Paralysis
Luz walked downstairs into the living room of the Owl House. She had just woken up, sleep still in her eyes. It took a bit for her eyes to adjust to what she saw. Lilith stood by the coffee table, piles of books and articles littered the floor. She was trying to reverse the curse. She pinched the bridge of her nose calmly, and luz doubted whether Lilith even knew the teen was awake.
“Ahem” The kid cleared her throat, drawing attention to herself, accidentally making the witch jump.
“Oh Luz! I didn’t know you were awake!” Lilith smiled at the girl who rubbed her eyes.
“I don't know if I'm awake either…” Luz sat on the couch and looked at one of the books that lay open, most of which Luz couldn't understand. Her tired eyes and nonfluency in the witches' strange language did not help.
“Luz," Lilith's voice was giddy, she was excited about something. “Kid I found something.”
A yawn escaped the girl's lips, she had gotten plenty of sleep, but it would take a bit for her to fully wake up.
“While I was searching for something for the curse, I was also looking for some stuff about earth.”
Luz perked up.
“Luz I think I might've found a way to get you home, it will take a bit, but it might just work.”
Luz stared at Lilith, Eda’s sister, who looked like she had been reading for days. She couldn't contain herself any longer. Tears began to pull at her eyes and she giggled happily. It was one of those moments when you realize that someone cares for you and you care for them. Luz jumped up and ran to Lilith. Doing the parallel arm thing. She wrapped her arms around her and buried her face into the witch's dress, she could find a way home after all.
It had been two weeks since she was supposed to come home. Her phone died a while ago, but not soon enough. Her mom texted her, the day she was supposed to come home, “Mija please, answer my calls. Please tell me you're safe.” Luz considered texting back but her phone died at just that moment. She was alone. Her mom was worried sick and she couldn't tell her what was happening. She couldn't even tell her she was sorry. Luz kept her arms wrapped around the still-shocked Lilith, her head buried away from her.
“Thank you, Lilith.”
Lilith stood in shock and then returned the hug. She had never really hugged anyone before, and this felt good. She felt warm and she knew Luz counted on her. Luz hugged her tighter, and that was the moment she fully forgave her, fully trusted her, and maybe even loved her.
_________________________________
_________________________________
Amity woke up to the sun shining through her window, it hurt her eyes something awful. She was never a morning person. She tried to move, but she couldn't. She wasn’t tied down, but her arms and legs refused to move. It was like she had sleep paralysis, but different.
Sleep paralysis had haunted Amity before, when she was a young kid to her early teens, she would almost wake up with a heaviness in her chest and an inability to move. This was different. She was fully awake, she could look around and process things in her room, but she couldn't move. At least she could look around. A quick survey of her tidy and orderly room proved nothing out of the ordinary. Until she looked by her vanity.
Two bags were sloppily placed by the corner of the desk, one was opened, its contents spilled slightly out.
Amity never put her bookbag in the corner. She always put it on the coat hanger. And why were there two? Then she realized, it was so sudden and terrifying that she felt like she had been punched in the gut. Luz.
Luz was in the woods with her. Luz talked to her about her parents. Luz tried to protect her. Luz was hurt. Luz’s bag was in her room.
Amity’s parents must've grabbed both bags, not knowing one of them belonged to the human. So it wasn’t a nightmare. This had actually happened. Her parents had… no. Amity couldn’t think like that. Surly her parents were not capable of something like that? Right? She turned her head to see her scroll on her nightstand and using all her energy, she flopped her arm over to grab it.
She pulled it to her face, getting into her contacts and searching for Luz. Luz’s phone and the witch's scrolls were not that different. So Amity could text her.
“Luz? Are you okay? I think I had a weird dream…”
Sent.
Delivered.
“Bing!”
Amity whipped her head to the direction of the sound. Luz’s backpack. The pale witch flipped her body over, still unable to break from her paralysis’ hold. She rolled off the bed, resulting in a loud thump she hoped her parents wouldn’t hear. Using the little muscle she could she pulled herself to the backpacks, sitting on her legs she ruffled through the second bag. It was clearly Luz’s. Papers and pens loosely shoved in, a few Band-Aids and markers also. She continued to search until she grabbed a rectangle, pulling it out and she confirmed her fear. Luz’s phone was in her bag. So it wasn't a dream, no matter how much she wished it was. She let out a choked sob as she layed on the hard floors again. She could hear the footsteps, her parents were coming.
She tried to scoot away as much as possible but she still had limited reign over her own body. But she braced as the steps came closer. Closer. And closer.
A gentle knock resonated from the wood of the door, three times. It wasn't her parents. Her body untensed as she recognized the knocking code from Emira. She returned the knock with four, signaling that all was clear, and she could come in. The door opened to Emira holding a tray of medicine and water, and a smiling Edric from behind her.
Emira shoved the tray in Edrics direction and ran towards her sister, who lay on the floor.
“Amity what happened?” She dropped to her sister's side and helped her up to guide her to her bed. “You can’t get up, you're sick.”
“...no…” Amity tried to talk but nothing would come out. Why wasn't she coherent?
Edric sat in a chair he had pulled to her bed as Emira tucked her younger sister in. Something she would only do when Amity was a baby.
Emira proceeds to sit on the edge of Amity’s pink bed, “Mom says you got the Welhans. You shouldn't be contagious anymore, but you still need to rest.”
“I'm not-” Amity started to cry. Why was Emira saying she was sick?
“Amity you have to rest, you can't go to school like this.”
That wasn't what she was worried about! Why couldn't she say anything? Luz was in danger.
“Mom and dad are at some kind of meeting. They shouldn’t be back for awhile. But mom told us to give you this potion if you woke up, it's supposed to help with the sickness.”
Amity violently shook her head, she wasn't sick and she wasn't going to take any potion from her mother.
“Edric give me the potion.” Emira looked at Amity carefully as she extended her arm behind her.
“Emira…” Amity’s speech was getting better. She needed to tell her about Luz. “Luz is-”
“I know, she's missing. Willow told us yesterday.” Emira patted Amity's cold and clammy arm, “How did you know? You've been sick almost all week.”
Amity started hyperventilating, she was sick all week? How long has Luz been gone? How long has she just been laying in bed? She brought her arm up to touch her eye, the eye that her mom hit.
"You fell off the bed, I know. Your eye looks pretty bad... Edric give me the potion now!” Emira looked back finally to see Edric licking some of the potion off a spoon he had produced, “DON'T EAT THAT!”
“I was curious! It's not like it's gonna make me sick or anything, it's a healing potion right-” his eyes grew wide as he slipped off the chair.
“See? Do you see why you shouldn’t drink any healing potion you come across?”
“Emira…” Edric stayed on the ground, “This isn't a healing potion.”
She froze.
“...what?”
“Listen, don't get mad. Sometimes, I test people's potions for class.”
“What?!” Emira yelled, surprised at her brother's comment.
“I never get hurt or anything, I only drink the somewhat harmless ones. But this. This isn't a healing potion. I've tasted it before.”
“Then what is it?”
“Paralysis.”
________________
________________
When Luz awoke, she immediately felt a splitting pain in her head. Her body shook continuously. This would always happen when Luz would have her panic attacks, but while she sat in that room, all the techniques she knew to calm herself down wouldn't work. Echoes of Amity's voice resonated through her mind. She couldn’t exactly piece together what had happened. She remembered reassuring Amity about her parents, she said they probably still loved her. Then she remembered Amity’s parents.
“Well I was wrong.” Luz whispered, attempting to ground herself.
She could feel cold on her back. Metal maybe, or concrete. She looked down at her torso, and wrapped around it was some glowing rope. Magic, she concluded. Every movement of her head sent another spiral of pain into her. Her muscles ached and her head felt like it was splitting in two.
“I guess that's one thing to be grateful for.” Luz said, commenting on the dimness of the room.
She could make out that she was in a concrete room, not much bigger than Eda’s broom closet. Her torso was tied to what looked like the back of a chair. Her arms and legs were also bound. Connected to the arms and legs of said chair. Her hair was wet. Why was her hair wet? It drooped over her face and began to curl in front of her eyes. She could hear distant metal clanking, along with the sounds of glass bottles. It reminded her of when her mom would can some of the leftover vegetables from their garden into little mason jars. Luz would grab the jars in her arms and they would clink together as she put them away.
Then, the door opened, a figure stood in the doorway. Luz attempted to see the perpetrator but the light behind him was blinding.
“Human. I have brought you here because I seek information.” His voice boomed toward her, and she shook in response, “You are in constant company of Edalyn and Lilith Clawthorne. You must know some information from the strongest witches in the boiling isles.”
Luz stayed silent, she figured that was the best way to stay safe.
“And your lineage… You are human, no? No known human has ever set foot in the boiling isles. You could hold unimaginable powers.” The figure shut the door behind them, they stepped closer to the light, a bunch of glowing orbs suspended in a small cage above Luz’s head.
Luz could see his face now. It was a pale purple, sunken around the eyes and cheeks. His lips were an unnatural grey, made to match with his bloodshot eyes. He looked to be somewhat young, despite his wrinkled hands and how his voice grumbled. White, shriveled hair made its way from his head, it was shaggy and looked as if it had never been washed. He stepped closer to Luz, putting his hand on the back of her chair and tilting her back so she was looking up at him. He leaned closer and began to speak, filling Luz’s nostrils with a putrid smell.
“You’re going to talk now, and you’re going to give me absolutely everything I need.”
Luz’s eyes squinted challengingly, she wouldn't give him anything about Eda and Lilith.
“I grow impatient, little girl.”
Luz scoffed to herself, rolling her eyes and looking away. Sure, she was terrified but Eda could be in danger if she gave anything up. Her body was a dead giveaway compared to her brassy tone, it shook with every nerve, and she couldn't get it to stop.
“I guess that's one good thing about your being a human,” he paused, letting her chair drop loudly to the floor again.
“You’re so much easier to hurt.”