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“Hey, Luz,” Amity says as she draws closer to where Luz is sitting at the kitchen table. “I was thinking…what if we went to the library? We could do some research to try and build a portal here, or figure out if there are any natural ones or…something.”
Luz turns to look at her. She looks so tired. It’s only their first day in the human realm— her first day back—but Amity can tell it’s already taking its toll. She tries not to frown at the sight of how exhausted Luz is. It might just make her upset. Maybe going to the library could be a good distraction, too, Amity figures. Then maybe they could talk about everything, if Luz wants.
“That’s a great idea!” Luz exclaims, brightening up. Her smile is a little lopsided and she has bags under her eyes, but she almost looks like her usual chipper self.
“You’re not going anywhere without breakfast,” Ms. Noceda speaks up from behind Amity. “And a few ground rules about going out.”
Amity turns to meet her eyes and nods, smiling. “Oh, right. Of course.”
“Sit down and eat, and we’ll talk.”
Amity takes a seat next to Luz who smiles at her. Ms. Noceda sets plates down in front of each of them, then goes to get everyone else. Hunter comes out of the kitchen with a plate of his own and sits down at the table a little ways away from them. Amity looks down at her plate, not recognizing anything. It smells delicious, though.
From next to her, Luz laughs quietly. She explains, “It’s mangú. Green plantains, eggs, fried cheese and salami.”
Amity doesn’t mention how she doesn’t know what any of that is, aside from the eggs and cheese, instead offering a smile. Everyone else begins filtering in and sitting down as she starts to eat. Her eyes widen. Amity has eaten a lot of different types of food—generally all that mattered at home was that it was expensive, and that Mom liked it. Some of it was good…most of it was bad. Of course, that could also be because it was usually cooked by abomatons. Breakfast was the worst meal of the day.
Mangú is probably one of the best things Amity has ever eaten. It tastes a little strange, like something is off , but she reasons that might have to do with her being a witch. After all, Luz couldn’t eat most foods from home because she’s human.
Camila sits down at the head of the table, opposite of Hunter. Once everyone has started to eat, she starts. “Now that everyone is here, I want to go over some rules. Specifically regarding going outside. I know things here are…very different from the demon realm, but even though it might seem less dangerous, there are plenty of bad things here, too. You have to be careful when you go outside. We don’t know what could happen if anyone finds out that you’re witches.”
“Right,” Luz pipes up, “We’ll have to cover up your ears. If it was just one of you, people could wave it off, and we could probably explain it as just…a birth defect or something like that. But four people with the same defect? That’s a little harder to just brush off and forget about.”
“Sí. We don’t have to worry as much about Hunter and Amity’s eyes, we can just say that they’re those colored contacts or something. It’s your ears that are a main concern. And…magic. I know that you’re all very used to using it, but you cannot use magic when you leave this house. It could get you all in serious danger.”
Both Vee and Luz grimace at that.
“I would also prefer if none of you left on your own. Especially without Vee, Luz, or I. You don’t know your way around here, and people might ask questions when they don’t recognize you—this is a small town. Everyone knows everyone here.”
They all concede to the rules, finish breakfast, and then split up. Luz and Amity get ready to leave. Luz gets a headband that she helps Amity put on, tucking her ears underneath.
Luz smiles softly at her as they head out the door. “You look so pretty.”
“Oh—uh—th-thanks,” Amity stammers out, feeling her face heat up.
Hand-in-hand, Luz leads her through town and to the library. It’s a bright, sunny day. People are milling about, not paying any mind to the two. It reminds Amity of the Bonesborough town square, just more…mundane. There’s no magic in the air, spells flying to-and-fro, people flying past overhead on their staffs. There’s a statue in the center, much like the statue of the Emperor. She can’t get a good look at who it’s of from where they are, though. Another thing to ask about later.
“Welcome to the Gravesfield library,” Luz says as she pushes open the doors. “I used to spend a lot of time here after school.”
“Something we have in common, then,” Amity replies, smiling.
Luz laughs. “Yeah! Two cute lil’ bookworms.”
“You’re cuter.”
“Psh, c’mon, we both know you are.”
“No, you are.”
“Wrong!” Luz retorts, grabbing Amity’s hand and leading the way inside. “But we can continue that later—I’m right, you’re cuter, by the way. If we’re gonna be doing research, we should probably start in the historical section.”
“Humans use portals?” Amity asks.
“Well—no. I just mean…because it was made by—by Philip. If we figure out how he got to the Boiling Isles in the first place, we can work from there.”
“Ah, right. Makes sense.”
They start scouring the historical section for everything they can find on Philip, and the Wittebane’s in general. There’s not much about them—mostly just anecdotal things, random fun facts and tourist-trap level information. Luz sighs, running her hands through her hair after they set everything they could find down on a table.
“There has to be something useful in these,” Amity says.
“Maybe. I guess we could try looking up some stuff online, too. I just…”
Luz trails off, sitting down at the table. Amity tilts her head as she sits next to her, resting one of her hands on top of Luz’s.
She chews on her lip for a little while, her brow furrowed. Then, she explains, “There’s a historical society here in town. If there would be anywhere that would have lots of information about this, it would be there. I just…really don’t want any of you to go there.”
Amity stares at her, confused for a moment. She sits up straight as she remembers what Luz told her. “Oh, right. Because of that guy.”
“Heh, yeah. That guy.”
“We can probably take him. Plus, I mean, he wouldn’t mess with us,” Amity states, offering Luz a confident, reassuring smile. “He’s probably scared of your mom now, and once he knows that we’re with her, well. He’d be an idiot to try anything, really.”
“I guess. I just don’t wanna risk it. I know you can handle yourselves, but—he’s dangerous in a different way.” Luz sighs. “I don’t if that makes sense…sorry. I can’t think of how to explain what I mean.”
“That’s okay. We can stop talking about it. It would probably be better if we discussed it with everyone else, anyways.”
“Yeah.”
Amity grabs on to the edge of the skirt Luz loaned her with her free hand, considering. This doesn’t really seem to be doing either of them any good. The research is still important, but…maybe they could save it for another time. Amity looks around and smiles when something catches her eye. She gently squeezes Luz’s hand, getting her attention.
“How about we check these out and research back at the house?” she suggests. “I have a more fun idea for something we could do while we’re here.”
Luz quirks her brow. “Like what?”
“There’s a new Azura book out.”
“Really?”
“Yes. It’s just over there. We could read it together.”
“Hell yeah!” she exclaims. The librarian shushes her. “Oops—sorry!”
They get the book, then Luz leads her into a corner in the back of the library, where a bunch of beanbags are. They sit down together on the biggest one. Amity holds one side of the book while Luz holds the other between them, leaning on one of each of their legs. They turn the pages together as they read. Luz leans her head on Amity’s shoulder.
“Thanks, sweet potato. This is nice,” she whispers.
“Of course,” Amity replies, moving to kiss the top of Luz’s head.
They stay at the library like that until they finish the book, chattering to each other about it as they check out all the historical books they found. As they walk back to the house, Luz beams and turns to Amity.
“Guess we got to go on that date after all, huh?”
Amity grins. “Yes. Yes, we did.” She leans over and kisses Luz’s cheek.
Luz stares at her, her face red, for a moment, before she returns the kiss.
They still have a lot of work to do, and things are still scary. But it’ll be alright. Amity just knows it. Together, they can do anything they set their minds to.