Quiet
Luz paced the living room, tapping a pencil against her cheek. Even though she tried to relax, it was hard. She was too anxious. She needed to get her and her friends back to the Demon Realm as soon as possible. But she didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know where to start planning. Maybe if she tried to put magical energy into the abandoned house’s door somehow. Or she could try—
She was jolted out of her thoughts by the feeling of something resting on her arm. She turned around to see that Amity had put her hand on her shoulder.
“Luz, you’ll hurt yourself if you keep hitting yourself with that pencil,” Amity told her.
Luz stopped pacing and held the pencil still. Lost in her mind, she hadn’t realized she was hitting herself pretty hard. Her cheek stung and she winced.
“Oh, right,” she set the pencil down on the table.
“What are you doing, anyways, pacing around?”
“Uhm..” Luz trailed off, remembering how Amity had told her they would figure out how to make a portal later and that she shouldn’t worry. She decided to not tell her. “Uh, just thinking. About Eda. And the others. King. Raine. The people in the Boiling Isles. I wonder what happened to them.”
Amity’s gaze softened. “I’m worried about them too. But there’s nothing we can do for them right now.”
Sadness clouded her face and she looked away. “I just hope Em and Ed and my dad are okay,” she murmured to herself. She wiped away a tear from her eye and looked back at Luz.
“Come on,” Amity said to her. “Do you want to pet Ghost? I know you love cats.”
Luz brightened. She had always liked cats, even though she never had any pets of her own. But she still saw some at the vet clinic. Babies and their mothers. Injured strays from the street. Old abandoned cats. Her mom was a great veterinarian, and always patched them up and helped them find owners. Sometimes she let Luz play with some of the animals after they got better.
Luz let Amity grab her hand and lead her over to the living room.
Gus, Willow, and Hunter were all sitting on the floor with their Palisman. Gus was sitting cross-legged on the carpet while his light blue chameleon, Emmilline crawled over him to lay on his head. The boy giggled. He still wasn’t talking much, still processing the events that had happened, but he was getting there. After the shock had started to leave and he became more aware and conscious of his surroundings, he seemed very interested in the human realm. Who knew all the trouble he would get into.
Willow was watching as her Palisman, Clover, flew around in small circles around her head. The bee stopped and landed on her shoulder. Willow reached up to scratch the fluffy area of her neck and Clover buzzed happily.
Hunter was leaning against the couch as he sat. He was holding out his hand and Flapjack was perched on it. The cardinal was chirping to him, and Hunter seemed to be listening, like he could understand his bird somehow. Hunter still looked a little on-edge and tense, and, like Gus, he hadn’t spoke much either this morning. But Flapjack seemed to be calming him down a bit. Luz noticed that Hunter had treated a couple of his injuries himself, and that the bandaging on his arm was quite neat, considering he had to have done it with only one hand.
Luz and Amity came over and sat on the couch, Luz picking her not-yet-hatched Palisman up from the coffee table. She had gently wrapped it in a small, yellow blanket. She did not want her precious carved egg to get hurt or damaged.
Ghost jumped up from the floor and onto the couch, settling on Amity’s lap with a satisfied purr. The milky white cat stretched out her paws, her interlock slightly visible on her front paw. Amity ran her hand down the cat’s back, petting her. Luz reached over and scratched behind her ear, smiling a little. The cat’s fur was soft and sleek under her touch and Ghost meowed.
The room was quiet, no one saying anything or making noise, except for the quiet chirps, buzzes, and purrs of the Palisman. It was calm. The early afternoon sun rays came in through the window, illuminating the room in warm light. Luz leaned her head back against the pillows and closed her eyes.