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“W-what?” Luz blinked. “I should be the one saying that.”
“Huh?” The strange snake demon seemed just as confused as Luz herself. “Why would you say it?”
“Because I’m like this! Why would you say it?”
It took several minutes for both girls to calm down enough to actually introduce themselves and even longer for Luz to convince Vee to join her for the closest thing she could get to a dinner. It was mostly just the fruits and berries she managed to scavenge.
“What are you?” Vee asked as the human swallowed her mouthful of apple adjacent fruit.
“Human?” At least she was right now.
“Last I checked, humans can’t turn into demons.” Vee said blankly.
“I don't know what the other form is but I’m human now.”
“Ok… how’d you get here?”
“I don't know. Passed out in Gravesfield and woke up in a clearing outside of Bonesborough.”
“What do you know?”
“Where the library is.”
Vee groaned and pressed her face into her hands. “So you know basically nothing?”
Luz shrugged and grinned. “What about you? What are you?”
The snake demon went quiet with the exception of some chirps. Finally, they said, “I’m a Basilisk.”
“Cool!” Luz took another bite of her fruit.
“You're not scared?”
“Should I be?” Luz lowered the mostly eaten maybe-apple.
“Most people are.” Vee told her. “Basilisks, uh… we eat magic.”
“I don't have magic right now,” she pointed out, “so, I’m not seeing an issue here.”
“You're insane.”
“You say that like it's a bad thing.”
Luz ended up convincing Vee to stay with her given that they were both separated from their families. It took about two weeks for her to realize a problem.
They had no money and it was hard to get enough food for the both of them. Ok, she realized the issue in the first week but she tried foraging more to fix it. When that didn't work, she tried hunting but neither of them had it in themselves to go through with it.
“I think I need to get a job.” Luz said one morning as she packed up her bag.
“Why?” Vee was seated by the campfire, checking to see if the wood needed to be completely replaced.
“We’re not exactly living in luxury, Vee.” She deadpanned. “We barely have enough food for today, let alone a whole week.”
“We could try hunting again.” Luz just stared at the demon. “Yeah, ok.”
“I pass a bounty hunter station on my way to the library. I could give that a shot.” Luz picked up a Cynthia Coven book. “You done with this?”
Vee nodded. “I don't know, Luz. It might draw attention to us.”
“Everything we do could draw attention,” she put the book in her bag, “and we really do need food.”
“I could eat the glyphs.”
“No way. Last time you had one, I caught you on the floor unable to move because of the pain.” She shuddered at the memory. “You were like that for an hour.”
She moved about the cave in silence, careful not to step on the Basilisk’s smaller nest.
“Are you going to the library today?” They asked eventually.
“Yup.”
“Could you get me the next book in the series?”
“I’ll see if they’ve got it, yeah.” Luz transformed into Goliath and put on her bag.
“Thanks. Be safe.”
“I always am.”
“So, Bookmaker Otabin surrounded by friends, bound a book of friendship and that’s the end.” Amity closed Otabin and smiled at the group of children, who clapped. “Alright, that’s all we have time for today. Your parents should be up front.”
“Thank you miss Amity!” The kids all said in unison. They turned to leave the Kid’s Corner but a familiar demon leaned against the side of the entrance with her arms crossed and a smile.
Braxas ran to Luz with a chirp.
She cooed, bending down and picking Braxas up to hold him against her hip.
“Who is that?” One kid, who hadn't been there during the rain a while back, asked.
“Luz!” Amity approached her friend. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s library day.” Luz chirped. “I thought I’d come say ‘hi’.”
Amity checked her scroll and realized the demon was right. It was the start of the weekend, the same day Luz spent her time in the library doing research.
“I must have forgotten.” Amity muttered, mostly to herself. In her defense though, she had been busy with the beginning of a new semester creeping up on her. And the twins being particularly annoying. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s ok, you can help me find some books to make it up to me.” The demon winked and Amity tried her best not to combust right then and there.
“R-right, well, I gotta clean up first, and the kids need to find their parents.”
The group of witchlings and baby demons protested, which Luz laughed at. The demon set Braxas back down and patted his head.
“You kids don't want to worry your parents, right?” She asked.
“No ma’am.” Another demon child whined.
“Then off you go.” Luz moved out of the way with a soft chirp. Kids slowly filtered out, Braxas giving both teens a hug on his way.
Amity moved to stand next to Luz and said, “You're pretty good with kids.”
“I’m not nearly as good as a certain librarian.” Luz bumped their shoulders together.
The Blight heir looked away, her cheeks burning. “You give me too much credit.”
“Nah.”
“Give me a second, and I’ll help you find those books.”
“You're the best, Amity.”
Luz scanned the shelf of rare, endangered and extinct demons in the hope of finding one like herself. She had already checked some of their other books, thinking she must be a common one with what little commotion about her appearance, but that didn't give her any results. It took Vee telling her Basilisks were once extinct a few days ago that gave her the idea to do so.
“How about this one?” Amity grabbed a big tome-like book and held it out to Luz. “It’s even written by a former Coven Head.”
“‘ Children of the Titan ’ by Cernunnos?”
“They were the Head Witch of the Beast Keeping coven almost 20 years ago.” Amity told her. “They wrote several books on all the species on the Isles.”
Sure enough, at the very bottom of the cover was ‘Entire Collection’ in a golden font.
“Right. Possibly stupid question,” Luz cleared her throat. “What is a ‘Head Witch’?”
Amity’s blank stare told her she was in for a rather long conversation. Mentally, she added books on government to her readling list.
“So,” Amity began as Luz looked over the shelf of fiction stories, “are you going to be starting school soon?”
The demon’s eyes widened and Amity swore she heard a whine. “Probably not.”
“Why not?” Amity immediately thought Luz would be going home soon and that was why. If that was it, Amity thought it was unfair. She had become close to Luz in their time together, and she never got a chance to run her fingers through that curly, fluffy mane of hair.
“I won’t have the time.” Luz pulled out a book and looked it over. “Research and all that.”
“Wouldn't school be the perfect place to be then?” Amity tilted her head in confusion. There were so many different kinds of people at Hexside, it made for a great study. Or, at least, Amity thought so.
Luz went silent and looked a little nervous. “I’ll, uh… I’ll think about it.”
“Ok.”
Luz ultimately put the book back.
Luz stared at the various wanted posters. She needed something that paid good money with a semi-low risk factor. Someone like this ‘Owl Lady’, who’s reward would have Vee and Luz really living in luxury, had to be too dangerous to go for. And yet, she couldn't look away from the small creature in the bottom left corner.
It looked like a canine with a skull and horns where the ears were supposed to be. Its eye was distinctly cat-like. Just looking at the creature scratched an itch in Luz’s brain that she didn't know was there. The longer she stared, the more she wanted to go, find them, and take them back home.
Someone bumped into her, forcing her to take a step forward to avoid falling. She all but jumped around to face them and growled, what she had once thought to be a belt was really a tail that stood straight up.
“S-sorry!” The witch that bumped into her stuttered.
“Oh…” Luz gave that nervous laugh that still sounded more like birds and her tail went back around her waist. “No, I’m sorry.”
The witch was quick to walk off, not letting Luz say much else. She must have really been out of it. Speaking of out of it, how had she not noticed the tail until now? One would think a whole new appendage would be one of the first things she’d notice. Oh well.
She glanced at the Owl Lady’s poster and quickly tore it down to put into her—over-packed—bag. She grabbed two more posters, a Garlog worth 4,000 and an ‘Abominable Cutie Pie’ worth 600.
She had actually run into Garlog by accident when searching for a place to stay that first night. He was maybe 15 minutes from her cave and she was confident that she and Vee could handle it.
The ‘Abominable Cutie Pie’ couldn't be that bad for 600 bucks. It looked about as dangerous as a 5 year old. She could probably take it on her own. Although, she would have to actively look for this one. She had no clue on where she’d find it. But those were problems for later, right now she had to head back before it got too dark to forage up some food.
Vee really wasn't sure how Luz had convinced them to go along with this bounty hunter thing. She wouldn't even be able to help with most of them because they were trying to avoid populated places, like towns. All they knew was that Luz came home with three wanted posters, two of which they were doing, one day and now the two stood just outside of a large cave.
“Think we could move in when we turn in Garlog?” Luz, who was currently human, asked.
“We could probably buy an actual house if we catch them.” Vee glanced at the wanted poster again. 4,000 snails was a lot. She turned it over and looked at the last seen part. “Are you sure this is the right place? The poster says he was last seen near the Swampy Toes.”
“I mean, he was here around a month ago and he didn't exactly see me that time.” Luz glanced around the cave’s entrance. “I think the cave would give us more room than a house. Also, we’d save money if we didn't have to pay rent.”
“You just want to live in a cave.” They accused.
“You have no proof!” There was a beat of silence. “But yeah, basically.”
“What is with you and caves?”
The human shrugged and the Basilisk groaned. They would never understand Luz and the things she did.
“Anyways,” a golden ring appeared around the human’s waist, splitting in two, “let’s catch a demon.”
The two demons entered the cave, one far more confident than the other. To Luz’s credit, the cave was much larger than the one they were currently staying in. It was also much darker than theirs.
“I can’t see a thing.” Vee said after a while.
“On it.” A glowing yellow symbol, or glyph as Luz called them, appeared before them. It crumbled in on itself, forming a small ball of light. “That better?”
“Yeah.” And it was. The ball was way brighter than one would think for something of its size.
“C’mon then.”
Luz led them deeper into the cave with a wide grin. Now that they could see, she had to admit the cave was pretty nice. At the very least it was less humid than their current cave. Then there was the fact that the two would be saving a lot of money if they didn't need to pay for things like power.
The only real downsides were how dark the cave was, which wasn't that much of an issue thanks to magic and shapeshifting, and how deep it was. The two had been walking for who knows how long before they finally found signs of someone else there with them in the form of laughter.
“Garlog?” Vee asked quietly.
Luz nodded. “Think you could try a sneak attack?”
“Maybe?” They hoped that sounded a bit more confident than she was. Luz merely gave her a thumbs up. “Here goes nothing.”
Vee shifted into a Cyclops Bat and hovered overhead. Then immediately landed on one of Luz’s horns. They weren't the best shapeshifter, that was Number Three, nor the one to shift the most, Number One, so such a great change to their physique threw the young Basilisk off.
Luz offered a bony finger that Vee shakily stepped on to. The demon lowered her hand and chuckled. “You're adorable.”
“ Shut up. ” Vee said, their cheeks warming from embarrassment. Only it came out as high pitched squeaks that confused Luz.
Likely it was because they didn't have the right vocal cords, but it would have to do because she wasn't sure she could change it without losing her concentration.
She flapped her wings experimentally, trying to get used to this new body. It was a little hard to tell how hard or how much they needed to flap in order to fly, rather than momentarily take off.
Once she was sure they could do it, Vee took off. She hovered there for a few moments, to really make sure, then flew deeper into the cave, after the source of the laughter.
Flying was… weird. It took a lot more focus than Number Three made it seem. Three could fly, talk, and still be shifting all at once without breaking a sweat and Vee was struggling to just stay afloat half the time. Still, they were nothing if not a fast learner.
The laughter seemed to be coming from a circle of rocks. Vee flew in closer and nearly fell to the ground.
Garlog on the wanted poster was big, dark, and intimidating. He was muscular with a mouthful of sharp fangs and horns that looked like they could easily impale someone. Garlog on the poster was someone to fear.
The Garlog before them was anything but. He was small, around the size Vee was now as a Cyclops Bat, with soft looking fur. He had a fang but given his size being bitten would feel closer to a house cat rather than if Luz bit someone in demon form and his horns were too dull to even pierce paper, let alone flesh. Overall, Garlog looked far more cute than threatening.
This bounty hunter thing may be worth something if they were all like this. Vee hovered overhead to find the best way to ambush the small demon. He was laughing as he counted a small pile of golden snails. The shapeshifter’s eye widened. Where had this little demon gotten snails from?
They pushed those thoughts away for the time being. She had to focus on capturing Garlog, then she could worry about how rich the demon was.
With Garlog distracted, Vee landed just out of sight and turned back to normal, if a bit smaller. The goat demon straightened and sniffed the air. Vee, knowing that they might get caught, wasted no time and pounced on the goat demon.
“ Get your hands off me! ” He hissed.
“ Fat chance. ” Vee growled back.
His lips curled back in a snarl, his single fang seemed to glow in the dim light of the cave. When the Basilisk didn't let up, he bit into their hand. They vastly underestimated how sharp that fang was because Vee couldn't help but let go, pain surging where he dug his fang.
“ Stupid bitch! ” Garlog laughed and took off to the cave’s entrance.
Vee gave chase.
The goat demon clearly knew the cave better than her and he was using it to his advantage, weaving in such a way that caused debris to get in Vee’s way. It slowed her down just enough that Garlog had a consistently growing head start on them.
At some point, Vee was recognizing the parts of the cave as where she left Luz.
“Luz!” They yelled out. “Stop him!”
Garlog showed no signs of stopping, even as the tall horned demon came into view. Vee saw the exact moment Luz went from confident to confused to absolutely bewildered.
“Do something!” Vee shouted, hoping to knock her out of her stupor.
Luz still seemed lost and Garlog was getting ever closer.
Then there was a clear shift as the other demon took a deep breath and adjusted her stance. “Get… Back! ”
Waves of gold, black, and purple flew from Luz, knocking Garlog into some rocks. Even Vee was knocked back a few feet.
“Dear Titan!” Vee gasped. “Luz, what was that?!”
“I-I don't know.” Luz stared down at her hands.
“Garlog!” They made their way over to the small goat demon. To her surprise, the demon was knocked out, with a glassy eye and soft moans of pain.
“Vee?”
They looked over. “Yeah?”
“I’m sorry.”
“What fo-”
Luz crumpled to the ground, transforming back to her human form.
“Luz!”