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Chapter Text

Vee watched the four witchlings, who were all sitting in the living room. It was an all in all rather depressing sight. She really wanted to help, wanted to do something for them, but she was not quite sure what.

Carmilla and Luz had gone. The girl had wanted to go to her father’s grave and Vee did understand that the two needed some alone time. This, however, left Vee with four witchlings, who were traumatized and sad and watching Netflix without much interest.

She opened the fridge and found some leftover ice-cream. Not much, but it would be barely enough for the four. So, she wiped up some cream, got some chocolate sauce and sprinkles, putting all of it in four separate bowls and bringing those over to the living room.

“I made something for you,” she announced.

The girl with the purple hair – Amity – was the only one to look up. “What is it?”

“A human treat,” Vee explained. “Ice-cream. And I even put some sprinkles on top.” She smiled at them, though this might have not been the reassuring gesture she had hoped it to be.

Even though Amity flinched, she took a bowl, before bopping the other girl to her side. Quickly, the bowls were each in the hand of a witchling. They ate, though it did not seem to lighten their spirits as much as Vee had hoped.

“This is good,” the other girl – Willow – said. “Thank you, Vee.”

Vee smiled. She was not sure what to tell them. Of course, the things they had told her about the Boiling Isles sounded terrible. It was just, that Vee had never wanted to go back. The Boiling Isles had been unsafe for her kind for so long…

What to say? What to say? Then she remembered the story that had been all over the news for the last few days. “There had been some other kids, who went to another dimension,” she told them. “They also ended up back here, but they went back to that dimension to fight an evil power… or something.” Those other girls had not been very clear about the details before they had left again. But she had seen the pictures of the big fight in Los Angeles. It had been televised a lot.

The witchlings all turned to her. “How?”

Vee shrugged. “I don’t know, but…” She hesitated. “If you hand me the remote, I can show you.” The clips were all over YouTube as well.

Quickly enough she had found a video with that giant flying fortress coming through the big, big portal in the sky over the metropole.

“Are those frogs?” the smallest witchling – Gus – asked.

“Those appear to be frogs, yes,” Vee confirmed. “So far it is not quite clear, what has been going on, though.”

The witchlings looked at the TV, where those two giant herons were picking up cars and what not.

“So, there are even more worlds?” the last one – Hunter – asked.

“I don’t know,” Vee said. “But it appears that way.”

“Then maybe there is a way back to the Boiling Isles.” Amity stared at the screen. “We just need to find a way to this… this… Los Angeles and ask the people there.”

Vee frowned. She had been in this world long enough to know one thing: Los Angeles was pretty far away from Gravesfield and it was not easy to get there. And there was one other problem. “Well, it would be pretty hard for you, you know? You barely know anything about the human realm.”

This triggered something inside Gus. He looked at her, as if she had just insulted him. “I do in fact know quite a lot about the human realm!” he announced. “I am the head of the human appreciation club!”

Vee looked at the others. “What is a human appreciation club?”

“It’s a thing in Hexide,” Willow explained. “Where the human fans meet.”

Gus just nodded, but Vee was unimpressed. She pointed at the TV. “How does this work?”

The four exchanged glances. “Magic.”

Vee opened up a video of a plane taking off. “What is that?”

“A weird magic project,” Hunter guessed.

“Has Luz not told you, that there is no magic in this world?” Vee asked.

Gus looked at her. “No normal magic, but a strange human magic,” he said. “Humans have in fact their own kind of magic.”

Vee sighed. Well, this was to be expected. She had not known a thing about the human realm either, when she had arrived here. Witches and demons tended to be very ignorant of the human realm or any other. Most even thought about the human realm of barely more then a myth. Sure, people had heard stories about humans – but how many had ever seen one. (Well, yes, apparently Emperor Belos had been a human all the time, but people had not known it, had they?) “Come with me.”

The witchlings did not look convinced that they wanted to. However, Amity and then Willow got up. “Where to?”

“Just follow me,” Vee said. She had to show them, how little they knew. Otherwise, next thing she knew, those four would be up causing problems for Carmilla. She did not want that. Sure, she understood they wanted to go back, wanted to save the Boiling Isles, but racing over to Los Angeles was not the way.

Thus, she led them to Carmilla’s little office and pointed at the printer. “What is that?”

“A paper flattener,” Gus said.

She got out a paper clip. “And this?”

“I know that one.” Gus looked at her with a disdainful gaze. “It’s a musical instrument.” He took the paper clip and plucked it, making it give off a tiny noise.

Vee let them back to the entrance of the house, pointing at the umbrella. “And this?”

This time it was Hunter, who got the umbrella and tried to play around with it. He managed to open it and let it fall in surprise. “It’s some kind of weapon,” he deduced.

Vee shook her head. “To explain: The humans have found out about a thing called electricity. With that the TV works. They can also send signals through the air with the help of it, which they use to get information to all sorts of devices. They have also built flying machines called planes. The ‘paper flattener’ is used to print out text and pictures. That ‘musical instrument’ is called a paper clip and is used to holp printed out paper together. And that ‘weapon’ is called an umbrella and is used to hold of rain.”

“Duh,” Amity said. “I knew that.”

Vee decided to not comment on it. Maybe she actually knew. She was Luz’ girlfriend after all.

“The point is: You know next to nothing about this world. You cannot simply travel across half the country in the vague hope that there might be a way to open a portal in Los Angeles.”

“And if you teach us?” Willow asked.

“What?”

“You could teach us about the human realm,” Hunter said. “From the viewpoint of someone, who also had to learn about it.”

Vee sighed. She looked out the window, where it was a nice sunny day with only a few clouds in the sky. “I would love to, but…”

“But?”

“I can’t go out there like this,” she said. “And I don’t have enough magic to transform.”

To her surprise Gus took of his necklace, which had a small pendant in the form of a mirror. “What about this?”

She took it and eyed it. Yes, she could feel magic from this thing. Quite a bit of magic actually. “Are you sure?”

“Yes!”

Admittedly, she had hungered for magic in quite a while. So, she did no longer hesitate. Absorbing the magic from the pendant, she felt somewhat saturated. Yes, this was actually quite good. She closed her eyes and transformed. Without even thinking she took the form of Luz again. After having worn it for so long, it came quite easily to her. She looked at the others. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll show you, what I’ve learned.”

Chapter Text

“This smells good,” Gus noted, sniffing the air.

Gravesfield was not a big town, which was good. This way they had managed to reach the town center by foot, without having to introduce the witchlings to public transport. Vee had not used that sort of thing before, either, but she had heard horror stories about filled up busses and subway cars. That would've probably just been too much for the witchlings – and for Vee as well.

The first place Vee had been able to think of when showing those young witches around, was the coffee shop, she had hung out in with her friends from summer camp before. Thus, she cleared her throat. “This is a coffee shop.”

Amity looked at the sign of the Robin's Roast Café. “And what exactly does this do?”

“Allow me to show you,” Vee said. She had gotten a bit of pocket money from Camilla and had so far been unable to use it for much. It was just about twenty dollars, but that should be enough to get all of them something. So, she opened the door to the coffee shop and stepped inside.

What she had not been prepared for, what the voice that cut the air the next moment. “Oh, there's the loser queen herself!”

Vee sighed and turned around with a soft smile. “Hi, Clarissa.”

The other girl, who was from Luz' class, sat at one of the tables with two of her cheerleader friends. As always, a pink streak decorated her blond hair, while a vile grin showed on her face. “Haven't seen you in a few weeks,” she remarked. “Thought you already moved town.”

There was the simple fact. Even the hex cards had not been enough for Vee to transform back to a complete human form. And without a human form, she had been unable to visit school, of course. Admittedly, she had not thought about this, before leaving the house. “Well, I… I…”

It was Willow, who picked up on her anxiety. “She has actually visited sick relatives,” she said with a firm voice. “Which is amicable, if you ask me.”

Clarissa's eyes narrowed. “And who are you?”

Anny, one of the girls by Clarissa's side, giggled. “Some more losers,” she whispered.

“They are from out of town,” Vee said, though she could feel herself flush. Why of all people had it to be Clarissa waiting for them here? Why could it not have been Amber or any of her friends from camp?

“We are just visiting!” Gus announced in a voice as if this was something very special.

“From Loserville?” Clarissa said.

It was then, that a stern voice undercut their conversation: “Clary!”

Turning around, Vee saw it had been the barista behind the counter, who now shot the blonde girl a harsh look. The barista was blond herself and maybe a high schooler.

Clarissa rolled her eyes. “This is none of your business, Feli.”

“Actually, it is,” the barista said. “I am trying to sell stuff here and you are freezing potential costumers out.” Her gaze was so hard, Vee was almost certain it would break the younger girl up. And while Clarissa tried withstand it, she averted her eyes in the end.

“Whatever…” She looked at the plastic cup in her hand, then to her two friends. “Come on, we're going.”

“Fine,” Anny muttered.

With that all three of them got up almost synchronously and marched out of the coffee shop – not without giving Vee the evil eye.

Once the three had left, the barista sighed. “I am sorry for her. She is a bit, well, froward right now.”

Vee turned around to her. “No problem.” Ever since she had stayed in this world, Clarissa had been bugging her. To her understanding, she had been bugging Luz before as well. She was the head cheerleader after all and had her little clique, who would just go along with whatever she did. Vee tried to not be bothered by her. She had her own friends and, well, that was that. "No problem," she said.

The barista smiled at her. “You are Luz, right?”

Vee hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, right.”

“I am Felicita. You can call me Feli. I am Clarissa's older sister.” She smiled at them. “Just tell me, if she is bugging you.” Then her gaze moved on to the four witchlings. “And you are?”

Hunter, who had not said anything during their entire confrontation, seemed to be almost paralyzed. But even Willow and Gus seemed to be unsure what to say. It was Amity, who stepped in. “We are Luz' friends from, err, Wioming.”

“You mean Wyoming?”

“Yeah, this is just my, err, Wioming accent.” She shot the barista a broad smile.

“I see,” Felicita said. Then she sighed and had a quick glance over. “Well, again, I am sorry for Clarissa. She is going through a rough patch right now.” She hesitated for a moment. “You know what? Let me invite you onto some drinks. Only small sizes, though.”

For being Clarissa's sister, this girl seemed to be quite alright, Vee decided. She smiled. “Thank you.” Then she went over to the counter. She already knew what she wanted to drink. This shop had an iced white chocolate, that she really liked. The others, meanwhile, looked at the menu with an air of mental overload.

“Say, what is an espresso?” Hunter asked.

Felicita shot him a surprised look. “It is a strong coffee, brewed with an Italian method.” She looked him over. “Have you never had coffee before?”

Vee quickly stepped in. “The place in Wyoming they are from did not have a coffee shop. So, yeah, no.”

It was obvious that Felicita was not quite buying it, but she shrugged it off. “If you allow me, I'd like to make you some suggestions. I am good with that, you know?”

Amity smiled. “Sure.”

With that the barista looked them over. She pointed at Hunter. “Well, you actually look, like you can use a double espresso.” Then she pointed at Amity. “A caramel macchiato for you.” She moved on to Willow. “A Café Moca for you.” With a frown she finally came to Gus. “Well, I do think you would enjoy a pumpkin spice, but that won't be in season for three more weeks. So, I am going with a Hazelnut Mocca for you.”

The four of them exchanged glances. It was Amity, who managed something like a smile, first. “That sounds nice. Thank you.”

Chapter Text

“Wow. Is this some kind of potion?” Hunter asked, while they walked the town center.

Vee laughed. “No.”

“But I feel suddenly so… alive!”

“It's the caffeine,” Vee explained.

“That sounds like a spell ingredient.”

“Actually,” Amity said, “caffeine is a chemical that is found in some plants in this world. It does something to your brain to make you less sleepy. Luz had told me about it.”

“Yes. And humans love caffeine,” Gus chimed in. “It is basically holy to them.”

Once more Vee found herself laughing. “Something like that. But yeah, humans do love coffee. Also coke and energy drinks. They put caffein into that to.”

“I need to try out that, too,” Gus muttered.

“We can, later,” Vee said. “But I would advise you to not drink too much caffeine at once. It will mess with your body.”

Now Gus nodded seriously. “I see.”

Well, at least it seemed that this topic and their little excursion to the coffee shop had brightened their spirits just a bit. That was something, Vee thought to herself. It might not completely help them, but at least distract them for a while. Admittedly she had to wonder, what else to show them. It was not, as if Gravesfield was particularly big. There was not much to see.

“Gravesfield Historical Society?” Amity suddenly said, looking at the old museum. “Can we go there?”

“Nope!” Vee exclaimed, grabbing her arm. “We won't go there!” Just the thought of getting captures again… And those four witchlings as well. No, that was a bad idea. A horrible idea. Then Camilla would come home and get worried and then… Yeah, no, Vee would not want that.

The witchlings shot her questioning looks, making her gasp for an explanation.

“See, there is a man working there, who is bad. He is, like, really bad. And he would do horrible things to you. So, we don't wanna go there.”

“Too bad,” Gus muttered. “I would have liked to learn more about this town.”

“That's what the internet is for,” Vee said. “Don't worry about it.” Now her pace accelerated, she moved ahead down the main road. She wondered, if those four might like to see the supermarket. It sounded like a stupid idea, but from what Vee knew, nothing like that existed on the Boiling Isles. Yeah, that might be an idea. It would most certainly impress them. And maybe they could buy some snacks. After all, Vee still had her pocket money, as Felicita had invited them on their drinks.

“Say, Vee,” Amity suddenly spoke.

“Yeah?”

“Could you show us the school, Luz has gone too?” She hesitated. “Well, goes to?”

Vee was surprised by this request. After all, a school was a school. At least she assumed that. She had, obviously, never visited a school in the witch world. However, if those kids would like it, she would show them the school. Maybe not even a bad idea. She liked school. She liked learning about things – even though it had been hard so far, considering she had missed about seven years of prior learning. Thankfully Camilla had taught her how to read and how to use mathematics. The rest had come easily. So, she nodded. “Sure.”

It was not too far, even though from Camilla's house school was basically on the other side of town. Once more she had to stop those kids from just crossing the road, without waiting for the traffic light to turn green.

“Just be careful,” she begged them. “Traffic actually gets a lot of people killed!”

“But why do humans use that kind of transportation, then?” Gus wondered. “If it is so dangerous.”

Vee shrugged. “I don't get it either. They say stuff about freedom or something.” With a sigh she got moving, once the light switched to green. “I heard, that in other countries, a lot of traffic is actually done with busses and trains. But we don't have much of those here. Well, apart from the school bus.”

“What is a school bus?” Gus asked.

“It is like a very big car that a lot of students get into, to ride to the school.”

“Ah, like the flyboat we took to see the emperor's castle!” Willow exclaimed but got silent in the very next minute.

There it was, the sour topic. The Emperor. Well, he was dead now, from what Vee understood. But instead, there was some sort of god. A manic god at that. And they had no way back to rescue their families.

So, they did not have a family either. Just like Vee. The thought made her sigh. Yeah, just like her.

“What is it?” Amity asked.

“Nothing.” Vee quickly forced a smile onto her face. Those witchlings did not need to add her worries to her own. “I… I just remembered that I do need to do some homework…”

“I thought you have not gone to school for a while?” Willow said.

“Err…” Darn, they got her there. Time to change the topic. “Well, this is the school.” She pointed at the building now visible. “This is the Gravesfield Middle and High School.”

Her plan worked. All four of them looked at the school building in front of them. It was not really a special building. Vee had learned it had been built about thirty years ago. Before that, the kids from Gravesfield had been bussed to the next town to visit the higher grades. But some major had promised the town a school of their own and had actually done as promised, once he had been elected. Something like that.

“It looks very plain,” Hunter noticed in a neutral tone.

“Yeah. Most schools look like that,” Vee explained. “They basically all look the same. Something like that. It is kinda a trope in human media. You see, the humans use to like and hate school, especially high school.”

“Why do they love and hate it?” Gus asked.

Vee shrugged. “I think, because it is the last time in their life, that they actually feel free. But at the same time, school is also a time, when there is a lot of bullying going on and pressure to conform to be a certain way and…” Suddenly she noticed the expression in Willow's eyes. The young witch looked at a dandelion on the lawn in front of the school. Vee wondered, what this was about – but she did not ask. “Err…” She thought for a moment. “I can't show you the inside of the school. Because it is Saturday, you know? School is closed today. But, well, I can show you the sports field.”

“Sports? You mean Grudgeby?” Amity asked hopefully.

Vee shook her head. “No, not quite. I'll just show you.” With that she led them around the school building, as the big sports field was located behind it. To her surprise, they were in luck. The baseball team was actually training this day. They had split the team into two, training some moves, it seemed. Vee had actually watched them a bit during the holidays, after she had returned from camp.

She led the witchlings up to the stands, motioning for them to sit down.

The witchlings watched the humans play their little game. The batter hit the ball pretty hard, making it fly all over the playing field. All four of the young witches watched in awe, as the players got moving.

“What kind of sport is this?” Gus asked.

“They call it baseball,” Vee said. “You see those white markers on the ground? Those are the bases. Basically, the goal of the game it…” She did explain the sport to the best of her understanding. She was not yet too familiar with the rules, but she got the gist of it.

“Huh.” Gus had produced a notepad out of nowhere, to write down, what she said. “Human sports are strange.”

“I think I like Grudgeby better,” Amity muttered.

“And I prefer Flyer Derby,” Willow said, while Hunter nodded in agreement.

“Sports are actually a big thing for the humans,” Vee told them. “There is a big industry around it. Here in this country, Football, Baseball and Basketball are the biggest sports.”

“So, they form feet into balls?” Hunter asked.

Vee chuckled. “No.” She thought about it for a moment. “I am actually not quite sure, why they call it that. But it is pretty big. Camilla told me, there is this one big game once a year, that is basically something like national holiday. They call it ‘the Super Bowl’.” She was not sure, why it was called that. Maybe it was, because the humans consumed large amounts of Nachos from big bowls during the event.

Gus thought about this for a moment. “So, this is a human tradition?”

“Not a human tradition, per se,” Vee said. “Just for the humans in this country. Actually, Football is barely played anywhere else.” At least from what she understood. Though she knew that here was a game called Rugby, that was not too dissimilar. Maybe she should show those to the witchlings. After all, it sounded somewhat similar to Grudgeby.

They watched the training for a while, with Vee explaining, what she understood. She was not an expert, but she thought, she was doing an okay job with it.

After a while, they left. There was not that much to see and Vee understood that watching a sport, they did basically know nothing about, was not the most thrilling activity.

“I think, I'll show you the supermarket, next,” she finally said, once they were at the road again. “We can buy you some snacks.”

“What is a supermarket?” Gus asked, because he really wanted to know everything about this world.

“It is a market, but inside a house. A really big house. And you can buy almost anything there.” She smiled. “You'll see.” Best of all: The supermarket was basically right on their way home. So, they would be home before Camilla and Luz. Probably.

Once more she led the way. At least that was her plan. Then Amity gripped her shirt. “Vee?” she asked.

Vee turned around. “What is it?”

Amity seemed to be unsure of herself. Not outright looking at Vee while speaking. “Do you know, why Luz… Well, why Luz hated school here so much?”

To this Vee did not really know an answer. How could she? She had known Luz in total for maybe 40 hours. Amity meanwhile had spent months with the girl on the Boiling Isles. Yet, Vee thought she could understand. Luz probably had not liked to talk about this world or her school or, well, probably anything. And Vee had also talked with Camilla quite a bit, had learned quite a few things about Luz this way. So, she sighed. “I don't really know. But…” She tried to not look at Amity directly. “What I do know is, that Luz really had not many friends in this world. She was an outsider at school. And there were people like Clarissa, who always made fun of her. And, well, her teachers did not get her. And… I mean, Camilla is a great mother. She is. I love her a lot. But I think, at times Luz was too much even for her. She loves her. She really does. But, from what I heard, well, Luz got in to trouble quite a bit and, well…” She shook her head. “That's all I know.”

Amity hesitated and pursed her lips. Then she sighed and nodded. “I see.”

Chapter Text

“I wonder, why Luz is not yet home,” Amity muttered in the afternoon.

The five of them had returned to the Noceda residence about two hours ago – with snacks and all. But neither Luz, nor Camilla were back yet.

Vee went to them, as the witchlings were sitting in the living room once more. It was, after all, were three of them slept right now. While Amity and Luz were sleeping on the bunk bed in Luz' bedroom, and Vee slept in Camilla's room, the three others stayed on the sofa hideaway bed in the living room.

As Vee had planned, they had gotten some snacks. That was some nachos with a dip, as well as some chocolates. It had been the best Vee had thought of. Maybe they should eat some more ice cream later on.

“Well,” Vee said, “I think they have a lot to talk about.”

Amity turned around to her. There was doubt in her expression, as well as a certain insecurity. Then, she nodded. “I guess so.”

It was not, as if Vee was a specialist in family affairs. But she knew, Camilla and Luz cared about each other. She also knew, there were so many unsaid things between them, that needed to be talked about. Things, that were easier discussed in private. But she also got, that the four witchlings wanted to have their friend around at least. Someone they could rely on. Something familiar in an unfamiliar world.

That reminded her of her thought from earlier. “I wanted to show you something,” she said.

“Yeah?”

Vee picked up the remote and navigated through the TV's menu, to open up YouTube. It was unnecessary hard to type with the remote, but in the end, she managed to enter: “Rugby game”. And indeed, she found some British rugby recording from not too long ago.

“What is it?” Gus asked.

“Rugby,” Vee replied. “It is basically like Grudgeby, but without magic.” At least she assumed it to be. She had never seen a Grudgeby match after all. But she had heard stories.

So, she started the video and had the witchlings watch for a few minutes.

“This is a bit like Grudgeby,” Amity noted. “But more… boring.”

“Well, the humans sure seem to love it,” Gus said.

Indeed, they did. The game was happening in front of a large audience. Maybe not as large, as those football audiences at the Super Bowl, but indeed quite large. Humans really enjoyed flocking together. For sport events and for concerts and for many other things. Vee did not quite understand it as well. Sure, Bonesborrow had been a large city as well, but not as large as some places that existed in the human realm.

“I still don't get it,” Hunter murmured. “Why are humans like this?”

Vee turned towards him. “Like what?”

“So easily excited about basically nothing. So willing to put up with folks like that Clarissa girl.”

Willow harrumphed. “That girl has nothing on Boscha.”

“Boscha?” Hunter looked at her questioningly.

“Three-eyes,” Gus explained. “The one with the red hair.”

It took Hunter a moment to remember. “But she seemed nice.”

Three pairs of eyes gazed at him in disbelief. “She is the worst,” Willow and Gus said at once.

Now Hunter shot Vee a look, as if she could help him out. She couldn't, of course, as she had no idea, who Boscha was. Instead, she shrugged. “I think, Clarissa can be alright. She is playing rough with others, but I've heard, she struggles a lot at home. You see, her mother has married a new husband and she does not quite like that.”

“How do you know that?” Amity asked.

“People talk,” Vee said. “You just have to listen.” And listening was something, that Vee was fairly good at. It was, what had allowed her to blend into this world so easily. Maybe, actually, more easily than Luz. But that could not be right, could it?

As if her thoughts had summoned them, the front door of the house was opened. Camilla and Luz entered. Camilla was the first one, to look into the living room. Her smile was warm and soft, when she saw them. “How are you kids doing?”

“We are good, Mrs. Noceda,” Amity said, before hopefully glancing at the door.

A moment later, Luz entered the living room. It was obvious on the first gaze, that she had cried. Her eyes were red and swollen. Amity saw this, too. She went over, put her arms around her girlfriend and pulled her close. “Hey,” she whispered. “I missed you.”

It took Luz a moment, then she returned the embrace. She did not speak, but closed her eyes to enjoy the gesture.

Then Camilla entered as well. “I am sorry, we were gone for so long.”

“It's fine.” Gus stood up. “Vee has actually showed us the human realm.”

“The human realm?”

“I showed them around in town,” Vee explained. “Just for a while.”

“Oh.” Camilla's expression was worried. “Did anyone notice you? What about that Hopkins guy?”

Vee shook her head. “We were careful.” She went over to Camilla, taking her head and smiling. She did not want this woman to worry about her, to worry about anything more than she already had to worry about. She had been nothing but kind to her, ever since Vee had arrived. Even after learning that Vee was, well, Vee, she had only shown her kindness.

Only now Camilla realized something. “What happened to your appearance?”

“Gus gave me some magic,” she explained with a smile. “That way I could transform again.” Then she remembered something else. “I could actually go to school again.”

Camilla was surprised. She looked at Vee, then Luz, then the other four witchlings. “School,” she muttered. She rubbed the bridge of her nose with two fingers, before shaking her head. “We'll think about school tomorrow, okay?”

The expression on Luz face said, it was the last thing she wanted to think about. Yes, as they had already noted. School had not been kind to Luz. She had probably really hated it.

Vee nodded and smiled. “Yes. Tomorrow is fine.” Once more she went over to Luz, putting one hand onto her shoulder and smiling at her. The girl's gaze, however, was sad and fearful. She stared at the ground, trying to evade Vee's eyes.

So, the basilisk sighed. Luz needed some time. And the others did as well. There was nothing else to say.

It was Willow, who picked up on everything. She got out the big package of sweets. “Do you want some chocolate, Luz? They are actually pretty good.”

Luz took a deep breath, before forcing a smile onto her face. “Yes. Chocolate sounds nice.”

“We've actually been to the su-per-market,” he started to explain. “It is such an amazing place. So many things in one building. And the humans have the craziest food…” He went on like that, apparently bursting to tell someone about the things he had learned this day. And be it just to distract himself from missing his father, from worrying about everyone they had left behind on the Boiling Isles.

But Luz listened. She listened and smiled, even though her smile was not entirely honest.

Meanwhile Camilla put one hand onto Vee's shoulder and gestured for her to follow to the kitchen. The look in her eyes was soft, but also worried. “You should not have been so careless with them.”

Vee sighed. “I know. But they needed a distraction.” She gazed at the door to the living room. “I wanted to distract them.”

To her surprise, Camilla pulled her into a firm embrace. “You are a kind and thoughtful girl, Vee.” She sighed. “I am just worried that someone else is going to try and harm you again.”

“I know,” Vee whispered, enjoying the touch. Somehow, she felt safe when she was with Camilla. Somehow, she knew, that was, what a mother was supposed to feel like. When the embrace finally ended, she looked at the human woman. “What are we going to do about them?”

Camilla shook her head. “I don't know yet.” Once more her expression grew worried. “Maybe, we'll have to register them for school… Maybe…” She sighed. “I don't know yet.”

Vee nodded. It was not like she knew either. This world was complicated. It was so filled with humans and had its own rules. If they could not open a portal, if the witchlings had to stay in this world… Well, they had to find a way to deal with it. And hope that whatever human regulations had been created in this world, would allow them to keep together.

“Mom?” Luz peeked into the kitchen.

“Yes, mia?”

“Can I…” The girl sighed. “Can I have some hot chocolate? The way dad always made it?”

The expression on Camilla's face softened. “Of course, mia. Just wait a moment, yes?”