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In the mid-afternoon of the day after they arrived on Camila Noceda’s doorstep, Gus said to his friends, “Let’s have a slumber party.”
He was looking at Luz when he said it. Seeking permission as well as understanding that it wasn’t really a slumber party he wanted, just a sense of normalcy. The five of them were slouched in Luz’s living room, the walls of which were lined with shelves of books and CD cases and puzzles. If they had wanted to, they could entertain themselves, but in their grief had opted instead for hanging out in silence.
So, at Gus’ suggestion, Luz felt a tug at her heart. Partially in dread of having to haul herself out of the mood she was in, partially in yearning for better times, where a slumber party wouldn’t feel so out of place.
Hunter said, “What’s a slumber party?”
Luz breathed out, rubbing her eyes to try and kickstart her brain. “It’s, uh… It’s like the non-magical, human version of a Moonlight Conjuring.”
“Ah, right.” Hunter nodded. “...And how do you do a Moonlight Conjuring without the magical part?”
A laugh escaped Luz. Even with all she had lost, she couldn’t help being endeared by Hunter’s cluelessness about normal teenage stuff.
“You spend the night at someone’s house,” Willow offered, glancing at Luz for confirmation.
“Yeah. And other stuff,” she added, seeing Hunter’s confused look, like, We already spent the night here. “We get junk food and watch movies and play games.”
Truth be told, Luz hadn’t been to a slumber party for years, if she discounted the Moonlight Conjuring she did with Willow and Gus.
“That sounds a hell of a lot better than my last Moonlight Conjuring,” Amity said. She was resting her head in Luz’s lap, and glanced up at her girlfriend with a smile as she said hell of a lot. Luz grinned back at her, and ran her fingers through her girlfriend’s fringe.
“We can do hair-braiding trains,” Luz continued.
The previous night had been long, and the day had been longer. Bruised and cut-up as they were, there was no hiding from Camila just how bad things had gotten while Luz had been away. She smiled, kind as ever, as Luz introduced everyone. She even stood by and let Luz catch up with Vee, even though she could tell her daughter was stalling. By this time, the others had found places to curl up or sit, and Gus had already crashed out, nestled against Willow’s shoulder on the couch. Camila asked Luz if she could talk to her, and Luz knew her time was up.
Their argument was slow-moving and tearful. Luz, unable to handle being told she wasn’t allowed to fight for everything she had just lost. Camila, still in shock from the sight of her daughter’s wounds and terrified of the state Luz might return in if she let her leave again, if she returned at all.
It got late enough that Camila decided to put it on hold. The two returned to the living room to find Willow, Amity and Hunter all passed out as well. Vee had retreated to her room as soon as she saw the opportunity for it, and Luz didn’t love the idea of waking her up just to negotiate sharing a bed.
“Mamá,” Luz said, “Can I sleep in your bed?”
Camila took her daughter’s face between her hands and kissed the cut on her temple. “Mija, of course you can. You don’t even have to ask.”
Morning came. Luz was woken up early as Camila had to leave for her shift. Before she left, she hugged Luz and made her promise not to leave while she was gone for the day. “I’m not trapping you here,” she said, “but I don’t want you to leave until we have the chance to talk about it more. Okay?”
Luz grasped the material of her mom’s scrubs. “Okay,” she said.
The others slept fretfully, or hardly at all. Tending to wounds and fixing meals and four instances of Gus breaking into tears was enough to make the morning feel like weeks. It would be nice for all of them to take their mind off things for a while. And it gave Luz a reason to hold off on a do-over of last night’s argument.
She reached out to hold Gus’ shoulder and pulled him closer. “Let’s have a slumber party!” she said, sounding more excited than she felt.
Tiredly, Gus smiled at her in relief.
im going out to get snacks with the others so i might not be here when you get back
im throwing them a human slumber party to cheer everyone up
i love you. see you soon
“Okay, time for an outfit change,” said Luz, placing her hands on her hips. “Gus, how do you feel about casting an illusion on everyone’s ears?”
She didn’t bother asking about full-body illusions. The others could borrow her clothes and appearance-based illusions were tough to maintain on one person, let alone four.
Gus nodded. “Yeah, I could do that.”
“Awesome. Now you can all join me on a hunt for my old clothes.” She started towards the stairs, and explained, “I’m pretty sure I’m the only girl in Gravesfield who has ever made a deliberate effort to dress like a witch, and let me tell you, it does not lend itself well to going unnoticed.”
Hunter scoffed. “You’re way shorter than me. I’m not wearing your clothes.”
“Oh, calm down, you’re like four inches taller than me.” The other three laughed, and Hunter folded his arms. Luz began to walk upstairs. “I have an oversized sweater or two, you’ll be fine.”
She started with her bedroom. Vee’s room, now. Opening the door, she stilled for a moment as she took it all in. She had only glimpsed it before, through her first attempt at a portal, and that was when Vee was trying to live as inconspicuously as possible. Now, it was unrecognisable. Not just not hers, but distinctly someone else’s.
It made Luz sick to her stomach. She loved her bedroom. She had spent years decorating it with anything and everything she loved, and now it was gone. This wasn’t her space anymore.
“Uh.” She entered the room, the others followed. She took a breath and remembered she was trying to have a good time. “Right, if there’s a box of my stuff in here, it’ll be in the closet or that cupboard over there.”
Willow and Gus checked the cupboard, Amity joined Luz in front of the closet. Hunter stayed in the doorway.
The closet was rammed. Half of it was all the clothes Luz had left behind when packing for summer camp, the other half was all Vee’s stuff. Luz would have to tell Vee when she returned from school that they had gone through her things and hope that she wouldn’t be too angry.
Among the shoes and chest of drawers were two cardboard boxes labelled ‘LUZ’. Amity helped her haul them out.
“Luz, we found something!” came Willow’s voice; she was triumphantly holding a third box.
“Fuck yes! Okay—” Luz made grabby hands at Willow until she passed the box. Luz opened the flaps of all three boxes and said, “Dig in!”
Willow and Amity began to pick through her clothes first, and Gus joined soon after. Hunter only stepped away from the door and peered into the boxes as if they might bite him.
Luz continued to babble about how they didn’t have to change every part of their outfit, they just had to stop looking like a LARP group. Hunter asked what a LARP group was. Luz ignored him and began pointing out the parts of everyone’s outfits that were the most witchy.
Amity gasped and drew out a dark purple leather tux jacket.
“I want this,” she said in a rush.
“It’s perfect!” Luz beamed.
“I love it!” Amity laid the jacket in her lap and returned to her search through the boxes with more vigor than before. It wasn’t long before she found a pair of black chinos with stars on the leg seam and a t-shirt to pair it with. She left to get changed in the bathroom. Luz decided to help Willow and Gus, who were respectfully trying not to make a mess, by pulling her clothes out of the box and discarding them on the floor as soon as they were of no interest. As she went, she also set aside the clothes she wanted to change into. She went with her favourite pair of jeans and a worn tee with a lobster on it.
Amity returned. Luz squealed and pulled her into a hug as soon as she sat down, showering her in kisses and compliments. Gus found a pair of stripy pants he liked and set about finding a shirt. Willow picked out a ruffled shirt and left to put it on, as she was keeping the shorts she was already wearing. She gave Hunter an amused look as she passed him in the doorframe, and he pretended not to notice. Right, Hunter needed new clothes too. Luz set about finding them.
She chuckled as her hand found something smooth at the bottom of the box. “Oh-ho-ho, I know who this bad boy is going to.”
She triumphantly pulled the garment out, revealing it to be a black leather motorcycle jacket. She had thrifted it a year ago, and it clearly used to belong to some middle-aged biker dude. It smelled faintly of cigarettes.
Amity blinked in confusion at Luz’s grin for a few moments until realisation dawned on her face and she said, “Oh! Bad-but-sad-boy.”
Luz giggled. “Exactly!”
“Oh, for Titan’s sake,” Hunter grumbled.
"You can't say that when we go out, it's not proper human lingo." Luz leapt up. She offered the jacket to Hunter. He just stared at her.
“It’ll go well with your gloves,” Luz insisted. Just as she hoped, Hunter faltered for a moment. He hunched his shoulders, took the jacket and muttered Thank you. She sat back down and just threw clothes at him from then on, deciding it would be funny to give him her Fullmetal Alchemist t-shirt and three-quarter cut pants. They were wide-legged. He’d be fine.
Willow came back and Hunter swapped out with her. Luz retrieved her small jewellery box from the bottom of the box and suggested Amity and Willow might like to try on some of her earrings. She directed them where they could find something to sanitise them with and the two of them left the room.
Luz cleared her throat. “Gus.”
He looked up at her.
She strained for something better to say for a few seconds, before asking, “How are you holding up, buddy?”
His hands stilled. “I don’t know. I don’t want to think about any of it.”
Luz nodded. “It’s too much,” she agreed gently.
“Like— there’s no good scenario,” Gus continued fractiously, “either they’re all dead or they’re alive and under the control of that— of the Collector and I just—” He took a deep breath. As he held it, he was unnervingly silent and still. He breathed out. “Yeah. Thank you for doing this. It’s kinda stupid.”
“It’s not stupid.” Luz reached a hand out to him, and he crashed into her shoulder immediately. They held each other, held each other together.
“I think we all want something to distract ourselves,” said Gus. In a moment of perfect understanding, he added, “Tonight doesn’t have to be perfect.”
They pulled away from each other. Luz said, “I’m not trying to make it perfect. I just have to make it—”
“Please don’t put pressure on yourself,” Gus whispered. “Please. It’s just a silly distraction.”
Now Luz understood what he meant by that. It wasn’t self-deprecation at all. She opened her mouth to reply, but Hunter appeared at the doorway, so she shut it again. She didn’t know what she would have said anyway.
Several moments passed before Luz registered the look on Hunter’s face. His ears were pink, and he was grumpier than ever.
“I want different pants,” he demanded.
Luz took in his outfit and made a point not to laugh. It didn’t look bad per se, and it was definitely human-looking, but there was no doubt that his pants were too short for him.
“No, look—!” She got up and pointed at the hems. “They match up with the tops of your boots.”
Hunter pointed an accusatory finger at her. “You are mocking me.”
“I’m not—!” Gus snickered behind her— “I’m not mocking you, I promise. The outfit looks fine.”
Hunter folded his arms.
"Hey. Oh, you look cool," said Willow, appearing in the doorway and breezing past Hunter.
He might have said something in thanks, but it was promptly drowned out by Luz's excitement over the earrings Willow and Amity had chosen. One by one, she cupped both of their faces in her palms and the three squealed in delight.
Luz and Gus changed, and all five of them marched proudly down the stairs. When they reached the bottom, the front door opened. Vee only looked at them once as she entered the house, before toeing off her shoes and disappearing into the kitchen.
Luz and the others passed glances between each other. She ushered them outside and told them to wait for her, then retreated back into the hallway.
She leaned against the wall to think and take a breath.
"You got rid of their ears," said Vee, startling Luz somewhat. "That's good."
Luz turned and saw Vee leaning against the kitchen counter, watching her through the doorway. Her magical disguise was wearing off after so many hours of use, or maybe she was letting it fade.
"Yeah," Luz chuckled. "Illusion spell."
She busied herself with finding a tote bag.
"We went through my boxes of stuff," Luz said lightly. "Your room miiight be a bit of a mess."
Vee said nothing. Luz had braced for her to be annoyed by this.
She looked up. Vee's expression was furious.
"I'll clean it up once I get back," Luz promised in a rush.
Vee opened her mouth as if to snap at Luz, then shook her head. She went upstairs without another word, leaving Luz dazed with tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.
Okay mija have fun
Your friends seem like good people. Don't forget to lean on them if you need to.
Cheering up yourself is just as important :)
I love you too.
The plan to avoid unwanted attention mostly went down the drain once the five of them left the house. Even with the sting of Vee's demeanour and her Mamá's texts, Luz bounced right back into action by rousing the others into rowdy conversation. This attracted more than a few irritated looks from passers-by. Luz ignored it, too encouraged by her friends' good spirits to care much.
"We can only get a few things," Luz informed the others, her fingers curled around the ten dollar bill in her pocket. "But I wanna make sure everyone has at least one thing they like, so just pick up whatever you want and we'll decide on what to actually buy as a group. Okay?"
The other four nodded seriously.
They arrived at the front of the grocery store. Luz held the door open and exclaimed, "Go, go, go!"
The store was small but big enough to allow two long aisles, where the shelves in the middle held snacks on either side. The group split up for efficiency and asked or yelled their questions for Luz about whether a particular item was good.
They pooled their findings together and slowly decided on what to cut. Hunter was insistent only on what appeared to be a granola bar, so that was easy enough, as was deciding to get one multipack of chips instead of three.
The other four crowded round Luz as she added up the prices on her phone, then they triumphantly carried the food up to the counter.
They paid and left. On the way home, Luz said, "We can order pizza as well, if my mom agrees to pay for it," and spent the remainder of the walk attempting to answer all her friends' questions about what pizza was.
Camila called out to them when they opened the door. Luz yelled something back in greeting and skipped down the hallway.
"Mamá, look what we got." Luz threw herself down onto the couch where Camila was sitting and showed her all the snacks they had bought, talking all the way as if she were trying to advertise them.
"This is the only thing Hunter got," she continued. "A freaking granola bar."
"It's a flapjack!" Hunter insisted from the next room.
"Please don't yell in my house, niño, it's not polite," Camila said, sharing an amused glance with Luz.
Hunter appeared in the doorway. He looked at Camila and said, "Sorry," his voice now at a normal volume. Camila smiled at him and nodded, and he left just as quickly.
"He's very sweet," Camila said in a low voice.
"Ay, he can be so annoying, though." Luz shifted in her seat and resumed her ramblings.
There were flashes in her mother's expression that told Luz they both knew what was really going on: Luz was using this as a way to avoid a rehash of last night's argument without having to avoid Camila altogether.
Camila seemed to be letting it slide. Still, panic settled into Luz's stomach.
"Gotta go help Vee tidy her room," she said, shoving the snacks back into her bag. "Bye!"
She dashed upstairs and hummed to herself as she approached her bedroom door. Vee's bedroom door. Whatever. She paused with her hand on the doorknob as she caught the sound of her friends' voices from downstairs. They sounded distant. She opened the door.
"Hey hey hey, sorry sorry sorry," she said, immediately setting about picking up her things without daring to look at Vee directly.
Luz held her breath and told herself she was okay with the silence. She wanted an argument with Vee about as much as she wanted an argument with her Mamá, so she had decided not to prod at whatever had soured between them. But where Camila had been gracefully patient with Luz's non-confrontational attitude, Vee showed no such mercy.
"Luz, just stop," she snapped, and Luz's stomach flipped.
"Whatever it is, I'm sorry," Luz said, "I really am, I don't know what I did wrong, but I've had a shit couple of days, so can we not—"
"Stop!" Vee said again. "God, I just—"
She hunched her shoulders and took a few moments to compose herself. She was back to full basilisk now, and she swung her tail over the edge of the bed so she was angled away from Luz.
"You and Mom…" Vee had to pause again to take a breath. "You were up late last night because she wants you to stay here and not look for a way back to the Boiling Isles in case you get hurt, right?"
Luz nodded.
"I knew you would come back to the Human Realm eventually," Vee continued quietly. "But the past few weeks have been the best of my life. Because Mom knew about all…this," she gestured to herself, "for the first time ever I had nothing weighing on me.
"And I know you're Camila's real daughter, and I always knew this was temporary." Her voice dipped as she fought back tears. "And I know I have to start finding somewhere else to stay, because this house is definitely not big enough for all of us. And even if you find a way back, which I'm sure you will, Camila will want you to stay here again. So, I'm just…"
Vee frowned and let out a small sigh. She met Luz's gaze. "It's over. And it's…really difficult to deal with that with you all up in my space. I sort of…just want to be alone, for a while. To process. Is that okay?"
It was a challenge, really. Vee knew enough about Luz to know that she was relentless when she thought someone needed help. She was pleading with her, eyes round and shining with tears but determined as ever. Luz felt a stony understanding of Vee's situation: through all her upbeat attitude trying to keep herself afloat, what Luz really wanted was a quiet place to cry where she didn't feel compelled to put on a brave face for anyone else.
This was how she arrived at the revelation that she was slowly but surely shooting herself in the foot. While Vee wanted nothing more than to be alone, her being alone would just mean her wallowing in despair. Vee needed companionship. Someone around whom she could drop all pretence and still be regarded with respect and kindness. And Luz supposed she needed that too.
"Mom wouldn't ever ask you to leave." Vee turned away, but Luz continued. "I don't think she'd let you if you tried. I'm sorry for barging in like this, but for what it's worth I don't think the life you've had over the past few weeks is ending. It just…might be a little more crowded for a while."
Vee laughed, jostling a tear free to rush down her face. Luz sat beside her on the bed. Vee quietly said, "I'm sorry about everything that went down in the Boiling Isles. I'm sure I didn't hear all of it, but it really sucks."
Luz nodded, her heart weighing in her chest. She bumped shoulders with Vee and took her hand. She laughed. "Oh, hey, I wasn't expecting you to be cold."
Vee giggled. "Fuck you."
"Ah! Look at you! Swearing like a human." Luz squeezed Vee's hand. "I'm so proud."
They laughed some more. When they settled, the silence was heavy, but not uncomfortable.
"I don't want to be a burden on her," Vee said. "It was easier when it was just me, because I don't exactly eat more than you do, but I just think…since it's you, and your friends… I'm the dead weight, y'know?"
"Actually, if we're going by chronology, Hunter is gonna be the first to go, since he was the last one to join the team," Luz said. Vee snorted. "It's funny. I felt the exact same way as you when I was living with Eda." Luz sighed. "This sucks. But I'm not letting you leave. I think we'll all need to get jobs, and me and my friends will sleep in sleeping bags and stuff, but it'll be fine."
Vee hummed. "Yeah. It'll be fine."
Luz hugged her, then, and held onto her for a long, long time.
Now that Vee had mentioned it, Luz couldn’t stop thinking about how chaotic and cramped the next few weeks were going to be.
Like, the bathroom, for instance. They only had one. And as Luz stood in front of the mirror hanging over the sink, watching water droplets drip from her face, it seemed even smaller than she remembered it being. The thought hit her that her mom’s water bill was going to triple. They really needed those jobs.
It felt upsetting and utterly wrong to be planning what her stay in the Human Realm was going to look like when part of her hadn’t quite processed that she wasn’t in the Demon Realm anymore.
And this — this was why she hadn’t given herself much time to think things over. Once she started pulling at that thread, everything just started to come undone.
She would do it later. Slumber parties were all about baring a bit too much of your soul to your friends.
“Hey, Vee,” Luz said, poking her head round her bedroom door. “You sure you don’t wanna come join us?”
Vee smiled awkwardly. “I’ll have some pizza if you’re ordering some.”
“Pleeease?” Luz begged. “C’mon.”
“Goodbye, Luz.”
Luz huffed dramatically. Vee giggled as she closed the door.
She stomped down the stairs, and her friends’ voices filtered into earshot. She caught a snippet that sounded like, Is that Luz? and, That sounds like Luz. And then her name again, louder this time: Luz?
She slid in through the door frame.
“Luz!” the four of them cheered.
“Hey everybody,” she greeted. “Who wants to watch a movie?”
After a few arguments that established certain earth movies existed on the Boiling Isles but had different endings, the group managed to decide on what to watch. The couch wasn’t big enough for all of them, so Luz, Willow and Gus ended up sitting on it with a blanket spread over their laps and Amity seated on the ground in front of Luz so she could play with her hair. Hunter sat on a pillow to the right of Amity, voted out of couch privileges but huddled in his own blanket as compensation.
In the middle of the movie’s climactic emotional scene, Luz heard the distinct sound of her mom entering the kitchen to make dinner. “Aw, heck, I forgot to ask about pizza!” She gracefully untangled herself from Amity, the blanket and Willow, and left the room telling them to keep the movie going while she was gone.
“I wouldn’t know how to pause it anyway,” she heard Gus say, and a hum of agreement from the other three. Luz giggled.
“Mamá-mamá-mamá-mamá,” Luz said. “Can we order pizza?”
Camila paused with two cans in her hands. “Yes. Yeah, that’ll probably be easiest. It was just occurring to me that I don’t know whether we have enough for a whole seven-person meal.”
Luz hugged her quickly and thanked her before skipping off back to the living room.
The movie ended and Luz retrieved her mom’s phone so that they could pick out what to order. Once they were decided, Luz took a detour upstairs to add Vee’s order, then returned the phone to her mom.
She saw the way Camila’s expression faltered at the price total. “I’m gonna get a job, to help out, mamá,” she said quietly. “I’m sure my friends will too.”
“Don’t worry about that for now, mija, I have enough to last us a little while.” Camila leaned into her daughter and lowered her voice. “I’m not sure your friends will be ready for earth jobs just yet.”
Luz grinned. “You know, Amity used to work in a library. That’s how she and I first bonded.”
The corners of Camila’s eyes crinkled. Luz blushed and ducked her head.
Camila tapped at her phone a few more times. “Alright, pizza is on its way.”
“Heck yeah.”
“Did you invite Vee down to join you?” Camila asked.
“Yeah, I asked her a couple times, but she said no.” Luz shrugged.
Camila nodded. “I think she’s feeling a little anxious about you returning. I’m going to go talk to her.”
“Good plan. I’m gonna go play some games.”
The vast majority of the party games the others knew involved magic, which Luz vetoed.
“It’s just gonna bum me out,” she whined. “Please think of me and my little Palisman egg.”
Gus pointed out that this was supposed to be a human slumber party, anyway. All eyes turned to Luz.
"We could play…" Luz racked her brain. "...Why is Spin The Bottle the only thing I can think of? It's a kissing game," she added before any of them could ask.
"Like a…kissing competition?" said Amity, laughing as she shared an embarrassed look with Luz.
Luz blushed and grinned at her. "Not exactly."
She explained the rules of the game. Gus laughed once she was done and said, "Yeah, I'm not doing that."
"Yeah," Luz agreed, "the game doesn't really work when you've got couples in the mix anyway. It's supposed to be, like, a test of bravery, y'know, like, Who's too chicken to kiss someone at random? But it's more just a way for people with crushes on each other to kiss without having to admit they want to. But we," Luz turned to Amity, "have already done that. Fuck yeah."
Luz held out her palm. Amity dutifully high-fived it. Luz continued. "So since Gus is out and Amity and I are dating, it'd literally just be you two."
She gestured to Hunter and Willow. Hunter glanced at Willow and ducked his head before she could notice it.
Luz suggested instead, “So how about some board games?”
“Oh, fuck,” Amity hissed.
“And Amity lands on one of the red properties yet again!” Luz observed. “How’s it looking, Gus?”
Gus, sat beside Luz on the back of the couch, replied, “It’s not looking good, Luz, not looking good at all. This is the third time in as many goes that Amity has landed on a property belonging to Hunter, and she is starting to run out of money.”
“Shut up, you guys!” Amity said. “I’m trying to think.”
Luz and Gus obliged, watching intently as Amity’s hand hovered over her property cards.
“Can I sell the pink properties to you?” she asked.
“Yes, I’ll take all three of them for two hundred.”
Luz whistled. Amity said, “No way. Four hundred.”
“Do I hear four hundred?” Luz said.
“Two-fifty,” Hunter countered.
“Two-fifty? Two-fifty?” Gus joined in.
Amity rolled her eyes. “Three-twenty.”
“Three-twenty, going once,” Luz said. “Going twice.”
Hunter folded his arms. “Three hundred.”
Amity stilled. Her shoulders drooped, and she held out the three pink properties.
“Sold for three hundred!” Luz and Gus cried in unison.
Amity turned out not to have enough to pay Hunter even with an additional three hundred, and she was too stubborn to mortgage her other properties, so she exited the game. She tried to leave all her remaining money and properties to Willow, but Hunter argued that he should get a cut as compensation.
“Fine, you can have the brown properties,” Amity grumbled. Hunter grinned. Amity threw her piece at him and left.
“Aw, it’s okay, Amity, it’s more fun over here,” Luz said, holding out her arms for Amity as she approached. “Who knew Hunter would be such a beast at Monopoly?”
“Forget Hunter, look at Willow,” Gus said. Luz and Amity turned to look.
Willow was in possession of a few sets of strategically placed properties, all of which were decked out with hotels. She also had the stations and the utilities, and the properties that Amity had left her. Hunter had a large stack of money, but Willow’s stack of money wasn’t that much smaller than it.
This is the way the game had gone thus far:
Through a combination of luck and unwillingness to compromise, Hunter had decimated every single player except Willow, with whom he had shown a little more willingness to make kind deals. The two had formed an unspoken alliance. Now, with nobody left in the game and with Willow having a stronger foundation than Hunter, he, Luz, Amity and Gus seemed to realise that their alliance was over, and Hunter was majorly screwed.
Willow just smiled. She took the dice and said, “My turn.”
Hunter ended up in jail his next go, during which time Willow walked all over his properties. Slowly but surely, Hunter’s stack of money depleted. Willow set ridiculous prices when Hunter tried to sell his properties away and refused to lower them. He seemed unable to believe it, but Willow was unmoving. The other three watched with bated breath as they traded turns.
The whole room went deathly quiet after Hunter rolled the dice.
“What is it? What number did he roll?” Luz asked, craning her neck to see.
Hunter slowly moved his piece over the board, counting out the steps.
He landed on Willow’s most expensive property.
Amity let out a laugh that was more of a shriek of delight.
Willow turned to look at Hunter, calm as anything, with a wide, wide grin on her face.
“Willow, please,” Hunter said. He hadn’t looked at his money. Everyone knew there wasn’t enough.
Willow tipped up her palms. She just kept smiling at him.
“What do you want for it?”
Amity and Luz said, “Dude, just give up,” and, “She wants the money, bitch!”
That finally broke Willow’s demeanor. She couldn’t help but laugh.
Hunter blew out a breath. “Alright.” He stuck out a hand. “Good game.”
Willow’s smile widened into a smug grin. She shook Hunter’s hand. “Good game.”
“Aw,” Luz wrinkled her nose. “I wanted more drama.”
“Same,” said Amity and Gus.
The doorbell rang.
Luz leapt up. “Pizza!”
Sorting through each pizza box, figuring out whose was whose, and arguing over plates and swapped slices and the pizza cutter created a cacophony of sound in the kitchen, such that Luz didn’t notice Vee entering the room until she swung round and came face to face with her.
“Eyy!” she cheered and gave Vee a hug. “You came downstairs!”
“I’m only here for the pizza,” Vee grinned. “Why do you have two plates?”
“Hm?” Luz looked at the plates of pizza she was holding in either hand, having forgotten about them entirely. “Oh, uh— Hey, guys, whose pizza do I have?”
The other four just looked at each other cluelessly and unhelpfully.
Camila came to her rescue. “You’re saving some of your pizza for—”
“Oh! Yes, this is for you!” Luz shoved one of the plates into Vee’s hands. “Mom said you always get the same pizza order, so I wanted you to try my fave before anyone else ate it.”
“Oh, you didn’t have to do that,” Vee said softly, then amended, “Thank you.”
Luz beamed. “No prob.”
Surprising no one, Amity, Gus, Willow and Hunter all ended up liking pizza. And between Luz’s efforts and whatever Camila had said to her, Vee decided to stay downstairs after she was finished eating. She and Hunter had a conversation that went like this:
Hunter, excitedly: “I’ve never met a basilisk before. I’ve only ever read about you guys.”
Vee: “Yes, well, we were mostly kept in captivity by Emperor Belos, so that’s why you wouldn’t have seen any of us before.”
Hunter cleared his throat and looked away from her.
Luz overheard this as she had tuned out from whatever Amity and Gus were talking about. She waited for a pause in their conversation to say, “Who wants snacks? I’m gonna get the snacks.”
As she stood up, Hunter did too, saying, “I’ll help you.”
Luz checked over her shoulder as she left, and thankfully, Willow had roped Vee into conversation in their stead.
Hunter just stood in the kitchen with his arms hanging pitifully at his sides while Luz unpacked the bag from their earlier trip.
“You have to actually help in order to help, you know,” she said.
Hunter gave her a look. “I don’t know how these things work.”
“You don’t know how snacks work?” Luz smirked.
“Not—!”
“Look, just get some bowls,” Luz laughed. “They’re in that drawer.”
Hunter dutifully followed her instruction.
Luz’s eyes flicked over to their friends in the room across the hall. She lowered her voice and said, “Did you…?”
Hunter let out a breath. “I knew Belos kept some Demons in captivity and did…experiments on them, for Wild Magic research. I didn’t know he kept basilisks.”
Luz nodded. “I think they were cloned, or something, from their bones, and brought back, like in Jurassic Park,” Luz said. “That’s another movie you guys need to watch, um…”
She trailed off and glanced at Hunter, whose expression was distraught.
“I think you should probably not tell her that you were in the Coven Guard.”
“Yeah, I figured, thanks.”
“You don’t—” Luz stopped herself from raising her voice. “You don’t have to be a dick about it.”
Hunter buried his face in his palms. “I know,” he said, dragging his palms down his face. “I know, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m just… Titan, I feel awful.”
“S’what the party’s for, bud.” Luz passed him packets of chips. Hunter opened them one by one and tipped them into the bowls he had gotten out.
“If you’re up for it,” Luz began carefully, aware that she might be poking too much at an open wound, “I think there must be records somewhere of…of Philip Wittebane. In the Human Realm, I mean. I was thinking that might be our first step to making, or, or finding a portal over here.”
Hunter went still.
“I could use your help in researching it,” she finished.
The room was silent for an endless minute. Hunter’s expression was unreadable; he wasn’t angry, per se, or sad. He was just somewhere else, somewhere Luz couldn’t parse.
Instead of answering her, Hunter said, “I’m gonna go on a walk.”
With that, he exited into the hallway.
“Your ears,” Luz reminded him as he pulled his boots on and began to tie them up.
“I can do an illusion.”
“You can’t have Flapjack out. Oh, wow. Flapjack. I just got that.”
Hunter looked at her. She rummaged around in their pile of snacks and found the flapjack they had bought. She held it out to him.
Luz half expected him to snatch it, but he took it from her gently and put it in his pocket. “Can I borrow a hat?” he asked. “To cover my ears.”
She found him a beanie.
“I will help you, by the way,” Hunter said. Luz nodded.
She sat on the front steps of the house as he left.
The cool evening air blew against her face. She had missed a whole summer here, a whole summer and then some.
Something welled up inside of her. She thought of Eda and wished she had her varsity jacket. She wished she had King's bony head and warm body curled up in her lap. There was a tug in her sternum, like an elastic pulled too taut, and—
A sob wracked through her body. She refused to make a sound, but her shoulders shook and tears began to stream down her face. She buried her fingers in her hair and pressed her temple into her palms, rocking back and forth to try and soothe herself.
"Luz?"
She wouldn't turn around. Her mind raced with things to say, how to play it off or explain herself or just ask to be left alone, but she couldn't do it. Her throat was too tight from the crying and she didn't quite think she could get the words out.
Whoever had found her — Willow, she realised, it was Willow — sat on the front steps next to her. Willow put an experimental arm round Luz's shoulders and Luz crumpled into her helplessly. At that, Willow hugged her close and rested her cheek atop Luz's head.
Luz clung to Willow's shirt. A thought entered her head. "I'm sorry, I'm getting snot all over you."
Willow said, "Luz, it's your shirt."
Luz laughed wetly and said, "Oh yeah."
She breathed, raggedly, in and out, and slowly but surely stopped crying. Willow procured a tissue from somewhere. Luz took it, saying, "Shut up, I freaking love you," to which Willow giggled.
Luz dried her face and looked at her friend. She thought about how much Willow had changed since they'd first met. She thought about how much she had changed, too.
"I'm glad you're here," Luz told her.
Willow said knowingly, "Here because you're crying or here with you in the Human Realm?"
"Both. But mostly the second one."
The first friend she had made on the Boiling Isles. The first real friend she had made, period. Yes, it was very fitting that they should be here together after everything that had happened.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" asked Willow.
"No." Luz rested her face in her palms. "I'll start crying again."
Willow let out a laugh. Then, "Do you want me to get the others?"
Luz paused. She nodded.
Willow went inside and returned with Amity and Gus. She said, "Vee's staying in because she doesn't wanna waste magic by disguising herself again, but she sends her sympathies."
Luz snorted.
Amity plopped down behind Luz and wrapped her arms around her middle. Willow sat back down where she had before and took Luz's hand. Gus complained, "Ach, now there's nowhere for me to comfort Luz. Budge up."
The four of them laughed. Luz reached behind her blindly until she found Gus's hand and squeezed it. Then, abruptly, she jolted out of everyone's touch and said, "Guys! Your ears!"
Gus, Amity and Willow all clamped their hands on the side of their heads in unison, making various exclamations. Gus offered to do a spell but Luz said they should just go inside.
Luz pushed them in and into the kitchen. Vee poked her head round the door of the living room. She offered Luz a smile.
Vee entered into the hallway and stopped in front of Luz. She opened her arms hesitantly. Luz rushed into the hug.
"Thank you, by the way," Vee said into Luz's shoulder. "For everything. I never got to tell you face-to-face. For what it's worth, if you can help me out without being in the same dimension as me, I think everything with the Boiling Isles will end up alright. You'll find a way."
Luz let out a laugh or sob and squeezed Vee even tighter. "Thanks, Vee."
They went into the kitchen to finish preparing the snacks and found Gus poking around at Camila's iPod. A smile grew on Luz's face. She showed him how to work it and put on some music.
With the music and her friends to comfort her, and something to do with her hands, Luz found it in her to start talking about everything that was on her mind. Even though she knew her friends were in the same state, hearing them affirm out loud they shared her fears made Luz feel less alone.
Vee tentatively mentioned she had found some sources of magic over her stay here, Luz went quiet.
Vee backtracked. "Sorry, I don't know if you want to think about solutions or just vent, or whatever."
And Luz, who had been riddled with tension for the past two days, was finally feeling herself relax. "No, Vee. I think you've just cracked it."
Of course. She wasn't just going to be fumbling around in the dark here, trying to find magic in a non-magic realm. She had the help of people who had done it before her.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. Vee volunteered to answer it.
"Oh, hi," said Hunter. "Hey, can we talk?"
Luz shared some apprehensive looks with her friends. Hunter peeked into the kitchen and waved at them before disappearing into the living room with Vee.
"I was wondering where Hunter went," Gus said.
"Yeah," Luz sighed. "We might have to have round two of this feelings circle later."
The four were content to chat and nibble on snacks for a while. A song started playing that made Luz scream with delight, "I fucking love this one," and coax the other three into dancing with her.
They were alright. Things were going to be alright.
The door to the living room clicked as Vee opened it and shuffled into the hallway. She smiled at Luz, who responded by picking up a snack bowl and saying, "Okay, guys, help me bring these through."
She was the last to leave the kitchen. Vee stopped her in the hallway. Luz overheard Hunter telling he others that he and Vee had been talking about Emperor Belos. Vee said under her breath, "He told me he's a Grimwalker."
Luz's eyebrows shot up. "No way!?"
"Yeah. It was actually nice to talk to someone else who was, y'know, brought to life by Belos."
Luz nodded earnestly. "I'm really happy for you." And then, "You joining us for snacks?"
Vee grinned. "Sure."
As they made their way to sit with the others, Luz caught Hunter's eye. She mouthed at him, You told her!
Hunter grinned and shrugged at her exaggeratedly. He was delirious with relief.
Luz muttered, "Dark and mysterious, my ass," and sat down with her friends.
"Mija."
After another movie and an attempt at a pillow fort big enough for the six of them, the group had moved upstairs to the bathroom for a nail-painting session. Camila called to her daughter from the open doorway, and Luz was glad she was neither painting her nails nor having them painted with the way she nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Hi, Mamá," she said.
"Almost bedtime now, okay?" Camila said. Luz nodded.
There was a beat of silence before Camila added, "Can I speak with you privately, mija?"
There it was.
Luz stood up and carefully stepped over the tangle of limbs and a tail to exit the room. She followed her mom to the end of the hall.
"I don't want to mess up your evening, Luz," said Camila, "but we still need to finish our talk from yesterday."
Luz deflated.
Camila continued, "I've been thinking, and… Your friends are wonderful people, mija. I can see they've really helped you. But this isn't their home. And…they need to get back to their real homes."
Luz had to process her mom's words for a moment. A smile threatened to prematurely break out on her face.
Camila could see the way her daughter perked up, and couldn't help but smile herself as she continued. "And, I wouldn't ever want to take you away from your friends."
Luz felt so happy she could burst. "So you're saying…"
"I'm saying you can look for a portal," Camila said, "and you can go back to the Demon Realm—"
Luz hugged her in a rush.
"—But," Camila said, "That doesn't mean I want you rushing into danger. If there's a way to fix things that keeps you safe, I want you to take it, okay?"
"Okay, Mamá," Luz was almost hysterical. "Okay."
Camila laughed. She had sorely missed the way Luz could smile. And even with everything that was still up in the air, the two were content in that moment just to take comfort in each other's embrace.