Chapter 7 - The Late Night Conversations

~ONE~

The day passed without special events, Luz spent most of it in the Kitchen with Iniko and King telling them stories about her world. And then, it got late and Eda decided to call it a night and told them to go to bed.

The human girl was tired, but she didn't go to sleep.

She had get onto the roof of the Owl House and sat there. She need a moment to think. And maybe set out the status of the current situation.

Honestly if she'd been told at the start of this summer that she was going to end in the Demon Realm then she wouldn't have believed it. If she had though the current situation really isn't what she would have envisaged.

'I has sentenced to spending the summer at the Reality Check "reform camp" and instead, I ends up in the fantastical world of the Boiling Isles. I became criminal witch apprentice and have learned to do magic by glyphs. And now I'm in some parallel universe. It's really a unusual summer. I wonder what's going to happen next. Maybe I meet an extraterrestrial being who explores the universe in a time-travelling space ship and...'

Luz was mulling over these thoughts in silence when she heard the footsteps behind her.

She whirled around, startled.

"Hiya." Iniko greeted as he came closer, two mugs in his hands.

She gave him a nod before he carefully lowered himself to the roof beside Luz. He didn't say anything, he just sat there. Luz looked at him from the corner of her eye but didn't say anything either.

Iniko took a sip from the mug that says. "Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal Shit" he had designated as his and offered her the other.

Luz took the mug with Azura design. "What it is?"

"It's hot chocolate," He told her. "With marshmallows. Comfort drinks."

"Thank you." She took a sip from her own mug, and he grinned again.

"You welcome, Shiny."

"Shiny? Why ar-"

"Force of habit, I call my sister Shiny." He told her, his voice laced with humor and a hint of confusion as he interrupted her. "Because of her personality and first spell she learned."

"The light glyph, right?"

"Ten points for you."

The two sat in silence for a little while, simply looking out at the starry sky above them.

"You don't know me very well yet, but I pride myself on being this great listener." Iniko said as he sipped his hot chocolate. "And if you want to talk about your 'situation' and all... I'm here."

"That's very kind and nice of you. But I'm not your Luz. You don't have to act like big brother."

"You are not my Luz, but that doesn't mean that I don't care about your well-being." He said honestly.

For a brief moment, the only sound was the wind through the trees.

"Can I ask something?"

"You already have, but sure." Iniko replied, staring straight ahead at the sky.

"You and other me, are you close as a sibling?"

"Luz is my sister in everything but blood, I love her very much. If she ever need me to hide a body, I'll bring the shovels and be her alibi." The expression on his face filled with a subtle sadness as he continued, "I'm worried about her."

"My Eda wouldn't have let anything happened to her really." The girl said in a reassuringly Luz-optimistic tone of voice. "Also, other me have King, and a bunch of other friends to make sure she don't die."

"I know, but that's not it." There was an odd tone Luz couldn't read in his voice. "My sister is strong, enthusiastic and passionate person. However, she went through a lot before she came to Boiling Isles. For her this travel to another dimension might be a not exactly nice experience."

"Why?" her gentle inquiry makes him feel like if she intends to secret the information away in a vault and not make mention of it, again.

"You were in the middle of casting a ancient complicated spell. So, you were ready for a weird magic thing might happened." Iniko begin, "But for my sister, it was normal day. And then she was transferred to the alternate universe on suddenly and without warning. In your world; Eda isn't her mom. She don't have her staff, and believe me, Maotif is very important to my sister. Two members of the family was never born. She stuck with people who look like those she loves but they aren't that people. And it is not clear when she back to home."

"And this is my fault." Luz breathed, pulling her legs up and resting her cheek on her knees. She feel remorse...she put other herself in similar situation in which she is after destroyed the portal to Human Realm.

"It's not your fault." Iniko said, looking somewhat sympathetic.

"I'm the one who insisted on my Eda and Lilith to cast this spell."

"All you want to do was create the portal to your mom. You couldn't have known what would happen." The teenage boy shifted out of his position. And then he smile, leaning in conspiratorially. Up close, his eyes were so much like Eda's, minus the ring around the pupil. It made her like his gaze. "If I was you, I would've tried, too. So, please don't blame yourself... because that makes me sad. And I don't want to play the blues again."

"I am sure that your blues sounds great."

"Nope. My blues just sound even more miserable than the sound of an accordion stuck in a wood chipper." Iniko said, and both of them shared a small laugh.

"Now, you just keep in mind that with a bit of effort, everything will be fine." He said when two of them stop laughing. "We we'll find a way to swapped you back, even though it's impossible. And in my experience, it's kind of fun to do the impossible."

Luz's brown eyes looked into his gold ones and he could practically see the warm determination bleeding from her eyes. "I wanted to learn magic but I don't have a sack of magic, so it was impossible. And then I learned magic. So, I know we'll find a way to send me and your Luz to right universes."

"That's the spirit!" Iniko smirked.

The sat gazing at the star for a moment longer before the boy checked the moon - it was about to peak. "I don't know about you, but I'm sleepy. And I think my pillow is calling. Have a good sleep and sweet dreams."

"Thanks and good night." Luz said before Iniko get off the roof.

She take one last look at the view before decide go back inside, too.

When a girl arrived in her room and back to bed, Maotif flew onto her pillow and nuzzled against her cheek before cat walked in a circle at Luz's pillow to make it comfortable for herself, then palisman went to sleep.

"Do you have a place for one more?"

Luz looked up to see King standing in the door way with a light blue blanket with a ducks in his hand. She smiled as she patted her bed.

The little demon smiled at the human and walked in. He jumped on the bed then started to act like a cat and started to sleep on the foot of the bed.

'Just a little weird deja vu.' The girl thought as she close her eyes and going to sleep herself.

~TWO~

The day end. The teenage girl can't even tell herself when it happened.

This just happened

And now she's lying here, looking at ceiling, trying to sleep.

The moon slowly wandered on the night sky, finding itself at the highest spot. The blanket of stars hovered upon the sound-asleep Boiling Isles.

But Luz found herself, unsurprisingly, unable to sleep. She was used to hearing Maotif's soft purring, hearing Iniko playing the guitar, hearing Hooty chat with Iniko's palisman until all hours of the night.

She gave up on sleep, and slowly get up, so she won't wake King. She made her way down to the kitchen, making no noise even in the familiar house.

She found the kitchen wasn't empty. Lilith was standing in front of the stove with tea box in her hand.

"Hello human." The witch greeted upon spotting her.

"You can call me..."Luz"." The girl said, standing awkwardly in the doorway. "It's quite strange when you address me as human."

The pale woman nodded and pretended to return to kettle. Really she watched Luz poke around the kitchen, considering a food before putting it back. Lilith has been mostly quiet while human girl was looking for a good midnight snack.

Luz recognizes this specific kind of silence from Lilith: witch's trying to give her space without actually leaving. Lilith from her universe did the same thing with her mom.

"So…" The teenage girl began trying to end the silence. It was not a bad silence, but Luz don't like it. "You having trouble with sleeping, too?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Luz asked, taking an apple to the sink to rinse.

The pale witch looked at teenager in slight surprise before replying, seriously. "No."

"Would you like me to leave?" The girl asked, she saw the way Lilith's figure tensed when their eyes met. "Because I can see that I'm making you uncomfortable."

"My relationship with our hu-Luz is often strained." Lilith admitted, "I have done a few very bad things and..."

"I know. Eda and King summarized for me the history of these "things" after you went to your room." Luz cut in with a calm gaze, "Look, I don't know you. You look like mi tía but you're not her. And I'm not Luz you know. The fact that I met you today, and you helped me with panic attack. So, I have nothing against you personally."

She could swear some of the tension had left Lilith when she'd hear that but the woman was still tightly holding onto tea box.

When the witch finally did open her mouth to speak she was cut off by the whistling sound made by a kettle. Her eyes traced from human girl to kettle, she clearly think about something.

"Would you like tea?" The pale woman asked, not looking at her.

"Yes, please."

Lilith poured the tea into cups and put kettle down.

"Thank you." Luz take the mug and sat at a table.

"You welcome." The witch grabbed her tea and started to head to the door.

"You don't have to leave."

Lilith hesitated before back-tracked to sit with her. The witch took a big sip of her tea, then let out a soft satisfied breath before setting the cup down.

The teenager suddenly said. "This must be very weird for you, too."

"What exactly are you talking about?"

"You know talk with somebody from the other dimension."

"In my view at least, the fact that you're human in the witches world is so much more peculiar than you're from the alternate reality." The witch spoke in a rather conversational tone.

"Well, I think it's kind of strange talking with you, King or mo-I mean Eda. You're them, but at the same time you're someone else too." Luz said as she sipped tea. "This world is also very different than mine. Eda isn't my mom. The Rebellious Coven doesn't exist. I don't made my staff yet. Iniko and Cassandra were not born."

Lilith placed her mug, "Who is Cassandra?"

"Your daughter."

It was clear her words surprised Lilith. "I have daughter in your world?"

"Yes."

As Luz answered, Lilith's mind began to wander... imagining herself as mother, and her own kid. "What's she like?"

Luz looked back at the tea, seemingly in thought. "Cassandra is very brave, gives great advice and puts others before herself. She is a rather a creative thinker, not a fighter and it takes a lot of effort to get her agitated, but has no issue with knocking someone out if they deserved it. She's very understanding and accepts every person for who they are. She is also a terrible cook but no one haven't had the heart to tell about it."

"Are you two close?"

"Yes." Luz take a sip of tea and then smile." Cassie've been a little overprotective of me at times. Sometimes I have felt that she want just wrapped me up in a bubble wrap and make me stay home."

Lilith bit back the question "what is bubble wrap".

"Honestly, our whole family is close." Luz went on talking, "Me, mom, Iniko, King, Hooty, tia Lilith, tío Thaddeus, Cassie, Amity, Edric and Emira."

"Amity and her sibling are part of family?"

"Officially, no. Unofficially, yes." The girl said, then elaborated, "In my world they are Blights, but they hate their genes and parents. Amity see mi tía as a mother figure, and twins love hanging out with our family. Three of them spend most of the time in tía Lilith home or the Owl House. Mom often joke if she cared about paid her taxes, she would be just write them off on tax."

"Our worlds are very different."

"It's true." Luz simply stated, sounding a little thoughtful, "But I'm not complaining. I would end up in somewhere worse. Like the Dimension of Cats with Human Faces or Dimension in which everything is 2D instead of 3D."

The two fell into a neutral silence for a little bit.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Yes, but I can't promise that I will know the answers to your question."

"Why did you cursed Eda?" Luz asked, voice uncharacteristically quiet.

The pale witch slowly meet her gaze, her entire body tensing.

"Why do you want to know?"

"The fact you cursed Eda in this universe is one of major differences between this universe and my universe." Luz's tone was conversational; she might have been talking about a weather forecast. "I'll stay here a while. I don't know much about this version of Boiling Isles and people from this world yet but I want to get to know you and understand everything better."

"I thought Edalyn did tell you this story."

"I am a person with a high level of curiosity. And I'd like to hear your version of story."

Looking down at her teacup, Lilith raised it to her lips and chugged down the part of the tea. It was still warm, which she was thankful for.

"One spot is available." Lilith said and looked at her mug, the words continued to replay within the depths of her mind, this unwelcome memory from years before.

"I don't understand."

"One spot is available. This one sentence was the reason for everything. Edalyn is my sister. She was my best friend. But this one sentence has made me forget about it." The witch explained, refusing to meet Luz's gaze. "I and Edalyn have to fight for a place in Emperor's Coven. My sister was always better than me in magic, and I knew she'd make it. I had been desperate. I let my fear and ambition direct me. I went to the Night Market. I found someone who was selling curses. And I've made my decision."

"I'm guessing you regret that decision now."

Although it was a purely rethorical question, the witch decided to answer in simple nod. Then added:

"I have regretted it every day since." Lilith sighed, "But I made a virtually unforgivable thing, and my sister have every right to hate me"

"Maybe I'm not from this universe, and I don't know very well you or this Eda. But I know you love Eda," said Luz, "and I know Eda loves you back. She'll forgive you - just give her time and make it right."

"I can't change what happened." Lilith said to herself rather than her.

"We can't undo what's been done. But we still can make a good decision now. Most people said that when they mess up, that's it. They just give up. And this is stupid. Everyone can fix the mistakes that they made in their life." The witch saw the look in Luz's eye. A look that made Lilith feel that the teenager was rather wise beyond her years. "As long as we're here and want to try, there's always a chance to turn things around and make it better. "

Lilith sat silently, letting Luz's words ruminate in her head for a while.

"That's very mature words for someone so young."

Luz simply shrugged. "I'm only telling you the truth as I see it. Also I learned from the entire series of Azura's books that..."

The mature look was replaced by the typical teenage girl sparkling and happy eyes at the thought of the series and her favorite fictional character.

Lilith blinked in surprise. She's never seen someone do a complete 180 as fast as Luz did. The teenager talking so mature and then just begin babbling about The Good Witch Azura.

"...and then Azura said-"

"Traitor!" A voice exclaimed as King stepped in the kitchen, catching the two person by surprise.

"Actually, she said ''to forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness'."

"And I'm not talking about the quotes from your book! You dump me in your sleeping cocoon to talk about your awful fandom with Lilith!" King sounded highly resentful as he jumped on her lap.

"I can't sleep and you looked lovely, so I didn't want to wake you."

"But you don't have a problem with wake up Lilith!" King pointed at her nose with his little paw.

"I didn't wake her. She was here first."

"And you two just decided to throw a night tea party without me." King would sound a whole lot offended for them, if he didn't yawn mid-sentence.

"Someone is grumpy. And he need back to bed." Luz got to her feet with King in her arms. "Good night, Lilith. And thanks for the talk."

"Good night." Lilith said, meeting Luz's eyes one last time before watching them walking away.

Be kind...I am fragile! I was just joking. The honest critic and any kind of reviews are welcome.

See ya... in the future.