"Promise me, Luz! Please!"
"Okay, mom...I promise..."
Luz went back into the house, thinking of the promise she had made to her mom. Can I really just...leave the Boiling Isles forever? She sat on the couch, unable to say anything to anyone about what happened. She was afraid that it would get everyone too upset if she told them about the promise to stay with her mom.
Why did I make that promise?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Hoot hoot, hiya Amity! Luz is inside!" Hooty opened the door. "Hey Luz, your girlfriend is here!"
Luz came to the door. "H...hey Amity..."
Amity gave Luz a hug. "So, did the portal work?"
"Not really...I was able to see my mom through the reflections but...I wasn't able to physically go to the human realm."
"You must've got stuck in the space between dimensions. Philip's journal mentioned it."
"Oh, yea, how is the echo mouse?"
"Safe and sound. I'll bring it back once I'm able to get more info out of it."
"That's...good..." Luz could feel her voice start to break.
"Luz, what's wrong?"
"Oh, uh...nothing..."
"Luz, I know it's not nothing...you can talk to me about anything...you know that, right?"
Luz looked over at Amity. Luz was finding it hard to fight back the tears as she thought about her promise.
"I...promised my mom I would stay in the human realm when I return..."
"Did she make you promise that?"
Luz nodded her head.
"What do I do, Amity? I finally found a place where I can make friends...where I can be myself...do I have to give all that up for my mom?"
Amity pondered a moment. "Maybe...when I come with you, I can try to convince your mom to let you visit..."
"But...what if she doesn't listen to you?" Luz let out a sigh, trying not to cry. "In the human realm, I'm just...the weird kid...the few friends I ever did make have all moved away...the only thing that makes me want to return to the human realm is my mom...but now, I don't know if I want to return if that means leaving behind the one place where I belong..."
Amity came closer and held Luz. Her embrace made Luz feel much more vulnerable. The tears finally started to come out as Luz buried her face into Amity's shoulder.
King came into the room.
"Hey, Luz, can we watch another one of your terrible human shows?" King then noticed Luz was crying. "Wait, what's going on?"
"Luz is...going through a lot right now..."
"It's about her mom, isn't it?"
Amity nodded.
With a weh, King climbed onto the couch and hugged Luz.
"You want me to go get Eda?" King asked.
Luz gave a weak nod. King went to get Eda from outside.
"Hey, Luz...we'll figure something out...I know we can..." Amity said as she stroked Luz's hair. "I've said before about you being able to do things I could never do...and...I guess you could definitely say I've gone a bit soft, but in the best way possible...because you made me be way more open...and a lot less of a jerk. You have a way of changing people for the better...and I think you can do the same for your mom."
Luz held onto Amity tighter. "Thank you..."
"My mom, on the other hand...there's no changing that woman..." Amity gave a chuckle, which made Luz smile. "Ah, there's your pretty smile!" Amity said as she nuzzled her nose against Luz's.
Eda came in.
"Did I walk in at a bad time?"
"Oh, no...we're good..." Amity became flustered and backed away.
"Hey, kid, you doing alright?" Eda asked as she sat by Luz.
"I'm feeling a little better...it's just...my mom made me promise to stay with her when I come back."
"Hey, don't worry, I think your mom will change her mind once she sees us. Camila has always been a pretty reasonable person."
"Wait a sec...do you know my mom?"
"It took a little bit for me to make the connection, but I can definitely tell you're her daughter. We met many years ago. Of course, she doesn't know I'm a witch, but...I think her seeing that I was there for you might give her a bit more comfort."
Luz smiled, but the smile soon faded. "I just don't want to see her sad...she thought that the reason I chose to stay here was that she pushed me away...but I don't know, if I had never stumbled across the Boiling Isles, maybe I would've actually enjoyed camp...but I wouldn't have met all of you..."
Eda gave Luz a hug. They were joined by King and Amity.
"Hey, just remember that you can talk to us about anything," Eda said. "You're like the daughter I never had...and trust me, I tried, but...I could never get close enough to anyone...but enough about my problems. How about we just spend the day inside? Maybe you can show me one of those human shows you constantly yammer about." Eda gave a smirk.
"I don't yammer that much..." Luz said, faking a frown.
"Luz, you went on for 2 hours about Monster Slayer Academia..." King reminded her.
"Hey, that's barely even scratching the surface..." Luz said with a smirk.
She then set up the show and they sat together for the rest of the night. Eventually, Amity fell asleep on Luz's shoulder and everyone decided to call it for the night. Luz was having a hard time getting to sleep though because her mom was still on her mind...
I hope she can understand...that I can't keep that promise...