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The purple in her hair is starting to fade. Ms. Camila gave her a color-therapy shampoo from the nearest 7/11 down the highway, but she was too shy to dye her hair again when the shampoo was running low. Life in the human world isn’t hard for Amity. In fact, it’s quiet.
No boiling rain. No screaming bells. No dangerous worms.
The only difficult thing is keeping up with distractions. She and Luz share a bed—Luz’s childhood bed with the insurmountable pile of anime plushies. At night, Amity holds Luz’s hand and asks her how she’s feeling, honestly. Luz’s emotions shift from superficial joy, to hidden frustration, and finally, to numbness, until they’re without words for the rest of the night. The only thing now, really, is to distract oneself.
Once the initial “let’s try to go back” didn’t work, mostly because they did not have the same resources as they did in the demon realm (and definitely no mentor and no demon child to be doted on), the five of them focused on staying sane.
It’s been two weeks of Gus sitting in a corner and watching youtube videos about silent human magicians. “This is cool,” he would say, before being too jittery to say anything else. Vee taught him how to make an account so that what he’s watching can be broadcasted in the TV, but regretted it the moment she noticed Gus stuck too closely to the TV, as if he’s afraid he’ll see something else.
It’s been two weeks of Willow excusing herself from the nightly movie marathon to go outside and watch over the spices and vegetables she’s been growing. Camila said that basil, lettuce and chili are the best to grow in the backyard during this wet season, so Willow took it upon herself to have an active role in the house. Hunter— we don’t know if that’s his name anymore —has been staring at his food in the past two weeks. Amity heard him say the only reason he’s still eating even a bit is because Willow has been doing her best to grow them.
Amity’s hair is almost brown, like her father’s. The father that is somewhere back in the demon realm, trying to look for her in all that mess. She’s been spending time in front of mirrors, though not on purpose. Her abomination magic helps with the fixing of leaks. The bathrooms are being used tenfold and she swears she can hear sobbing in the middle of the night there. The sound of crying pushes out the tears stuck in the brim of her eyelashes. In other words, she hasn’t made eye contact with anyone these past two weeks, in fear of seeing traces of their misery in their eyes and nose. Luz is the exception; But Amity hasn’t found indications of tears. Why, she wanted to ask.
Apart from their first night at the human realm, Luz hasn’t shed a single tear. Instead, her face is always contorted into a frown. She’s become a ticking time bomb that no one can diffuse. Not Amity. Not Willow. Not even her own mom.
Now, Luz is sitting by the back door frame, watching the dragonflies circle around the grass. Despite not knowing what to say, Amity comes closer to her and sits beside her on the wooden floor.
“What are you thinking about?” Amity asked.
Luz laughed, preparing to say something funny, but found that she had nothing of the funny sort. “I wonder what King is up to. If he’s somewhere out there hurt, it’s my fault.”
The house became quiet; Amity has a feeling everyone is either listening in or just respecting Luz’s mood. “It’s not your fault. We both know that it’s Belos’.”
“Philip.”
A week ago, Ms. Camila had poked fun at the name Philip, because it was such an ordinary name for a bad guy. She didn’t know that that was the reason for Luz’s despair. His name was ordinary and so Luz thought that he could be trusted. Human to human. But in her eyes, both of them had become monsters. “Right, Philip. He’s the one who we should put the blame in, Luz.”
“I get that.”
Do you?
“But I can’t just sit here—” her voice becomes louder “—and believe that everything is going fine, while somewhere out there, everyone is suffering under a child menace! Who knows if Eda’s even alive?”
“Luz!” Willow stands up, her fists balled up, and approaches Luz. “I thought we were together in this. We’re not pretending, we are hurt by this situation just like you!”
Amity finally makes eye contact with Willow and finds that this is the first time in a while that the girl raised her voice. Gus and Hunter are shocked; she could tell they weren’t counting on having a confrontation today.
“But none of you understand!” Luz hugs her knees and crumbles in her chair. The tears have arrived. “This happened because of me. I’m not strong enough to save them. Eda, King, Hooty, Lilith, Raine… your siblings, Amity!”
Amity looks away and grits her teeth. No, no, nothing’s wrong with them; they’re alright. She convinces herself.
Gus starts crying in the corner, letting his sobs fill the room. Vee watches from the stairs, afraid to say something to comfort any of them. The rain starts falling again. Gus, in between sobs, says: “Luz, we’re just hiding our pain because it’s too much.”
“Gus is right. It’s not because we’re fine inside.” Willow says, wiping a tear from Gus’ cheek. “You should have a little more faith in us, Luz.”
“And in Eda and the others, too.” Hunter finally speaks. It was short, but the desperation mixed with determination in his eyes were clear.
Luz stops crying to look at everyone’s faces. Amity mirrored her expression. Everyone looks braver this time around. Confrontations are uncomfortable, but they lead to a change in morale. This time, for the better. Amity smiles, leaning into Luz to embrace her. “The love you have for Eda and the others will be worth this pain, I promise.”
Though Luz took the time to digest Amity’s words, it became clear to her that everyone in this house and everyone left in the demon realm was her family. Another tear rolled out of her eye, but this time she accompanied it with a smile. Luz looks at Amity and kisses her softly on the forehead.
“We’ll come back there, Luz,” Willow says and joins the embrace. Gus and Vee join in.
Hunter’s the last one to embrace them and everyone wholesomely pretends not to see the tears rolling down his eyes as well.
“Thank you, guys.”
The day ended like any other in the human realm. But Amity knows they'll be picking up the pieces again once another day starts. Luz holding her closer that night was a clear sign—it's gonna be okay.