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“Thanksgiving will be here in a few weeks,” Camila said to Luz and Vee. She was sitting at the kitchen table with her planner adding new events to the calendar. “We’re not able to fly out to the Dominican Republic. We need the magic up here for Vee and the family is not in any condition to fly up here this year,”
“Let’s invite everyone from the Boiling Isles here for Thanksgiving,” Luz suggested.
“And maybe Masha and their mom,” Vee added, “They cut ties with their family.”
“Okay,” Camila said, pushing her glasses up with her index finger, “Who are we inviting?”
“Eda, Raine, King, and Amity and her family,” Luz answered, “I know you’d like to see Willow Gus and Hunter so we can invite them and their families.”
“Families?”
“Willow’s dads, Gus’s dad, and Darius and Eber.”
“Okay. That’s seventeen people plus us which makes 20. I think that’s a good crowd. I’ll have to start meal planning. Luz, maybe your witch family, girlfriend, and friends can bring something. I’d love to have some human and demon tradition at the table.”
“I love that idea,” Luz agreed.
“And I’ll talk to Masha. Their mom makes delicious stuffing.” They invited me for Thanksgiving while you were in the Boiling Isles two years ago.
“It’s already been two years since Belos was defeated,” Luz sighed, “Wow.”
“I know,” Vee said, “So much has changed both here and in the Boiling Isles. Time does fly.”
“It sure does.”
“Okay,” Camila said, “I think I have everything set. Luz, I know it’s not a Demon Realm weekend, but I would like you to hand out invitations. I’ll make them tonight.”
“You got it.”
The next day, Luz packed her bag for the day and headed off the the Demon Realm. It was raining so Luz had to take an umbrella with her to the other house. Thankfully in a few months, Camila will have all the money saved and she’ll be able to move there with Vee and Luz to protect the door better.
Once Luz went through the portal she found that no one was in the living room waiting for her. She started to walk around the house looking for them.
“Eda? King? Raine?” Luz shouted, “I’m here.”
“Luz!” Eda shouted from upstairs, “I’m sorry we had a little situation. Everything is fine. King has a mold.”
“Oh okay. Sorry.”
“Oh, no worries. You already had it so you can’t get it again. You’re not supposed to be here this weekend.”
“I know. But my mom wanted to give you this. You’re all invited to Thanksgiving at my house.”
“Oh, Luz. Is this one of your human holidays?”
“Yup. Everything is laid out on the invitation.”
“Thank you so much. We’ll see you then.”
Luz made her rounds around town delivering invitations to everyone. Her last stop was Amity’s where she had some lunch before she headed back to the Human Realm.
“So this ‘Thanksgiving,’” Amity asked before Luz left for the day, “What is it exactly?”
“It’s a holiday. It used to be about how the pilgrims who crossed the ocean on the Mayflower celebrated their harvest, and their relationship with the Indigenous tribe living in the area, but now it’s celebrated with friends and family to give thanks to each other and we enjoy a wonderful meal together. Feel free to bring something you like to cook.”
“Oh… alright. Yeah, I can do that. I can make a fairy pie for dessert.”
“Sure. I don’t think my mom will like it though.”
“Oh, that’s fine. I don’t think your mom is gonna eat anything we make.”
“She does like the griffin eggs so there’s hope.”
Amity laughed. “We’ll see you then unless you come to visit us next week.”
“You bet. I’ll come visit you.”
“Alright. I’ll see you.”
“See ya.”
The next few weeks went slow. Luz tried to focus on her schoolwork but she was excited to share Thanksgiving with her friends and family. Falling behind wasn’t much of an option unfortunately because Luz was a senior in high school. She had things to take care of for college and graduation. Luz decided that she wasn’t going to apply for colleges here in the Human Realm but she needed to do several future planning classes because it was required for seniors. Nobody needed to know she would disappear from the Human Realm the day after graduation except for visiting Camila and Vee and her other family, but her school does have a decision day and she needs to make up a lie for that.
Eventually, Thanksgiving came. Luz and Vee woke up and decided to spend the morning playing Animal Crossing and Mario Kart. They had full control of the TV until Camila told them to get off and help clean and decorate.
“We’ve been cleaning all week,” Luz complained after two hours of helping, “Plus it’s Eda. Have you seen her owl’s nest?”
“It needs to be done anyway. It’s not just for the party. The party is motivation. Why don’t you two get ready? They’re going to be here in an hour.”
Vee being in basilisk form, only needed to bathe and take some magic to be in human form. She didn’t need to be in human form for Thanksgiving dinner, but she wanted to be.
Luz on the other hand took some time. Her hair has gotten curly over the last few years and she needed to take the extra time to take care of it. She picked out a gold and purple flannel with some jeans. She put on her outfit paired it with Doc Martins, and went downstairs to enjoy the party.
Everyone started arriving shortly after Luz got down the steps. Camila roasted the turkey since she was hosting. Masha and their mom brought some cranberry sauce and stuffing. Luz had time to make a green bean casserole which turned out really good despite her cooking abilities.
Eda brought some deviled griffin eggs, Amity brought some fairy pie, Lilith brought cookies that the humans weren’t familiar with, and Willow and Gus’s families brought drinks.
“Sorry we didn’t bring anything,” Hunter said “Darius is super busy and we didn’t have the time.”
“No worries at all,” Luz said, “We have plenty of food here.”
It was good to have everyone in the same room again after so long. Camila and Masha’s mom, Jade, were introduced to each other and they struck up a conversation about magic and witchcraft, and the fact that their kids are dating, Raine and Eda were chatting with Masha and Vee talking about what it’s like to be an enby couple in the Human Realm. The Hexsquad reunited after two years of being apart. Of course, everyone saw each other, but everyone was just too busy to be together in one room. The kids were talking about their latest projects, endeavors, and ambitions.
Dinner was called at 6:00. Everyone settled into the dining room. Camila didn’t use the dining room except for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Luz and Vees’ birthdays. Once everyone was settled, Camila stood up with her wine glass in hand.
“Today we celebrate family, and friends, and we give thanks to everyone at this table,” She said
“Here here,” everyone chanted as they clanged their drink glasses together in cheers.
“And we celebrate family,” Eda added, “Whether it's by blood or not. We are all family.”
“Here here.”
Camila carved the turkey with Alador’s help. Plates were passed and everyone got a helping of everything they wanted. While the adults drank wine (and alcoholic apple blood) the kids had cranberry juice.
“I gotta say,” Em said, “This is the best Human food I’ve ever had,”
“I second that,” Ed added
“I’m so glad you like it,” Camila said, “I haven’t roasted a turkey since my husband passed away. This is his recipe. If he were here you should be thanking him.”
“Mamá,” Luz said with a worried look on her face.
“It’s okay, mija,” Camila smiled.
Once dinner was concluded, the adults helped Camila clean up. The kids started a game of Uno in the living room.
“I haven’t played since I was last here,” Hunter admitted as he dealt the cards
“We’ve never played,” Ed said. Em nodded in agreement.
“It’s okay,” Amity spoke, “I’ll team up with Ed and Luz can you team up with Em so we can show them how to play?”
“Oh yeah of course.”
Hunter finished dealing. He put the deck in the middle of the table and picked up the first card. A blue 4.
“The object of the game is to run out of cards,” Luz said as she was looking through the deck she and Em were sharing, “But be careful. Some of the cards aren’t nice.” Luz picked up a blue draw 2 and put it in the middle.
“Draw 2, Gus,” Luz said
“Really? Why me?”
It was Willow’s turn next. She put a blue 3 on top and Vee changed the color to red.
“If you have the same number in a different color, you can use it,” Amity said
“But we don’t have any reds,” Ed whispered
“That’s okay. When it’s our turn we can draw from the deck.”
The game continued. Ed and Em picked up pretty quickly, and it was all fun and games until King called Uno.”
“What?!” Luz was shocked King picked up so quickly. This was the first time he was playing on his own.
“It’s called being strategic,” King laughed
And King won the game. By the time they finished dessert was out.
“More food?” Willow asked
“Yeah. Thanksgiving is a food holiday. And what’s Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie?” Luz added
“This is true,” Vee agreed
The kids plated dessert. Everyone tried the pumpkin pie. The witches had the fairy pie and some had chocolate pretzel sandwiches too.
“Pumpkin pie is so good,” Amity said as she took her last bite.
“I’m glad you like it,” Luz smiled, “I made it.”
“Well if you made it I like it even better,” Amity giggled as she kissed Luz’s cheek.
The adults were in the dining room enjoying coffee talking about life and what everyone has been up to.
“How’s saving up to buy the house?” Eda asked Camila
“I’m almost there. I’m gonna have enough money to buy it in the spring. The construction was done about a year ago, and it’s only right if we bought it to protect the portal. Luz will be going to The University of Wild Magic anyway, and Vee will most likely go to college with Masha. I’ll have an empty nest soon, but the door must stay safe.”
“I hear you,” Alador said, “Amity and I can make subtle abominations that can guard the door for you.”
“That would be helpful, but I also bought cameras that I will put around the house.”
“But the abominations will catch intruders.”
“True. If you can make them look like robots, I’ll have them.”
“You got it.”
“I’ll help,” Darius cut in, “Raine and I developed some new technology and we’ve been testing it on Alador’s abominations.”
“Oh yeah I forgot about that,” Raine admitted
“Raine took some time off due to some mental health issues,” Eda explained, “But they’re doing okay now and they returned to work.”
“Oh, that’s good to hear,” Camila said
Camila spent some time getting to know Willow’s dads and Gus’ dad. They thanked her for taking care of them during the time they were trapped in the human realm.
After a while, it was time for everyone to leave. Luz escorted everyone back to the door.
“See you next Friday?” Eda asked Luz.”
“You betcha.”
“Alright. See you then, kiddo,” Eda hugged Luz and King joined in. Raine hugged Luz afterward
“Keep up in your science class.”
“I will don’t worry.”
Luz and Amity kissed goodbye and said goodbye to her friends.
“I’ll be over in a couple of weeks to gather research for the University,” Gus said
“I hope you can come the the Flyer Derby game next Saturday. It’s the first big game of the season,” Willow added
“And I’m here if you ever need to talk or… whatever,” Hunter said
“Thanks,” Luz said as she hugged her friend.
“You must take me to the Gravesfield Historical Society sometime,” Lilith said “I need to know if the information here about the Witch Trials is accurate.”
“I’ll take you there,” Luz laughed. She opened the door and watched everyone step through. When the last person went through she closed it.
“It’s okay,” Luz said to herself while sniffling. “I’ll see them soon.”
Luz walked back to the house. Tomorrow was Black Friday and Luz and Vee had plans to go shopping with Camila. But for now, Thanksgiving was a hit.