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Camila was starting to regret taking Hunter to the grocery store with her.
Not that he was unhelpful or difficult - on the contrary, he went and found items when she asked, helped carry groceries, and didn’t wander off or ask for things. He helped her shop like it was a task of the utmost importance that required military-level precision.
She brought Hunter with her in the hopes that it would maybe help him unwind a little, see more of the ‘Human Realm,’ maybe stop acting so tense around her all the time. Even though they had only been there a few weeks, the rest of Luz’s friends had all started to settle in, relax, explore. Not Hunter. Every time she saw him, he acted just as high-strung and on-edge as when he had first arrived, sopping wet on her doorstep like the rest of them.
And unfortunately, this trip to the grocery store really didn’t seem to be helping all that much. She tried to ask him friendly questions, if he wanted anything from the store, how he was liking the human world, but she got the same short, clipped answers every time. His eyes kept darting around like he was waiting for someone to try and jump them.
All that Luz — or any of them — had told her about Hunter was that his life ‘wasn’t great’ back in the Demon Realm. No specifics. Hunter certainly hadn’t told her anything, and Camila wasn’t sure if she should even ask. She didn’t ask about the scar on his face, the deep shadows under his eyes that never went away, the way he jumped at sudden noises and checked all the locks at night. She kept her conversation light and surface-level throughout the store.
At the checkout line, he handed her items one at a time from the cart, as she set them onto the checkout counter for the cashier. “I know Luz was planning on taking the others to the library soon,” Camila said, mentally wincing at just how much of a bill these groceries were racking up. She’d had to dip into her savings more than she would have liked, but it was all worth it to keep these kids well-fed and happy. “Do you read much, Hunter?”
He gave a slight shrug, focused on the can of beans in his hands. “I read on occasion,” he said. “When I have the time.”
“Well, you should go with them,” Camila suggested. “Get yourself a library card, check out some books.”
He nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
Camila resisted a sigh. He still refused to call her by her first name, no matter how many times she assured him it was okay. Not for the first time, she wondered what could have possibly been his life back in the Boiling Isles.
At her request, Hunter silently helped her bag groceries. He offered to carry them too, but she waved him off and said he’d already been so helpful. This didn’t seem to make him terribly happy, but he didn’t argue. That was another thing about Hunter — he offered to help more than any of the others did, with dinner or chores or anything else, and he always seemed more relieved if she accepted his help than if she declined. She’d never met a kid so eager to work.
“Are you sure I can’t help you?” Hunter asked again, as he trailed after her though the narrow side street that led back to the parking lot. “I am quite capable of carrying heavy things. Not to imply you can’t do it yourself,” he hurried to add. “Just. If you wanted help.”
“Ah, it’s alright,” Camila assured him. “I still need someone to open the car door for me, mijo.”
Hunter nodded. He glanced over his shoulder, just a step or two behind her.
“You can relax a bit, Hunter,” Camila offered, and he jumped a bit. “We live in a very quiet town, you know.”
“I apologize,” Hunter said, his face flushing. “It’s, ah, habit. I’ll do better.”
“Nothing to apologize for,” Camila said kindly, looking back at him. “Just want to make sure you know that you’re safe here.”
She turned to keep walking, and halted almost immediately. Apparently, because the universe was just determined to prove her wrong, Jacob Hopkins stood just at the end of the side street, his eyes narrowed.
Camila muttered a curse under her breath. “I made it pretty clear you should leave us alone,” she said warningly. Hunter had halted beside her, frowning at him.
Jacob scoffed. “That was before you went off summoning more witches and demons,” he snapped. “I’m not letting you endanger the town, you hear me? You two are coming with me, right now, got it?”
“No one is endangering the town,” Camila said, exasperated. “You can’t have Vee, you can’t have any of them! Leave us alone, Jacob. Or —“
“Or what?” he demanded, stepping forward, and he pulled an actual gun out, like this was one of Manny’s action movies and not rural Connecticut, like he was planning on using it — “You’re coming with me, now,” he ordered, gesturing with the handgun. “I did not spend all this time following you and tracking you just to let you go now.”
Before Camila could say anything, Hunter stepped in front of her. “She’s not going anywhere with you,” he said coldly. His eyes were narrowed, his expression hard. “You can leave, or you will regret it.”
Jacob scoffed. “I’m not afraid of your witchy magic, I have modern science on my side,” he said, brandishing his handgun. “Maybe now you’ll see I’m serious about this!”
“I don’t need ‘witchy magic’ to break your arm,” Hunter said, with a kind of steely confidence that was almost shocking. “Or knock you unconscious and leave you in the gutter.”
“Hunter,” Camila hissed. Why was no one else coming through this side street? Why hadn’t she taken the time to walk all the way around the grocery store? Why had she brought Hunter at all? She slowly lowered the bags of groceries to the ground, and raised her voice. “Jacob, if you lay one finger on any of my kids, I —“
Jacob stepped forward, his grip tightening on his gun. “You’ll come with me, now,” he ordered. “I’m getting proof this time, dammit, and if my proof has to have a few bullet holes in it, then fine.”
Camila opened her mouth to say something, and Jacob took another step forward and raised his gun a bit, and Hunter suddenly wasn’t there anymore, leaping forward and —
And there was a cracking gunshot, right in front of her, and there was a scuffling crash and then a loud snap followed by cry of pain. Camila blinked and looked down and Jacob was on the ground, hands grasping at his leg which was very much at the wrong angle, and Hunter was standing in front of him and holding that handgun. It could only have been a few seconds.
Before Camila had time to do anything more than gape at it all, Hunter crouched down in front of Jacob, ignoring his sounds of pain. “If you even try to attack any of us,” Hunter said slowly, clearly, “you won’t live to regret it. Got it?”
Jacob nodded quickly, gasping for breath, still clutching at his leg.
“I’m keeping this,” Hunter said, his voice steely. “Just in case you get any ideas.” He straightened, and turned back to Camila, walking over to her. He picked up some of the grocery bags in his free hand. “I apologize,” he said, his voice flat. “I didn’t mean to upset you. Should we go?”
***
The drive home felt surreal. Camila was driving past the time houses and trees as always, groceries in the trunk like they always were, and it all looked so normal, like someone hadn’t threatened to shoot them just a few minutes before.
Hunter had given Camila the gun and she’d pushed it into the glove compartment until she could think what to do with it. She could hear her heart hammering in her ears.
“Are you okay, Hunter?” she asked, not for the first time, unable to keep her voice from shaking.
“I’m fine,” Hunter assured her. His arms were crossed over his chest. “I’m sorry if I alarmed you.”
“You broke his leg,” Camila said, still in shock over the whole thing.
Hunter’s ears flattened against his head. He’d taken his beanie off. “…Yes. It seemed like the best way to prevent him following us. Sorry.”
“I’m not upset you broke his leg, mijo, I’m upset you had to,” Camila said. Her grip was tight on the steering wheel. Why did this child know how to break people’s legs, why had he just lunged at a man holding a gun, why was he so calm about the whole thing? “Jacob Hopkins — he captured Vee a while back, he wanted to expose magic, but I thought I dealt with him. I didn’t think he’d come back.”
Hunter hesitated. “Do you want me to take more… drastic measures?” he asked uncertainly. “I don’t really know how ‘guns’ work, just in the movies Luz showed us, but —“
“No, no, it’s fine,” Camila said hurriedly, before this actual child could offer to murder someone for her. “We called 911, he should be in the hospital for a while, and I can’t imagine he would try anything now.” He couldn’t even walk, and he had looked more frightened of Hunter than he ever had of Camila and her sandal.
Hunter nodded, shifting in his seat. Camila glanced over at him, and just about jerked the car off the road. “Hunter!” she cried. “You’re bleeding.”
He looked down, at his hand clamped over his upper arm, which was leaking blood, soaking into his sleeve. “I don’t think it’s serious,” he assured her after a moment. “I don’t know much about gun injuries, I’ll admit, but I believe whatever it shot just grazed me. I can deal with it, I promise. I won’t get blood on anything.”
“You said you were fine,” Camila said weakly, pressing harder on the gas pedal, willing them to get home faster. She couldn’t very well take him to the hospital, couldn’t take him to her animal clinic, she could take him home and then — what, Google how to bandage a bullet wound?
“I am fine,” Hunter protested. “I — we might have different definitions of the word. I’m sorry if I misunderstood.”
Camila let out a slow breath, trying to calm down. Now was not the time for freaking out. She had to stay calm. Not that Hunter seemed to be freaking out. He acted for all the world like this was a regular Saturday afternoon for him. “Keep pressure on that, okay?” she instructed him.
“Yes, ma’am,” Hunter said.
He was silent the rest of the way home, when Camila pulled the car into the driveway without bothering with the garage, hurrying out of the car and gesturing Hunter towards the door.
“Shouldn’t I get the groceries?” Hunter asked uncertainly, hesitating on the front steps.
“Leave the groceries, mijo, just come inside,” Camila said quickly, unlocking the door and hurrying inside, holding the door open until Hunter followed after her.
“Sit at the table, keep putting pressure on it while I get the first aid kit,” Camila instructed, hurrying down the hall. She nearly ran into Luz hopping down the stairs.
“Mamá, did you get — what’s wrong?” Luz asked, eyes wide.
“Hunter got a bit hurt,” Camila said firmly, rifling through the bathroom drawers. “Are the others —?”
“They went to the park with Vee, I was just waiting for you to get back,” Luz said. “Is Hunter okay?”
“He’ll be fine,” Camila said, pulling the first aid kit out of the drawer and searching for a clean towel. “Everything is fine, everyone is safe.”
“What happened?” Luz demanded. “I thought you just went to the grocery store. How’d he even get hurt?”
“Jacob Hopkins showed up, but it’s fine, he won’t be bothering us again,” Camila said firmly. “Will you go check on Hunter, please?”
Luz nodded, and darted from the room.
Camila grabbed some towels and a roll of bandages from the drawer, before quickly opening her phone, typing into the search bar are human stitches the same as for dogs. She sent a silent prayer up to whoever was listening that everything would be okay.
***
Hunter was pretty sure Camila was upset with him, but he also wasn’t sure for what. He did break a guy’s leg and steal his weapon, and violence was apparently pretty frowned upon in the Human Realm. But he’d been threatening them all! Maybe it was the implication that Camila couldn’t handle it herself? But she didn’t really seem much for combat. Maybe it was because he’d been injured? Or not told her that he’d been injured? It did seem to be upsetting her.
The best way to mitigate her wrath was probably just to stay quiet and do what she said. Which was why he was sitting at the kitchen table, applying pressure to his injury as requested.
What he was not expecting was for Luz to burst into the room like the house was on fire, skidding to a stop in front of him. “Are you okay?” she demanded, hands hovering in front of him like she wanted to grab his shoulders and shake him. Hunter was grateful that she restrained herself.
“I’m fine,” Hunter assured her. “He was a terrible shot.”
“Terrible — did he shoot you?!” Luz demanded, her voice rising in pitch.
“He mostly missed,” Hunter said. “Titan, Luz, you’ve seen me get hurt way more than this.”
“What happened?” Luz asked, her face and voice hovering somewhere around horrified. Hunter wasn’t sure why both she and her mother were making this such a big deal out of this. Maybe it was that Jacob Hopkins guy that worried them? Maybe it was because this was the Human Realm, and danger wasn’t to be expected? Hunter kind of expected danger wherever he went.
Hunter shrugged, keeping one hand pressed over his arm. “We went to the store in town to get food, that human guy showed up on the way back, he had one of those gun things and was threatening your mom, so I took his gun and broke his leg. And then we came back here.”
Luz stared at him for a moment. “I forgot how actually insane you are,” she said. “You just. Broke his leg? Just like that? Like a karate movie?”
“I guess,” Hunter said, frowning.
“You’re insane,” Luz decided, and she sounded almost awed. Which wasn’t exactly the reaction Hunter had been expecting, but at least she seemed less upset with him.
Camila hurried back into the room, a bright red box proclaiming ‘first aid kit’ in her hands. Hunter couldn’t resist tensing. She still looked so stressed out, but like she was forcing herself to appear calm. “Hunter, do you mind if I take care of your arm?”
Hunter lifted his shoulders in a slight shrug. “I can take care of it, Mrs. Noceda,” he said uncomfortably. “I’ve dealt with injuries before, you don’t need to trouble yourself with this.”
“Oh, shush, Hunter,” Luz said dismissively. “My mom is great with first aid, she doesn’t mind.” She patted her mom’s shoulder.
Hunter nodded and shut his mouth. He still wasn’t sure what exactly he had done wrong, why they both seemed so upset with him, but the best option was still probably to just keep his mouth shut and do what they wanted. And apparently Camila wanted to deal with his injury herself.
She was surprisingly just as careful and gentle as she’d been with their injuries that first night. Cleaning it, carefully examining it, even putting in stitches and bandaging it for him. She apologized a lot, for it hurting, to which he assured her it really didn’t hurt that much, he’d had worse. Which did absolutely nothing to help her unhappy expression.
Once his arm was all bandaged and neatly covered, Camila offered him painkillers, which he really thought about refusing, since it didn’t even hurt that much and he hated wasting resources, but he’d already upset her enough, so he accepted them without protest. They were just little white pills, and didn’t taste nearly as bad as the Healing Coven’s potions did. If it made Camila less upset with him, he would take whatever weird human medicine she wanted.
Camila was out of the room, putting away the first aid kit, and Hunter was still just sitting there at the table, unsure of what he was supposed to do next.
Luz gently nudged his arm that didn’t have the bandages on it. “You good?”
“I’m fine,” Hunter affirmed. He flexed his arm a bit. “It’s really not that bad.”
“You were literally shot with a gun, Hunter,” Luz said, deadpan. “Only you would say it’s ‘not that bad.’”
Hunter hunched his shoulders uncomfortably. This was clearly just another situation he was treating wholly incorrectly. He’d run into a lot of those since getting to the Human Realm. He kind of missed the absolute confidence that had come with being the Golden Guard, if nothing else. “What am I supposed to say?”
“There’s nothing you’re supposed to say,” Luz said, rolling her eyes. She sobered a bit. “I can’t believe you literally took a bullet for my mom.”
“Well, yeah,” Hunter said blankly. “I’d do that for any of you.”
Luz stared at him. “I’m hoping that’s heartwarming, and not a major self preservation issue,” she said.
“I have great self preservation,” Hunter said, mildly offended. “I’ve made it this far, haven’t I?”
“Yeah, and you say gunshot wounds ‘aren’t that bad,’” Luz said, putting air quotes around the words. “I’m amazed you made it this far without dying tragically.”
“I will beat you in a fight right now, human,” Hunter said, and Luz snorted.
“Pff, I can’t fight you while you’re injured, it wouldn’t be fair,” Luz said teasingly, waving a hand.
“You’ve fought me when I’ve been injured multiple times,” Hunter pointed out, and Luz’s face fell.
“When?” she demanded.
“I had a dangerous job, Luz, I was always injured,” Hunter said dismissively. “You just learn to deal with it.” Seeing that she still looked pretty distraught, he added, “You never really injured me though, so don’t worry about it.”
Luz groaned, burying her head in her hands for a moment. “That’s not as reassuring as you seem to think it is,” she said. She looked back at him. “I forgot that Golden Guard wasn’t just, like, a title or something. You actually went out and did things.”
Hunter shifted uncomfortably, then forced himself to sit still. “I mean. Yeah. I did. Sorry.”
Luz rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, we all know you were a bad, sad boy, don’t worry about it. You’re great now. Heck, you were always great, you’re just not working for Belos anymore.”
Hearing Belos’s name never failed to cause a painful sort of twinge in his chest, something tightening around his lungs. Hunter still had convince himself he didn’t miss him. “Yeah. I guess,” he muttered. “Do you think —“ He hesitated, glancing at the doorway to make sure Camila wasn’t coming back, then pressed on, “Is your mom mad at me?”
“Mad at you?” Luz blinked. “Why would she be mad at you?”
“I don’t know, but is she?” Luz wouldn’t lie to him about this. He was pretty sure she wouldn’t lie to him at all, but he was especially sure she wouldn’t lie to him about something like this.
“No, of course not,” Luz said, looking bemused. “She’s upset about Jacob, not upset with you.”
Hunter nodded slowly. “Are you sure?”
Luz moved until she was an inch away from him, her eyes comically wide. “I am so sure.”
“Luz, what are you doing?” Camila laughed, emerging from the hallway, and Luz pulled back. Hunter buried a flinch.
“Nothing,” she said, sing-song. Hunter was immeasurably grateful she didn’t confess his question to her. No doubt Camila would have found it incredibly disrespectful.
“Hunter, mijo, are you feeling alright?” Camila asked, gently settling a hand on his shoulder. Once again, Hunter had to bury a flinch, tensing.
“I’m feeling fine,” he assured her. “So fine. You don’t need to worry about me.”
Camila’s brow furrowed, and Hunter was pretty sure she didn’t believe him. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever had someone this concerned about his injuries before. It was weird and off-putting and he didn’t know what to do with it.
“I appreciate your help,” Hunter added. “Um.” He glanced at the door. “Can I bring in the groceries now?”
Luz laughed out loud at that. “I’ll get the groceries, Hunter, you just chill out, Mr ‘it’s not that bad.’” She was out of the kitchen before Hunter could protest, leaving him alone with Camila. He immediately felt more tense. Luz had said she wasn’t angry, she had said so, but what if she was wrong? What if she was just waiting for the right moment to express her disapproval?
Camila sighed and muttered something under her breath in what had to be Spanish. Despite his efforts through through the Spanish books he’d found on their shelves, he was still unsuccessful at understanding the language. He still felt like he really needed to, like it was some code to understanding Camila’s true feelings.
She forced a smile onto her face. “Why don’t you go relax on the couch, mijo?”
“If you would like me to, I will,” Hunter assured her. “But — forgive me, is there anything I should do about him? That, ah, Jacob guy?”
“You don’t need to worry about him,” Camila said firmly. “He won’t come back, and if he does, I will take care of it. The other children should come back soon, and I’ll let them know to keep an eye out. Everything will be fine. Okay?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Hunter said, because what else was he supposed to say to that? He certainly wasn’t going to argue with her. But he was also pretty sure he wouldn’t sleep that night, making sure everyone stayed safe. They never set any watches here, and it always put him on edge.
Camila gave him one of her odd, tight smiles, like Luz did when he said something concerning. “Hunter, may I ask you something?” she asked slowly, carefully. “You don’t have to answer, it’s fine either way.”
Doubtful, but alright. He nodded.
“What did you… do, back home?” Camila asked, stumbling over the words a little. “Luz hasn’t told me much, and it’s alright if you don’t want to answer, but the way you stopped Jacob, it just… made me wonder.”
Hunter… really wasn’t sure how to answer that. How much of the truth did she want? All of it? Did he know that he’d attacked and threatened her daughter before? Maybe a simpler, tamer version of the truth would be better. Not lying, of course, just presenting the facts in a more acceptable way. He had a lot of practice with that.
“I was the Golden Guard, ma’am,” Hunter said carefully. “I worked for the Emperor my whole life. I don’t know how much Luz and the others have told you about him, but…” He didn’t know how to finish the sentence, and mentally berated himself for it. She asked for an explanation, and he was going to give her one. He had never given this poor of reports to Belos. “He was my uncle,” Hunter admitted. “He kind of, sort of raised me, so, ah. I did a lot for him. Then I found out he was evil, so I stopped,” he hurried to add. “Luz — helped me with that. And then we came here, pretty soon after that.”
He nervously waited for Camila’s verdict. She looked rather distraught. Maybe a bit horrified. He didn’t know what part of what he’d said had horrified her, and he wished that he did. Maybe he could try and soften it somehow. But he didn’t know, and so he just sat there and waited, trying and failing not to fidget with his hands.
“I see,” Camila said at last. “That must have been… very difficult.”
Hunter didn’t know how to answer that either, so he didn’t.
“Thank you for telling me,” Camila said. She gave him a weak, warm smile. “And thank you for protecting me. You did so, so well.”
That was probably in the top ten nicest things anyone had ever said to him. Before Hunter could give any sort of respectable response to that — he felt a bit speechless — Luz staggered into the kitchen, every single grocery bag held aloft triumphantly.
“One trip!” Luz declared. “I am so good at this.” She dumped all the grocery bags onto the floor. “Oh, I saw everyone else on their way back!” she said. “Just at the end of the street. They’ll be here in a few minutes. Hunter, you wanna help me pick a movie?”
Hunter glanced back at Camila. She waved a hand. “Go and pick a movie with Luz, I’ll start on dinner,” she said kindly. “You need to rest, okay? Let me know if it starts hurting more at all.”
Knowing full well he wouldn’t, Hunter nodded, pushing himself to his feet. His arm twinged a bit at the motion, but this still wasn’t even in the top five worst times he’d been shot by something. Maybe those painkillers were actually working.
With another glance back at Camila — who didn’t seem at all upset with him anymore, which was great — Hunter followed Luz out of the kitchen, into the living room. Luz pushed him onto the couch and he let her, falling back against the cushions.
“I still can’t believe you just took a bad guy down just like that!” Luz gushed. “No magic or weapons or anything, just pow!” She mimicked a punch in midair. “We need to watch Karate Kid.”
“It wasn’t karate,” Hunter huffed. “And I can beat plenty of people in a fight! I didn’t get an artificial staff for ages, and I didn’t have Flapjack until a few months ago. Obviously I know how to fight without magic.”
“You’ll have to teach me,” Luz informed him, shuffling through the rows of DVDs on the shelf below the TV (that Hunter had organized alphabetically). “Soon as you don’t have sick gunshot injuries, okay?”
“Whenever you want,” Hunter said, filled with some sort of relief over the fact that she wasn’t mad at him over the whole thing. Camila didn’t seem to be either, she’d thanked him. It still felt too good to be true. Flapjack — who’d apparently been asleep at his favorite perch by the windowsill — fluttered over to him, nestling into his hair.
Boy okay? Flapjack chirped.
“I’m fine,” Hunter assured him. It was weird to think that he actually was fine. That someone else had bandaged his injuries for once.
It was… nice.
Soon, the rest of the kids would return from their outing at the park, and Luz would give them all a highly dramatized reenactment of events, and Hunter would correct her, and they would all gasp and ask questions and clamor to make sure he was okay, and that was also so weird to think about as they watched the karate movie Luz had picked out.
But it was a kind of weird Hunter thought he could get used to.