickly became a loving embrace.
“I don’t ever want to hear you say that again. You want to know the truth? Luz told me your story. Everything that you’ve been through and the way you’ve been treated. But the fact is: I wasn’t listening.” Camila finally broke the embrace to look Vee in the eyes.
Tears were getting much harder for the basilisk to fight back now. “What do you mean?”
“I mean I thought it was another of Luz’s wild stories. I was mostly thinking about what I was going to make for dinner. So while I understand that you’ve been hurt and mistreated, I want you to know that none of that defines you. I’ve spent time with you. I know that you’re someone so smart and sweet. Someone with a kind heart. You might not be the real Luz but don’t think that means I’m going to treat you any different. As long as you’re under my care then you’re a part of my family too.” Camila felt tears of her own stinging at the corners of her eyes, but she fought them back.
Vee finally let herself cry as she buried her face into Camila’s shoulder. She was so completely overwhelmed. She’d never been treated this way before. She had no idea how to even begin processing it. No idea how to properly express her gratitude.
It was so unfamiliar. Too unfamiliar.
“If she’d never tried to contact us, then I might’ve tried to keep this up forever.” Vee spoke without thinking. She was afraid. She was, without thinking, trying to bring things back towards familiar territory.
“What do you mean?” Camila asked nervously.
“I would’ve kept pretending to be Luz forever. I don’t think I would’ve told you. Not unless I absolutely had to. Even now it wasn’t really my choice to tell you. Does that… make you angry at me?”
Camila looked confused for a moment but responded with the gentlest touch she could manage. “Of course not. With the hand life has dealt you so far, who could possibly blame you? It would hurt, yes but I would never blame you. Now, there’s no sense in fantasizing about ‘what ifs’. You’re here now.”
“Why won’t you just get angry at me? Why won’t you just yell at me? Why are you so nice? I don’t get it! I don’t get it at all!” Vee forced her way out of Camila’s embrace and tried to curl up and hide. She knew she was being ridiculous but she couldn’t help herself.
Camila reached towards the distressed thing, but stopped herself short of making contact. “Do you… want me to be angry at you?”
Vee didn’t uncurl. She remained there on the floor of the kitchen for a long, silent moment. Finally, though it was muffled she spoke. “No. I don’t. But I don’t know how to handle anything else. It’s so… weird. And different. But, no. I don’t want you to be angry at me.”
Camila sat down on the floor next to her. “I’m so sorry that you feel like this is ‘weird’. You deserve to see the best in the world. Er, worlds I suppose. The point is I’m not angry with you. And you’re going to have to try a lot harder than that if you want me to be angry with you.”
Vee finally poked her head out from her little ball. She rested her head in Camila’s lap. “Thank you. For everything. Sorry for making your life weird.”
Camila laughed at that comment. “Please! My life was plenty weird before you came along. If you got to see the people who come into my workplace you would never use the word ‘weird’ to describe yourself ever again!”
Vee laughed quietly. “Oh yeah?”
“Yes!” The woman adjusted her glasses and settled in for a good ramble. She rattled off plenty of people who brought in their pets all ‘dressed up’ and fancy and wondered why their animals seemed so miserable. People who spoke with all the confidence in the world despite having literally all of their facts wrong. People whose decision making process was just… odd.
“And I hope I never see a poodle with a mohawk ever again. Though I will admit, the little guy did have an air of confidence about him.”
Vee laughed and smiled. Despite sitting on the cold kitchen tile she couldn’t think of a time in her life where she’d felt more warm.
“So don’t think that you’re making my life ‘weird’ or whatever. I have plenty of weirdness already.”
Vee simply hummed a happy little affirmation. She felt like she could just drift off to sleep right here. At least until she heard Camila heave a heavy sigh. One that she could tell the woman had been holding in for a while now.
“If I can be honest, I’m scared. There’s so much about all of this that I just don’t understand. And I don’t know what I could even do. Luz is out there in this whole crazy other world and I have absolutely no way of doing anything about it. I feel helpless and I have no idea what to do. But, when it comes to you, I’m not helpless. I can help you. I can take care of you. I will take care of you. So, please, don’t worry about a thing. I’m going to keep you safe. And if you feel safe with Luz’s form then by all means go ahead.” Camila gripped Vee’s hand and held it tight.
There was a brief hesitation but after hearing that Vee went ahead and resumed using her disguise as Luz. The relief she felt was nearly instant. This was what it meant to feel safe. This was what it meant to be loved.
“So, um, Luz’s classes are starting back up soon. It would probably be weird if she didn’t show up for them, right?” Vee finally pulled her head out of Camila’s lap and tried to address her a little more seriously.
The woman chuckled. “Are you wanting to go to school on Luz’s behalf? I’ll warn you that school is a different beast from summer camp.”
“I think I can handle it. I just have one question and then I think we both need to head to bed. It’s been a long day.” Vee stood up and offered a hand to help Camila stand, which she eagerly took.
“I’ll be more than happy to answer any questions you have, but honestly you should probably have more than just one question.” Camila groaned as she rose to her feet. Jumping up and down wasn’t as easy as it used to be.
“Okay, I actually have a ton of questions, but this one is more important than the rest.” Vee’s smile was one of wild excitement. Someone eager and ready. But as she went to ask her important question, she looked away nervously. “Does the school offer… Spanish classes?”