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Camila had never been a woman who had much difficulty getting to sleep. Once it got to a certain time, it was like her head just turned off almost automatically. Even recently, with her daughter stuck in a Demon Realm and a new daughter who was a traumatized creature from said realm, she’d had very little difficulty sleeping. It was just the way she was wired. But even she had her limits, and tonight she’d sped past them at full speed.
Luz, the light of her life, had returned. But not entirely intact. She was quite traumatized, had a scar over her eyebrow, and for lack of a better word, she’d lost a good chunk of her innocence. Whatever had happened in the Demon Realm had forced her to grow up the hard way. Camila wanted to ask her what had happened. She’d wanted it so much. But after the way their last conversation had ended, she knew that neither of them were in the right headspace to have it without it devolving into a gigantic shouting match and possibly destroying their relationship anyway. In any event, Luz was practically dead on her feet so Camila had a very good excuse for hurrying her off to bed.
Luz hadn’t returned alone either. She’d arrived with four of her friends, Willow, Gus, Hunter, and Amity (though she’d bet every last cent she had that Amity and Luz were more than mere friends). Their explanation had been incoherent, both in terms of her not comprehending the concepts used and her not understanding what people were saying through massive amounts of tears, but she had at least figured out that Luz and her friends were stuck in the Human Realm for the foreseeable future. (A part of her felt joy that Luz could not return, and she hated herself for it.)
So now Camila was stuck with several big problems. Such as how she was supposed to raise six children on a budget that was already somewhat strained by raising just one. And just how the hell she was going to explain their presence to everyone. And helping them through trauma that she wasn’t even sure she was going to be able to parse, much less alleviate. And trying to repair her tattered relationship with Luz, which was going to be easier said than done, given that Camila had last tried to separate her from these people who clearly meant so much for her last time they’d spoken.
Camila regretted the promise she’d made Luz make almost instantly after Luz disappeared. She was not always a very diplomatic person. She had a tendency to go straight for the jugular when she was particularly upset or frustrated. It was a flaw she was working on, but clearly not hard enough. If she’d had more time with Luz, they’d have been able to come to a compromise. But everything was happening all at once. There was a storm of emotions in Camila’s heart – anger, fear, pain, and eclipsing it all, an overwhelming feeling of guilt. Guilt for not seeing through Vee’s deceptions. Guilt for not valuing her daughter for herself. Guilt for driving Luz away.
So she’d lashed out and now…now even though Luz hadn’t said anything, Camila could tell Luz had paid the price for her ill-chosen words. Now that Luz was back in the flesh, the very idea that Luz could have ever hated her was incomprehensible…though maybe Camila’s actions since Luz had gone to the Demon Realm had changed that. Camila dearly hoped not. But the fact remained: Camila had failed to realize her daughter had been replaced, and she’d failed because she liked what Luz had been replaced with. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but Camila had swallowed it nonetheless.
So now with all of the children as settled in bed as they were going to get, Camila was left with nothing to do until morning but brood and let her fears fester. In the morning, Camila could be faced with the fact that Luz hated her and, worse, was entirely justified in doing so. The very thought was filling her with dread.
Well, if she wasn’t going to get any sleep anyway, she might as well find some other activity to distract herself, she decided. She grabbed her phone so she could read one of the fanfics she’d been reading. One of the things Camila had been trying to do while she thought Luz was in Reality Check Camp was to try to gain more interest in her daughter’s hobbies. After all, she was asking for great changes from Luz; it only seemed right to try to meet her halfway.
She looked at her phone and her eyes widened when she saw what was before her. Her phone was absolutely packed with new text messages from Luz’s phone! Luz must have been sending them in the Demon Realm, but due to lack of reception, they must have only gone through when whatever she used to get back had worked. And not just text messages. There were a ton of missed calls and quite a few videos.
Camila hesitated for quite a while. On the one hand, Luz had explicitly sent the messages to her phone so she could view them. On the other hand, she knew very well Luz would prefer they watched the videos together. But eventually, the burning need to know just what the hell had happened to her daughter led her to open the first video.
“¡Hola, mami!” the chirpy voice of her daughter called out, trying, as always, to hide her nervousness behind a sunny disposition. “So…you’ve probably noticed I’m not at camp.” Camila couldn’t help but flinch. “There’s a perfectly rational explanation for that! You see, I’m in a Demon Realm!” Now Luz flinched. “Oh, great, Luz, now she’s gonna lock you in a rubber room. No, wait! I can prove it!”
She moved the phone so it was showing what appeared to be a relatively normal, if eccentrically furnished, house. “I was gonna go to camp, I swear, but then this owl stole my Azura book! And I followed him to a Demon Realm, where I met Eda! She’s…sort of a wanted criminal…” Luz gave a nervous laugh. “But the system here is totally unjust! I mean, they, like, throw people in jail for writing fanfic and eating their own eyes!”
Luz moved the phone so it was showing a kitchen. A woman with chalk white skin and pointy ears – Eda, presumably – was slumped over a table, drinking something, presumably the demonic equivalent of coffee. “Hey, Eda, say something to my mom!”
“Your kid’s eating me out of house and home here!”
Luz laughed near hysterically. “She’s a real kidder! Anyway, I’m Eda’s apprentice. She’s teaching me the ways of magic! And recently, she totally saved me from some weird puppeteer demon who…uh, might have tricked me into thinking I was the Chosen One so he could lead me into a trap…” Camila did a facepalm. “But let’s not dwell on the negatives.”
She scurried into a living room and quickly maneuvered the phone away from the gigantic wanted poster of Eda on the wall, but not quickly enough. Camila forced herself to remain calm, though it wasn’t easy. The one thing she knew with certainty about the Demon Realm was that the ruling government was evil, as shown by how they’d treated Vee, so any enemy of theirs was likely not as bad as they seemed. Hopefully.
Luz moved the phone so it was pointed at a strange dog-like creature with a skull for a head. “And this is my pal King! Say a few words for my mom, King!”
“WHEN I RULE THE MULTIVERSE, ALL WILL TREMBLE BEFORE MY MIGHT, AND YOUR MOTHER WILL BE NO EXCEPTION!” King thundered. Camila let out a giggle. Whatever King may be, he acted very much like a small dog – utterly convinced of his superiority despite vast evidence to the contrary.
“I think she gets the point!” Luz said quickly, then maneuvered the phone so it was showing some weird looking owl embedded into the door. “And this is Hooty! He’s a house demon, he’s basically the genius loci of the Owl House. Hooty, got some words for my mom?”
“When I was young I saw a square,” Hooty sang in a hideous, horrifyingly off-key voice. “A hole where something should be there. I knew all was just a game; this knowledge has not changed with age…”
Luz did a facepalm. “Yes, thank you, Hooty.” She quickly scurried away. “Mami, I’m really, really sorry I didn’t go to camp. But I was…so scared…and this opportunity dropped in my lap, and honestly, I’d regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t take it. The camp was supposed to change me…I don’t want to change. Not to satisfy a world that’d hate me no matter what I did.”
She twisted her hands. “Mami, I don’t know if I’ll ever have the courage to show you this video, but if I do, I want you to know that I’m safe here. I’m happy here. This is where I was meant to be. It’s where I’ve always been meant to be.
The video ended. “And that’s what I tried to take from you,” Camila said out loud. “Oh, Dios mío. What have I done?”
Camila opened the next video. It showed Luz standing next to none other than Willow and Gus! At least Camila presumed it was Gus. He did look a lot smaller in the video.
“¡Hola, mami!” Luz said with a wave. She looked a lot happier in this video. “So today was sure interesting! So turns out there’s a magic school here called Hexside! Willow and Gus go there and they’re my friends now!”
Camila couldn’t help but let out a gasp of excitement. She was pretty sure Luz was friends with all of Camila’s new houseguests, but to hear it said out loud, after so many years of poor Luz being socially isolated, was exhilarating.
“Wow, it is such an honor to speak to you, ma’am,” Gus said in an awed voice. “Luz is just the coolest person ever, and I’m not just saying that because I’m a certified human fanatic. She really did Willow a huge liquid today.” Camila squealed. Someone Luz’s age thought she was cool!
“A solid, Gus,” Luz said in a deadpan tone. “It’s called a solid.”
Willow gave an awkward wave. “Thanks to Luz, I’m out of the abomination track, which I sucked at, and in the plant track, where I can finally excel!” Camila didn’t know what that meant, precisely, but it sounded like good news. “Unfortunately, she’s been banned from the school.” Of course. “But it was totally an overreaction on Principal Bump’s part, in my opinion!”
Luz proceeded to explain just what had transpired. While Camila certainly could not condone cheating, she was nonetheless proud of the way Luz had stood up for the courage of her convictions and made her first ever real friends. Camila also couldn’t help but be more than a little puzzled at the description of Amity’s behavior. What exactly had changed to turn Amity from a status-obsessed bully who tried to dissect Luz to a sweet girl who looked at Luz in exactly the same way Camila had once looked at Luz’s father?
The next video had nearly given Camila a heart attack when she learned that Eda was cursed to turn into a horrible, animalistic beast. Luz had nearly been eaten by her own mentor! But clearly Luz trusted Eda and the feeling must have been mutual – the jacket Luz had been wearing was emblazoned with the letter E.
And the fear she felt completely evaporated when Luz showed her the magic she was able to wield. (The magic you’re planning on taking from her, an ugly voice whispered in the back of Camila’s head.)
“Mami, just look at this,” Luz said as she activated a glyph and light itself rose into the air. A light that was worthy of Luz’s namesake. “It’s everything I’ve ever wanted. I have to have this. It has to be mine. Please…when you figure it out, when you learn I didn’t go to camp, don’t take this from me…I don’t know what I’d do without it.” Camila nearly threw the phone across the room at the spasm of guilt that went through her at those words.
The next videos weren’t nearly as noteworthy. Some of them, Camila knew, she’d classify as filler if Luz’s adventures had been part of some Disney cartoon or something. But while Luz was making mistakes, she was definitely learning from them. What she lacked in raw magical power, she made up for in creativity, persistence, and a positively enormous heart. A heart that no doubt was busy melting Amity’s heart as well, if Luz’s increasingly enthusiastic mentions of her were any indication.
Camila was shocked to find that Luz had not only returned to magic school as a student, but was taking every single class…and thriving! Luz’s teachers, despite being demanding taskmasters at times, were all willing to give Luz accommodations for her ADHD, a sharp contrast to the rather lukewarm support she’d gotten at best back on Earth. Were it not for the absurd danger and the fact that it was not physically possible at the moment, Camila would have transferred Luz straight to Hexside on a permanent basis on that alone.
And then…and then she reached the night of Grom. The day when Camila had received that rather long and cryptic text message from her. The day when Luz, for the sake of Amity, had gone ahead and faced a monster Camila could scarcely imagine facing.
“Mami, today…today I had to fight this fear monster,” Luz said in the video. She was sitting on a couch, next to Eda. “And…and…”
“That’s it, kiddo,” Eda said in a warm, caring, and maternal voice. “You can do it.” A horrible spike of jealousy erupted in the pit of Camila’s stomach. Luz hadn’t just found a mentor in Eda – she’d found another mother. Maybe she replaced you like you replaced her, that ugly voice whispered.
“It took your form,” Luz confessed and Camila couldn’t help but let out a yelp of horror. Had she underestimated how much their relationship had frayed that badly? “It’s not because I was afraid of you!” she added hurriedly. “It’s just…I think it might be symbolic? Like…I’m afraid of you taking all this away from me…my first and best friends. My magic. Eda, King, even Hooty. So…don’t? Please?”
Eda wrapped her arm around Luz’s shoulders, like she was one of her own kids. Like she was an owlet she was trying to keep warm. “So, yeah, look, I’m not gonna deny it, I’ve grown a bit attached. I know I have a lot to answer for – a good person wouldn’t have let her stay in the first place. But don’t put my sins on her. Luz is a good kid. She’s my – apprentice.” Camila had a sneaking suspicion Eda was originally intending to say a different word.
A somber silenced ensued. “Anyway, it wasn’t a totally bad time, mami!” Luz said, sounding genuine. “It was my first dance! That I wasn’t kicked out of for wearing an otter suit, anyway…which was totally unfair! Otters are otterly awesome!” Camila groaned.
“The kid danced with the Blight girl,” Eda said in a diabolical teasing tone.
“Eda!” Luz whined. “It wasn’t like that! We were just there as friends. Amity has a crush on someone else. I don’t know who, though, but there’s no way it could be me, right?” Luz couldn’t help but hide the sad look on her face. Eda rolled her eyes, and Camila was pretty sure she knew why: Amity’s mysterious crush was likely none other than Luz herself. “I mean…heh, I’m just plain old boring Luz Noceda. Who’d be interested in me?”
She coughed. “But like I was saying, I totally had a fun night!”
“Yeah, she got to dance with her crush!” Hooty called out.
“For the last time, I do not have a crush on Amity!”
“I never said it was Amity,” Hooty said in a sing song voice. “I just said you danced with your crush – you could have danced with other people too. You said Amity…”
“I don’t have to take this,” Luz snapped and the video ended. Camila couldn’t help but grin. She was watching her little girl’s first crush. It was so cute! It was made all the sweeter by the fact that the crush had almost certainly been eventually reciprocated.
But the grin was soon wiped off her face when she learned about the events beginning with the failed heist for the Healing Hat and culminating in the destruction of the portal. Camila nearly threw up upon hearing about the duel Luz had fought with Emperor Belos, a duel she clearly only survived because Belos let her live. She didn’t blame Luz one iota for destroying the portal, though. It was clearly the best option available to her. That monster couldn’t be allowed to even set foot in the Human Realm.
Shortly after the incident with the Selkidomus, Luz accidentally sent out all of the videos she’d recorded up until that point. Camila couldn’t help but feel guilty after learning that Luz hadn’t actually wanted her to watch those videos, but she decided she was still going to watch the remaining videos. She was gaining a great deal of understanding of exactly how the Isles had changed her daughter, and presumably Luz had sent out the rest of the videos on purpose.
“So…uh, don’t panic, mami, but Amity’s mom may have tried to kill me,” Luz said in the video after the Selkidomus incident. Camila sighed. She should have known this was coming. Amity’s parents hadn’t exactly made a good impression on Camila after what they’d done to her and Willow back when they were kids. “Yeah…now I want it stated for the record that it was not my fault. I was just trying to negotiate my way back to Hexside – I got expelled, by the way; it’s all good now, don’t worry! – and Amity’s mom tried to kill me and made it look like one of her robots malfunctioned! In, like, public!”
Camila shuddered a little. “But it’s okay!” Luz said. “Amity saved me! She came to my rescue and forced her parents to back off, and she said stay away from my Luz, and am I her Luz now?” Luz was talking a mile a minute. “I’ve never been anyone’s Luz before…no. No, I’m totally misreading the signs. I’m not going to make this mistake again. This isn’t going to end up like Brandon or Katie or Paul or…” Luz proceed to list an alarmingly long list of names. “But…I don’t know if I can deny it anymore, mami. I want to be her Luz.”
She twisted her hands nervously. “I know you were cool with me being bi but…you really meant that, right? It wasn’t just something you were saying? Cause I…I really think I have a crush on Amity.” She let out a soft gasp. “I actually said it…” She was silent for a while. “Uh, yeah, so I’m just gonna think about this. I mean…it’s not like she’d ever want to date someone like me. She’s got a crush on someone else, after all. But still, it’d be nice.”
The next few videos were extremely interesting, but they weren’t half as interesting as the one that Luz sent after she’d braved the trials to get Amity her job back.
“Mami…she kissed me.” Camila let out a shout of joy so loud that she had to pause the video and check to see if she woke anyone up. Thankfully, she did not; a testament no doubt to their tiredness than her volume. She returned to the bed and then eagerly started the video again. “Right here,” Luz said, pointing to her cheek. “Maybe I’m misreading it? I mean, it’s probably just a friendly gesture. People in France kiss each other on the cheek, right? Maybe people do it here.” She looked contemplative. “Though I haven’t seen Willow do it…maybe it’s an upper class thing?” She sighed. “Or maybe I’m in denial. But if I’m wrong…I don’t know how I’ll ever recover from the humiliation. Then again, if I’m right, I’ll get to date Amity. Amity Blight will be my girlfriend. I think…I think it’s really worth the risk.”
The next video definitely gave Camila a better understanding of what Hunter had been going through. He was going to be difficult to handle if Camila wasn’t extremely careful. She would have to ask his friends for advice.
Two videos later, Camila’s eardrums nearly exploded at the earsplittingly loud squeal of happiness from Luz. “I ASKED HER OUT, MAMI!” Camila couldn’t help but let out a cheer. “I’m actually dating Amity! AMITY BLIGHT IS MY GIRLFRIEND. I’m still in awe…I feel like I’m floating on air. It’s like a beautiful dream. Oh, she’s amazing. I’ll get her to record a video soon enough…she’s kind of shy. And very nervous about meeting you. But she’ll get more comfortable in time. Anyway, we’re gonna have our first date soon. I’ve gotta go so I can brainstorm ideas.”
Much to Camila’s surprise, it wasn’t Luz who was in the next video, but rather Amity. “Hello, Mrs. Noceda,” Amity said with a nervous wave. “Gee, I hope I’m doing this right. Uh, yeah, so I’m Amity Blight-Noceda.” Her eyes widened in pure horror. “BLIGHT. I am Amity Blight, no other name yet – at all!” She sighed. “Titan, I’ve already screwed things up. You only get one chance to make a first impression, Mom always says.” She steeled herself. “Right. Mrs. Noceda, it is a distinct pleasure to meet you. As the top abominations student at Hexside and heir apparent to Blight Industries, the biggest abominations corporation in the Boiling Isles, I dearly hope I can be a worthy match for your lovely, incredible, really pretty daughter.”
Camila watched with a fond grin as Amity’s face got a lovesick look that reminded Camila distinctly of her own back when she was first dating Luz’s father. “Ahem. The reason why I am making this video now is to inform you that Luz is currently ill with the common mold. Do not panic. This is a very normal, common disease that will doubtlessly pass in a day or so. Right now, she’s delirious and has a fever, but she will recover. I’m on my way to recover Titan’s Blood to bring her back to you. Luz will be in capable hands in my absence, I promise you.” The video abruptly ended there.
The next video was clearly taken after that horrible rainy night. Luz showed Camila some of the wonders of the Isles (it took a long time to watch the video fully because Camila threw up upon seeing the skinless Hooty). It was not exactly one of the best sells Luz had ever done. The video after that was taken shortly after the video ended. Luz looked almost scared in it.
“Mami…I can’t keep my promise,” she said, and she let out a huge sob. “I’m so sorry. I really tried to make a clean break of everything, but I can’t. My friends, Eda, King, Hooty, and especially Amity – I love them all too much to give them up. I can’t give up magic.” She cast another light spell. “I’m happy to compromise – I can stay with you on weekends, or, heck, I can even stay with you on a regular basis as long as I can visit the Isles, but I can’t give it all up. I wouldn’t be me anymore. So please, please reconsider. Don’t force me to never return. I’m begging you, mami. Begging you. This is not a witch fantasy. This is my life now.”
Camila could not help herself. She started crying. She’d tried her best to not drive Luz away, and yet she’d done it anyway, like one of those self-fulfilling prophecies straight out of myth. “Oh, lucecita,” she said softly.
“I didn’t leave because I hated my world,” Luz went on. “I left because my world – except for you – hated me. It was nothing you did. Mami, I have to be honest. I never would have returned if it weren’t for you. You’re the only thing I have left there since…since…” She trailed off, but she didn’t have to say it. They both know who she was talking about. “I really want to come up with a solution that works for everyone. But if you force me to choose between you and the Isles, between you and me…Mami, I’m so sorry, but I’m gonna choose me. Te quiero. Te quiero siempre.”
The next video was particularly odd. Luz had actually time traveled to the very distant past, where they’d met Philip Wittebane, of all people. What were the odds that Luz had actually met with one of Gravesfield’s founders? And a total jerk too, by the sounds of it. At least the video after that was more lighthearted, with Luz excitedly recounting a race she’d run with King to get word out about his father.
And then the next video practically punched her in the stomach with emotion.
“I wasn’t there, mami,” Luz whispered, and Camila knew in an instant what Luz was talking about. Luz had missed the ritual of laying a flower on her father’s grave. “I’m a horrible person. A horrible daughter. I’m just this…selfish waste of space!” She burst into tears. “I made your life miserable! You probably prefer living with Vee to some ungrateful brat like me. She’s a better daughter, isn’t she? She made you happy, I bet. More than I could.”
“No, no, no, Luz,” Camila babbled, as if she could hear her, as if it hadn’t already happened, as if it could make the slightest amount of difference. “I love you so much. You’re a wonderful daughter!”
“Papi’s probably looking down on me and thinking what a disappointment I am,” Luz went on. “He’s probably telling the angels what a pathetic daughter I am…”
“MINOTAURSHIT!” Eda’s voice thundered. Luz let out a yelp of surprise as Eda sat down next to her. “That’s the biggest crock of minotaurshit I’ve ever heard, and I’ve come up with some whoppers in my time. You are the best daughter I could ever have.” She put her hands to her lips in shock. “I…I mean…that. Yeah, I meant that.”
Eda coughed. “Look, kid, you’re not a waste of space. You’re not selfish or horrible or ungrateful or any of those things. You’re a kid who’s had to make some tough choices. Were some of them the wrong choices? Maybe. But you’re still a kid. Cut yourself some slack. And I highly doubt your dad thinks so badly of you too.”
Luz wiped away her tears. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you so much, mom.” She looked straight into the camera. “I’m not replacing you. I am not. But Eda’s done so much for me and I love her. She’s my mom, just as you are. Okay? I hope that’s okay. And one day, you two will meet and you’ll probably drive me up the walls with embarrassment, but it’ll be cool because I know you both love me.”
“I can’t wait for that,” Camila said softly, as the video came to an end.
The next video was the worst one yet. The video that explained just what was going on with Belos, with Philip, with Hunter. Eda was the one explaining things; Luz was just too traumatized to do it. Camila could barely process the monstrous levels of evil needed to sustain such terrifying hatred for centuries. To completely dehumanize an entire world to the point where one saw its inhabitants as nothing more than vermin to be exterminated. To create copy after copy of what had to be Caleb, to abuse and pretend to love them only to kill them one after another. She prayed she’d never be able to understand.
The last video was almost worse than the one before it. It was only a few seconds long. “It was all my fault,” were the only words Luz said on it, and then it ended just as soon as it had begun.
Camila made up her mind right there and then. Luz would be returning to the Isles. No matter what happened, even if Camila had to storm the imperial palace herself and give Belos a fatal taste of the chancla, Luz would be returning. It was the only way forward. It was the right thing to do.
She got up out of her bed and knocked on the door of Luz’s bedroom. Luz answered the door, fear in her eyes. “Hey, Luz,” Camila said in her gentlest tone. “I saw your videos.”
“You did?” Luz said, sounding shocked. “I guess they must have been sent somehow when I went through the portal…”
“I saw them, and I promise here and now, I’m going to do whatever I can to help you go back. I love you so much, lucecita.”
Camila was nearly bowled over by a hug. “Muchas gracias, mami. Te quiero mucho.”