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“Are you sure you want to do all this for a stuffed toy ? Wouldn’t you rather… I don’t know, have a beach day?”
Eda’s words echoed around Luz’ brain as she followed her mother onto the beach, the sun beating down on the back of her neck. She had replied with “maybe if we had time for twenty more adventures, but we don’t” – and they hadn’t, not with the Day of Unity getting closer and closer.
But in the Human realm, with no way to make a portal to cross dimensions, Luz had all the time in the world.
She and her friends had come to begrudgingly accept that there was no way back to the Demon Realm yet (heavy emphasis on the ‘yet’ from Willow), so in turn had started to deal with the fact that they were stuck. Gus had been incredibly enthusiastic after the initial shock wore off, determined to explore Gravesfield from top to bottom; Luz suspected that he was looking for a distraction from the worry that was bothering them all.
So, to show everyone a bit of the Human Realm and allow them time to relax, Camila had proposed that they go to the beach. Willow had been all for it, intrigued by the concept of volleyball; Hunter seemed a little suspicious of Luz’s mom, but agreed nonetheless; Gus had been very eager to find out what sort of flavors there were of non-magical ice cream; Vee had beamed at the chance to show them her seashell collection; Amity had seemed a little uncertain but nodded anyway; and Luz…
Well, Luz hadn’t been sure how to respond. She’d wanted to wait to get back to King and Eda so that then, they too could experience a beach day with her. However, considering that that was impossible at that moment and her friends deserved a break, she had forced a smile and gave Camila a thumbs up to the suggestion.
And that brought them to where they were just then: wearing summery clothes and setting up a blanket on the sand. Vee had informed them all about the importance of wearing sunscreen in a very serious manner, Luz’s friends applying it with the same sort of solemn attitude. Luz pointed out that Amity and Hunter in particular should ensure that they were well protected due to their paleness, so the sunscreen bottle was nearly empty by the time that everybody was done with it.
“Go on, try swimming!” Camila encouraged warmly. “The water is lovely this time of year!”
Luz had obliged gladly, a grin splitting across her face as she ran into the water. It soaked her shorts immediately, the water slowing her down as she waded deeper, some of the salty water splashing her face.
“LUZ!” she heard someone scream, clearly terrified, so she whipped her head around quickly, scanning for danger.
The next thing she knew, there were arms around her waist, and she was being pulled closer to shore. Luz’s eyebrows rose as she placed her hands on the arms pulling her, stopping short at the sight that greeted her.
“ Amity?” Luz gasped, seeing her girlfriend’s golden eyes fill with surprise as she too stopped moving.
“I…” the girl looked down at the water, tentatively running her hand through it as she brushed her (quite damp) hair out of her face. “It doesn’t boil here?”
“Whoops… Yeah, I forgot to tell you about that,” Luz laughed sheepishly. “Rain, the sea, puddles… Just assume that basically any form of natural water is completely harmless. Unless you drown, in which case it’s a little bit dangerous.”
“Oh. That… Makes sense.” Amity still looked suspicious of the water, suddenly shoving a bunch away from her and towards Luz.
“Hey!” Luz laughed as it hit her face, flicking some back at her girlfriend, who smiled at her.
Soon, they were engaged in a rather fierce water fight while Hunter, Vee, Willow and Gus observed bewilderedly from the sidelines.
“Score one for Amity,” Willow said suddenly, a giggle rising in her throat. “She was ready to do a full-on heroic rescue mission!”
“Mmhm,” Hunter hummed, looking closely at where waves were washing over the sand. “But I don't know what she was hoping to achieve with that. Best case scenario if the sea had been boiling is that the two of them ended up with severe third-degree burns for the rest of their lives. Blight knows better than that.”
Willow shrugged, a smile on her face. "Amity's also in a very close relationship with Luz."
“C’mon, let’s go in!” Gus urged them brightly, already walking into the water.
Willow followed next, then Vee and Hunter together, and soon, the four of them had joined Amity and Luz's water fight. Everything was a mess of colors and liquids and laughter, but they all emerged with beaming smiles and absolutely soaked.
In that moment, Luz could forget about all that could be happening to her friends and family back in the Demon Realm.
In the next, she felt incredibly guilty for wanting to forget.
“Wooh, I’m thirsty ,” Willow laughed, wiping her hands on her wet shirt.
“Well, we are surrounded by water,” Gus said reasonably. “Why don’t you just drink some of that?”
“Wait!” Luz cried out quickly. “You do not want to drink that. Trust me. It’s full of salt and fish pee.”
Willow’s nose scrunched in disgust. “Yeah, I think I’ll pass on the seawater for now.”
“I brought drinks,” Vee told them, her smile as bright as the blazing sun above them all. “And sandwiches. Did you guys know that humans have something called chocolate spread ?”
Luz chuckled at her doppelgänger's enthusiasm (matched only by Gus’s), holding onto Amity’s hand. “Race you all back to the towels!”
She sprinted off before the others had time to react, Amity running alongside her, and Luz simply allowed herself to enjoy the moment. Hunter ended up overtaking her, narrowly beating the girls by a few inches.
“Coven training,” he shrugged by way of explanation.
Camila handed out sandwiches and cups, pouring each of them some lemonade. Luz set hers down on the side as she bit into her sandwich, and it suddenly hit her just how much she’d missed human food. As nice as griffin eggs were, her meals did get a little repetitive after a while, and it was nice to have some variety again.
“Eurgh,” Amity stuck her tongue out, scraping at it. “How did sand get into my drink?!”
“One of the many joys of the seaside,” Camila replied lightly.
All of them had begun drying off thanks to the hot sun, but some of Luz’s hair was still plastered to her forehead. Amity’s was quite damp at the bottom, Willow’s plaits were darker than they were usually, Hunter’s little stray strand of hair was less bouncy than usual, Gus’s curls were beginning to get a bit wilder, and the neatness of Vee’s hair was somewhat ruined by the way her clip was halfway down her bangs.
“There’s an arcade nearby,” Luz pointed out, taking another bite of her sandwich. “We coul’ go th’re n’xt.”
“Luz, don’t talk with your mouth full,” Camila scolded mildly. “But yes, that sounds like a lovely idea.”
“What’s an arcade?” Gus enquired attentively.
“It’s like, a big game room where people spend lots of money and get tickets to spend,” Vee informed him. “Mo– Camila and I went there the last time we visited the beach.”
“Sounds fun,” Willow turned to Hunter, a spirited gleam in her eye. “Bet I can get more tickets than you.”
“Challenge accepted, Captain,” Hunter said competitively. “We’ll see who’s the ticket master!”
Luz wasn’t at the beach with Eda, or King, or Raine. But she was there with her mom, her best friends and her girlfriend, and she was going to enjoy the time she had with them all together while it lasted.
Setting off towards the arcade, Luz ignored the part of her that said that it might last forever.