curse you, hiatus !

❝𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋!❞ Luz's mother, Camila Noceda chimed out on the car ride back home. "During my shifts too, I drove all the way to school worried that you were hurt or something."

     "I'm sorry-" was all Luz could get out of her mouth before Camila took a quick left turn onto the road they lived on. 

     Her mother sighed, being a only mother and having such a rable-rousing daughter was a little bit too much for her to handle. Trying to balance both was impossibly difficult. After a couple seconds of silence, "I'm glad you're okay, just try not to do it again." Luz had gotten called down to the principal's office after dumping most of a can of paint on another student's painting. Her reason was that she thought she saw the painting moving. The principal, who was fully aware of Luz's reoccurring "active imagination" decided to report the situation to her mother, who had been quite shocked when she heard the news. 

     The brunette nodded, holding her held low in both sympathy for her mother and guilt. "I know I'll do better, mamá, I promise I will." 

     "Those ideas of witches and fantasy stories are holding you back. You're sixteen, miha, I just want what's best for you and I know focusing on school is hard for you...but if you put those Auria books away-"

      Luz cut her mother off as they pulled into the driveway. Unfastening her seatbelt, she said, "Azura. And like I said, I'm going to try harder." The sixteen-year-old opened the car door, her mother opening hers on the other side. It was obvious that the health-care worker was tired from her shift as she didn't respond until they were inside.

      As her mother began to retrieve vegetables for gazpacho, Luz sat down at the round wooden dining table contemplating helping or not. Her mother broke the silence once again, "I'm just trying to look out for you, because I love you and I care very much about how you're feeling. Are there any issues you're dealing with in school?" Luz remained silent, there wasn't much to share besides the regular teenage girl things. It seemed like everyone around her was getting into relationships and going off to parties.

     Just like her mother had looked into the cavities of her daughter's mind, she brought up, "You know, Mrs. Machados's daughter is holding a party and I think you should go."

     After all of the trouble Luz had just gotten in, there was no way that she would have been welcome at an event like that, yet Camila had brought it up. Her mother continued on insisting that Luz go, "I have another shift to work tonight and you need to socialize with kids your age more often."

    The young Noceda nodded shyly. Choosing to act hyped up, she hoped that within the action she'd feel more hyped up "I don’t know." 

    "You have until after dinner to decide, okay?" Mrs. Noceda said nonchalantly. To her mother it wasn't a big deal at all. It was just another social event, but to Luz, a party was frightful social event where different cohorts at school mashed together and created more chaos than a bull in a china store. 

    𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐑, Luz got changed into something else. She hoped that wearing something else would hide the disaster of an event that she had caused at school today. Different clothes, different person. She knew that her mother wouldn't be impressed, but she brought her gray-strap brown leather side purse with a book inside it. An Azura Book.

     Luz got lost in her thoughts before her mother called her downstairs to leave. The sky was a dark haziness of purples and reds. She would have admired it longer if she didn't have to get into the car quickly. Trying her best to avoid suspicions of the heavy weight in her side satchel, she moved hurriedly and stashed her bag behind her feet. Buckling up much faster than her mother, Camila exclaimed, "Did your whole attitude about the party change suddenly?"

     The truth was that it had, so Luz was able to respond, "Yes." However, it was only the outlook that Luz had crafted to help her get to the party. She knew that she'd see a lot of the same people, but maybe there would be kids from the schools that she used to show up at sports games for. 

     Some people who wouldn't know her.

     If that went wrong, Luz knew that she always had a friend in her book. 

     Pulling up the house, there was already loud music playing from speakers on the patio and dozens of teenagers talking and whispering to each other. "You'll be fine, I know it seems like a lot. Te amo, miha. Give me a call if you need anything." Luz nodded to her mother, fully aware that her phone was brushing the cover of the book that was supposed to stay a secret in her purse. Throwing her bag over her shoulder, she got out of the vehicle and checked out the scene. 

    They were all grouped, situated at different areas of the field, but as Luz got out of the car and walked through the party, whispers diminished. Murmurs and gasps filed the crowd. At least no one was confronting her...oh wait. The bright blonde haired cheer-captain, Skylar, was there. The Skylar that Luz was on the cheer squad with, until she got banned. "I didn't realize they let just anyone in," she remarked with a sly sneer.

    "Oh, I'm not just anyone." Luz said with a smile.

    Skylar sent her a scowl but Luz quickly finished, "I'm Luz Noceda. Do you not remember me?"

    The girls behind Skylar laughed and the blonde and pink haired cheerleader turned on her heel believing that she had a least made her point clear. Or maybe she just didn't feel like trying when Luz's reputation was already as worse as it got. 

     Walking away from the group, she walked closer to the speakers. No one really talked over there so she figured that maybe someone would want to hang out together at least. Everyone frowned as she walked by, so Luz did want anyone would do at a party where they weren't desired, sit down and read a book. Of course it was dark out, but Luz made do with the little light that her phone flashlight provided. As expected she felt like she was whisked off into another world. One where there were no limits...

     one where a normal girl could be part of a legendary prophecy...

     one where weirdos bonded with another and celebrated their differences...

     ...but she quickly snapped out of her fantasy trance. Usually the books provided as enough distraction from the world, but now she heard something. A shout amongst the loud blaring music. As everyone else continued to dance and talk, Luz followed the noise.

      It was not a simple task, it was incredibly hard to navigate the party with the sounds and the lack of lighting. She looked up at one of the windows of the house and saw someone sitting on the sill of an open window. They did not seem like they were level-headed, once break of balance and they would plummet to the ground.

      Luz saw the scene in her head as if she was envisioning the future. The partygoer fell from the window, but miraculously was saved by moving vines upon a wall. That was so unnatural, there must have been something else there. The vines had appeared out of nowhere and on top of that they had just saved that person's life. 

      Glancing around, she saw two shadowy figures standing off near the street. The two figures looked shocked as Luz turned to face them. As Luz noticed them the vines retreated back into the ground and there was no evidence of anything unusual from the ground or near the house. 

      The two shadow-cloaked individuals whispered amongst themselves. "How could you do that?" one angrily spoke. "I couldn't just let them hurt themselves." The other sighed, "What am I going to do with you? You could have got us both caught by a human or even expelled."

      Other teenagers were finally crowding up around the scene. None of them had seen what the brunette had just saw. They would all assume that she was crazy if she said anything of the sorts so she stayed quiet and called for her mom. Luz could have sworn that she heard ambulance sirens nearby, but it was all fine, there was no emergency and the person was all fine.

      As the phone connected her to her mom, her mother seemed to already be mid-conversation, "Are you okay? I heard that an ambulance was sent to the address that the party was at."

      "I'm fine," Luz assured her mother. "Someone wasn't careful and fell from the window."

      "Are they alright?"

      "I believe so. I can't tell. A lot of people are crowding them now." Luz said.

      A clicking sound of a signal turn played as Camila said, "I'll be there soon." She was fast, but someone she had still obeyed road laws. Luz saw the familiar look of her mother's car and walked into the passenger's seat. As she sat down she realized that she didn't have her book within her bag. She would have gasped if she wasn't already trying to keep it a secret. Hopefully she could get it back, it might have not been her favourite in the series but the Azura series wasn't fully complete with the whole set. 

      "What happened?" Her mother said. No completely sure how to answer that question, Luz looked for the signs that would tell if her mother was trying to make small talk or if she was genuinely concerned.

      Deciding that there was nothing to conclude, Luz told her mother about her theory. "There were these two mysterious figures and I think that one of them created these vines that caught the student that fell."

      Her mother nodded, but Luz noticed the faint expression of disappointment underneath the rims of her mom's glasses. "Luz, not again."

      "I'm telling you, mamá, those vines came out of nowhere!"

      "That couldn't have been what actually happened." 

      "Then how did they not get hurt?" Luz retorted in desperation.

      Her mother was tired of the stories that Luz always told, because to her none of them were ever true. "Luz..."

      "I wouldn't lie about this."

      "I know you wouldn't but-" There was something in that voice that proved that her mother didn't trust her. No one did. Luz sighed in the passenger seat. When they made it home, she was quick to unbuckle her seatbelt and bring her bag and phone inside. The brunette went straight into her room once the door was unlocked. 

      Her mother knocked once it was closer to bedtime, "Please get some sleep and try not to worry so much. I know you want there world to be magical like your books, but the world we live in isn't that way. True there's elements of the world that are special, that make us want to believe that magic is real, but at the end of the day it's not."

      It wasn't the best pep talk, but it wasn't a pep talk. It was a reality talk, and right before bed. Luz drifted off to sleep and felt the gentle touch of her mother's palm upon her forehead before she wished her goodnight and went to bed. 

     𝐀𝐒 𝐋𝐔𝐙 𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐓 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋 she could tell that all of the students were wondering what had happened as well. No one knew how they hadn't sustained any injuries. Some theories were being thrown around like aliens or a pile of leaves. Luz knew none of them were true, and she knew what she had seen even if others didn't believe her. As she walked into her homeroom period class, she saw more desks taken up. She didn't have the time to take the count, yet all was explained to her quickly. 

      "Class, meet your two new exchange students, Miss Blight and Miss Park."

𝐭𝐰𝐨. 

     𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 at Luz's school. It was quite unbelievable if she was completely honest with herself. Something told her not to trust them, but another part of her was glad to see faces that didn't already know all of her mess ups and record of chaos. Miss Blight and Miss Park. Completely dumbfounded at which was which, the brunette had looked at both of them a little too intensely. 

      The one with thick-rimmed circular-framed glasses and short cerulean-coloured hair gave Luz a short wave knocking her out of her daze. They wore a orange and yellow ensemble with persimmon leggings. At first impression, she seemed fairly nice and genuinely kind, but then there was the other girl. 

      The girl with bright green hair that reminded Luz of her favourite ice cream flavour, mint-chocolate chip. The girl's eyes were an amber colour, soft but somehow sparked with an intensity not yet brought to name. Like that of a spark that starts a flame or a wave before the sun reflects upon its crescents. Looking back at the girl with dark-blue hair, she smiled at her friend who was looking down at her notebook intensely. 

     Her bright pink and white shirt was matched with burgundy sweats and white high-heeled ankle boots. As the one with glasses whispered something to the focused part of the pair, she looked up at Luz. Squinting as if to say, 'what's your deal ?' Luz looked away, her cheeks flushing intensely with embarrassment, or something else. 

     The brunette hadn't realized that the teacher was beginning a lesson and she scrolled to an empty page in her notebook. Before she could scribble down something, a small paper plane dove onto her pages. Luz unwrapped it carefully, knowing who it was from. She knew she'd have to be quiet, the teacher wasn't a fan of note passing in class. 

Lunch, today, by the cherry blossoms. - W + A

     W and A? Those must be the initials of the people that she was just looking at. She was worried that the one girl was going to be mad at her, but maybe this was supposed to be a nice gesture. Maybe they were interested in letting her into their group. She could use a couple new friends and her mother might be pleasantly surprised if she had a group of people to hang out with. 

     Just as if first period never happened, the bell rang and Luz scrammed to right down barely legible notes. The school dance was in three weeks, the dance committee was looking for volunteers and their test would be on Friday about the renaissance and Luz was still working out the details of her presentation. She wasn't certain what artist she should investigate or how she should display the information.

      As her thoughts trailed on and on she realized that she had to hurry to class. Bio class, right down the hall. "Hurry, Luz," she told herself, pacing at a speed that wouldn't get her stopped by hall monitors but arrive on time for class. Once she got there she saw that the seat that was usually empty beside her was taken by the dark-teal haired girl. 

      "Hey?" Luz said, a little bit suspicious about the fast she'd gotten there, considering that they were in her other class. They waved back at Luz with a smile but didn't say anything. "So I guess sitting beside each other makes us desk partners?" 

     She really didn't want to come on too strongly because that's when other students would try to change seats, but she hoped that this person would be different. "I'm Willow Park," they said, breaking the silence. 

      Surprised, Luz pointed to herself wondering if Willow was introducing herself to her or not. "Uh, um I'm Luz, Luz Noceda." Willow smiled, "So did you guys just get here?"

      Willow looked forlornly as if the question was a little bit challenging to answer. Maybe even difficult to think about. She decided to ignore it and say something else, "I should apologize for the attitude of my friend. She's not normally like that. Well, that's a lie, I just mean that she can need some getting used to."

       Luz wanted to Willow to go on, but they were quickly shunned and reprimanded by the teacher and they went back to intently focusing on their schoolwork. Willow's fingers drummed upon the desk as minutes on the clock passed by. The anticipation built with every whisper of each student and every hum from the projector. The sounds were hard to keep out while Luz jotted down things to remember but they were all minuscule distractions compared to the note in her pocket. The note that meant she could be a part of something for once. The paper that gave her hope. 

      "W + A. Well, that's Willow beside me. What does A stand for?" Luz thought inside her head, each one bubbling and bouncing off another in a hectic herd. 

      Luckily, as if magic aided her, Luz was not called on by the teacher to answer any questions. It might have only been the second hour of the school day, yet she was drained. 

      The bell rang out immediately as Luz focused back on the chalkboard and she sighed remembering her promises to her mother. Mrs. Noceda was counting her and she couldn't let her mother down. Hopefully after lunch she'd have some good news to go home with.

      Even though it was her school, the brunette had no idea where to go for the cherry blossoms. Luz was grateful that Willow stuck around after biology to help her to the area. "Coming, Luz?" the blue-haired girl invited and Luz's brown eyes sparkled, feeling as if this was all just a dream.

       Keeping her pace behind short sixteen-year old, Luz keep her boundaries and made sure not to startle her in anyway. Her mother wouldn't be too proud of her if she happened to make two new students scared of her on their first day. "Welcome to the Abyssary."

        Willow gestured to the area and the border of cherry blossoms that seemed to keep strangers out and secrets in. Luz realized that they weren't in season and if she wasn't led there, she never would have been able to tell which trees were which. "How did you tell that these were cherry blossoms? You've never been here in the spring and it's incredibly hard to notice when they're not in bloom."

        She smiled behind her glasses, "Let's just say, I know a lot about plants."

       Luz was confused but she put a friendly face on and said, "That's so cool!"

       The mint-haired girl was looking off at the distance, one foot on-top of her seat and the other to the floor. Luz took her own seat on a stone bench, a little bit nervous around the other girl. Willow cleared her throat, looking at the girl. When A. didn't respond Willow just spoke for her, "This is Amity."

        "It's nice that you're here and all, but we're doing fine. We don't need a guide to the school. We may be new but we aren't brainless." Amity was too far away to be jabbed with Willow's elbow, but with a short motion, Amity knew that she should try and be a little nicer. "So, what's your name?"

         "Luz," she said, "Luz Noceda."

         "Alright, Noceda, why were you staring at us this morning?"

         "Amity-" Willow began, Amity turned to her friend and shot her a look that wasn't necessarily mean, but conveyed a want to speak in private later.

         Crossing her arms, she tossed her green hair and frowned. Luz realized that it would come to this, she stood up as well just a bit below Amity's height. "Of course she was wearing ankle boots, she probably liked the dominance that a couple inches in height gave her."  Luz thought.

         Stumbling words out of her mouth, she replied, "I was only looking at you two because you're new and I don't have any friends here. Maybe if I could-"

          "I'm not buying it. Who sent you?" Amity eyebrows furrowed.

          "No one."

          "She's just human, lay off." Willow said, putting her arm in front of the Blight in order to keep things peaceful. Both of them realized that they had said too much because Luz had slumped back down onto the stone bench. 

          Human? Where they not humans? Who were they?

         The two of them sighed, Amity palming her face with one of her hands. "Don't we at least owe her an explanation?" Willow pried, hoping that she would get some sort of approval from her friend.

         "We don't owe her anything." 

         "Amity..."

         A couple of seconds passed, even though Amity was still as stern as she was when Luz was invited to lunch, Willow started to explain a couple of things. "We're witches. We're new here because we don't normally live here."

        Both of them were waiting for Luz to get mad or scared. Instead the teenager jumped up excitedly. "That's amazing! Wait? Are you guys serious?"

         "Yes." Willow confirmed.

        The brunette jumped up and down, "Oh my gosh, this is so cool. So what do you do in your world? Do you attend witch school? Do you fly on brooms? Do you have magic wands? Oh, oh! Do you guys have familiars or use magic wands? Are you guys chosen ones? Could I be a chosen one?"

        Her speech would have gone on for a long time, but the bell rang signifying the end of lunch and Amity sighed and muttered under her breath, "Thank Azura."

        "You guys have to tell me more!"

        Adjusting her glasses, Willow smiled, "We will."

       Amity's eyes opened wide, as if to showcase her shock of being roped into this situation. "I'm not going anywhere with this human." 

       "Too bad, you have next period with her." The witch ruffled out her orange top to which Amity closed her amber eyes in aggravation and balled her hands into fists. "So, what do you say? Are we going to give her a longer explanation? We kind of have to now."

       "What if we went to the mall?" Luz said, trying to slowly back away so she could quickly speed out as to not be late for class.

       Willow smiled and looked towards Amity. "Okay, alright, fine. We'll go."

      Luz turned around to hide her happiness. Her first hangout with actual (well- maybe) friends. It was so exciting. "Hey, Amity."

      "Don't talk to me. We're not friends."

      The brunette faked a cough, "Yet."

      As they kept walking, Amity spoke without looking in Luz's direction, "Let me guess you're one of those girls who reads too many books and has fantasies in her head while she's supposed to focus on more important things. So, now, she's got to prove to her mother that she can make her proud."

      Luz looked at Amity's face, the girl hadn't even skipped a beat when filing that estimation of Luz's character. Instead of taking it as an insult, the tan-skinned girl exclaimed, "That's it! How did you know?"

      Amity looked at Luz for a second, then shook her head with an angry sigh as she walked into the classroom holding onto the notebook she was writing in before. Some people pedalled past her and she dropped the book. Luz bent over to pick it up, but Amity grabbed it first with a frown, "I don't need your help."

     She tried to act confident but they both tried to walk into the doorway at the same time and were shoulder to shoulder. If she'd trusted Luz more, she would have told her that the explanation was so easy to her, because she was the same way. It was the whole reason why she was here. She'd messed up and know she only have a couple weeks to fix it. 

   ❝𝐆𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐖𝐄'𝐑𝐄 𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑.❞ Luz noted while nervously laughing as she sat next to a pretty grumpy Amity. The green-haired girl threw her black nail-polished nails on top of her notebook in an attempt to give Luz a hint to keep her eyes on her own page. For a second, the brunette almost forget what class she was in. She looked at the clock to remember the period. 

     English. We have english together. Their teacher was a huge romancer so of course the novel study was The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare. The book was a part of Shakespeare's later ("romantic") plays. As the books hit the desks with load thumps, students groaned at how long it ended up being. "I hope you're a fan of reading," Amity said.

      Luz's fingers flicked to the first page where the teacher began explaining the first verses. "Welcome to the human world where every novel study is Shakespeare." 

       Her amber eyes looked at the cover where the author's name was. "Never heard of him." 

       "Well, if you like Azura books, you might find the flowery writing of Shakespeare flattering," she palmed Amity's book in her hands where a sticker of the novelized witch was placed. 

       Amity took a look at the book, her eyes widening. "Give it back!" she said, a whole non-angry side showing itself for the first time. "Luz..." the witch pleaded hoping not to cause a scene within the English classroom. 

       That reaction was completely unexpected and it might have been the shock that willed her to put the notebook back on the desk or the fact that everyone was looking at them. "Miss Noceda and the new kid! Are we having issues sitting next to each other?"

       Feeding Luz a quick scowl, Amity said, "Yes."

      Once she woke up out of her daze, Luz answered, "No, I was just trying to help her take notes." She couldn't have another call to her mother from the office. 

      "Alright, then. Focus back in our scene, class. 'Wherein our entertainment shall shame us we will be justified in our loves; for indeed--'" The teacher read aloud. Amity took the book back, intensely scribbling down a lot of words. "Anyone have any guesses on what that could possibly be alluding to?"

       Amity's hand rose higher than Mt. Everest and although shocked by the sudden movement, Luz continued to write down point form memos detailing the characters and outlining the plot. "I believe he's trying to say, that if their demeanour is poor and unamiable then they will make up for it, with their love for the guests."

        "I'm glad to find that we're on the same page, um..."

        "Blight, Amity Blight." she filed in quickly, slumping back down in her seat.

        Luz whispered to her, "You can make sense of all this? You must be a reader." 

        "So I like to read, what else of it?" Amity's nonchalant attitude blew a little bit of anxiety off of Luz's shoulders.  She hoped that within a couple days, or even a couple hours she'd find the hidden sweet centre of the sour lemondrop that was Amity Blight. 

       "....though absent, shook hands, as over a vast, and embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed winds. The heavens continue their loves!" Before the teacher could completely explain the importance of that verse, they realized that there was something else to make sure the students were aware of. "We were called in to help the art class in decorating the gym for the Fall Formal. I know it seems a bit early but we'll be meeting in the gym for the rest of these week and continue our novel study on Monday."

        "Do we have to do any extra reading?" A student asked from the back of the class.

        "Nope! I have plans to borrow the stage on Monday so we can fully explore the art of The Winter's Tale." The teacher explained.  

       "Ooh, that sounds dramatic." Luz excitedly thought.

      The bell bid everyone goodbye and Luz walked out of the class knowing that she was going to be walking to the art classroom. This was by far her favourite part of the day and it was the only room that she could walk to without even looking. "Hey, Luz." Willow appeared out of nowhere by the lockers.

       "WHAAA I-" Luz stammered, "How'd you get here so quick?"

      "I have art class before you." Willow explained. If she had art class while they both had english then that means that they'd be decorating the gym together for the dance. Something mysterious was happening. How was it that all of her classes were with these new people? It must be fate.

      "Oh well, I better head inside! Have a good last period, I'll see you later!" she exclaimed. Luz entered the class finally within her element. Her teacher was happy to see her again. After being sent to the principal's office one too many times she found herself frequently late to art class. 

       As the paint dribbled upon her canvas, with each stroke Luz was more and more sure of what to do. She painted stars upon a crimson landscape. Every painting felt like a part of her and a part of home. Art was over too soon, she wished that it could last endlessly but luckily she had plans.

      Sending a quick text to her mom, she got approval to go to the mall as long as Luz told her all about the trip. "Ready to go?" Willow said.

       "Heck yes!" Luz said, completely amped for their short departure. "I guess we're going to have to walk there because I doubt you two own cars."

       "No..." Amity said, slightly wondering how humans got around if not using magic. 

       "How'd you hear about the mall, Willow?" 

       "My friend, Gus, we're not allowed to cross the border until we turn sixteen and he's still got a few years until he's allowed to. He loves human things though. Maybe we should consider getting him something." 

        "That's so sweet and that'd be a wonderful idea!" 

        Amity brought Willow aside and walked faster on the sidewalk, leaving Luz behind them. "We can't get too friendly. What if telling her everything puts her in danger?"

        "What if not knowing anything puts her in more danger than knowing something?" Willow said, "I know we try our hardest not to interfere with the life of humans when we leave the isles, but she'd different."

        The cerulean-haired witch returned back to their human friend. "Anyway, I'm not really sure where to begin. There's so much to tell you."

        "What about, 'how you got here'?" The two witches nodded, okay with beginning with that subject. 

        "As I was saying, once you turn sixteen you're officially given your key to the human world. You're allowed to cross from the Boiling Isles to here. Amity and I were going to use my key to spend just an hour in the human world. Even though Amity's not fully sixteen yet, she's allowed to hop over with someone with a key because-"

        "Of my remarkable marks on our hexams." Amity bloated, cutting off Willow's sentence.

        "You're hex..."

        "Hexams. Hex-exams."

        "Oh, are those tough?"

        "Yes, and extremely competitive. Only one student can ace Hexside's Hexams." Willow said. "Back to where I was. We were going to the human world and Amity and I saw a human party. We wanted to check it out so we said we'd arrive and quickly scram out before anyone noticed. Then that one teenager was about to fall and I had to help them. I used some of my plant magic to get them out of danger."

        "A completely irresponsible decision." Amity huffed, "One that got us expelled from Hexside. We're not supposed to use our magic in front of humans. Not to mention it cost me three weeks of school. Who knows what spells they're going over that we could be learning right now if you hadn't had used your plant powers!" 

        "It was a good choice though. It was very courteous of you." Luz smiled, trying to give Willow a bright side.

         Willow nodded happily, "I wouldn't have changed a thing, the one issue is, because you saw us we got suspended, not expelled. It would be a pretty serious charge, but the Emperor's Coven is incredibly busy right now."

          Amity sighed, "They've all been sent of missions. They need to send a lot of witches in order to keep the witches within the human control under control. We have to get back home before my parents return to the Boiling Isles."

          Listening intently Luz nodded, "That must be a lot of pressure. Why are you guys still here? Why stay if you could go back?"

          "We're stuck." Willow said, disappointed.

          "When we jumped through another witch snatched our key and now I'm hoping I can find them and get the key back. However, we only have three weeks or I'll be in serious trouble." Amity explained, crossing her arms in contemplation. 

          "So, we'll do this thing in three weeks!" Luz said. 

         Amity was about to share her feelings about that remark, but she was cut off by another one of Luz's exclamations. "Oh look, we're here now!" The witches stared at the large building in awe. Malls were mostly a human phenomena, according to Willow's friend, Augustus. They had never truly explored one as the isles liked the traditional methods of using markets. 

          "Wow." Amity said.

         "That's a mall alright."

        "Come on! Come on!" Luz said, taking their hands and pulling them through the doors. The Blight let go of Luz's hand shyly, while Willow got pulled along. "Where should we go first? Should we look for a gift for Gus? Maybe since you guys are going to be here long enough for the dance, we should go shopping for dress or suits-"

        "Maybe we should take it a bit easy first." Willow said.

        "Right, gotcha." Their human friend held a hand to her chin to think. "I know the perfect place! You guys wait here, i'll be right back-"

        "Did she really just leave two witches alone in the middle of a huge human mall?" Amity said, wondering where Luz's head was really at.

        Willow shrugged still smiling, "She's nice, maybe you shouldn't always be so suspicious of people just being kind."

         "I am not." The green-haired witch said defiantly. "Besides, we should focus on our plan."

         Luz came back before Amity could say anything more. "I brought Boba Tea. It's really good. I didn't really know what you guys would like so I got a couple of my favourites hoping that you guys might like them." She carried three drinks and set them down on a table. 

         Passing one that was purple with dark blue popping boba's in it to Amity, the witch took it a little bit on edge. "It's taro with blueberry."

         "It kind of looks like her abominations at home." Willow said with a bit of a laugh. 

         "For you, I got watermelon and strawberry. An unlikely mashup that is kinda legendary." Luz said, passing the green drink to Willow. The red bubbles jumped up and down when Willow used the straw to stir.

         "What did you get for yourself then?" Willow asked.

         The brunette smiled, hoping that one of them would ask her. "I got strawberry and passion fruit." Amity and Willow took their first sips, both with pleasantly shocked faces. They passed their drinks to try each others, but they stayed true to their originals. Willow finished her quite fast admitting that it was really good. Amity cautiously took short sips of the drink. 

         Luz got up realizing that if they wanted to actually see the mall they had to walk around. "My favourite part of the mall is the fountain." She told the two of them. 

        The three walked up to it, Amity and Willow weren't surprised by the fountains. They had many of these back home, but Luz happily walked upon the side and sat down right near the water that people threw dozens of pennies in. 

        "You know, it's already a long shot that we even find the witch. But if we do, we'll can go back home and we'd never see her again." Amity said, but for Willow it was the last straw.

         "What is your deal? Amity, you have to at least give her a sliver of a chance!" Willow said, being louder than her natural pitch, but still not loud enough that Luz could listen into their conversation. "We already told her everything."

         "We can have Sybil erase any memories of us." She name-dropped their oracle coven friend. 

         Playing nervously with her sleeves, Willow protested, "Ames, you know that oracle coven members aren't allowed to erase the past, they're only permitted to tell see into the future."

         "Oracle coven?" Luz said, interrupting again. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to listen into your conversation. What's a coven? You've already brought it up before. What are you guys a part of?"

         Willow was happy that she could easily answer that one, but before she could Amity turned to her fellow witch. "We should only tell her if we're involving her in this."

        "I thought I already was a part of this? I want to help you guys get home." 

        "It wouldn't hurt to have a human guide. Right, Amity?" Willow said, once again trying to ease the Blight into agreeing.

        Amity looked around the mall, hoping for something to use as a distraction. "How about we think about it while we shop for some clothes. Willow and I only brought enough to last us today." 

        Luz smiled, "Not a problem, the mall has a lot of clothing stores." While she ran off to the first apparel store she saw, Willow and Amity stuck behind.

       "I caught on to you trying to change the subject."

       "Just give me some time to thing about it."

      "You and I both now that it's now or never to ask for her help. If you don't get home in three weeks, do you want it to be on your own fault because you can't trust anyone?" Willow said, bringing up a fair point.

      This wasn't just a fair vacation they were discussing anymore. This was no longer a trip, they were really lost in the human world. If they didn't find those keys and word got out to her parents that she left the Boiling Isles before her 16th birthday, they'd be so disappointed in her. Sure she had the grades, but her parents weren't going to accept that as an excuse. If she could never she Ed or Em again...

       No. She wasn't going to let that happen. 

       As she watched Luz looking at all of the different outfits passing Willow shirts and jeans, she felt something unfamiliar. 

      The silence worried Willow, "Did you think about it?"

      "Sort of. I'm not sure if we should let her in. She just doesn't seem-"

      "What did I say about trusting others?"

     Amity took another sip of the boba tea, reminding herself that without Luz they wouldn't have found something like it. "All I'm saying is that her human-ness can be distracting."

      "You don't say..." Willow said, trailing off when Luz returned with a bunch of outfits for Willow to try on. 

       "Wait, until I get a couple things for Amity, then you guys can change at the same time and it can be like a mini-fashion show!" 

       After Luz was gone again, Amity said, "I'm going to trust you, to help me in trusting her."

      "I'm glad we could make an agreement." 

      "I just hope I can keep it." Amity thought.

𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞.

     𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐅𝐓 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 music invited the girls to hang out and stay within the store, Willow an Amity sat patiently on a large ottoman. A frazzled Luz was quickly picking out things that they could wear for the next few weeks. They were beginning to wonder if the brunette ever actually ran out of energy. Luz wasn't panicked, but she was sort of in a rush. Her mother would expect her to be home in time for dinner and there was only around half an hour left to shop.

     Amity pulled on the straw hoping that stirring the substance would help more come through, but it was finally empty like an hourglass showing how long they'd be there. Willow didn't attempt to make small talk with her friend, but she was confused when Amity got up. "Where are you going?"

      "Just to dispose of the drink," the green-haired girl quickly replied. While she was out Luz came back with five different outfits for Willow to try on. There was a couple of orange tops, but a couple of green ones as well. The witch squinted at the outfits even though she could view them quite well.

      Luz looked bashfully ashamed, "I'm sorry, do you not like green? I just thought it would look nice on you, but I also got some in things in orange because I noticed that's what you're wearing now." Willow smiled at her newfound human friend. Taking a hanger, she smoothed over the fabric with her hand.

      "It's all good, I've just never worn human clothes before." To that Luz let out a little bit of a laugh but helped Willow find a place to try the outfits on.

      "Where's Willow?" Amity asked, walking back into the store.

      "She's gone to try her outfits on. Which made me remember, I've completely forgotten to pick out outfits for you!" Luz said, dashing away into the aisles of clothing. Amity sighed waiting, it was strange to have some time alone in a place she didn't recognize. It wasn't at all quiet or dark like her secret library hideaway and it made this place all the less familiar. She contemplated what Willow had told her. You can trust Luz.

       You can trust her.

       But the moment didn't last long. She felt her heart twist and turn like a clumsy metamorphosis and she couldn't seem to explain or understand it. Exhaling softly, she watched Willow come out of a room with dozens of hangers. "Amity, you wouldn't believe human fashion!"

        She softly smiled at her friend, looking back at Luz who was coming back with a bunch of clothing hangers on her wrists. "Need a hand?" Willow asked kindly. Luz smiled but shook her head 'no' while she handed off the clothing to Amity. The Blight took off not wanting to stay within the vicinity of the two cheery pals.

        As Amity hung one of the pairings on a rack, she muttered to herself, "For the human world, they still have taste. I guess Willow was right." She quickly swapped in and out of every outfit, liking each more and more. Amity changed back into her original outfit from the Boiling Isles and walked out with a bit of a strut.

       "I must admit..." Amity's voice stumbled over Luz's name wondering whether or not she was allowed to say it fully, "you have some taste, Luz."

       Luz looked over to Willow and sat up from the ottoman. She took the clothes along with her and paid with a bunch of gift cards that she had been saving up. She was thankful that her back was facing the two witches. Her face showed happiness but also distressed confusion because she wasn't really sure if she fits in with all of them. They were talented, lovely, amazing, and one might even say beautiful. Luz looked up at the store lights trying to focus on her surroundings once again. She took the clothes with her in giant bags and passed them to the girls to carry the weight. "You don't mind, right?" she asked to be polite.

      To her, they shook their heads. "Alright so, I know the whole dance thing isn't until the fifth of November but it's better to shop for formalwear earlier, or else students will be crawling the stores." Luz checked the time, they had around fifteen minutes, but then they'd have to make a large effort to race home. "So, come on!"

      She said, quickly treading the mall to a store with fancier apparel. "You could search on your own or we could all look together, it's all you two's decision." Luz smiled, she looked at Amity but Amity quickly walked in on her own.

      "I think it will be faster if I go alone, I'll catch up with you two," Amity said, making a quick excuse to get out of there. What was going on with her today? She seemed to not be able in the same room with them anymore and now that she was alone she felt how fast her heart must have been racing on the way there. Just look through the clothing racks, Amity told herself.

      Luz paced around the store looking for a colour that would look good on her. While searching for something for her, she found the best thing for Willow. The brunette showed it to her friend with a smirk, "How about this?"

      "How are you so good at this?" Willow said.

      "I may or may not have picked out costumes for one of our school plays," Luz said.

     Willow tried the dress on to see if it would fit and it was nice. She twirled in the green grape coloured gown that trailed down to her ankles. The dress was accented with sparkly green lace vines and small white flowers. Ribbon wrapped around her waist and decorated the dress a bit more. She packed up the dress and told Luz, "It was perfect! We just need to find something for you."

      Luz showed Willow a black dress, which she promptly shook her head no to. "What about this one?" She asked Willow, taking out a teal coloured dress. Willow once again shook her head 'no'. Both of them looked around the store, Willow found one rolled up on one of the lowest shelves.

      "What about this, Luz?" The dark-blue-haired girl handed her friend the dress that was missing a hanger.

      "It's great!" However, she noticed her friend's puzzled expression. "What's wrong?" Luz looked down at the long-sleeved blush pink skater dress. It had a two-layered skirt that was kind of poofy, but Willow could tell that it was missing something.

       Using the same method that she had before she searched for the unwanted gems on the clothing shelves. The ones that were about to be forgotten, so they could take them and make them wanted again. "I think I found it."

       "Found what?"

       "What you were missing," Willow said proudly, holding up a lilac jacket. Luz looked shocked at first, then a little bit confused as she debated the option. After she took it in her hands she smiled knowing that her newfound friendship was working wonderfully.

•°. *࿐

      𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐎𝐑 her own outfit while the two conversed. She looked at several different things, but they all seemed to remind her of things that her siblings would admire, not her. She looked behind a couple of black dresses, getting annoyed that there was a bright purple one where it didn't belong.

      Pulling it out she realized that it was the one, "Look at you, you're not where you belong. But neither am I...why am I talking to a dress?" Amity said, shaking her head. She put it in one of the formalwear covers and met back with the other two who had their outfits within black fashion bags as well. Luz took them and paid again being the only person with money.

      "Well, all of my gift cards are gone now. Ready to hit the road?"

      "Why would we hurt the road?" Willow asked.

      "Never mind! Let's get going." Once they exited the mall, Luz took their hands and raced home with them. "Welcome to the Noceda house!"

      Luz let go of both of their hands, causing Amity to break out of a strange trance. "You live here?" Amity asked. Then she realized that it could have been considered rude and bit her lip.

     "Me and my mom, but she'll probably be nice enough to let you guys stay," Luz said, knocking on the door. Her mom was quick to answer and opened the door to let them all in.

     Mrs. Noceda kissed Luz on the cheek, "Te eché de menos, Luz!"

     "También, mamá," she told her mother, giving her a quick squeeze. "I brought company, and they might be staying for a couple of weeks."

     "A couple of weeks?" Her mother asked, completely confused.

     "Our house burned down." Amity blurted out, quick with a lie.

     Luz's mother went to the two of them and gave them each a hug, "I am so sorry for you too, of course, you can stay here if your parents don't mind." The two of them smiled from the warm hospitality. Amity never really knew what it felt like to get a hug from her mom, Odalia Blight wasn't one for warm gestures. Willow however never experienced having a mom so it was quite different for her too.

     "Well, it's been a long day, we should probably head up to bed and get these two some mattresses or something," Luz said, but her mother wasn't willing to let her go upstairs that quicky.

     "Luz, you can get your friends ready but you aren't going to bed without food in your stomach." The brunette smiled and nodded as she ushered her friends up to her small room in the attic. Amity and Willow set down their bags and looked at the room wondering how they were all going to sleep there. Luz hauled a giant mattress into the room.

      Huffing and puffing from exhaustion she quickly noted, "This might only fit one of you guys."

      "Willow can take it," Amity said, kindly offering it to her friend. Willow helped Luz find pillows and blankets.

     "Since that mattress will only sit one person, Amity you could sleep on top of the covers of my bed." The green-haired witch blinked hoping to find a response. She saw a rolled-up sleeping bag and grabbed it conceiving words to speak.

      "I'll just use your sleeping bag. I don't want Willow to be alone on the floor and we use sleeping bags all the time back home." Amity said, half telling the truth.

      Luz put a hand on Amity's shoulder, "You're a really good friend to Willow." The Blight was worried that she wouldn't be able to keep her composure anymore. Luckily, Mrs. Noceda called them all downstairs for dinner. After the meal, they were all pretty tired anyway and they all went to bed in their designated sleeping location. It was lights out and Amity missed her books back home, even her diary. She would have written so much about her day within those pages. Then she remembered the journal that she had brought from school.

     Along with her dozens of sketches of Azura characters and Otabin, she found a new page to write some quick information down.

First day in the human world.

- Not going to lie, it's been really strange.

- We met a human girl and we're hoping she can help us get back home.

- We also went to a human mall and went shopping for human clothes.

and why can't I just go to sleep already?