Demons of a Feather

'Titans balls, I couldn't have done that worse if I tried.' Eda thought as she tied her bandana around her head, hiding her ears from the Human Realm. ‘I couldn’t even ask her name before trying to extort her?’ The familiar, unwelcome prickling feeling of pin feathers sprouting ran up her arms, and Eda yelped as she rummaged in her hair for the last of her elixir from that day. She yanked the cork out, and tried to down it before-

Camila walked through the portal just in time to see Eda gulp down the last of her elixir, without a feather in sight. “Uhh,” Eda shoved the bottle back in her hair, “you didn’t see that?”

All she got in response was a flat look. ‘Aaaand now she probably thinks I’m an alcoholic. Great.’ Eda cleared her throat, “So, which way is your-” Camila started walking down the path without a word, and Eda turned to follow, speeding up to walk next to her. “I, uh, I think this would be a good time to apologize for-”

“What are you wanted for?” Camila was stone faced as she spoke.

‘Ah. Going right for the throat…yay’ Eda felt the blood rush to her face, “That, uh, that’s kinda complicated?” She rubbed the back of her neck. “It’s like, ok, about fifty years ago, this ja-erkface named Belos decided he was the Emperor, and that everyone had to do magic his way, by joining one of his Covens. I don’t want to join a Coven, therefore I’m a criminal.”

There was a pause, filled with the barely-there sounds of nighttime in the Human Realm.

“That’s it?”

Eda took a moment to respond. “Well, everything stems from that.” She started. It looked like she had a chance to smooth things over a bit, so she had to choose her words very carefully. “Like, my market stall is only a weekend thing. The rest of the time I sell potions, but I don’t have a license to do that because I’d have to join the Potions Coven to get one. I don’t wanna join the Potions Coven, so I can’t get a license, so I’m also wanted as an unlicensed Potioneer." There was also a whole lota petty theft and arson and property damage and…other things on her record, but Camila didn’t need to know that yet.

Camila only ‘hmm’-ed. The two women stepped out of the dark woods and onto the sidewalk; they were in the neighborhood right outside of the woods. Camila stopped at one of the closest houses, pulling out her keys and letting herself and Eda in.

Eda kept her eyes and ears peeled for any sign of Luz’s dad; she knew he just got diagnosed with something when Luz wound up in the Demon Realm. Not knowing if he had…gotten better or not had been weighing heavily on Luz all these years.

A heavy pit started to form in Eda’s stomach when she saw the inside of Camila’s house.

It looked like the Owl House did before she found her-uh, before she found the kids.

The furniture was sparse, there were no pictures anywhere that Eda could see, and it was dark and quiet.

It was so…lonely.

"Nice house." Eda tried to ease the tension. "How long has it been since you moved in?" The first place Eda had searched after finding Luz was Gravesfield. She knew that Camila and Manny hadn’t been living here before, so just how long were they sitting under her nose?

"...four years."

So half the time she'd had Luz. They were so damn close. Eda sighed, "Shoulda checked this town again. Never thought we'd be lucky enough for you guys to move here, so after the first search I just," she gave a shrug, "moved outward and never kept up with new residents."

Camila paused at that, fully looking Eda in the face for the first time since Luz came home. She had a look on her face that kinda made Eda think of Luz when she ranted about that ass of a Grudgby captain who had it out for her and her friends. She looked like she wanted to say something, her jaw working, but she seemed to decide against it at the last minute.

Camila turned and stalked down the hall, not even bothering to turn on the light. Eda gaped a little bit, before snapping her mouth shut. She softly padded after Camila, drawing a small ball of light into existence. There were a few photos hanging up in the hall, and Eda had to bite back a cackle at the first one she saw.

The whole left side of the photo was taken up by half of a man’s face. That had to be Manny; he had Luz’s smile. In the back, a younger Camila with a long, curly ponytail free of gray streaks held a fully human baby Luz with a tired but happy smile on her face. Baby Luz had food smeared all over her face, and looked like she was hollering about something. Or, knowing Luz, she was probably just hollering for fun.

It was bizarre to see Luz as a full-on human. But it looked like she was always the cutest demonling at the slayground, even before she was a demonling. Oh, did Eda have time to take a picture of this? She pulled her scroll out and snapped a quick photo, just barely shoving it back in her hair before Camila came out of her room with a duffle bag over one shoulder. It looked like she packed kinda heavy for one night, but hey! Who was Eda to judge anyone for anything? She slept in a nest.

“Hey, you mind if we take this back with us?” Eda spoke before fully thinking, not for the first time in her life, “Luz will get a kick out of it.” Once she realized what she said, she stiffened, holding her breath while she waited for Camila’s response.

Eda breathed a sigh of relief as Camila’s cold expression softened into the same smile she’d had watching the little chowhounds tear through their griffin kabobs at the sight of the picture. Gently, almost reverently, she lifted the photo off the wall, and tucked it into her bag. Eda glanced away as the shorter woman wiped away a few tears.

“You, uh, got everything you need?” Eda rubbed the back of her neck, keeping her eyes firmly off of Camila. That was not a good sign. But hey! Maybe Eda was just being pessimistic. She grabbed her bracelet and twisted it around her wrist. Luz needed all the luck she could get right now.

“Yes, let’s go.” Camila walked past her, but Eda thought she looked a little less stoney. Or maybe that was just the lighting.

Camila stopped before they made it to the front door. “Let me call into work. I’m going to take the week off, to spend with Luz." She pulled one of those human rectangle things out of her pocket. “I’m sure that won’t be an issue?” It was clear by her tone that she wasn't asking.

“Nope!” Eda answered a bit too fast. “Once we get back, I’ll call Luz out of school for the week. Good idea!” Her instinctive showman smile didn’t falter, even as she wanted to rip her hair out. She was letting her nerves show, but hey, could you blame her? Let’s see how you handle meeting your kids' other mo-er, meeting your apprentice's real mother.

Eda stepped outside while Camila made her call, leaving the door open and sitting on the steps in front of the house. Giving Camila privacy for her call, while making sure she could see Eda hadn’t taken off without her; it was a solid strategy to make Eda seem more trustworthy.

Probably too little too late, but it couldn’t hurt to try.

Eda stood when she heard Camila behind her. As Camila locked the door, Eda conjured another light spell, this one bigger than the last, and cupped it in one hand.

As they started back into the woods, Eda wondered how much Luz was panicking.

*****

Luz leapt out of the shower and onto the glyph she placed on the floor before hopping in. The familiar tingle of magic accompanied the swirling plume of hot air that engulfed her, drying her almost instantly, but causing all of her fur to poof out. She didn’t even bother brushing any of the frizz out before yanking her pajamas on and charging out of the bathroom, two hairbrushes held in her hand.

“Weh!” King yelped as Luz leapt over him, barely keeping her footing.

“Sorry King! Forgot you were sitting right there!” Luz waited just long enough for King to hop onto her tail and grab a brush, before taking off down the hall. She felt her hermanito start to brush her tail out, as she started on her hair.

“Why are you running?” King called out as Luz took the stairs two at a time, nearly losing her balance as she skipped the last five.

Luz moved the brush to her arms as she burst into the living room, “Because my wanted posters are still hanging up, and hopefully Mami didn’t see them yet!” That was a conversation that Luz was fine not having for a while.

Not like the conversation about…about Papá. Mamá hadn’t mentioned him, but that wasn’t a red flag, right? She was just so focused on finally finding Luz that she just didn’t mention him! He had to have gotten better.

He had to.

“Why? You’ve got an impressive bounty, and they got my good side in the last two!” King chirped out, and Luz could feel him gently working through a few knots in her tail as he spoke.

Luz pulled her framed posters off of the wall around Eda’s massive one, looking around frantically for a good enough hiding spot. She settled for shoving them under the couch.

“Because my other parents don’t commit tax evasion for fun.” Luz went back to brushing her fur as she started pacing. “At least, if they do, they weren’t as open about it as Eda is.” Were taxes a thing in the Human Realm? More importantly, was there anything else she should do?

Mamá had seemed kinda tense, which was understandable, given how different the Boiling Isles is from earth; Hooty alone was a lot to take in. And no matter how much Luz loved Eda, she knew that her mentor-mom could be a bit…much, especially to new people 

“Hey do you think we put enough blankets on Mamá’s bed?” Technically it was Luz’s bed, but she’d gotten attached to the hammock Eda had strung up for her before she’d been able to buy a bed, so it was only ever used when she had her friends sleeping over. “Or maybe we should have used the purple sheets instead?”

“I think you should sit down before you pace a hole in the floor.” King scrambled up onto Luz’s shoulders and then on top of her head.

“Hoot hoot!" Hooty stuck his head in through the window, “I don’t want another hole in my hardwood!” He pulled back into the door, before darting his head back in. “Also, your shirt is on backwards.”

Luz groaned, pulling her arms into her pajama top and spinning it the right way around. She flopped onto the couch, leaning against the arm and wrapping her tail over her lap. “Sorry, sorry, I’m just…”

King slid off her head and flopped into her tail, disappearing in the neatly brushed fur before popping his head out, “Nervous? About your…dad?” He ran a claw through the bare fur around his neck, a sign he was feeling anxious too.

She gave a shaky sigh, resting a hand between King’s horns. “Yeah. I’m just- yeah.” Luz was worried that if she started talking about all these…complicated emotions swirling in her stomach and her chest and her lungs and her heart and her everything , she’d start bawling. And she wasn’t sure if they’d be happy tears or not.

King made a face, like he was trying to figure out what to say. He reached up, wrapping his arms around her neck in a hug she gratefully returned. “Well, whatever happens, you’ve got your amazing little brother right here for you, got that?”

Oh, that got a few tears to well up, but Luz smiled as King nuzzled against her cheek, his little sideburns tickling her ear. She wiped them away as King pulled back, and she planted a kiss on his forehead. “I got it. Thanks King.”

Luz glanced over at the portal door where it stood in the living room, and a swell of emotion rose up in her. She shoved it down, turning back to King, “Think we have time to make some hot choco snilk before they come back?”

King gave an excited cheer, leaping off of Luz’s lap and running into the kitchen with his tail wagging. Luz knew that was a yes, and she chuckled as she followed her brother into the kitchen. It only took a few minutes to whip up a pot, the task helping her soothe her nerves.

Everything was gonna be fine.

Mamá was just a little concerned about what happened to her, but she wasn't gonna go full Gwendolyn.

Papá was…

They were both gonna love Eda and King just as much as Luz does, once they were all able to get to know each other.

Everything would be fine.

It would!

Luz was just setting the full mugs out on the coffee table when she heard her moms come back through the portal.

Eda groaned in relief as she pulled her bandana off, her ears shaking themselves free. “Oh, that’s bet- oof ”

Luz couldn’t help but throw herself at the both of them and pull them in for a tight hug, snugly wedging herself between the two women. A few more happy tears snuck their way onto Luz’s face as she did; a double-mom hug felt just as nice as she always thought it would. She tried to ignore the worry swirling in her gut as no-one else came through the door. Eda ruffled her hair with a chuckle, and Mamá wrapped an arm around her, but froze when her hand brushed one of Luz’s outer ribs through her shirt.

“Cariño,” Her voice was tight, and Luz could hear that she was trying to sound like she wasn’t freaking out, “what am I…feeling right here?”

Reluctantly, Luz pulled back. “Oh! That’s just this.” She lifted one side of her shirt, showing her mom both the bone fused to her skin, lining up perfectly with the bottom of her ribcage, and part of the patch of fur running up her back and all the way to where her hair started on the back of her neck and onto her shoulders. She only had the two outer ribs, one on each side.

She tensed up a bit as her mama looked at the bone, waiting with baited breath to see how she would react to this. Luz had noticed how…distressed? confused? her mama had seemed when she was taking in Luz’s new look. She always knew her parents would need time to adjust once she got them back, but it was even more nerve-wracking than she expected to have to watch Mamá take in all the ways she changed.

“Does it…hurt?” Mamá’s hand hovered over the rib.

Oh, thank the titan she was just worried about Luz’s comfort. “Nope! It’s actually like built in armor.” She tapped a boney claw on the rib, “One time Boscha, a kid at school, kicked a Grudgby ball at me, but it hit one of these and just ricocheted off. I barely felt it, but she got two black eyes after it hit her in the face.”

Something in Mamá’s face shifted a bit as she spoke, but Luz wasn’t sure what that meant.

The portal door folded up, and Eda spoke, “I’m gonna get my pj’s on. I’ll show you where the bathroom is, Camila.”

Luz sat back on the couch as she waited for her moms to change. King settled next to her, and started happily sipping his hot choco snilk.

Eda came back first, plopping down on the other side of King. She gave Luz a smile that was more nervous than she probably thought it was.

Mamá had something with her when she came in, but she was awkwardly hiding it behind her back. She sat on Luz's right, managing to set the thing she had on the floor beside the couch without Luz being able to see what it was. The end of her tail wagged a bit at being surrounded by family.

"Hot choco snilk?" Luz handed her the only mug that hadn't been drunk out of yet. "It's dairy free."

She watched Mamá treat the mug with the same caution she had with the griffin kabobs, giving it a careful sip. Her expression brightened a bit at the taste, but she set the mug down.

“So what happened?” Mamá’s words were gentle, but nervousness swirled in Luz’s gut. “You were just playing in your room, but when we went to get you for dinner, you were…”

“...gone.” Luz looked down at her mug, taking a long sip of her snilk before setting it back on the table. She had been dreading this for years. “I, uh. Well, Mamá, you see…It was-” Eda’s hand rested on her shoulder, and Luz looked over to her.

“Breathe, kid.” She had a familiar reassuring smile on her face. “You can do this.”

Luz took a deep breath, slowly letting it out. “I snuck out.”

Mamá’s eyebrows shot up. “Mija, you were six . What in the world would you sneak out for?”

“Well…”

__________eight years ago__________

Luz Noceda was a six year old on a mission.

Her Papi was sick; he didn’t look sick to her, but Mami and Papi said he’d be having to spend time in the hospital now, and that his hair was gonna fall out, and he wasn’t gonna be able to play with her as much.

They were both worried, especially Mami. Luz could tell, even though they tried to not look worried. So she was gonna do something about it!

In the book Papi had been reading to her, the prince had to go on a quest to find a cure for the curse put on his little sister, and before he left he made her a pro-tec-tion charm so her curse would spread slower. So Luz was gonna make a pro-tec-tion charm for her Papi!

She needed to find a green acorn, a pretty rock called a gar-net, a vi-al of fresh spring water, and spider web! Luz brought the bandana Mami had gotten for her for her teacher’s fun cowboy day to carry everything in.

Her parents took her on walks through the biiiiiiiig park near their home a lot, so she knew how to get there on her own. Luz loved the eyeball shapes on the trees; it’s like the trees were watching them have picnics!

Luz was keeping her eyes peeled for flowers, but there weren’t any that day.

She had left the path a long time ago, and was just walking through the trees when she saw the pond. Maybe she could get the vi-al of spring water from there! Now she just had to figure out what a vi-al was.

Wait, could she get spring water if it was summer time?

When she got closer, she gasped. The pond’s reflection was a forest, but it was different from the one around her!

Luz leaned closer to the pond, trying to get a closer look. This was soooo cool! She had to bring Mami and Papi to see it! Once she finished her pro-tec-tion charm of course.

But as Luz looked at the different reflection, she lost her balance, yelping as she splashed into the pond. She sputtered as she pushed herself out of the water; thankfully it wasn’t too deep for her to stand up in.

Luz sloshed out of the pond, shivering a bit as a breeze that hadn’t been there before blew on her. She sat down next to the pond. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good plan. She had thought about asking Mami to help her make the charm, but she wanted it to be a surprise!

But now she was all wet and cold. And-

Wait, the trees looked different. She was…in the forest in the pond! It was a magic door! That was soooooooo coooooool!

Luz gasped when she saw she wasn’t alone in the cool magical woods. There was a cute little puppy-thing with a skull head and big cute eyes and a cute fluffy tail standing on his back legs and watching her from a few feet away.

“¡Ay, que lindo!” Luz squealed, scooping the puppy up. He was the cutest thing she’d ever seen! She giggled as his fur tickled her face.

The little guy looked at Luz with his big eyes as she held him. “Oh no!” Luz gasped when she saw he had a cut on one of his little paw-hands! He was bleeding blue blood, but thankfully it was just a tiny cut. “You got a boo-boo!”

Luz put the little guy down, and he tipped his head to one side as she pulled her bandana out of her pocket. She wrapped it around his boo-boo, and just like her Mami and Papi do, she planted a little kiss on top of the bandana-band aid, to make it get better faster.

“There you go!” Luz pet the cute little guy on his cute little skull. He looked down at the bandana-band aid, then up at Luz as his tail started wagging. “Do you have a name?”

The little guy didn’t say anything, so Luz kept talking. “What if I call you…hm, what about King! Cause your horns look like a crown!” She held her fingers to her forehead to mimic horns.

King’s tail kept wagging, so Luz thought he must like the name. He grabbed Luz’s hand, and started pulling her away from the pond.

This was so cool! She was going on a magical adventure, just like in the books Papi loved reading to her before bed! She couldn’t wait to tell him! She couldn’t wait to show him!

King’s little legs made him a lot slower than Luz, so she picked him up. He looked really excited about the ride at first, but he fell asleep really quickly. Luz didn’t mind; he was so tiny, he didn’t weigh much.

Luz kept heading in the same direction, looking up at the sky as she did. But the trees were too thick for her to see the sky.

She found a path, and saw a big fancy door down one end of it. Her excitement got even bigger as she got closer. Is this where King’s family lived? 

Oh! Maybe an old wizard lived there, and he was desperate for an apprentice to share his knowledge with? 

Or, or an exiled queen, waiting for the chosen one to come along and help her reclaim her rightful throne!

There were some big rocks blocking the entrance, but there was enough space for her to squeeze through.

“¿Hola?” Luz called out as she entered the big building. “Hello?” She took a few steps into the building.

*****

Something poked Luz’s cheek, stirring her awake. She was lying on something hard? Luz opened her eyes, and saw King looking at her with his head tilted to the side.

Luz yawned, “Hiya King!” She must have been really tired, she didn’t even remember going to sleep. She felt…kinda weird, but not bad. Maybe she was sore from sleeping on the ground?

Wait!

If she fell asleep, she must have been gone for a while!

Mami and Papi had to be worried about her!

“Sorry King, I hafta go home! I'll be back soon, I promise!” Luz hopped to her feet, and ran towards the entrance. She heard King try to follow her, but the sound of his feet quickly stopped.

Luz raced back to the pond; thankfully it wasn’t too hard to find again. But she stopped as she got to the pond, she froze.

Her reflection was different.

"Whoa…" Luz gazed at her reflection in wonder. She looked…

SO COOL!!!!

She had horns, and biiiiiiig sharp teeth, and claws and fur and-

"King!" A little voice squeaked behind her. She turned, and saw she had a big tail now too! And King was sticking out of it, his own tail wagging as he looked at her.

“How long have you been there?” Luz giggled as she reached out to pat King on his little skull. Oh! She had cool claw feet too! She wiggled her new big claw toes.

Did she get cool magical powers too? Oh this was so cool!

King gave a little ‘weh’ as Luz’s tail started to wag with him on it.

This was gonna be the coolest magical adventure ever!

*****

Luz was worried about her Mami and Papi.

Jumping in the pond didn’t take her back home, it just made her all wet. Again.

She bit into one of the fruits that were next to her when she woke up that day. That's what had been happening the past few days. She and King would go to sleep on the ground, and then in the morning there’d be a pile of fruit.

Luz didn’t recognize any of them, but most of them tasted fine. One fruit that King really liked smelt yucky to Luz, so she let him eat all of those.

It was raining outside. Normally Luz liked to play in the rain, but she wasn’t in the mood to play right then.

King walked over to her. He had been in the first big room, making more of his little rock piles. She’d tied his bandana around his neck a few days ago. He yawned, and then nestled into her tail for a nap. Luz smiled at him.

It was kinda scary, being stuck here, but not being alone made it less scary. It didn’t look like King had any family, so she was gonna take him with her when she could go home.

Luz dragged her claw on the dirt floor, drawing the constellation she saw the first night, when the trees opened up and she could see the night sky.

She tapped it, feeling a comforting tingle in her claw, and it glowed a dark purple, kinda black color. Another light ball rose into the air, floating around with the dozens of others she’d made.

They were pretty.

Like she was making her own stars.

She heard something different than rain. Luz stood, walking over to the entrance from the room full of weird goopy statues. The lights all followed her.

Luz gasped when she saw a person standing in the middle of King’s little group of rock piles, and started walking over.

The person, a pale lady with fluffy short orange hair and pointed ears, spun around. She had a staff with an owl carved on it. “Who’s there? Reveal-” The lady’s shout ended in a gasp as she saw Luz and all of her lights, her eyes widening.

“Hi.” Luz waved at the lady as she stopped in front of her.

The lady knelt in front of her. “Uh, Hi there, kiddo. Do you...live here?”

“No. I fell in a pond and got here on askident.” Luz felt King sit up in her tail, and saw the lady’s eyes shift over to him, before moving back to Luz. “Can you help me get back home?”

“Uhh…” The lady started to say something, before she looked behind Luz and gasped.

The lady darted towards Luz, scooping her up and turning back towards the entrance. As Luz looked over the lady’s shoulder, she saw one of the statues was moving and running after them.

King scrambled out of Luz’s tail to look over the lady’s shoulder as they-

AS THEY FLEW AWAY ON HER STAFF!!!

“Your staff can fly!!!” Luz looked at the lady’s face, and the lady glanced down at her.

“Uh, yes it can?”

Something smashed into them all, and Luz screamed as she lost her grip on the lady and they all tumbled along the forest ground.

Luz gasped when she pushed herself up and saw King lying on the ground with one of his horns busted. She scrambled over to him, scooping him up right before the lady grabbed her and started flying away again.

“King? King!” His eyes were closed and he wasn’t moving! Luz looked up at the lady, tears filling her eyes as she started to panic.

“Hey, it’ll be okay.” The lady adjusted her grip on Luz, so she was sitting on the staff in front of her, but an arm was still wrapped around Luz’s waist. “He’s still breathing, just knocked out. Your, uh, little brother is gonna be okay. Once I find a place to land, I’ll check him over, ok?”

Luz just nodded as she held King close to her. She liked that the lady called King her little brother. She seemed nice.

“So kid, what’s your name?” The lady asked as they flew over an ocean.

“I’m Luz. Luz Noceda.”

“Well Luz, I’m Eda.” Eda smiled at her as Luz twisted her head to look up at her, “Now, what were you saying about a pond?”

__________present__________

Luz sipped her hot choco snilk, finishing it as she finished talking. She hadn’t looked at her mama while telling her story, and Mamá hadn’t said much, just the occasional question to clarify something.

“So you just,” Mamá sounded confused, “dozed off and woke up? And you were…not fully human anymore?”

“Heh, yeah. Craaaaaazy, right?” Luz gave half-hearted jazz hands at that. She never really minded her changes, and honestly she thought she looked awesome! But not knowing how she changed did bug her.

Eda spoke up, handing her partly-full mug of snilk to King to finish off. “I’ve tried going back to that island before, see if I could figure anything out, but I can only find it when I’ve got one of these two with me.”

Mamá shifted in her seat, but Luz couldn’t bring herself to look at her.

“Y’know, I didn’t really believe Luz at first when she told me she was human.” Eda rubbed the back of her neck. “I wondered about her ears being round, but demon-witch hybrids can have some unique features, and that’s what I thought Luz was at the time. I kinda thought her story was like, an imaginative little kid who really liked human stuff trying to rationalize getting separated from or maybe even, er, abandoned by her parents with a baby sibling.”

Luz heard Mamá take a long sip of her snilk before placing the now empty mug on the table. “What made you realize she was telling the truth?”

“Mostly the spanish.” Eda reached into her hair, pulling out a well used ‘Spanish-to-English’ dictionary, “It isn’t spoken on the Boiling Isles, and as far as I’ve been able to find it doesn’t even exist in the Demon Realm.” She wiggled the book before putting it back, “But as you are aware, it’s spoken all throughout the Human Realm. After that I started trying to search for you, but there were quite a few…complications.”

Luz gave a little huff. “I couldn’t remember the name of the state we lived in, and I only kind of remembered our address. Turns out, there are a lot of ‘Nocedas’ living in America, and what I did remember didn’t help narrow things down.”

“And we were too little for Eda to leave home alone.” King spoke up for the first time. “I was young enough that I barely remember anything from this.”

Hooty shot through the window, startling Mamá enough she shrieked and jumped. “You wouldn’t have been alone! I would have been here! Hoot!”

“Leaving small children alone with you would be less responsible than leaving them alone, Hooty.” King responded in a deadpan tone.

“I’m great with kids!”

Eda gave an eye-roll, “You tried to eat Boots’s head because you thought the leaf in her hair was a bug six years ago, and she’s been waiting for an excuse to murder you since.”

“Yeah, well she’s a teen now, so I don’t think that should count anymore.”

“Things were also made more difficult by the portal door being fixed in that shack behind Gravesfield.” Eda turned away from Hooty, who retracted back into the front door. “So even after Luz made some friends whose parents didn’t mind babysitting, a lot of that search time was used up having to commute to any address tied to a ‘Noceda’ I could dig up.”

Luz smiled as Eda gave a maybe-fake shudder, “I actually ran into my human ex-husband once and tried seeing if I could talk him into helping me somehow. Found out he had a twin when I got them mixed up and the twin tried to shoot me.” She picked up her mug swirling the last of her snilk, before downing it. “Not the worst run-in with an ex I’ve had, to be honest.”

Luz couldn’t help but snort at that, but the worry in her gut had been swirling the whole time was…distracting to say the least.

“Mamá?” Luz leaned forward, leaning forward and resting her crossed arms on her knees, “Did, uh, did Papi-” as she spoke, Luz finally looked over to her mother since admitting she had left them snuck out, and everything that had been churning inside of her ground to a halt.

She didn’t need to finish her question.

The look on her Mami’s face was the only answer she needed.

“...oh” Luz  looked back down at her knees.

Was it weird she hadn’t started crying yet?

She always thought that if…this happened, she would break down immediately.

But she felt weirdly…calm wasn’t right, and it wasn’t quite like feeling numb, she didn’t think.

“Oh baby.” Mamá leaned away from Luz for a moment, before scooting closer to her and resting a hand on her upper back, “He never gave up hope that you were alive and safe somewhere.”

A gift was brought into her view. It had deep purple wrapping paper, her favorite color still after all these years. There were reflective silver stars on it, but they looked handmade, cut and pasted on. It was tied up with a white ribbon shedding glitter everywhere, in a fancy, carefully tied bow.

Luz pulled on one end of the ribbon, neatly unraveling it. It must have been tied up for a while, because the ribbon was still crinkled pretty tightly when she set it on the table. She hesitated for a moment, her claws hovering over the paper, before turning the gift and carefully slitting the tape open on the back and both short ends.

Her eyes widened as she unwrapped the paper and set it on the table next to the ribbon. The cover was different than the copy in her room, probably a different edition, but she’d recognize this book anywhere.

“The first Good Witch Azura book?” Luz felt a pressure building in her throat as she spoke, “This is my favorite series.” She hugged it close to her. “Papi liked these too?”

Mamá started rubbing circles on Luz’s back, and she felt Eda rest a hand on her shoulder and King pull himself onto her shoulder, wrapping his arms around her neck from the side.

“Sí, mija. He read this in the hospital and thought you would like it.” Mami’s voice was soft.

A tear escaped Luz, and then another and another and another as grief, thick and suffocating, welled up in her chest and finally spilled out of her.

She felt what was left of her family around her, but it was all distant as she wailed, curling in on herself.

Sobs wracked Luz, until she cried herself to sleep on the couch.

*****

As King listened to Luz’s crying turn to whimpers, clinging to her as she leaned on her…mom, one thought was running through his head.

This wasn’t fair.

“...I think she fell asleep.” He spoke quietly, not wanting to wake his sister up after…that.

Luz was leaning on her… on Camila, and as King slid onto Eda’s lap, he watched as she murmured something he couldn’t catch and gently kissed Luz on the top of her head.

Eda scooped King up and placed him on the ground, then standing herself. “Let’s get everyone to bed.” She moved to pick Luz up, but hesitated until Camila gave a small nod. Eda tucked Luz’s tail over her lap before gently picking her up off the couch.

Luz started to stir, but Eda started humming that one song she liked, and Luz just gave a few sniffles before going still. King grabbed her new book off the table, as well as the ribbon and wrapping paper. He guessed Luz would want to keep them too.

Eda led the way to Luz’s room, with Camila behind her and King taking up the rear. Hooty was keeping the lights dim, and opened the door for them as they got there. King had his own room, but it was mostly just used to hold his stuff. He usually slept in either Luz or Eda’s rooms.

So when Eda set Luz down in her hammock, King set her things down on the chest she used as a nightstand, and then curled up in his bed on the floor by the end of her hammock. Eda pulled a blanket over Luz, and then did the same for King, patting him on the head with a soft ‘goodnight’, closing the door behind her.

King watched through one eye as Camila sat down on the small bed that was normally used as a couch, and looked over at Luz, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. She gave a small gasp as she looked up from Luz and at her photo board on the wall behind the hammock.

As Camila pushed herself to her feet to turn the light off, King wondered which one of Luz’s pictures or drawings surprised her, or whatever that was. Or maybe she was just surprised by how many of them Luz had managed to fit on the board?

She clicked the light off, and as she moved back to the bed, King worked up the courage to speak. “I’m sorry. About, about Manny. He sounded really nice, from what Luz said about him.”

Camila gave King a small smile as she took her glasses off, setting them on Luz’s school stuff chest/couch side table. “Thank you, King.” She lay down on the bed, pulling one of the five blankets Luz had laid out on top of her, and King rolled over so he was looking at the wall.

He quickly drifted off to sleep.