Chapter Two
Luz was never one to be ordinary.
When she was three, she preferred to sleep to her father’s heavy metal instead of calming music. When she was 5, she brought in a wild bird for show and tell that she had somehow captured the night before. When she was 7, she swallowed the first baby tooth she lost, claiming it was for luck.
Her odd persona only grew with her age. At 13, she started her school’s fantasy club, which had quickly got disbanded after she burnt another student’s face with hairspray and a lighter (something to do with dragon’s breath, she has claimed). In the week previous, she got sent to the principals for using live snakes and ants in her presentation, wreaking havoc in her classroom.
But now, Luz sighed as she sat on the curb. The piece of paper in her hands felt rough and foreign. She picked up the paper and examined it. “THINK INSIDE THE BOX,” the title flashed in bold text. She set the paper on her side and stared blankly across the street.
All of her mistakes, all of her… personality, resulted in her being sent away for the summer to learn how to behave properly. And she hated it. Was the idea of her expressing herself so unbearable to the people around her that she had to be mended to fit their standards?
Her mother had been furious when she found Luz’s tattoo, and almost as confused as Luz was. The tattoo had suddenly appeared, as if my magic, and was spinning crazily around its center. Of course, she couldn’t see the spinning part, and chose to blame this curious event on her daughter's oddity.
Luz exhaled as she looked to her side, where her favorite book sat. What would Azura do in a situation like this? She’d probably grab her staff, and her friends, and take off on a daring adventure to save her personality. But Luz couldn’t do that. She wasn’t special or magical, she was just a girl waiting to be picked up by a bus to take her to the worst summer of her life. It would take a miracle to be able to get out of that.
Deep in her thoughts, she was startled by a chirping noise next to her. She jumped, turning to the product of the noise. A small owl sat on her book, eyeing her curiously.
“Hey little buddy,” Luz smiled. “Are you lost? …me too. Maybe we can help each other?”
Just then, as if it had experienced a burst of energy, the owl placed its beak around Luz’s book and took flight. The girl scrambled to her feet, chasing after it. “Hey! Drop it! That’s my book!”
She proceeded to chase the owl into a small shack, where some sort of glowing door stood. The bird, of course, naturally flew into it without any sort of hesitation. Luz, on the contrary, stopped in her tracks. This door had never been here before. If she went through, she would almost positively miss her bus. And she didn’t know what dangers lie on the other side.
But this might be the miracle she needed. After a moment’s thought, she inhaled and readied her stance.
At least this summer might be interesting.