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Luz hops off the train and sprints across the platform. The escalator is too crowded for her to move quickly, but she makes up for lost time the second she disembarks. The crowds of people on the sidewalks barely slow her down, which is fortunate. If she is even a moment too late, all could be lost.
Well, technically she’s just going to the library. But the library just got the Good Witch Azura tie-in graphic novel, so her quest is an important and time-critical one. What if someone gets to the library and checks out the book before she does? What if they return it late, or fold the corners over? What if Luz never gets to be the first person to open up that gorgeous cover and stick her face into that new-paper smell? She can’t take those kinds of risks.
Luz slows down slightly as she enters the library, but doesn’t stop to chat with the librarian. Small talk can wait. She’s so close to the Holy Grail of her quest, the three hundred pages of truly epic adventure awaiting her. Luz jogs down the aisles until she reaches the graphic novels section, then slows down, in case there’s someone in the aisle.
There is, as it turns out, someone in the aisle. It’s Amity, from one of her classes. Luz only remembers her name because when she introduced herself to the class Luz said “Like the Divergent faction? That’s so cool,” a bit too loudly, and Amity glared at her and made a snide comment about not speaking unless spoken to. But surely all of that’s in the distant hazy past of four days ago, and Amity won’t even remember her, and Luz will be able to get her book and leave.
Luz turns her attention to the book titles next to her, trying to act casual. She makes her way down through the E’s and is almost to the G’s when she risks another glance at Amity.
Amity reaches up to pull a book off the shelf, and the glimpse Luz gets of the cover is enough to dash her hopes. She’s moments too late to get her precious Good Witch Azura, and now she’ll have to wait until Christmas to read it because it’s too expensive to buy herself, and she’ll have to stop reading the fanfiction for months because there’ll be spoilers left and right.
“Um, hello? Are you looking for something?”
Luz hastily wipes the look of horror off her face and shoves her hands into her pockets in a way she thinks is casual.
“Oh, hey, didn’t see you there. I was just browsing.”
Amity nods and shuffles the book behind her.
“Cool.”
She makes a half-turn like she’s about to walk away, with the precious Good Witch Azura. The Holy Grail falling to the forces of evil? Unacceptable. And starting epic magical duels in libraries is generally frowned upon. Only one option remains. Luz will use her wits and guile to talk herself and the book out of Amity’s clutches.
“Good Witch Azura, huh?” she comments, pointing vaguely at the book, and Amity spins around, face a little flushed.
“Yes. I just, uh, saw it for the first time today, and it looked interesting, so I picked it up.”
Excellent, a newbie.
“Isn’t the graphic novel designed to come after book 6? So you’d have to read the first six books before you read this one if you want it to make any sense?” It’s a desperate and fairly transparent bluff, but Amity might believe it, and then she’ll leave the precious graphic novel to Luz. And then she might ask about the first books, and Luz will be more than happy to introduce someone new to the books, and then they can sit together at school and talk about Good Witch Azura for hours …
Amity clears her throat and taps the subtitle on the front cover, which reads The Sensational Graphic Novel Adaptation of Volumes 1 and 2 of the Bestselling Series!
“Oh. Uh, my mistake.”
“I mean, it’s not like I really want the book,” Amity stutters. “I don’t usually read fantasy, or picture books, obviously.”
Well, that’s not very convincing. Luz is admittedly a horrible liar, but Amity seems to be worse than she is.
“Really, not a fan?” she asks. “You never followed the daring adventures of Azura, warrior of love, with bated breath?”
“It’s ‘warrior of peace’,” Amity says, and Luz grins.
“Gotcha. So you are a fan.”
“It’s a guilty pleasure,” Amity mumbles, flushing red. “And, I mean, if you really want the book …”
“Well, you got it fair and square, and I wouldn’t want to take it away from you,” Luz says automatically, while mentally screaming. Amity is willing to give up the Holy Grail for her, and Luz has to act like she doesn’t care because it would just be weird if she admitted how long she’s been waiting for the book.
Amity looks surprised by that, and fidgets a little. She clearly desperately wants the book, but she’s willing to give it up temporarily to someone she barely knows who made a really bad first impression, and that’s when Luz decides that she’s going to like Amity. Maybe they’ll be friends, maybe they won’t, but Luz is going to do her best to make a good impression now.
“No, you take it, I insist,” she mumbles, and Luz shakes her head.
“It’s all yours. I can wait a few more weeks until you bring it back to the library.”
“Well –” Amity says, then stops, absolutely scarlet. “If I just bring it back to the library when I’m done, then somebody might get to it before you. So, uh, maybe I could finish the book and then give it to you directly, just so it doesn’t get lost somewhere.”
“Um, okay,” Luz says automatically. It’s kind of a weak excuse, but if Amity wants to give her the book, who is she to argue? “Maybe you could give it to me next week at school. That way we don’t even have to meet up anywhere special for the handoff.”
“All right,” Amity says, and then rushes away with her newly acquired treasure. Luz doesn’t even feel bad that she doesn’t have the book, just happy that she could make someone else’s day better.
Okay, that’s a lie. Luz is very annoyed that she doesn’t have the book, and that when she gets it is entirely on the whims of Amity.
In class on Monday, Luz passes her a note, asking did they get the character designs right? Amity scribbles on the note and hands it back.
We’re in class, you know.
Then we can talk at lunch, Luz writes on another piece of paper. She hands it over and Amity shoves it into her bag, but nods slightly.
Come lunch, Amity drags her into the school library.
“I don’t want people knowing I read something for kids,” she whispers.
“It’s not for kids! They’re young adult,” Luz protests, but Amity shushes her more vigorously.
“It’s still not sufficiently serious reading material, especially since this is, you know –” Amity lowers her voice more – “a comic.”
“What’s wrong with comics?”
Amity sighs.
“It’s complicated. Um, I didn’t bring the book to school because I thought it might get lost, but I can tell you about the bits I’ve read.”
“Well, did they get the character designs right?”
“Most of them. Azura looks just like the cover art, and a lot of the characters like Hecate are pretty good, but Malingale the Mysterious Soothsayer is nothing like the description at all.”
“Aww, not Malingale. They’re the best character.”
“I know,” Amity says, sighing wistfully. “But their characterization is accurate, at least.”
“Oh, thank God. How do they do the fight scenes? The magic is visible, right, but not corny?”
“You would not believe how awesome the magic is. There’s weird inking and some kind of watercolor effect, and it looks amazing.”
…
Luz and Amity end up twenty minutes late to sixth period, and Luz’s teacher glares at her when she sidles in, trying to be inconspicuous. Luz barely even cares.
When she tells her sisters all about lunch on the way home, Lucia laughs and calls her a nerd, but her voice is all soft the way it gets when she’s proud. She knows Lucia’s been worried about Luz fitting in and making friends.
Luz doesn’t actually get the Holy Grail for a week and a half, but she doesn’t mind that much, when Amity’s already told her so much about it. When Amity does hand it over, glancing nervously around them like they’re trading something much more illegal than graphic novels, Luz thinks about opening it, but the bell rings and she just shoves it into her bag and runs.
All afternoon, she’s hyperaware of the book. One nearly-pristine graphic novel, all hers for a week and two days until she has to give it back to the library. Until then, Luz is going to spend every waking moment reading it.
She brushes off her mom’s questions about her day and heads to her and Vee’s room to read, borrowing Vee’s good desk lamp so she can see the colors well, and opens the book.
It’s better than she could have imagined. It’s faithful to the source, even in tiny details, with just enough artistic license to tell the story visually. A movie adaptation would be a waste, because it could never be better than this.
Okay, maybe a movie adaptation would do better about Malingale the Mysterious Soothsayer. All the spooky and mysterious expressions don’t change the fact that they’re white for some reason, their eyes are much more blue than silver, and the outfit is totally off.
Luz turns another page and finds a piece of lined paper with a ragged edge. There’s a drawing on it, and Luz should totally just return it to Amity and apologize profusely for invading her privacy, but it’s kind of a good drawing.
Malingale looks just like the book description, with copper-colored skin and eyes that seem to glow (Luz makes a mental note to ask Amity how she did that effect). The outfit is precise, black tunic and starry cape and weird jewelry. The hair is the only thing that’s off. It’s shorter and messier than it was in the book or the comic, and Luz could swear it looks familiar.
There’s a sketch of Amity next to Malingale, drawn in much less detail with a speech bubble saying “our love is forbidden!” Luz grins at it. It’s no big deal, they’ve all drawn some weird fanart, but she can tease Amity mercilessly about this.
And then it hits her what Malingale’s hair looks like.
Luz is clearly wrong, obviously, because why on Earth would Amity decide to draw her fictional crush and portray them with hair like Luz?
The more Luz looks at it, the more similarities she sees. Malingale has round eyes and a button nose and messy eyebrows, and apart from the eyes it starts to feel like looking in a mirror.
God, she’s being stupid. It’s a coincidence. Why would Amity draw Malingale to look like her?
Luz sets the drawing aside and folds it up carefully so she doesn’t give in to the temptation to look at it again. She’ll give it back to Amity tomorrow, and in the meantime she has the Holy Grail itself in front of her.
Luz considers it again, then tosses the drawing into her closet. Giving it back to Amity would just be embarrassing for them both. And besides, it’s a very good drawing. That’s the only reason she’s keeping it.
The drawing migrates, and somehow ends up pinned on a cork board above her desk. Vee raises her eyebrows when she sees it, but doesn’t say anything, and Luz appreciates that. Even though she’s not really doing anything weird by keeping the drawing. Amity will never know.