Most towns had pigeons. Gravesfield had crows.
Of course, other birds lived in the suburb, but none were quite so pervasive as its black-feathered sentinels. Dozens flew overhead at all hours of the day, with even more watching from the trees and patrolling the streets. Hoarse cries were a constant fixture, as the birds relayed their findings from one to another across the city.
Local legends attributed the sheer number of the birds to an ancient spirit worshiped centuries ago by Native Americans, known as the Queen of Crows. According to myth, she was a spirit who lived deep within the forests which flanked the valley where Gravesfield would eventually arise. She was slain by the minions of an evil rival, but her allies went on to defeat their enemy. Afterwards, they vowed to protect the people who dwelled within the region, taking on her visage in order to carry on her legacy.
Sure, this was meant only in reference to the Native tribes in the region, not the European settlers who took their lands and slaughtered their people. And, in all likelihood, the crows simply lived in the area because they liked the forest.
But never let logic get in the way of a story.
These were words that Luz had taken to heart over the previous years. After spending months desperately hunting for any way to return to the Boiling Isles, to the point of exhausting herself despite the growing anguish of her mother and newly-adopted sister, she was forced to slowly integrate herself back into her old life.
But she never stopped searching.
Writing helped her to cope. Her experiences were too far removed from the accepted parameters of reality which the rest of humanity lived within, greatly mitigating the effects of therapy, as she was unable to fully express the reasons for her despair without sounding absolutely insane. While her family was a much more effective outlet, she was also aware that there were a number of topics which she simply couldn't discuss with them.
Thus, she picked up her old hobby, now with increased fervor. Rather than the simple and insubstantial fanfictions which had, to that point, been her specialty, she now began passionately writing numerous short stories derived from her experiences in the Boiling Isles. She was even beginning to work on a novel, though progress on that front was slow to say the least.
She wasn't exactly sure why this became her chosen outlet. Perhaps it was just a way of talking about her few months in the Demon Realm without getting stuck in a padded cell. Maybe it was a means of coping with her loss—keeping Amity with her through written word, so that her memory would be preserved. It could even be something as simple as just being something to do, letting her actually do something productive rather than constantly wallowing in her regrets.
Her thoughts were interrupted as the bus struck a deep pothole, bouncing her forehead off the window. Grumbling to herself, she fixed her bangs beneath her beanie and glanced around the bus. As it was between the lunchtime and evening rush, there were a number of unfilled seats, and only a few people had chosen to double up. Quiet conversations filled the air, and the air conditioner rattled weakly overhead. The music playing from her earbuds muffled the noise to a dull murmur.
Out the window, buildings and trees slowly rolled by. Children played in their yards, some with their parents, others joined by their peers. Interspersed between them were a number of small businesses. The more successful and established ones preferred to set themselves up in the city's more densely populated east side, just off the highway.
She could tell they were nearing the city center. Before long, the statue of the Wittebane Brothers would come into view.
Luz lifted her backpack from the floor and slipped her arms through the straps, then hoisted her duffel bag onto a shoulder. She had taken three and a suitcase with her at the start of the year, but greatly downsized as she learned what was and wasn't necessary, sending what she could back home and passing off the rest to other students who could make better use of it.
The bus pulled into its stop with a quiet hiss. A handful of crows abandoned their perches as the vehicle approached. The doors creaked apart, hitching briefly before opening fully.
Luz stepped onto the sidewalk, hands thrust deep into the pockets of her slightly-oversized army jacket. The cool New England breeze toyed with the long tresses of hair which dangled freely from her temples, carrying with it the distinctive aura of the Canadian taiga.
She had an aunt in Canada, though she had never met her. Camila didn't like to discuss the details, but she had a falling out with her family over her decision to marry Luz's father.
Fortunately for her, she didn't need to know her aunt in order to use her as an alibi for where her miraculously-appearing sister had been hiding away for the past however many years. After it was discovered that she and Vee were, in fact, not the same person, they had to quickly come up with an explanation to fool Principal Hal, and explained that she was living in Nova Scotia since their dad's passing many years prior.
Luckily, he bought their story relatively easily, and after some morally-dubious forgeries of legal documents and gaslighting of hospital staff—Eda would have been proud!—Vee was enrolled in the class below Luz. She actually graduated right in the middle of finals week, but Luz was willing to reschedule some tests in order to see her hermana's ceremony. It also gave her extra study time, as she repeatedly asserted when teased over her decision.
She paused next to the garbage bin, where she had first found Owlbert making away with her Azura book, five years ago. Birds and raccoons still visited the bin, but rather than an animated wooden owl, she instead found a pair of crows perched atop the plastic rim.
The birds showed no fear at her approach, their dark eyes instead regarding her with an almost inquisitive interest. Inhuman wisdom glittered in their dark pools. If she didn't know better, she would have thought they were going to start speaking to her.
But that was impossible. At least, it was on Earth.
Shaking her head, she steeled herself then stepped through the door. The sounds of running water and muffled music drifted through an open window.
"¡Hola madre! ¡Hola hermana!" she called into the house, kicking off her sneakers in the general proximity of the doorside mat.
"Mija?" Her mother leaned in from the kitchen. "I thought you weren't supposed to be home until Wednesday?"
She shrugged. "I had a bit of extra cash for once, so I figured—"
Frantic overhead footsteps interrupted her as her shorter, more exuberant doppelganger practically flew down the stairs. "Luz!" Vee exclaimed, wrapping her arms around her sister's torso. In the weeks since graduation, her hair had grown a couple of inches and returned to its normal shade of blue. It was currently tied into a loose ponytail, with her bangs clipped behind her ears.
"Hey carnalita! I like the new style." She tousled her shaggy azure mane. Her adoptive sister's unceasing joy never failed to bring a smile to her face.
"Thanks," Vee responded bashfully. Though she had grown far more confident over the past five years, she never lost her adorable shyness.
Camila walked over, drying her hands with a towel. "Her hair went blue again while she was stressing over her job interview, and we ran out of magical things for her to eat. One of her friends saw her and thought that she dyed it, so we've just stuck with that explanation." She corrected some of the rogue strands of her daughter's hair. "Besides, don't you think she looks really pretty like this?"
"Muy bonita." Luz nodded in agreement, noting the crimson which spread across Vee's cheekbones. "And it's one less thing to worry about."
"It reminds me of when you went purple for a few months." The older lady paused for a beat. "I know I was a little… combative over it then, but I really did like it. I think it would look really nice with how you wear it right now."
Luz looked off to one side. "I'll think about it."
The three fell into a comfortable silence. Luz idly stroked her sister's hair, noting its odd luster. It wasn't often that she got to see her natural hair color—she was always too afraid of being found out, so went out of her way to look as "normal" as she could. However, on the rare occasions that it was on display, she was always taken aback by its beautiful lambency.
She was glad that her sister was comfortable enough to stop hiding it.
Vee eventually pulled herself away. "Do you need some help putting your stuff away?"
"Nah, I've got it. And I'm prolly gonna take a walk until cena. Stretch my legs, ya know?" The hint of an accent crept into her voice.
Camila snapped the towel against her wrist. "Hey! Again with that voice. Just because you spent a year in 'SoCal' doesn't make you a chulo, mija."
"I'm not trying to be a chulo, Mom." Luz rolled her eyes. "I'm just speaking more Spanish because of school, and the accent kinda… slips through now and then."
Her mother gently knocked her knuckles against the baseball bat. "This says otherwise."
"Luz is a gangster!" Vee teased, making finger guns at her sister. "Bang! Bang!"
Failing to hide a facetious grin, Luz pushed her sister away and walked towards her room. After a few weeks spent bunking with Vee, Camila had decided to repurpose their downstairs crafts room into Luz's new bedroom, primarily to avoid the risk of them being seen together through the windows. It took a lot of work, but as their first big family project, they were all happy to put in the effort—Luz especially, as it supplied a much-needed distraction from her otherwise-unceasing anguish.
Stepping inside, she found it unchanged from how she left it. Framed posters and overflowing shelves filled much of the wall space, proud testaments to her unabashed nerdom. Her desk was similarly crowded, with books and comics lined up on the shelf above, and numerous papers stacked off to one side—no doubt her mother's doing.
Though small, the room was more than comfortable, especially after having spent a whole summer sleeping on the floor in Eda's storage room.
Luz began to unpack her things, placing her laptop and charger onto her desk before haphazardly removing the rest of the items from her bags. Midway through, she was distracted by the cork board mounted on the wall opposite her bed. Countless papers were mounted to its face—sketches, to-do notes, glyphs and hypothetical combos, art references, and the like.
At its center was one of her Grom photos, showing her pulling Amity close while laughing with Gus and Willow, shortly after defeating the dance's titular embodiment of fear. It was one of the few things she managed to take with her from the Isles.
She tenderly touched her fingertips to the picture with a pensive sigh. No matter how long it had been, no matter how hard she tried to move on—more for her family's sake than her own—she could never manage. Sure, she had gotten better at focusing on the present, and was finally to the point that she was comfortable opening herself up enough to make some new friends, but she never managed to put those few months in the Isles out of her mind.
It hurt to look at the picture, as it was a constant reminder of everything that she had lost. However, no matter how much it made her heart ache to look at the picture, she knew that it would hurt far more to take it down. Doing so would be an admission of defeat. For better or for worse, she had vowed to never admit defeat.
She was far too stubborn for that.
Her mother's hand fell softly on her shoulder. "I wish I could've met them."
"So do I. You would've liked them." She smiled. There was a certain sadness to it, as with every time she thought about the Isles. However, for the first time in years, Camila saw a certain determination. "I'm going to get back to them."
Luz was driven, oftentimes to her own detriment. Camila knew this ever since she was a little girl. Even when Luz would cry into her shoulder, far beyond the point most others would have given up any sort of hope, she continued to insist that she would find some way to reopen the portal, or even make a new one. Now, however, there was a new fire in her eyes, an unwavering resolve to her voice, as if her time away had somehow reignited that spark.
Finally, she found her voice. "En el rostro del amor y la muerte, el valor es inútil."—In the face of love and death, courage is useless. Words of comfort to a grieving mind, and a warning to the foolhardy. The proverb had become something of a mantra for her after Luz's father passed, and found new meaning in helping steady her after her return to the Human Realm.
Despite her mother's words, Luz would not be dissuaded. "I'm going for a walk," she said as she grabbed her bat.
Camila watched from the doorway. She was concerned that her daughter was getting a head of steam once again, only to run into an unyielding wall of reality as she had so many times before. However, the firmness in her voice was enough that even her motherly doubts were beginning to falter, if only momentarily.
Luz walked into the living room. Vee was playing Animal Crossing on the switch. She paused to grab a can of RC Cola from the fridge. "Hey," she called over her shoulder. "I'm heading out for a bit. You wanna come with?"
Vee immediately jumped from her seat. "Yeah!" She quickly turned off her game, not even bothering to save. Luz could just feel the rage boiling within Mr. Resetti's retired digital soul. "I've gotta meet up with a friend soon, so you can walk me over."
"Hmm?" She took a sip of the cold beverage. "Where at?"
"Just at the cafe. I'm helping her get a job there this summer."
"Vacano. I'm also headed that way." She opened the door, holding it open for her sister.
As she walked past, the young basilisk paused briefly to smell the air with a confused expression on her face. "What's up?" Luz asked.
"I thought I smelled something, but…" It was subtle, barely a flicker of movement, but she saw Luz's eyes dart towards the forest. "It's probably nothing. Just my imagination."
Despite her statement, she could still smell it. The magic was too faint for her to figure out where exactly it was coming from, but it was certainly present. However, she had seen her sister get excited over nothing too many times in the past, each comedown more painful than the last.
As they walked towards the city center, Luz's mind was back in the Isles. She was nowhere near as obsessed as she was in the first year-or-so since returning, but it didn't take much to remind her of everything—and, more importantly, everyone—she had left behind.
Eager to distract her, Vee asked, "So, you make any new friends?"
"Well, I met a few people who were alright, but…" She shrugged, her dark eyes firmly locked on the pavement, as if counting the cracks. In reality, she'd found a small group in college, and had actually grown quite fond of them. One of them even offered to give her a lift home, as he lived in Maine and could drop her off on the way. She elected to catch a flight instead, as he wouldn't have left soon enough for her liking.
Vee looked at her sister's attire—a green army jacket overtop of a black hoodie, a pair of dark jeans, and a red beanie. "Aren't you hot in all of that?"
Luz shook her head. In spite of that, Vee could see a layer of perspiration on her skin. She also noticed that she had gotten a decent tan from the California sun. Not as much of a shut-in as she claimed, she thought to herself.
"Can I have a sip?" She eyed her sister's pop can.
"I don't think so," Luz snorted. "I don't know what about being a basilisk makes you go crazy for caffeine, but I'm too tired to deal with Lightspeed Vee on my first day back."
"Okay…" she saix, doing her best to appear dejected. She dropped the act only a few seconds later. "Do you have any more college stories?"
She swatted at loose stones and litter with her bat. "Not really. Unless you want me to talk about the time I started crying playing D&D." That was quite the experience, to say the least, and a very odd one to explain to her new group of friends.
Vee giggled. "Emile and them tried to get me to play that, but I wasn't very good at it. And it's really inaccurate! Like, I can't turn anyone to stone!" She put her hands in the pockets of her shorts. "Believe me, I've tried."
Her sister cracked a smile. "I don't think Gary Gygax knew about the Demon Realm, carnalita."
"Still. It's kind of offensive." She shook her head dismissively. They rounded a corner and reached the city square, with the statues of the Wittebane Brothers stood looming overhead. Pausing briefly to sneer at them, Vee added, "You know, if you want, they'd probably let you join us."
Luz grunted in denial. "I don't want to scare off your friends."
Despite her refusal, she could see that Luz was still considering the offer. "You always say that, and you end up having a good time when you hang out with them. Besides, they think you're really cool."
"Really?" A genuine look of shock crossed her face.
"Yeah." She averted her gaze and rubbed the back of her neck. "That reminds me, Mara's been pestering me for your number, but I figured I should ask you first. I've been putting it off for a while, actually. Since before graduation."
Luz glanced towards her. "Why? I'm not that against talking to people."
Vee began to look around as they neared the cafe's outdoor dining area. "Well," she started, "I'm not actually sure why she wants to talk to you so badly. But if she's… you know. I know you're still not over Amity, and I don't want her to accidentally make you mad."
"I thought you said she didn't like girls?" A couple years ago, Vee had finally worked up the courage to ask her friend out, and was almost crippled with embarrassment when she was turned down. However, contrary to her fears, their friendship continued virtually unchanged afterwards, aside from some occasional teasing after both had adequately recuperated.
"Well, I thought that, but she might just not be into me." She awkwardly chuckles. "I mean, I don't actually know if that's why she's suddenly so interested, but I also don't have any idea—"
"Hey, don't worry about it. You can give her my number if you want. Just make sure to tell her I'm awful at checking my texts." She pauses for a moment. "And I might join one of your games, if I have the time."
"Great!" Vee said, wrapping her in a tight hug. However, she could sense a certain disconnect in Luz's voice. She attributed it to her still likely being somewhat distracted, though this felt.. .different, somehow. Regardless, she was happy that her sister wanted to hang out with her friends.
"Aww, so cute," a familiar voice cooed.
Looking up, Luz was surprised to see Audrey—her former classmate and bully, and Gravesfield High's head cheerleader and star athlete—leaned against a nearby table, her steel grey eyes trained on her phone screen. Half of her honey blonde hair was dyed a garish bubblegum pink. Last Luz had heard, she was in college somewhere in the Chicago area.
"What do you want?" she sneered, flexing her fingers around her bat.
"Luz," Vee said quietly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "She's who I'm here for."
She gave her sister an incredulous look. "What?"
"I'm helping her get a job while she's back for the summer."
The shorter Noceda walked to her friend's side. Luz was surprised to see her put her phone in her pocket. In all the years that she had known her, she had never seen her willingly put her phone aside outside of classes, much less turn it off, even when talking with her clique-mates.
Audrey stepped forward. "Look, I know that I… wasn't the nicest person back when we were classmates." She lowered her eyes to avoid Luz's gaze, but she could still feel her eyes drilling a hole through her head. "I was actually pretty terrible. But, for what little it's probably worth, I'm—"
"Vee?" Luz interrupted, not shifting her focus. "Can you get us something to eat? I haven't had any real food since yesterday."
"No problem!" She quickly popped to her feet and set off towards the counter with a hop.
As soon as her sister was out of earshot, Vee closed the distance, causing her former-antagonist to instinctively back away, bumping into the table. "I don't know what your game is, but I know you," she growled, prodding the shorter girl in the sternum. "I put up your shit for 12 years, and I know that you don't just make friends with freaks like us." She emphasized the derogatory, one of the cheerleader's favorite insults from their school days.
Audrey's voice began to shake. "I-I-I know that I was horrible to y-you, and that I d-don't deserve your forgiveness." Luz could tell that she had rehearsed this, reinforcing her suspicions in her mind. "I was so obsessed with being the best, and the coolest, and living up to my parents' expectations, and— and all of that other junk, that I hurt a lot of people who didn't deserve it."
"What's your point?" Luz growled, still far from convinced.
The blonde forced herself to meet her longtime victim's furious glare. "Vee helped me see that I could be better. For the first time in my life, I can actually do what I want instead of what my parents want me to do, and have friends who actually like me for who I am."
Luz's face softened, feeling a sense of familiarity with the situation. "Okay," she finally sighed. "I don't like you, and I certainly don't trust you"—Audrey jumped as she planted a hand on her shoulder"—but I trust Vee, so I'll give you a chance."
"Thank y—"
She cut her off with a sharp squeeze. "But just one. And if you do anything—anything—to hurt my sister…" She lifted her bat onto her shoulder, her message clear.
Audrey eyed the weapon fearfully. She had seen Luz snap when some of her old running buddies went too far in antagonizing her a few years prior.
She was always careful with her bullying—mainly to ensure she wouldn't be punished, but also to lessen the chance of blowback. She made sure not to go too far with her verbal attacks, and she never resorted to actually laying hands on anyone, outside of the occasional "accident" on the field.
Her so-called friends, however, lacked such tact—especially after she had stepped down as ringleader. Unfortunately for them. And the locker.
A sigh of relief unconsciously escaped her lips as Vee returned with food, balancing six plates with practiced ease. "I'm back!" she announced cheerfully, placing the plates around the table while oblivious to the scene in front of her. "I got today's special, so we've got some panini, our homemade fries, and some galletas." She pointed to the blonde. "And I made triple-sure yours are all vegetarian."
After a few tense moments, Luz released her hold on Audrey's shoulder and the girls separated. Audrey reclaimed her spot next to Vee, afraid to take her eyes off her older sister, who nonchalantly started in on her sandwich while dumping the rest of her food onto a single plate.
Vee, meanwhile, was watching her attentively as she slowly brought a fry to her mouth.
"Thanks, manita," Luz said through a mouthful of ham and cheese. "I've gotta run. You two have fun. Hasta luego, Vee."
"Erm, okay. But you can't take—"
"I'll get the plate back to you later tonight." She dismissively waved over her shoulder.
Vee and Audrey watched as she swaggered across the street towards the city square, fries spilling from her plate. She looked to be heading back towards the house.
"Luz is still pretty intense now, huh?" the tanned girl chuckled nervously, her threat still lingering in her mind.
"She's just being protective. Well, overprotective, but she means well."
"I don't mean to come off as rude or anything, but what happened to her?"
The younger Noceda hesitated. "I don't think she'd want me telling the whole story for her, but… you remember my first summer here? When we switched places?"
"Yeah. When we all thought she hit a random 'attagirl' phase?"
"Well, while she was where I came from, she ended up making some really close friends, even though she was only there for, like, four months. She even had a girlfriend, and—"
"Girlfriend?" Audrey cocked an eyebrow.
"I thought you of all people would know that she liked girls?" Vee teased, a chiding tone at the edge of her voice.
"Well, I knew that there were rumors, but I never thought they were legit!" The blood was visibly draining from her face as she was once again confronted with the reality of her actions.
"Oh, you have no idea. I never met her, but hearing Luz talk about her... you could tell that she really cared about her." She smirked, imagining the wistful, happy smile that Luz would get every time she talked about "her Amity".
Vee cleared the throat. "Anyways, she was helping them with… something. I don't know what exactly"—she shoveled a handful of fries into her mouth to mask her inability to tell a decent lie—"but she got taken away from them, and had no idea what happened to any of them. She still doesn't. I think she said that she ended up somewhere in Nebraska."
"Nebraska?! How did she even get there? Did she, like, get kidnapped or something?"
Vee shrugged. They had come up with a story about her getting stuck on a train, but it always raised more questions than it answered, so she elected to leave it vague. "It hit her really hard, and she's had a hard time moving on."
"I'll bet! She finally finds people who like her, and then she gets taken away!" Sudden realization dawns on her. "And then I made her life hell as soon as she got back." She buried her face in her arms. "Oh god, I am such an asshole. No wonder she hates me."
Vee raised her hand from the table, but froze halfway to Audrey's shoulder. Her fingers shook like she just pounded a cup of coffee. Her mind raced with a million comforting words, all mashed together into a discordant mess.
Across the square, Luz emerged from the forest behind the Gravesfield Historical Society. She had removed her jacket, hat, and bat, leaving them hidden just beyond the treeline, along with her stolen plate. A ski mask and sunglasses covered her face, while a pair of thin white gloves covered her hands. She rolled a pair of bobby pins between her fingers as she approached the rear entrance.
The building was always closed on Sundays, so with luck, nobody would be inside.
She crouched down and prepared her tools—one bobby pin still folded and the other opened to a right angle. She slid the folded one into the lock and turned it slightly, before chasing it with the other, and feeling around the inside. The first pin offered no resistance, nor did the second, but the third pushed back against her. She drove it upwards until it clicked into place, the interior of the lock turning slightly.
A minute later, she had the door open.
Pulling her hood lower as she slipped inside, she made a beeline towards the front of the building. Just under a month ago, she saw in the news that someone had found a journal supposedly dating back to the late-17th century while renovating their house. It was now held in the GHS for further study, in the clutches of the Nocedas' hated enemy, Jacob Hopkins.
She had tried to get one of her new friends to give her a ride back, but the only one remotely nearby—the guy from Maine—was staying an extra week with his boyfriend before leaving. And he was a painfully slow driver, anyways. To ensure she would get home on time, she worked her ass off to have enough spare cash to buy a cross-country plane trip, but she managed.
Ducking behind the desk, she quickly rifled through the desk drawers, finding them filled with loose papers, letters, writing utensils, photographs, and the like. Finally, she found the keys, and she decided to swipe a pen for good measure.
Unlocking the staff door, she entered into a room which, to that point, she had never actually been in herself, having only seen it during her brief mirror adventure. If anything, it was more cluttered than she remembered, with shelves densely packed with pictures, artifacts, and assorted trinkets against the wall to her right, a rack of rather anachronistic weapons opposite, and a messy evidence board on the far side of the room, detailing the curator's numerous largely-baseless conspiracy theories. Cardboard boxes adorned the corners, carrying all manner of miscellaneous items.
She quickly found what she was looking for: a thick book bound in worn leather, buried within one of the numerous opened crates. Its pages were warped and yellowed with age, the engravings on its spine faded, but the signature in its top right corner was clear as day: Caleb Wittebane.
Tears began to form in her eyes as she held it in her hands, not just from the musky stench of the aged leather. She was sure that, after so many false starts, she was close to finally finding her way back to the Isles. Back to the Owl House. Back to her friends.
Back to Amity.
She was torn from her thoughts as she heard sirens approaching. Tucking the book beneath her arm, she dashed from the staff room, tossing the keys on the desk. She wound her way to the back door and slammed it shut.
A pair of police officers circled the building, narrowly missing her as she disappeared into the woodlands.
Luz told herself she couldn't be caught, almost chanting it to herself as she wound her way through the trees. Getting caught meant that everything would be in vain, and she knew that she may never have another chance like this. The potential legal repercussions were secondary.
Branches and thickets clawed at her like claws, yanking at the fabric of her mask even as she attempted to guard herself with her arm. Her hands were full as she pressed onwards through the obstructions. If not for her shades, she would have certainly taken several branches to the eyes.
Breathing heavily, she burst out of the woods behind the residential area, a few buildings down the street from her own home. Despite it still being relatively early in the afternoon, the neighbors' houses were dark. Sweat covered her skin, not aided by her heavy sweatshirt and ski mask. She realized that police would be looking out for such attire and quickly pulled it off to reveal her blue-and-white striped T-shirt, before replacing her jacket and beanie.
She reached her back yard as she studiously fixed her hair. She quietly opened the back door into the hallway, hearing her mother in the living room watching TV. Not wanting to draw attention, she slipped into her bedroom and flopped onto her bed, and wasted no time in cracking open the journal.