How did things go? Depends on who you ask. ( chapter name will likely change.
Gus was worried about Luz but Willow knew they didn't need to be too worried. He kept saying Luz was acting strange but that was regular. Luz had never chosen to hide out in a classroom to escape noise but if that's what she felt like doing that was okay.
Plenty of people exhibited changing behaviors at their age and thought it could be bad. It was perfectly plausible there was no cause for alarm. She rolled her eyes at herself now she sounded like Caleb though her info was from a book she really shouldn't have chosen over the class presentation growing & changing.
The presentation's agony would have been over sooner and the book had both agony and was written confusingly inconsistently. One page talked about psychology while the next talked about glands producing sweat. The day she finished the book she learned the class presentation's examples were almost all in plants, unlike the book which had almost all the examples witches and demons.
Anyway it was possibly just a new Luz thing Luz did. That happened occasionally (though they usually were all in the same vein, Willow would have thought Luz ate outside at least or at least in a dustless classroom with less dreary colors if she didn't eat with them but she was probably overthinking it.)
Luz had explained about sensory processing a long time ago and Willow knew that it was okay if she needed space but Willow really had to stop Luz from mutilating her plant's roots. She would hurt Its feelings if she did it much longer.
"Luz?" Luz looked up from her plant a strange expression melted across her face then vanished "Hey" she waved awkwardly at Willow.
"You okay"?
. Luz nodded vigorously of course I am nothing is wrong." Willow sighed, it seemed like Luz wasn't going to tell her today.
"Okay I'll accept that but please if you need someone to talk to we still have half the day left. You don't need to wait to head home to talk to Eda."
Luz had been there for her countless times but sometimes she still decided not to bother them with her worries. (Sometimes she forgot she could talk to them about things but it was more common for her to choose not to talk to them about problems). It was the least she could do to cheer up Luz on a bad day.
"I'm fine. '' Luz gave Willow an awkward grin. "I just felt a tad under the weather today" "I'll probably be fine by tomorrow." Luz was usually loopy when she was sick but maybe she had something from the human realm. If that was all it was that was good news but if there was something Luz didn't want to talk about, Willow would give her space.
"Okay," Luz blinked. You're not going to keep talking to me? Willow almost flinched but what that sounded like wasn't what it meant. Luz was spending some time in her own head and everyone needed that time. Willow could keep repeating that and reminding herself as she walked back to her spot.
"I mean insisting I share. Sorry" Luz slumped
She relaxed, which was still slightly upsetting. She didn't think she was that pushy but if Luz wanted to keep a secret it would make sense Luz wouldn't want Willow to keep pushing to figure it out.
"It's okay just call if you need anything."
"I will" Willow looked back at Luz after walking away and winced Luz was still yanking at the roots. Willow backtracked and tapped her on the shoulder she jumped (it was surprisingly high since she didn't startle that bad in recent years) then turned to Willow.
"Luz" Willow tried not to laugh. Luz's eyes were so wide. You shouldn't be yanking the roots it-. "Right!" Luz stopped herself from slapping her hand to her forehead since it contained her shovel.
"I forgot I read about it in Fantastic Plants and How to Mind Them. How could I forget!" Willow blinked she didn't know Luz read stuff like that let alone was so excited about it that she vibrated with energy
"When did you read that?"
"Oh," she blushed. "It was recommended to me and I read it to help on a school project. I read a lot of it because it reminded me of some of the curses in Azura as well as this one magic species. Willow didn't know why Luz hadn't said which magic species but she supposed it didn't matter.
"I thought its theory on the nature of plants meant I could possibly create higher sentience level plant life with my glyphs and if I did that I thought it might leave me with a better idea of where to go for beast-keeping and abomination magic."
She hadn't known Luz ever thought about those things. Luz was smart but never thought things through, Willow was kind of impressed. Then again when something interested Luz her follow though was tremendous.
Luz going for something that could unlock multiple things at once made sense (sometimes she was in a bit of a time crunch due to her workload).
"Cool," she knew that she'd keep trying to talk to Luz about plant theory if she stayed. Luz probably didn't care too much and she always felt terrible if she couldn't focus on a deep dive of a subject one of her friends talked about but she called back to Luz.
"If you found it interesting you might like researching if there is any connection between the sentience of plants and the sentience of boiling isles animals. See if it is causation or only correlation." Willow walked away before she embarrassed herself more.
Luz cared about Willow but she rarely followed through on learning about specific things unless they were introduced in an intriguing enough matter she was all over the place in what she learned about. Why would she follow Willow's suggestion now?
Willow was reading into things too much. She was talking to Luz like she was Caleb. Her lines were blurring far too much after one comment. She needed to get a grip.
Her insignificant feelings about Caleb should not be affecting her life. She smacked her cheeks and turned back to her plant. This one wasn't picky about when she watered it. Willow smiled and did just that.
Hunter
Hunter did not know how he had gotten out of that. The witch(how did he still not know her name?) Had left and she had been accepting of his need to be left alone. He had really liked her advice on subjects to study (although he didn't have the free time necessary to do it.
He didn't think he could find any excuse in how it had to do with anything that could help the emperor or the isles) He didn't know why she had recommended it to Luz since Luz usually wouldn't be interested in something like that but then again she could be trying to trick Luz into studying useful material through Azura.
It was definitely a dirty trick but he really couldn't judge since he had done it once too. He worked to carefully take care of his plant until the bell rang at which he walked to his next class.
Gus
Gus didn't know what was up with Luz(or even if there was something up with her) but he was going to find out. Luckily they had their next class together. He had been worried most of the last hour.
She had acted strange and frozen up when he asked her to guess what happened. She didn't ever react that way and it was incredibly obvious. He wondered if something was wrong at the owl house. Had he done something wrong? Was she okay? Bamn. All his papers went flying.
"Watch it" an older-looking student growled, ending the phrase with a hiss.
"Sorry," he backed up and nearly fell over again. The hall was still crowded and he tried to pick up his papers but the hall was too crowded and no one stopped to help. Eventually, the hall emptied- darn it. He was late and he got them all picked up.
He heard a sound. Laughter and then, smack. That was definitely not a good sound. He peeked around the corner and then cursed. Mattholomule was standing there surrounded by students who looked much older, much taller, and much stronger than Matt.
He almost went in before remembering, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Matt knew illusions he could get away just fine. Gus waited and waited and nope Matt was still facing off against them. He needed to step in. He was pretty sure Matt was at least a little in the wrong but Matt was his friend(sort of) and he had no clue who the others were so he would be helping Matt.
"Hey" he yelled and he drew a circle "Eat this" Illusionary fire brew out of the circle and as they jumped back he grabbed Matt and ran.
"What"? Matt sputtered as Gus grabbed him but while they ran he shut his mouth.
Eventually, when they were far enough away Gus straightened up looked around to check if they still had a tail, and then checked his papers. (he hadn't dropped any). He then looked at Matt who was gaping at him "What"? "Why"? "How"?
"Gus"? The last word was the most incredulous.
"I'm hoping this isn't going to happen again"
Matt's stance became more defensive "What are you going to do if it does?" He added a sneer. Gus rolled his eyes.
"I'm asking if they saw your face.'' Matt's defense swapped with a confused look, a slight frown, and drawn brows.
"How is the statement I'm hoping this isn't going to happen again connected with the question did they see your face?"
"It isn't directly" Gus rolled his eyes. People would possibly want to fight Matt less if he was genuine more, then again he hadn't necessarily been not genuine when the boys were laughing at him. Maybe he was being genuine and that's why they laughed at him.
He didn't know Matt well enough to judge. He continued his statement "The two are connected because if they won't recognize your face there is a larger chance they won't be able to come after you again."
"Huh," Matt squinted and then shrugged. "I can't fault that logic. Why did you help me? You didn't need to."
Gus shrugged. "I didn't know those kids and I'm sort of your friend. All of you seemed to be somewhat in the wrong so I'll side with the person I know. I was late anyway."
Matt flinched slightly "what"?
"Kind of getting adjusted to that not being a bad thing Bria used to say stuff like that a lot" he explained at Gus's look. Gus got it now.
"Did they see your face?"
"I don't think they necessarily did, they only cornered me for a moment and I tried to illusion my face with several other faces."
"If they do find me it will be on the video cameras and I'll probably be safe due to school separation policies and Bump's ongoing focus on cases that are brought to his attention." "If I need to I can set myself up to be reported so I have safety with Bump."
Gus was a little impressed Matt knew this much about the policy and the principal. Then he remembered "Anyway why aren't you in class" his eyes narrowed he wasn't sure he wanted to know
Matt let out a tiny squeak Gus didn't know how he made the sound "I got distracted" he was blushing slightly
"By what"
"None of your business" Matt yelled. Then he clamped his hand over his mouth Gus looked at him quizzically. He didn't know if it was for the outburst of the aftermath of it.
"I probably shouldn't be yelling while class is in session," he explained. That was smart. He nearly opened his mouth to tell Mattholomule that but he'd probably take it as an insult.
"Anyway, do you know where we are?"
Gus almost asked Matt if he wasn't paying attention on the intro tour but then he remembered Matt was a transfer and that he hadn't come in at the start of the year or at any planned time. "Yeah sure I do, do you need help finding your classroom?" "I could bring you there." He offered Matt his most friendly smile. He was weird and sometimes a jerk but he seemed to be an interesting person and at least a tad more than he seemed.
"Yeah, I do want to take me. I mean bring me", he squeaked. Gus walked toward him until he was right next to him. "It's okay if I'm a tad late. I'm one of the best students and I usually have a minute or two to spare. I can just work to the bell and hurry to my next class."
The expression on Matt's face shifted twice: the first he couldn't read, in the second it was on Matt's face but the second was obvious.
"I was joking and you fell for it. I don't need you to find my class. I know exactly where it is. Bye." Matt bolted down the hall nearly tripping over his own feet. "Don't forget that we need to schedule the serious yard cleanup." (Matt had come up with that since serious and the actual word were synonyms.)
Saying he wanted Gus to help him find his class and then changing his mind was weird and not a particularly funny trick. Gus was pretty sure he ran in the opposite direction of the construction classrooms but how could he be sure? Matt had a pretty good head on his shoulders and Gus needed to get to class.
He realized he had forgotten about his worries about Luz. That was a surprise.
Hunter
The illusion/ oracle class stopped going well after Gus walked into the room. It was going to be dangerous to navigate around. He didn't know anything about him, he was a stranger and heading to Hunter's group. Hunter had been waved over and a couple of people even showed him things.
He made a mental note to tell Luz to ask them about them again tomorrow. He had read a lot of theory on illusion magic though less on oracle. Luckily when Gus walked in Hunter was still working on a worksheet. He looked up and grinned at Gus, "Hey". "Why are you late?"
"Mix up in the halls." "First my papers went flying and I had to rescue Matt."
Hunter didn't know Luz's relation to this Matt so he gave a neutral answer "Yikes you okay?"
He was beginning to feel like he would mess up soon and with that came a small surge of awkwardness but he plowed on. It would go away.
"Yeah, we both are. We had a little conversation and then he ran off and I headed here."
"I saved a worksheet for you." He had saved it in case anyone came in late so they wouldn't have to ask the teacher and get in trouble but Gus didn't need to know that.
"Thanks, Luz." Gus grinned at him and Hunter smiled back. This smile felt much safer. It made sense in this context. Hunter did something nice and Gus smiled. It felt much more normal than people he didn't know(but whom he was pretending he knew) smiling at him like they'd known him forever.
"Sorry, I need to complete this. Talk later"?
"Sure." Gus smiled and Hunter relaxed.
Hunter kept working on the assignment. It was a tad hard at certain points but he only asked Gus about something once.
Luz usually wouldn't ask for a bunch of help on an assignment he was pretty sure. (she had told him she took her homework seriously at just eight, and that was before he even actually knew her!) She would know the answers or find them. The main problem was he didn't know how to find them.
He had to doddle on his paper every once in a while until Gus leaned over and 'reminded' Hunter that he would get points off his assignment if he drew on it. Hunter pretended he hadn't fully noticed he was drawing on the paper. Luckily he was able to erase.
Eventually, Gus looked over at him. "Did you know the emperor's coven is rounding up more wind witches than usual"?
"Yes," Hunter muttered. Of course he did; he hadn't been in charge of too much of it but he had gone on a mission or four and dealt with some of the paperwork.
Gus's voice changed a bit "Oh" "I didn't think you would know I only knew because my dad is in charge of reporting it on the news" "Why do you think they're catching them"?
Hunter was able to answer that question easily "to prepare for the day of unity of course."
"It's good they're catching them"
"Yep," Hunter agreed, and then his eyes shot to Gus he was looking at him with a much different look now. Hunter had been so focused he missed the obvious trap Gus had set. He needed to do damage control; they only had a couple of minutes left.
For the first time since this morning, he remembered that if he got caught they would know Luz wasn't in school like she was supposed to be.
He knew that in the emperor's coven, you usually didn't get in too much trouble if you got someone else to cover your shift (extra half shift for first-time offenders full shift for second-time offenders, etc.) but it could be much worse than hexside.
He needed to not get unmasked. The boy was an illusionist and he could unmask Hunter without much effort.
"It's not much different from when the Witchells rounded up the civilians when the bad witches were going to attack in the prologue good witch Azura one." He grinned goofily. He knew he might be doing Luz a little dirty but it wasn't much more than one of her usual smiles.
"Taking care of the citizens is the coven's top priority." That didn't sound that unlike what Luz would say. The last line was iffy but that was okay. Gus was glaring harder now Hunter looked down at his paper.
"And done" he walked over to the tray he had seen students placing their papers in. Gus walked after him.
"How isn't it that different?"
"They want everyone to be able to participate like the Witchells wanted the citizens away from the danger site" Now that Hunter thought about it that wasn't a great example.
"It's also similar to what they do in book three when they bring all the students to the landing site." He babbled. He needed to stay calm; he reminded himself as he tensed up. Maybe he could salvage this.
"That's funny." Gus was up in Hunter's face now as much as he could be. "You were saying the complete opposite thing Friday." Why did Luz have to use that specific example? Why couldn't she have used anything else? Why did he have to contradict what she said?
"Did I forget to tell you? I came to a revelation yesterday that changed my mind." He was getting worse and worse. Luz wouldn't have said that long of a sentence. She would have launched right into her point. Hunter didn't have a point to launch into.
"You're not Luz."
Hunter looked at the clock, less than a minute left. The boy looked confused and overwhelmed but determined Hunter didn't want to lie to him but he had to.
"What about my behavior makes you think that?"
"Everything." the boy exploded "Luz hates the emperor" Hunter winced "I can prove you're not her" he raised a finger. Ten seconds to go, Hunter needed to stall he furrows a brow like Luz would.
"How could you do that?"
"Like this" he starts a circle and the bell rings and he stops and
Hunter says "We can finish this argument later byeeee." Close call. Two more hours (which are technically less than hours) to go. The next hour can't be worse.
Gus felt stupid. Though he had been friends with Luz for years all he thought was Luz was acting a tad strange and he almost immediately dismissed it. That person wasn’t Luz; he was pretty sure they were someone else entirely, possibly even someone dangerous. He would have to hope their danger wasn’t active.
He texted Amity . Someone is at the school who looks like Luz but I am 99.5 percent sure they aren’t her. Be on your guard and don’t let anything they say hurt you. When his screen shut off he saw his scowl in the reflection he breathed deep. It was okay he didn’t need to see them again unless someone captured them.
He wasn’t a bad friend for not noticing that any of creepy luz’s(no that wasn’t right they were more like emperor programmed luz.) differences from his friend. He was an idiot for not noticing how all of their behaviors were not like hers. Someone else would have noticed sooner in his place. It was okay.
He was pretty sure she wasn’t captured but he couldn’t do anything about it if she was. Help Luz (if she needed help) later now, he had to get to class so he didn’t get detained after school. He hoped Amity could deal with the fake version of her girlfriend.
Amity is definitely tough enough to do it. A little voice niggled “you’re too scared to face them. It will show you how bad you were at recognising Luz.” He pushed it down; it wasn’t that true. That voice alone was never the thing that got him, the thing that did sometimes was the wave that hit him after. No. He shook it off. What was that Spanish phrase? Toto va saler bien? No, it was Todo vas salir bien. Everything will be fine. He summoned Luz's voice to calm down and he headed to his next class. (his teacher had been giving him a strange look) He closed his eyes. A tear had almost fallen; he didn't know why. Things would be fine.
If things were not fine he would find a way to make them okay. He was a master student. He could find a way to get things to work even if he only helped with a portion of the execution. At least he knew Amity was capable enough to deal with an imposter. He hoped Luz's face wouldn’t throw Amity off too much.