Aug 28, 2022
Day 1 of Luz's return, along with 4 other children from another realm. 4 refugees, fleeing a war as dangerous as any on earth. I have to protect them. They have no one else.
They brought little animals with them. A cardinal, a cat, a chameleon, and a giant bee(!). 6 children is hard enough, how am I supposed to care for exotic magical pets?
The animals can eat human food, because they are made of wood. Luz says they're called "palisman," and she carved one of her own. It hasn't hatched yet. What if it needs some kind of magic to develop, and now it's stillborn?
No, Luz believes it will hatch, and I believe in her. I have to stay positive, like Manny did.
Hunter concerns me. When I set up his and the other boy's beds in the basement, he bowed. Actually bowed. Is that a normal greeting in the demon realm? Is it disrespectful to ask him to please never do it again?
Aug 29, 2022
Any plant life conceivable, grown in seconds. Any image you can imagine willed into being. Giant golems pulled from the earth itself. Real, it's all real. I saw magic with Vee before, but this…these kids can do the impossible with a wave of their hand, and then they turn around and ask how the dishwasher works. It's equal parts endearing and jarring.
Note to self, buy quieter alarm clocks.
Aug 30, 2022
Luz has a girlfriend.
Luz. Has. A. GIRLFRIEND! Not imaginary, or drawn, or reptilian (Ay, that's kind of racist now isn't it?). An actual person who loves Luz for all of who she is. All of her friends love her, and support her no matter how bizarre their adventures get. It's all I ever wanted for her.
What does it say about me that she had to run away to find it?
Aug 31, 2022
Hunter had a panic attack today. Something about his long hair (how did it grow that fast?) set him off. I wasn't there to help, but Willow was. She gave him a stylish new haircut, and kept him calm the rest of the day by holding his hand.
Wait….oh no.
Sep 1, 2022
Luz and her friends made their first attempt to reopen the portal today. She tried to show me the "glyphs" she was using, but it makes about as much sense to me as Manny's circular Gallyfryian. Vee had the sense to bring a fire extinguisher in case of emergency.
It was a good thing Vee brought the fire extinguisher. Since the portal always opened at the old shack in the woods (and to keep potential explosions out of my house), the "hexsquad" has decided to renovate it into a sort of clubhouse.
How many rabies vaccines can I lift from work before it becomes suspicious? And what is that thing Luz drew on the door?
Sep 2, 2022
The children took to earth clothing like a duck to water. I haven't been to a thrift store since cosplaying dates with Manny. I had forgotten the thrill of putting together an outfit all your own.
Vee also has a new look, Ella es adorable! Luz said she gave off "strong enby vibes," which reminds me of something Vee said about her friend Masha. That's another book I'll have to check out.
I need to find a way for Vee to see her friends again. Maybe Luz could come up with some kind of backstory?
Sep 3, 2022
Witches cannot cross running water X
Demonic beings don't show up on film X
Spices like salt and garlic are bad for witches X
Witches have discolored or hot blood. X
As usual, humanity is wrong about everything they see as other. The children loved the waterpark once they realized it wasn't boiling, Willow is keeping a scrapbook, and Gus has taken a liking to flavors of all kinds (though he combines them in…unusual ways). Most stereotypes of witch behavior are false as well, judging by Willow's reaction to Hocus Pocus. They did seem to recognize the word "coven" though. Perhaps Luz and her friends have formed one?
Sep 4, 2022
DO NOT ASK ABOUT COVENS
What I thought was an archaic term for a club or found family is actually a system used to restrict, discriminate, and destroy. Witches are branded with enchanted sigils that permanently restrict their abilities to a single type of magic. Worse, they were secretly designed to incapacitate or outright kill anyone who rebels against the status quo. For over 50 years, this was accepted as normal, and it's only thanks to Luz that these children discovered otherwise.
Hunter has a sigil. What happened to that boy?
Sep 6, 2022
Luz told me that all of earth's legends came from glimpses of the Boiling Isles. Why did zombies have to be the exception? Those children are going to be jumpy for weeks, and when you're dealing with magic, "jumpy" means "likely to break something." Gus had it the worst. I've never seen him more terrified than when that corpse clawed its way out of the ground.
Sep 7, 2022
Luz goes back to school today, I can tell she's dreading it, but what am I supposed to do? I don't know what they taught her in that witch school, but she needs to catch up on an earth education if she stays here.
"If?" When did this become an "if" situation? I can't let mi Hija go back to a realm where the rain burns you, the plants attack you, and a brutal dictator caused a civil war! Once we build a portal, her friends will go home (if they still have one), and Luz will just have to adjust to a long-distance friendship.
But what if that doesn't work? What if the portal only works once? If it comes down to a choice between her friends and her world, can I really make that choice for her?
Return "Vampire Diet" 9/10
Return "Life Ain't Binary" 9/17
Safe Foods
Cereal
Plantains
Yuca (Y)
Batata (N)
Moro (3/6)
Pernl (5/11)
Queneras
Salami
Beans
Sep 21, 2022
Today is the first day of Mabon, a pagan harvest festival at the autumn equinox. This holiday is also celebrated in the demon realm, but since they can grow ample food at will, the festival is instead about the harvest of family…the families that the witch kids are separated from.
I can only imagine the pain they're going through. The one year I missed Manny's anniversary…I need to do something for them, to help them honor those they left behind, and mourn them if necessary.
Luz drew some people as well. She didn't want me to see, but I glimpsed a wild-looking woman with a gold tooth and a small furry creature that looks like one of those pokeman things. After I pressed her, she admitted that the woman was Eda Clawthorne, her mentor in magic, and the pokeman her son, King. He was the one who sent Luz through the portal that night, which probably saved her life. The last thing he said to her was that he saw her as a big sister.
Luz didn't just make friends in that world, she made a family. What am I supposed to do now?
Oct 1, 2022
Gus and Hunter are having nightmares. I can hear them tossing and turning every night, and occasionally one or both of them will wake up screaming. I snuck downstairs last night, and listened to them talk in their sleep.
I'm certain Hunter was abused. In his dreams, he is begging for his uncle to stop, to spare his palisman. To not "replace" him like he did "the others." The Isles may be more tolerant when it comes to love and identity, but it seems some cruelties are universal.
Meanwhile, Gus is haunted by his encounter with the emperor. He somehow probed the bastard's memory and saw something he wasn't supposed to see. Someone Belos made disappear. Most haunting of all, both Gus and Hunter's nightmares have one name in common: Caleb.
Oct 3, 2022
Amity spent today trying to help me with her monsters, called "abominations." Her father is an inventor who works with the things, and I think that science gene is starting to activate.
It started with her attempt to replace the alarm clock she broke on her first day here. She came up with an abomination with circuits stuck in its skin and something like a PET scanner part at its core (Dios Mio, aren't those radioactive?!). It does what most demon realm clocks apparently do and screams its head off when the time runs out. Don't even ask me how she rigged the off switch. Later, she assigned one to do the dishes for me, and let's just say it's a good thing she can still control the goop when it's contaminated with drain gunk.
House Rules
Last person to use the TV turns it off.
Couples sleep separately
We only have one bathroom. If you can go outside, do it.
If anyone asks, you are foreign exchange students.
Oct 29, 2022
I had that nightmare again. All the moments where Luz was made fun of, ostracized, or made to feel less than the perfect little girl she is. And then the moment where I did that myself.
I never should have listened to Hal. Never should have sent her to that godforsaken camp. All this hurt, all this self-loathing she's keeping inside, all the insistence that I must hate her for running away, it could all have been prevented.
But then she never would have met her friends, would never have found love in Amity, would never have helped save two sisters, and then an entire world.
The same world I made her promise to give up.
Why can't I do anything right?
Oct 31, 2022
I saw Luz's video diary.
I know what I have to do.
Hi Masha, thanks for the ride.
I bet you're wondering why I left this note in Luz's handwriting, when it's Camilla you took home. Rest assured, there's an explanation…just not a very logical one.
Meet me by the shack in the woods. I'll explain everything.