Chapter Text
Vee stares out of the window of her mother’s car, towards the building made of concrete and glass. Where children her age flocked towards its doors. Some are more enthusiastic than others.
“You know you don’t have to do this right?” Vee heard her mother say from the driver’s seat. “I can home-school you. Just say the word, and I can start filling up the paperwork.”
She smiled at Camila, the human woman that she sees as her mother, and said, “Thanks, but I want to be here.” She told her.
Vee knows that it would be safer if she stays away from other humans. That hiding away would be the less risky option for her. But she wants to see her friends.
For her mom’s part, while she was worried about the possibility that someone would find out who she was. She has also been supportive of her decision to go to school.
Her mom had looked up the names and photos of all students and teachers in the school. And she showed them to her. With a basilisk's impressive memory, she had memorized their names and faces. Which meant that she doesn’t have to ask around for anyone’s names. Which should allow her to blend in easier.
“Alright, but if you start having trouble with bullies, don’t hesitate to come to me.” Her mom said and she gave her a wink, “I’ll give them a taste of la chancla.”
Vee chuckled at that, though she did not doubt that she would do it if she asked. “I’ll be alright Mom.”
Her mom gave a warm smile as she heard her say that. And Vee remembered the first time she called her that.
She had watched her mom as she talked to Luz, her real daughter, through a window of the house. Luz was trapped in the Demon Realm, though she was able to talk to them through reflections.
Her own heart ached as she heard her beg for Luz not to leave her. That she didn’t mean to push her away. And while Luz had promised that she would stay, Vee could tell that she didn’t want to make that promise.
She watched her mom break down in the middle of the rain. And for a moment, she hesitated. But she worked up the courage to come out of the house.
Her mom didn’t notice her approach, and Vee called out to her, “Mom.”
Her mom gasped and she looked at her. And at that moment, she regretted uttering that word. Why would she call her that? She wasn’t her daughter. She was just a demon using the face of her daughter.
Vee backs up as she sees her approach. And she braced for a slap, which didn’t come. Instead, she found herself in her mom’s embrace, holding on to her tight, like she was afraid of letting go.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have called you that.” She had told her, her voice quiet.
“It’s okay Vee.” Her mom said to her, wiping her tears as she said, “You can call me that for as long as you want.”
“Are you sure you have everything?” Her mom asked, bringing her back to the present.
She nodded in response, picking up the bag and putting it on her back, “Yeah Mom.”
Satisfied, her mom then said, “Alright, be careful out there Vee. And don’t worry if you change your mind, I will understand. I know school’s not for everyone.”
Vee nods and she opened the door to step out of the car, but before she could set foot outside, she heard her mom say,
“Oh, and Vee, I love you.”
Vee smiled and said, “I love you too Mom.”
Then she stepped out of the car, closing the door behind her. She waved goodbye as she watched her mom’s car drive away.
Vee took a small breath before she turns to face the school. To face the place that rejected Luz, that pushed her to run away. Would they reject her too?
No, she had friends waiting for her. And just like in the camp, they would stick together, no matter what happens. It doesn’t matter if the entire school hates her, as long as she has her friends, she would be alright.
She made her way towards the school. Climbing up the concrete steps towards the main door. And for a moment, she was struck by how familiar this feels. If she ignored everyone’s rounded ears, if she ignored the lack of demons, she could almost imagine that she was sneaking into Glandus once again.
That thought made her smile. When she snuck into Glandus, she was there as an intruder, looking for something to eat. But now, while she was still an intruder, she wasn’t here to look for food. No, she was here as a student. A person that wants to learn.
She was no longer a wild animal, lurking in the shadows, stealing to survive. She was a person, a person with a future. An uncertain future yes, but it’s better than what she thought it would be when she was starving in the streets.
And as she reached the top of the stairs with a bright smile on her face, she got bowled over by a strange creature, sending her crashing to the floor.
She screamed as she felt the creature’s jagged teeth in her hair, pulling it, threatening to tear it off her skull. She screamed and fought. Trying to force the creature off her back. But she couldn’t pry the creature’s maw off of her hair.
She could see everyone staring at her. Though none came forward to help. All of them are paralyzed by fear and indecision.
“I am so sorry?!” She heard a girl’s voice from behind her though she couldn’t see them. But she did feel the other girl’s hands pry the creature off of her back. Her gentle hands freed her hair from the creature’s mouth.
Once she was freed, she turned around and backed away, and found a girl a little older than her with long auburn hair and rosy cheeks. Cradling the creature, a pink pig, like a baby which squealed as it fought to free itself from her hold. Its dark eyes locked on to hers, still trying to get to her.
To her disbelief, she saw the girl turn the pig to face her, scolding the little monster like a child, “Bad Waddles! Bad! You’re not supposed to attack people unless I told you to!” The pig only gave a grunted oink in response, before the girl brought the pig closer to Vee’s face, saying, “Go apologize!”
Vee yelped as the pig tried to reach for her, crawling backward, terrified that it might try to attack her again. She needs to get away from that lunatic and her feral pig before it tries to take another bite at her again.
“I told you not to bring Waddles to school Mab-Maple.” Another boy her age said as he climbed up the steps. He had messy auburn hair and wore a red flannel jacket.
While she thought that there was something familiar about the both of them, she could never mistake that scent emanating from the boy for something else.
The boy reeks of magic. It smells different from the magic of the Boiling Isles, but she can tell from the intensity of the aroma that whatever kind of magic he wielded, it would be powerful. If he knew how to wield his magic, he might become as powerful as most witches and demons in the Demon Realm.
But who was he? How does he have magic? Where did he come from? And why was he moving closer?
Vee crawled back from the boy, but she couldn’t get away fast enough before he got to her. He crouched down to her, offering his hand to help her up, “Look, I’m sorry about my sister. She is just very excited to be back to school again.”
His voice may be gentle, but it did nothing to quell her fear.
The school’s security guard, Augustus though everyone calls him Gus, came out of the school, saying, “Hey, what’s going on here?”
She could hear ‘Maple’ speaking to the guard, saying, “Don’t worry, this is just a big misunderstanding.”
“Is that a pig?” Gus’ voice asked, confused.
“You wanna pet him?” Maple asked.
Dipper shook his head at the exchange. Before Vee could do or say anything, Dipper’s hands grabbed her own and he lifted her off the floor and back to her feet. “Are you gonna be okay?” He asked her.
Vee nodded as she took a step back from him, “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. No harm done. I got to go!” She rushed her thanks as she turned around and run inside the school.
She needs to stay away from him. She doesn’t know what kind of magic he wields, but he might be able to see through her disguise.
She found herself lost in the halls of the school. While she had memorized the faces of all of her classmates and teachers, she might have forgotten to take note of the layout of the building.
Oh well, it’s not a big school. She should be able to find her way to her classroom.
As she walked, she began to notice how the whole school seemed run-down and falling apart. The paint on the walls peels down revealing the cracks underneath. Rust permeates the rows of lockers lined up on the sides of the hallways. As if infected by a disease that had festered and grown unhindered. She looked up and saw that some of the lights are dead. Shrouding parts of the halls in darkness.
This place was falling apart. But how did it come to this point? The camp did a better job in maintaining their buildings and according to Brock, her cabin’s counselor, they were bankrupt before a rich family bought the camp and took over.
As she walked through the quiet halls, she heard Sally’s voice call out, and she resist the urge to groan.
“So, I heard you nearly got eaten by a pig. Makes sense, pigs like eating trash. It probably couldn’t tell the difference.”
Vee rolled her eyes as she moved ahead. Ignoring Sally’s remarks.
Sally and her friends had bullied Vee back at the camp. Or at least, they tried to.
They don’t know who or what she was. Their insults mean nothing to her. They would call her Luz-er, but that wasn’t her name. They would mock her love for fantasy, which was absurd since she hated that genre with a burning passion. There were times when she would freeze when they call her ‘snake girl’, but as soon as she realized that they were referring to when Luz unleashed a bunch of snakes into the school when she was a student here, she could breathe easily and walk away.
Though Sally seemed determined to prevent her from doing that.
“Hey, Luz-er!” Sally called out to her as she followed behind her. “You’ll turn around while I’m talking to you.”
She rolled her eyes at Sally’s pathetic attempt to get her attention as she kept moving down the halls. Though she stopped as Jake and his sister, Rosas, emerged from the shadows and blocked her path. And she found herself surrounded by Sally and her friends. Or at least, most of her friends.
She sighed, looks like she needs to deal with this. She turned to face Sally behind her and asked, “What do you want?” Vee asked, crossing her arms.
“Oh, I just want to tell you that while you and your friends were able to hide from us back at the camp. Here, things will be different.” Sally said, walking towards her with a smirk, “You can’t run away from me dyke. This is my school.” Sally gestured around them with her arms.
‘That’s not something to be proud of.’
She thought of that, though she never dared to say it. Not wanting to start a fight. She wanted this to be over with before the bell rings.
“Hey Sally, could you go get my phone from my locker?” Clara spoke up and they turned to her, surprised to see her. Though her words sounded sweet, she had her arms crossed and eyes narrowed.
“Clara, where have you been?” Sally asked.
“I just arrived at school. Now could you go get my phone from my locker?” Clara asked again.
“Hang on a moment, I want to have a word with Luz here,” Sally said which made Clara scowl.
“I said go get my phone. Now.” Clara ordered.
Sally looked surprised at her tone. Though she relents, but not before shooting Vee a sharp glare as she walked away.
Rosas looked uncomfortable at that exchange. Before she could say or do anything else, Clara told her. “Go make sure she does what I told her to do.”
Rosas nodded and she told Jake, through sign language, to follow her.
With the others gone, Vee found herself alone with Clara in the quiet halls. And for some reason, she had a stronger urge to run and hide when she was alone with Clara, than when she was surrounded by bullies.
Her heart beats faster when she sees Clara approaching her and she blushed when Clara laid her hand on her shoulders.
“Are you alright Luz?” Clara asked, her voice gentle.
“I’m fine. I can handle Sally.” Vee told her.
“I’m not talking about Sally,” Clara said as she used the hand on her shoulder to turn her around to inspect her back. “Did the pig bite you?” Clara asked, using her hand to wipe the dirt off her back.
“No,” Vee said, nervous.
She still doesn’t understand what had changed.
She knew that Clara used to be friends with Luz. And she also knew that their relationship fell apart at some point in the past. But what changed?
Why does Clara want to be friends with her?
And why does she keep seeing her in her nightmares? Screaming, calling out to her. Reaching out, as black tendrils tore them away from one another.
She could only guess the reason.
“Come on, let's get you to the nurse’s office.”
END OF ACT 1 CHAPTER 1 . . .