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Camila couldn’t believe her eyes. They’d already started to blur with tears, but through that she was still trying to process that her daughter was truly in front of her.
“Mija” she almost sobbed as she brought Luz into a crushing hug.
For over a month, she had tried to pretend everything was normal. She raised Vee like she was her own. She made sure no one was snooping around for a magic lizard. But inside, she was terrified. She was scared that Luz might never come back from that dangerous realm she was stuck in. But more importantly, she feared that Luz might never come back because she’d been a bad mother. When she’d learned that Luz had chosen to stay in that other world, she was shattered. She was certain she’d failed as a mother. But it must’ve worked out, because Luz had come back to her!
And that's when she heard the first sob.
Luz started shaking as more escaped her. Camila noticed and for the first time properly registered the four other children who were around Luz. They were all clearly exhausted and wet from the rain.
She noticed the bruises before she noticed the ears.
Her blood turned to ice. Any joy she felt turned to dread as she felt tears from her daughters cheeks fall onto her shoulders.
“I really messed up mama” Luz sobbed into her mothers shoulder
Camila gripped Luz tighter than before.
“No, no mija, it’s ok, you’re ok now”
She could feel her own voice begin to tremble. She saw the downcast, defeated faces of the children in front of her. She was the adult here, she had to be strong.
“You all must be freezing. Come inside, we’ll patch you all up and get you dry” Camila said, forcing her voice to stay calm and comforting.
She let go of Luz and nearly immediately, the pink haired one grabbed Luzs hand. It was quick, and she gripped her hand tightly, as if scared that Luz might disappear at any moment if she didn’t hold on. Camila smiled a little at this. It seemed like Luz had made friends after all.
She led the group into the warm house and away from the rain.
“Vee!” she called out from the doorway. “Get the first aid kit!”
“Did something happ- Eeep!”
“Basilisk!” the four pointy eared children screamed in unison.
The pink haired one placed herself in front of Luz, still grasping her hand, while the other three stood side by side. They all had their fingers in the air, somehow menacingly. Because of their tired, bruised faces, they almost looked feral. Vee slid behind Camila, head slightly peaking out from behind her legs. Luz was the next to react, jumping in front of her new friends.
“Hey, hey, you can all calm down,” she said with a slight chuckle. “This is Vee, she’s cool. She’s kinda been pretending to be me this whole time. It’s kind of a long story”
The children let their guards down a little, but there was still a heavy tension in the room. From behind her, she heard Vee ask a question.
“Is that the golden guard?”
The four previously menacing children seemed to deflate at the question, but the blonde one seemed particularly struck by the question. His eyes went wide and watered, threatening to turn to tears.
“You’re one of unc-” He stopped himself, seemingly gathering his thoughts. “You’re one of Belos’ experiments, aren’t you?” His voice was barely a whisper, filled with hurt.
The tension that had filled the air had been replaced by a sad silence. Vee quietly nodded. Tears started streaming down the blonde boy's cheeks.
“I-I-I am…” Hunter mumbled.
“Hunter, it's ok. Breathe.” the green haired girl said as she put her hand on his shoulder.
“It’s clear everyone is very tense right now” Camila said, her voice reassuring. “Right now, I want to make sure you’re all warm, dry and to take a look at those bruises and cuts. We can talk about everything in the morning.”
Everyone quietly nodded. Vee and Luz led the group to the living room while Camila left to get the first aid kit. She didn’t know the whole story, at least not yet. She’d heard only a little from Luz about the Demon realm she’d chosen to stay in. It was a very sore subject for Vee, so she never pried, but the small details Vee shared made Camila even more terrified for Luz. The bruises and cuts she currently had confirmed all of Camila’s worst fears.
The other four children must’ve been the friends Luz had talked about. But they were scared witless and the look in their eyes were those of children who’d seen too much. She’d seen it at work when a child would bring a dying beloved pet or one who’d been hurt. But this was far worse. There was mourning, defeat, sadness. But each of them held a deep terror of whatever had happened to them. They needed reassurance they were safe. And Camila would give that to them. She grabbed the big first aid kit from her room and went to the living room.
Seeing Luz again, with that awful cut above her eye, made Camila's heart ache even more. But right now, she couldn’t let her emotions get in the way. While Luz looked hurt, the blonde boy and the green haired girl had clearly gotten it worse. They needed help as soon as possible. She looked once more at Luz and saw a slightly comforting sight. The pink haired girl was cuddled up to Luzs arm while Vee attended to the girl's wounds. It seemed like Luz found more than just a friend.
But for now, Camila had a duty. She moved closer to the blonde boy. He was sitting between the youngest, who seemed to already have fallen asleep on his shoulder, and the green haired girl. His eyes were red and puffy from his earlier crying, but his face settled into a contemplative anger. Camila knelt in front of him, first aid kit in her hands.
“Can I see your arm?” she said as softly as she could manage.
He seemed slightly surprised at the question. Slowly, his unfocused angry eyes calmed down and he nodded. He extracted his arm from where the youngest had been sleeping. There was a long cut running up his arm. She started disinfecting it before noticing something strange. His skin had strange creases and in some places even cracks. Stranger still, they formed some strange webbing on that entire side of his body, leading to a tattoo on his wrist.
“Who did this to all of you?” she asked, less a question for the room and more a growing worried wonder.
“He’s- it’s- my unc- Belo-” The boy couldn’t finish his sentence. She noticed he was trying to count his breath, but they were coming out short and ragged anyways.
“Hunter?” Camila tried, having heard the others call him that before. He looked her in the eyes
“You’re ok and you’re safe. He can’t get you here.”
She didn’t know if what she said was true. But she knew Hunter and the other children needed to hear that right now. And it seemed to work as Hunter was able to calm his breathing and could count them normally again. Camila continued to bandage his wounds, getting to the last bad cut on his forehead.
“Thank you” he said gratefully.
“It’s not an issue at all,” Camila said, smiling. “Are you hurt anywhere else? I bandaged up the worst of what I could see.” Hunter shook his head.
“I’m ok now, but I think Willow needs some help,” he said, indicating the girl next to him.
Camila nodded and moved over a little. She started once more disinfecting and bandaging the worst of the cuts she could find on the girl's arms and face.
“Luz missed you a lot, miss Noceda,” Willow said. “She talked about you a lot. Your daughter is a really amazing person.”
Camila smiled at this and turned her head to look at her daughter. Vee was helping bandage the pink haired one. To not much surprise, she was cuddled close to Luz, with Luz’s arm wrapped around her. She was quietly talking with Vee, and she couldn’t make out the conversation. Willow giggled.
“Luz helped a lot of people. She helped me believe in myself, helped Amity be a good person again.” Willow smiled at the two on the other couch. “They make each other really happy.
Camila’s heart swelled with pride at hearing the good words about her daughter. But her spirit dampened when she noticed Luz’s face. It was stuck in a deep angry frown. Luz had always been a sensitive, soft person. Even when she’d been bullied in the past, she’d been more sad than angry. Camila had never seen her like this.
“Miss Noceda? I’m doing much better now and Gus is already asleep. You can go talk to her if you want,” Willow said, noticing the worry grow on Camila's face.
She’d wanted to talk to Luz since she’d entered the living room. But these two had been clearly the worst injured.
“Thank you Willow.” Camila smiled at her. “I’m glad to see Luz made such wonderful friends… when she was away.”
Willow smiled back at her before resting her head on Hunter's shoulder. The boy seemed surprised, and his face blushed, but he simply rested his own head on hers. Camila walked over to her daughter. Luz snapped out of her frown when she noticed her mother coming over and put on a big smile. Camila wasn’t fooled; the smile didn’t reach her eyes.
Luz was putting on a front for her. Camila knelt down in front of her and started once more the process of disinfecting and bandaging. The cut above Luz’s eye was deeper than she was expecting and feared that it might scar. An uncomfortable silence sat over the two, both simply waiting for the other to break it. The last conversation they’d had didn’t end very well. Camila still thought about the promise she made Luz make and wondered if her daughter would keep it. She wondered how much she needed her daughter to keep it. And so the silence went on.
Camila had so much she wanted to say. She wanted to apologize, to scold, to enquire. But above all else, she didn’t want to overwhelm her. Camila navigated in her head all the different ways to start the necessary conversation. She decided to start on the positives.
“Your friends all seem really nice mija” she said softly, as if not to spook a wild animal.
Despite this, Luz was mildly surprised when her mom broke the silence, but quickly a genuine smile reappeared on her face.
“Yeah, they’re really incredible. They helped me grow in ways I didn’t think was possible, Luz said, a sad smile growing on her face. “They’re like a-a-a second family,” she continued, her resolve crumbling with every word. Her eyes unfocused in a way Camila recognized. They watered, and with her tone of voice, it was obvious she was going to burst into a fresh wave of tears. Both Camila and Amity went to hug and comfort her. But before either of them could reach her, she pushed back her hair with both her hands and flashed a big, fake, smile.
“Mami, I’d like for you to meet someone really special to me.” There was uncertainty in her voice and she clearly tried to hide her true feelings. “This is my awesome girlfriend Amity Blight!”
She waved her hands in the air and smiled as widely as she could muster, but Camila still wasn’t fooled. It seemed like Amity wasn’t either. Normally, Camila would be glad to meet someone so important to her daughter. But right now, it just hurt that she was using it to distract everyone from her issues.
“Luz, it’s ok to talk to us, '' the pink haired girl said. “We just want to make sure you’re ok. I don't know what happened to the people in the boiling isles I care about either Luz, if we ju-”
“I’m fine haha! I-I’ll fix it, don’t worry about it! I’m ok!” Luz was stumbling over her words and talking as fast as her mouth would let her. Two of the three most important women looked at her pleadingly. “Huh… I gotta go… to… the… bathroom? Yeah! Haha, haven’t seen a human toilet in months and I gotta go, bye!”
Luz ripped her arm from Amity’s grasp before either her or Camila could say or do anything.
“Luz!” they both cried out, but to no reaction other than Hunter, Willow, Gus and Vee looking on with sadness.
“I’m sorry miss Noceda. She’s been acting really weird for a while now. Eda told me Luz liked to hold on to these feelings and do everything on her own. Its…its just getting worse.”
“Ever since” Camila winced a little. “Ever since her dad passed away, she’s been like this. When I learned she’d chosen to stay in that… place, I thought she was running away from her problems here. Not fitting in, school. Me.” Amity gasped at the words, tears welling in her eyes. Camila took a breath.
“I’m going to go check on Luz. You seem really great, Amity. I wished I’d met my nuera under better circumstances.”
Before she could leave, Amity hugs her. Camila was surprised, but quickly wrapped her arms around the teenagers.
“We’ll get through to Luz. I know we will. We just have to show her…” Amity thought on her words for a second. “We have to show her we love her and she doesn’t have to do this alone. And Luz wasn’t running from you. Trust me, I know about bad moms, and you’re as far from that as I can imagine.”
Camila’s heart swelled a little. Luz had found a keeper.
“Thank you Amity, that means a lot.”
Camila went up the stairs and stood in front of the bathroom door for a few seconds. She could hear muffled crying from the other side of the door. Occasionally she’d hear a frustrated groan, or the sound of a fist hitting the wall.
“Luz?”
She heard a few restrained sobs. A few moments later, the bathroom was entirely silent. Shortly after, Luz opened the door, eyes clearly red and puffy from crying. But on her face was the same fake smile Camila was unhappy to see once more.
“Si mama?”
Camila knelt down and put her hand on Luzs shoulder.
“You’ve grown so much since I’ve last seen you. Your hair’s clearly just the tip of the iceberg. And your friends all tell me you’ve had a wonderful impact on them, and they’ve had a beautiful impact on you. They all love and care deeply for you. You don’t have to talk about it tonight, but I need you to know that I’m here for you, your friends are here for you, Amity is here for you.”
Camila hugged her daughter tightly, feeling her own tears fall down her cheeks.
“You just have to let us in”
She felt Luz’s tears start to fall on her shoulder, and felt Luz’s arms wrap around her. They stayed there for a moment, stuck together.
“Don’t worry mama. I’m gonna figure it out. I’m gonna figure it all out and I’m gonna fix everything I broke”
Camila didn’t know what to say. Luz was still holding onto so much pain onto so much guilt. She still had the world on her shoulders and refused to share the task. It would have to wait for tomorrow. But she was going to help her daughter out with these issues.
“Come on. You and your friends must be exhausted by now. I’ll bring some pillows and blankets downstairs. Some of your friends are already asleep, we’ll set you up in the living room tonight. We’ll figure everything else out later.”
***
A few hours later, Camila creeped down the stairs. Again. She had set the teenagers for sleep with pillows and blankets for sleep, but couldn’t let herself fall asleep. She checked in on the kids from afar every couple minutes. She watched on from behind the railing in the stairs, careful not to be seen by the two who were still awake. She knew she should be giving them more space, but she was afraid one of them was going to simply disappear. Yet again, nothing had changed. Vee was clutching the first aid kit like a plushie, sleeping closely to Amity. Amity was clinging to Luz’s arm, seemingly fearing like Camila that the girl might try to disappear into the night. On the other side, Gus and Willow slept closely together, with Hunter's arm wrapped around the two of them. Willow rested her head on his chest. He was still awake, looking at the group. There was a deep sadness in his eyes, but also a vigilance to make sure nothing got close to the group.
And then Camila saw her again. Luz thought no one could see her. Her frown was even deeper than before, an unsettling anger etched into it. Camila didn’t know for sure, but she feared that the anger had been turned inwards. Luz blamed herself for everything that had happened and nothing Camila and Amity had said had gotten to her. Camila sighed and sat down in the staircase.
She’d make sure these children were safe and ok. She’d take care of them.