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Luz's bedroom door creaked open as she pushed it. Her shoulders were slouched and her legs were like jelly. The cut on her cheek hurt, but she couldn't find the energy to move her sweat soaked hair off of it. She dragged her feet into the room.
"Vee," she whispered in a raspy huff, "are you awake?"
Vee unconsciously dug deeper into her bedding. Luz sighed with a disappointed nod. She made a calculated effort to scale the bunk bed ladder as noiselessly as possible, but it still shook and groaned. She settled on top of her covers, pulling her knees close. Moonlight bled through the curtain. It gave the room a cold overtone.
A few minutes passed before she looked to the corner of her bed and smiled. Her blue Palismen, an unliving egg, sat snuggly wrapped in a blanket. She slung her arms around it and pulled it into a tight hug. She sat up and began to cradle it.
"I hope your day wasn't as rough as mine, mi querido." She caught her chuckle in her hands, mindful of her sleeping sister. "I'm excited to meet you. I really want you to like it here. I promise to never call you mean names, or tell you that you'll never make it past highschool, or throw rocks at you for–"
She took a breath. She nuzzled the egg with a whimper. It did a good job listening, at least in her eyes, so she continued.
"You're gonna love my friends and family. They'll treat you well. People can be tricky, but they're great. No matter what you turn out to be, I'll love you unconditionally, too. I'm gonna pamper you so hard that it'll drive Amity insane. I'm gonna be the fun mom. Does that sound nice?"
It didn't object. She gave it a little kiss on the dome. Then she leaned her heavy head on the wall behind her. Her gentle hum intended for the egg pulled her into sleep. Long after she found stillness, deep in the night, the egg twitched.
***
Luz was half aware of the knocking coming from the front door, but it wasn't strong enough to summon her from her slumber. Vee's agitated voice, however, was.
"Luz, people. Too early. Stop them."
"You're on the bottom bunk," she yawned, "you get it."
The knock rang out again and Vee pulled her pillow over her head. "Nope. Too sleepy. It's probably your people, anyways."
"Fine. I'm up, I'm up."
Luz weaseled her legs over the railing and dropped to the floor, patting the sleep off of her face. She ruffled her bed hair and found the door. She struggled to open it, but managed.
Amity stood on the porch, well dressed and ready for the day. "Good morning, batata! I hope I didn't wake you. I was wondering if–"
She trailed off. She put a hand on Luz's check and examined the cut. "Luz, what happened?"
{Oh shoot,} she thought, {I never cleaned myself up last night}.
She invited Amity in and smiled disarmingly. "That? It's nothing. I just got into a little scuffle yesterday."
"A scuffle? Luz, did someone hurt you?!"
"It's no big deal! I saw some older kids throwing rocks at some birds, and one thing led to another…"
"That is a big deal, Luz! Nobody has the right to hurt you like that! I wish I could have been there to help."
She shrank. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to upset you."
Amity put her arms around her and swayed back and forth until she looked back into her eyes. She smiled caringly. "Don't be sorry. I'm not mad or anything, I just want you to be okay. I'm sorry you got banged up by a couple of nobodies."
"It's all good now. Thanks, hermosa. Take a seat! I'll get you a drink or something."
Amity complied. Luz sprang into the kitchen and searched the fridge, settling on a half full jug of orange juice. She energetically poured it into a glass. She dramatically blew Amity a kiss from the doorway, which made her laugh. She brought it out to her. She almost dropped it as the both flinched.
Vee had let out a blood curdling scream. She scrambled out of her room and slid behind them, pointing a finger as she stammered.
"What in the fresh hell is that!?"
Luz looked at the doorway cautiously. "What? Was it a spider? A big spider?!"
"No! Some kind of–it looked like a tiny zombie seahorse!"
Luz passed off the glass, grabbed a magazine from the coffee table, and rolled it up. She swatted it in her hand, testing its strength. "I'll go check it out."
Amity reached out to her. "Luz, wait!"
But she was already through the doorway. They waited in tense silence for her to return. They heard her gasp. Then, confusingly, she squealed as if she had seen something cute.
"Amity!" she called out, "Amity, my Palismen hatched!"
Amity sighed with relief, then fully absorbed the information. "Luz, that's fantastic! Is something wrong with it?!"
Luz rounded the door frame, her face bright as a star. She rushed forward with something in hands. She presented her Palismen. They both gasped in horror.
It was still as blue as it had been as an egg, but now with speckles of red outlining the deeper features of its body. It was not an animal. Its body was long and made of several interlocking vertebrae like a human spine. A spiral staircase-like pattern of ribs coiled around this central stem, making up the majority of its cylindrical appearance.
Luz held it up by a series of six pseudopods, three for each side, that protruded from where its shoulders should be. It had a head like an unraveling ball of yarn, only it was mostly beak and two empty eye sockets. The worst part was when it moved, bringing its nonsensical anatomy to life. It defied comprehension, like a fish that lost its shape when removed from the unsurvivable pressure of its deep ocean home.
It cooed at them lovingly. Luz cheered brightly, "It's a cute little otter!"
Vee backpedaled even more. She hid behind a deeply confused Amity. "I think the fuck it's not!"
"Series Luz," Amity asked gently, "what is it?"
Luz frowned and turned it in her hands to face her. "What? What's wrong with him? He's a tiny little water puppy and he's my darling."
Amity took a slow sip from her mug, hoping that it would suddenly become a cute little water puppy. It did not.
"Luz, sweetie, I don't know how to tell you this, but that is not an otter. What are you seeing right now?"
She cuddled him close, a bit offended, but more so confused. "I see his wittle paws, and his handsome muzzle, and big, cute babydoll eyes. Why?"
"I see a rotting bone dragon. It looks like a caterpillar, but if a caterpillar had a skeleton and then fell into the boiling sea."
"Zombie seahorse," Vee reaffirmed. "That's a zombie seahorse!"
Luz's frown grew gloomier. "That can't be right. Is it possible for a Palismen to, like, project different images of itself?"
"I've never seen anything like this." Amity thought carefully. "Palismen share a mental link with their partners, so maybe it's possible that he's distorting your presentation of him? I have no idea. That's a question for Eda."
"I have a psychic little otter companion!"
"...Maybe?"
Luz shifted the 'otter' to one arm and took Amity's hand. "Let's go see Eda right now! I need to introduce her to Iris!"
"Iris?"
"That's his name until he tells me otherwise! Vee, are you coming?"
She violently shook her head.
Amity inspected the creature from the side of her eye. She pulled up an image of Ghost in her mind and tried to tell herself that it was the same creature, but she couldn't do it. Still, she buried her distaste and smiled at her.
"Okay, Luz. Let's go see Eda! But, uhh, you should probably dismiss Iris. We don't want anyone asking questions."
"Right, right. How do I…"
Iris clicked and popped unnervingly as he folded into a little wooden statue. Luz squeaked and hugged him. She slipped him into her pocket, not even changing out of the clothes she slept in, and led Amity outside.
They bounced down the sidewalk and towards the woods, Luz doing most of the bouncing. The path wasn't long, so they didn't expect to take much time. However, they stopped abruptly when Luz heard people talking.
"Oh no."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I recognized those voices. Let's just go."
Amity looked toward the source of the sound, puzzled. A trio of boys stood around the base of a tall tree, laughing obnoxiously. Luz kept her eyes low and tugged her along with her, but suddenly stopped when she heard panicked chirping.
She instinctively turned to look and her blood boiled. They were passing a football back and forth over a high up branch, trying to hit a bird's nest. Amity watched her meekness disappear.
She stomped off the path to get closer to them. "Hey," she shouted angrily, "what do you think you're doing!?"
The tallest of the three, a junior with scraggly brown hair and a green jacket, caught the ball and rolled his eyes at the sound of her voice.
"Great," he grunted, "here comes the fun police again. Mornin' Luz-er, here to tag in? 'Cause you're not invited."
"I told you to stop harassing animals! Cut it out and go do your homework or something."
He scoffed. "You're a total square, Luz-er. Besides, everyone knows that animals don't have feelings. Now, did you forget the lesson I taught ya yesterday? About not getting in the way of our fun?"
He touched the spot on his forehead where Luz had her cut. "It looks like I knocked it into you pretty good, but if ya need a reminder, I can help with that."
Amity stepped in front of her, jaw clenched down hard. "You're the sociopath that hurt my girlfriend? I should break your arm; maybe then you'll stop throwing shit at helpless animals."
The lackey in a beanie snickered. "Oooooo. Careful, Tyler. She looks like a fighter. She might scratch you."
Tyler stepped closer to her, but she didn't back down. In fact, it encouraged Luz to stand by her side. He chuckled.
"Girlfriend, huh? I thought you were runnin' with that goth kid, Luz-er. They'd be mighty disappointed if I tell told you're playin' around with someone else."
Luz didn't let her confusion show on her face. Then she realized.
{Vee. Is Vee dating someone? Do they know that we're two different people?! They have to, right}?
"Don't worry," he said, "my lips are sealed. Well, they're sealed if you get the hell out of here and stop playing peacekeeper."
"Luz," Amity groaned, "is that going to cause Vee problems?"
"I don't know! Vee hasn't told me anything about–"
"Tick, tock, runt. You and your pal best book it home."
Luz clenched her fist, bringing it to her side. Her arm graced her pocket. It was empty. She didn't think much of it until it clicked. Empty. Iris wasn't on her person.
The third boy in the striped shirt suddenly screamed. She didn't have to look to figure out why. He fell back into the guy with the beanie.
"What in God's name is that thing?!"
Iris skittered closer to him, throwing himself forward with the pseudopods that shifted unnaturally between his corkscrew of ribs. He came up to his feet and cried out with something like a howl. It sounded more like a whale or a siren than anything. The boy toppled into the other even more and they both fell over. They clambered to their feet and took off like lightning.
"Iris!" Luz cried, "bad boy! Come here!"
Tyler blinked a few times as the beast passed by him. He watched it climb up Luz's pant leg and into her arms. She and Amity both looked at him in worry. Luz laughed nervously.
He pointed at it, as if they wouldn't know what he was focused on otherwise. "Hey, what the heck is that?!"
Luz petted him. "...an otter?"
Tyler made direct eye contact with his hollow sockets. The Palismen yowled aggressively, startling him. An odd chattering, like the stamping of a hundred distant teeth, rang around everyone. His pupils widened as if he were plunged in darkness. He stumbled backwards and fell down.
"You're all freaks! That thing is cursed! I'm telling everyone that–"
"That what?" Amity interrupted. "That we have a pet cryptid? Now, Tyler, I think you imagined that. Right?"
He pointed again. "It's right there!"
She crouched down next to him. "No he isn't. You're seeing things, aren't you?" She clicked her tongue in a way that reminded Luz of when they first met, when she was a lot more cruel.
"No one will ever believe you. I think you better keep this one to yourself."
He shot back to his feet. His eyes darted between all of them, unable to focus or calculate a response. He ran full speed into town, undoubtedly shaken of his desire to share this story with anyone. He left his ball behind.
Luz looked at the adorable otter in her hands, then at Amity. "Okay, that was kind of messed up, guys. I think we just gaslit a child."
"He's older than us and he's an asshole. At least he should stop messing with you now. And probably animals. I doubt he wants to chance having another encounter like this one."
Luz glanced up at the bird's nest. Two birds sat together inside, now peaceful. One had food in its mouth and was feeding a set of babies. She grinned.
"Alright. Let's just lay low for a while. Right now, I just want to go introduce this little guy to Eda."
"Sounds good."
Before they started walking again, Amity came up to Iris. She stuck her fist out. He looked at it curiously for a moment, then got excited. They fist bumped.
"Good boy."