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Old shoes moved quickly over the slick tarmac, rain falling heavily over the small town. The boy carried himself as best as he could while his legs threatened to buckle beneath him, eyes darting back and forth along the treeline desperate for somewhere to hide. The hum of an old motor was an unwelcome sound that prompted him to run even faster, adrenaline being the only thing keeping him going. As the motor got louder his eyes finally caught sight of what seemed to be an old shack between the trees.
As quickly as he could, he pivoted himself in its direction and began running through the grass. He didn’t even notice he was holding his breath as he inched closer to the wooden door, grabbing its handle. Relief briefly washed over him as it opened and he made his way inside, slamming it closed.
He dropped to his knees in front of the door wrenching his eyes shut, lungs burning and legs aching. It felt like he had been running for hours as his ragged breaths hitched in his throat. He finally felt safe. It was an overwhelming feeling that made tears begin welling up in his eyes.
After managing to calm himself, he looked up at the door in front of him. Its strange appearance was the first thing he noticed. It didn’t look wooden at all, and it was bright red. The surface was smooth and seemed more like stone or metal.
He placed his still-shaking hands against it and brought himself to his feet. The door was completely textureless and cold to the touch. As he turned to look into the shack, he found himself standing outside near a cliff over a sea. Stars sat brightly in the sky above and the grass on the cliff swayed gently with the wind. The boy had no idea where he could be. This didn’t look like Gravesfield, at least not what he’d seen of it. That feeling of relief slowly turned to fear as he stared out into the distant twilit horizon.
The bright sky shined over the university as Amity paced back and forth in front of her friends. “What are we going to do if something happens while Luz is at college?” The girl asked worriedly.
“It’ll be fine.” Gus assured, waving a hand for emphasis and taking a bite out of his authentically human sandwich. “Besides,” the shorter of the three continued. “We could handle it.”
Willow nodded, giving Amity a pat on the back. “It’s only been a day since she left. It might be difficult to get used to, but she’ll be back eventually.”
“Yeah!” Gus agreed with a mouthful of cheese and probably too much lettuce. “She told us she’d come back during her breaks.”
Amity smiled weakly, sighing a bit. “That’s true… still, maybe we could figure something out? Like a plan in case something does happen?”
“Of course. Better safe than sorry.” Willow says, attempting to further comfort Amity.
Gus looks off a bit as the bell begins ringing. “Totally yeah! We can talk about that later at the owl house.” He says, looking back to the girls. “My students need me.” Gus stands and heads towards his classroom, waving to Amity and Willow.”
Both girls chuckle a little bit as he does. “I need to head off too,” Willow says. “Hunter and I still have some training to do!”
Amity smiles at her, raising an eyebrow. “Be careful, you might break him.” She jokes.
Willow stifles a laugh. “Don’t say it like that!” She flushes a bit. “Gotta go though. See you later!”
As Willow heads off, Amity waves to her before taking out her phone and looking at the screen. She stares at it for a moment, opening her texts with Luz. “Miss you.”