Hey everyone, here's chapter 4 of The Misadventures of Vee. Here we go.


"Don-de es-tá la buy-blyo-tick-a?" Vee sounded out.

"Almost," chimed her phone for the millionth time. "Try again. Where is the library? ¿Donde está la biblioteca?"

Vee dropped the device and let out a frustrated groan. "I'm saying it! Buybleotica! Buybleotica! Buybleotica!" The basilisk glared at the screen, her real yellow and blue eyes flashing in frustration.

"Almost," chimed her phone again.

"UGH!" Vee collapsed on her bed and screamed into her pillow. She just couldn't get the hang of this. There was a knock at her door.

"¿Mija?" she heard her mom call. "Are you okay? Can I come in?"

A defeated moan was all Vee could manage which Camilla took as a yes. Her mom joined her on the bed and Vee felt a warm hand stroke her frilly basilisk ears.

"What's bothering you, Vee?"

As an answer, she held up her phone for Camilla to see. "Spanish?" her mom said. "Are you trying to teach yourself Spanish?"

Vee nodded. For the past few days, when she'd gotten home from school, she'd spent the afternoons trying her hardest to learn the strange language her mom spoke. Vee had been surprised to discover that humans spoke more than one language. She'd been even more shocked that humans had created thousands of languages. Some humans spoke entirely with their hands! This was polar opposite to the Boiling Isles where the very concept of a second language was forbidden. Emperor Belos had decreed that a single tongue be spoken throughout his lands and ordered records of other dialects destroyed. While this made conversing with dragons easier, it also made grasping a whole new way of communication impossible for Vee. The foreign words were complete gibberish to her.

"¡Que maravillosa!" her mom exclaimed. Like all the other times, Vee had no clue what she'd just said. However, based on the way the woman was gushing with joy and hugging her tightly, Vee assumed it was good. "I'm so happy you want to learn, Vee!"

"Yeah," Vee grumbled and shot another glare at her phone, "but I just can't get the stupid words right."

"You're having trouble?" Camilla's glee somehow doubled. "I'll help!"

Before Vee knew what was happening, her mom had practically carried her down to the family room and plopped her next to the coffee table. She then proceeded to dig through the nearby closet. "Ooh! This is so exciting," Camilla said. "First, we'll cover colors and numbers, then locations and verbs—Oh! Vee, you are going to love masculine and feminine words." That threw Vee for a loop. Words can have genders? Can they have babies? There was no answer as Camilla covered the table with frayed Spanish textbooks and wrinkled flashcards and scratched DVDs titled Spanish for Beginners. "I may be more of a nurse than a teacher," her mom admitted, "but you know what they say, más vale maña que fuerza."

"Huh?" said Vee.

"It's the Spanish way to say brains over brawn."

"Huh?" Vee repeated, still lost.

But her mom didn't respond. A nostalgic mood came over the woman as she gazed at the old Spanish teaching tools. "You know," she said, picking up one of the yellowed flashcards with a forlorn look, "I raised Luz speaking only Spanish but she forgot the entire language when she started going to school. Everyone spoke English there, so… I had to re-teach her from scratch."

The room became quiet. Vee knew this quiet. It was the quiet that had been making itself known ever since the day Camilla had discovered Vee's basilisk identity and had made Luz promise to come home. Whenever the silence took over, Vee would always find her mom staring at a photo of Luz, the barest hint of tears in the corner of her eyes. Sometimes she'd catch her mom staring at her with those tears. It must be hard for Camilla to see her daughter every day and have to remind herself that she isn't really there. That's why Vee wanted to learn Spanish. To better fit the role of Luz, yes, but if she could make her mom feel like her real daughter was back for even just a moment, then maybe she could repay Camilla for giving her a home.

Camilla must've noticed Vee watching her because she awkwardly wiped her eyes and forced a smile. "Sorry, I got a little lost there. So, should we begin?"

"Luz!" a voice cried in the distance. "Luz! Luz! Luz!" It was getting closer.

"Uh oh," Vee said and quickly hid her basilisk traits. She was just in time because the front door flew open to reveal Beth, thrilled beyond comprehension.

"He's here, Luz!" Beth nearly screamed.

"Excuse me," Camilla scolded. "Have you never heard of knocking?"

Lance and Dani appeared behind Beth a second later, both out of breath. "We're sorry, Mrs. Noceda," Dani said between pants.

"Beth is, like…" Lance kneeled from exhaustion, "Super excited." That was putting it mildly. In the few months that Vee had known Beth she had never seen the girl this electrified. Her entire body was quaking with pent up energy.

"Excited about what?" Vee asked cautiously.

"Sasquatch!" Beth declared with stars in her eyes. And like a rocket, Beth charged into the forest.

"Damn, that girl can run," Dani sighed.

"We should follow her before she hurts herself," Lance said.

"Yeah. You coming, Luz?"

Vee hesitated. She wanted to stay and learn, but if a sasquatch really had found their way here from the Demon Realm, then they might be able to help bring Luz home. Her conundrum was interrupted by a familiar warm hand stroking her head, right where her basilisk ears should be.

"Go and have fun, mija," Camilla said.

"Are you sure?"

"We'll do this later."

Vee got to her feet, headed for the door, but then made a decision. She grabbed a stack of flashcards from the table. "I'll practice while I'm out," she promised and she trotted out the door. "Bye, mom!"


"Beth, are you sure you know where you're going?" Lance asked as the MCH trudged through the forest.

"Of course," Beth replied.

Meanwhile, Vee was looking through her flashcards. Some Spanish words were colors, some were numbers, and some were animals. In other words, basic kindergarten Spanish. They were the kind you'd learn from watching a little kid's show about a little Latina girl that went on adventures with a talking monkey. That or one about her more awesome cousin that was an animal rescuer. Luckily for her, the flashcards had English translations beneath the Spanish words.

"Ro-Joe? Azul? Ama-rill-o?" Vee muttered to herself as she read the words on the flashcards.

"So, Luz, what do you think Sasquatch is like?" Dani asked her.

"He should be cool with us so long as we don't mess with his jerky" Lance spoke.

There was a brief pause from the two girls.

"I think he'll be a good guy. Not nearly as hostile as those commercials and tv shows make him out to be" Vee gave her perspective on the question, "Perro? Gato? Lobo?" she continued on with the flashcards.

While her friends were busy talking about sasquatch, Beth was busy actually tracking him down. Along the way, she had spotted barely noticeably broken branches along the forest floor and clumps of fur in a few bushes. When they reached a small stream, Beth had spotted an enormous footprint on the ground. Beth knelt to the ground and lightly touched the footprint. The tracks were still fresh.

"We're close..." Beth said with a confident smirk.

The rest of the MHC made an impressed, "Whoa…" at the size of the prints. Bigger than a skateboard, they were.

"Think that's cool? Wait till you see the real deal," Beth said. She led them to a line of tall bushes and signaled for them to get down. "The trail ends here. We've reached the den. Sasquatch is just beyond this point," she whispered to them. "My years of roughing it in the wild have prepared me for this moment."

"Roughing it?" Vee asked innocently. "I thought you just said you liked camping."

"Yeah, with no wi-fi!" Beth shot back. "A true survivalist doesn't need the internet. So, I know what I'm saying when I tell you to not make any sudden movements or loud noises. We don't want to spook the poor fella."

Vee thought this advice sounded more like general politeness than how to deal with a sasquatch. Still, the enthusiasm Beth was showing was contagious. The rest of the MHC nodded at Beth and waited for her next move.

"Here we go." Beth reached into the bush. "Ladies, and Lance, I present to you, in his native habitat, the king of nature, the one, the only, the magnificent Sasquatch!"

With dramatic flair, Beth swept the bush aside to reveal… a brick wall.

No one knew how to react. The MHC stepped through the bushes and found the wall kept going until it reached a road.

"Wait, I know where we are. This is Zipple Street," Lance noted. "We're, like, three blocks from my private plane."

Dani stared at him. "Your… what?"

"I don't understand, the trail led here. I'm sure of it," Beth claimed and dashed to the road. The brick wall turned out to be the side of a long row of artisan bakeries. Cars and pedestrians passed by, but there was no sign of their target. "But sasquatches are shy, solitary creatures who don't like the clamor of civilization," Beth continued. "There's no way he would come here."

Vee didn't know if Beth was right, she'd never met a sasquatch on the Boiling Isles. She was about to comfort Beth and suggest they take a break at the coffee shop and try again later, when something caught her eye.

"Uh… Beth," Vee said, "I'm not so sure about that."

Everyone followed Vee's gaze and saw the same thing. Inside the nearest bakery, typing at a laptop in a corner booth was a sasquatch. He was squeezed inside a flannel shirt that was a size too small and his thick mane was tied back in a man-bun but it was definitely a sasquatch. A very, very hairy, hipster sasquatch.

"No…" Beth whispered in horror, her face pressed against the bakery's window. "What have they done to you?!"

Before anyone could stop her, Beth scrambled into the building.

"Beth, hold on!" Vee said, then checked her flashcards, "I mean, ee-spee-ree…?"

Ignoring the friendly baker behind the counter, Beth approached the sasquatch with the caution with which one might approach a wild animal. The MHC were close behind.

"—video you wanted to be uploaded to your site is live, Mr. Yamazuki," the sasquatch said to seemingly no one as his gargantuan fingers danced across the tiny keyboard.

It was only now that Vee noticed the bluetooth in his ear. The device was nearly microscopic compared to him. Everything was. The corner booth meant to seat a family barely contained his mass. Other than that, and his bare feet, the sasquatch passed for an average, if abnormally tall and hairy, human. "Your tags are trending in the top 25th percentile and traffic is steady. Pleasure doing business with you, sir." He ended the call and chugged a coffee pot. Not a cup, a pot. "Tatiana, can I get another refill, please?"

He noticed the kids gawking at him.

"Oh, hello there. Nice shirts," he said, gesturing at the matching MHC shirts with the biggest smile. "Are you part of a club? If you are, then you're gonna need a website." From the depths of his fur, he produced a shiny business card and offered it to the still gawking Beth. "Harry: graphic designer, web designer, and programmer, at your service." He took a big bite out of some jerky.

"I knew it," Lance whispered.

Beth's eye twitched. "Are you kidding me?" she hissed.

"I, uh, offer a children's discount," Harry amended.

"You're a sasquatch!" Beth roared. "What are you doing here? And on a computer?!"

"Ah! Sudden movement! Loud noises!" Harry cried and cowered under his table.

"Whoa, hey, Beth, take it easy," Vee said.

"Yeah, breathe," Lance added.

"I kinda have to agree with Beth," Dani said. "All of my aunt's research on sasquatches says you guys are supposed to be all about the wild."

"The wild?" Harry scoffed and came out of his hiding spot. "Yeah, sure, I used to be all about being one with nature and junk, but then I arrived here and, let me tell you something, nature doesn't come close. A bus that isn't cursed to always be late, beds not filled with skin-eating fairies, air conditioning! Human civilization rules!"

"Skin-eating fairies? Which part of the country did you say you were from?" Dani asked.

"Civilization does not rule! It's destroying the world!" Beth argued before Harry could answer. What little composure the girl had was completely gone at this point, she looked like she was ready to throttle Harry. The rest of the MHC had to drag her away.

"Sorry for bothering you, Mr. Harry Sasquatch, sir," Vee said. "She's just really into camping."

Harry scratched his head at the odd encounter but forgot all about it when Tatiana brought him a fresh pot. Outside, Beth was broiling over her encounter. While Vee sympathized, she also had to admit Harry had a point. The human realm was much safer than the Demon Realm. Not once had Vee had to bar her windows at night to protect from giant flying leeches. She had a family, she had friends, she was safe.

"I can't believe this!" Beth seethed. "I thought that sasquatch, of all people, would understand the wonders of nature."

"I'm beginning to think that my aunt doesn't know as much about magical creatures as she says," Dani admitted. "But the important thing is we confirmed that sasq—er, Harry isn't dangerous and he's doing pretty okay here."

"Yeah, way to go, us!" Lance cheered. With that, Lance and Dani started walking away. "See you later, girls."

The sentiment made Vee relax. Now that the "hunting" part was over, she could get some alone time with Harry and ask him about how he exactly made it to Earth.

"No," she heard Beth growl. Her last friend hadn't moved from the spot, her angry face radiated with determination. "This will not stand. I will not allow Sasquatch, the king of nature, to be destroyed by modern technology. I will show him the error of his ways! You with me, Luz?"

Vee didn't like the sound of this. She could tell it was not going to end well. She could also tell she hadn't a chance in hell of talking Beth out of whatever crazy plan she had. Therefore, it was Vee's duty as a friend to make sure Beth didn't get hurt.

Vee sighed, "Yeah, I'm with you."


"Beth, I think you're making too big of a deal out of this. I mean, clearly, Harry likes civilization and technology. You should him be who he is" Vee said in a negotiating tone.

"You're right, Luz, he should be who he is..." Beth started, making Vee sport a small smile, "And that's the king of nature!" she said, Vee's smile quickly fading.

Vee sighed. She clearly wasn't going to get through to the nature lover. Granted, Beth wasn't as stubborn as Dani, but damn. Seeing as how she wasn't going to win this, Vee went back to learning Spanish with her flashcards.

"Alright, that should do it," Beth said, placing the last of the AirPods on the ground. She looked around and saw a nearby cave, "Come on. Let's see how this plays out" she said, taking Vee by the wrist and running inside. The two hid behind a nearby stalagmite, "Watch. Once Harry sees this amazing flower field, he'll remember the wonders and beauty of nature and forget all about civilization"

While Vee had listened to what Beth had said, she was too busy focusing on her flashcards. She really wanted to be able to speak with her mother in her and Luz's native tongue, it'd make them closer as family. It'd also be one of the many nice surprises for Luz when she came back. That aside though, she really hoped that her nature-loving friend wasn't what the humans called an "eco-terrorist".

Unknown to either girl, deep within the cave they hid in, a low growl could be heard. It sounded like that of a deadly creature.


The bakery doorframe creaked loudly as Harry forced his way through the small exit. "See you at the same time tomorrow, Tatiana," he called over his shoulder. The sasquatch stretched his massive limbs and breathed deeply. "Mmm, gotta love that car exhaust. Time to head home and—" There was a crunch under his first step. Harry peered down and found under his foot the crushed remains of what used to be some sort of electronic. "What the…?"

Not too far away he spied a similar electronic. "Free AirPod?!" he gasped and nabbed the treasure. "I have been saving up for you for so long—OOH!" He saw another AirPod! And another! Harry didn't know where this trail of free goodies came from and he didn't care. He eagerly gathered them in his large hairy hands, already planning the website he could design to sell them.

Meanwhile on the far end of that trail, Beth had her sights trained on the last AirPod. Vee's muttered Spanish bounced around the cave walls.

"Ro-Joe. Ama-rill-o," Vee practiced over and over. This was starting to give her confidence. The words weren't so hard. Maybe Vee could do this after all.

"Uh, Luz," Beth cut in. "Sorry, but you're saying them wrong."

All of Vee's confidence was obliterated. "Gato?" she managed.

"It's ro-ho and amari-yo. In Spanish, J sounds like an H and double L's are Y's."

There was a fluttering thump as the deck of flashcards tumbled from Vee's grip. "Gato," she said again, her wide-eyes seemingly stuck to the back of the cave.

"Which is weird," Beth went on. "Y's also sound like Y's in Spanish, so why not just write a Y? And H's are silent, which is just another whole can of crazy. I'm kind of surprised you don't know this. Aren't you Dominic—"

"GATO!" Vee screamed.

A fearsome growl shook the cave walls, finally turning Beth around. There, slinking out of the shadows with its claws unsheathed, was a hissing… bobcat.

"Pfft! Are you serious?" Beth snickered. "Jeez, Luz, you made me think we were about to be mauled by something serious, like a mountain lion or a bear. That's just a bobcat."

"But-but-but-but—" Vee blabbered, pointing back and forth between the cuddly cartoon of a gato on her dropped flashcard and the fierce and spine-chilling real-life monster.

"Yeah, they're maybe twice as big as a house-cat, but bobcats don't attack humans. This bundle of fluff is more scared of you than you of it, Luz," Beth said, then made a kissy-face at the animal, "Isn't that right, Mr. Whiskers?"

"RAWR!" The bobcat's guttural roar was amplified by the cave. That, combined with the way it flashed its long sharp fangs and readied to pounce, caused both Beth and Vee's blood to turn to ice. How something that was half the girls' size could be so intimidating was beyond comprehension, but it was clear the bobcat did not welcome them. That or the bobcat really didn't like being called Mr. Whiskers.

"Okay," Beth whimpered, matching Vee's fear. "We're leaving. Sorry to bother you. Luz, slowly back out of the cave. No sudden movements. No loud noises."

Vee barely nodded and silently obeyed. Never breaking eye-contact with the angry cat, the girls carefully made for the exit. The bobcat matched each step. It was only when those dangerous paws clawed into the flashcards that Vee realized she'd forgotten to scoop them up.

"Oh no! My mom's—"

"RAWR!" the bobcat roared again, and Beth slapped a hand over Vee's mouth.

"Leave them," Beth whispered.

Vee withheld her groan. If Beth wasn't here, maybe Vee could've morphed into another bobcat and stole the cards back. But that wasn't an option. She prayed her mom would forgive her. Step by step, they neared their escape, the bobcat stalking after them while maintaining the same striking distance. Vee could feel the breeze on the back of her neck and smell the flowers, they were almost there. Almost… there…

"Ooh! Another AirPod! Jackpot!"

Harry's voice filled the girls with dread. They and the bobcat froze in their tracks. Over their shoulders, they barely made out Harry the sasquatch snatching his latest find with the widest grin. "I might be able to start my own business with all… these…" A look of awe came over Harry as his gaze found the flower field. In that exact moment, the clouds parted perfectly and a single beam of brilliant sunlight shone down upon Harry and he was awash with the majestic pasture of the natural world. As a cherry on top, somewhere in the distance, an eagle cawed.

"By the Titan," Harry moaned reverently but his words became a sniffle and tears began to brim. "It's… so… beautiful."

"Huh," Vee remarked. "Being completely honest here, Beth, I did not think that would work."

"I'll brag later," Beth replied. "Let's get out of here before—"

And then the perfect beam of sunlight shifted ever so slightly and shone directly into Harry's eyes. Blinded, the sasquatch tripped over his own big feet and tumbled straight into the flowers. Immediately, a swarm of furious bees erupted from the field and rushed him.

"AAAAAAAH!" Harry yelled and thrashed erratically. "I TAKE IT BACK! I HATE NATURE! I HATE NATURE!"

The mighty bellow of the sasquatch shook the forest to its core. Branches trembled! Birds took flight! Boulders split! The cave vibrated like it was on the verge of collapse! In response, the bobcat let out another roar. This one, Vee could tell, was not a warning.

"Run!" she yelled and grabbed Beth's wrist. The two sprinted as fast as they could from the enraged feline. They quickly dashed past Harry who was now rolling around as if the bees were a fire he was trying to put out. Vee caught a brief glimpse of the bobcat digging its claws onto his arm, biting down into his fur.

"Oh my gosh!" Vee exclaimed. "Should we help him?"

"He'll be fine," Beth answered, pulling Vee along. "Sasquatches are amazingly tough."

There was another cry from Harry, but Vee noted it was less a cry of agonizing pain and more a cry of childish annoyance. "Quit it!" Harry whined. "Get off me! I hate nature so much!" That eased her guilt a little. At least they weren't leaving Harry to die. Vee focused on getting as far away from the trouble as possible.

Then she heard a yelp and the wrist she was holding onto so tightly suddenly yanked her to the ground. Vee got the wind knocked out of her when she hit the floor. In a daze, she saw Beth lying next to her, face contorted in suffering.

"Beth?" Vee said. "What's wrong?"

"My ankle," Beth mewled. "I think it's twisted."

Vee sat up and found she was right. Beth's foot was pointing sideways farther than she'd ever seen a human foot point before. Vee wasn't an expert on human anatomy, but it certainly didn't look right. A blameworthy tree root sat just a step away.

"Don't worry, I got you," Vee said and lifted Beth up and slung the girl's arm over her shoulder. "Lean on me. Don't put any weight on that foot, just the one that doesn't hurt. Ready?"

Beth followed Vee's instructions and they got moving. They weren't as fast as before, but they were finally away from the flowers, back in the woods, and heading toward Zipple Street.

"Luz," Beth said sheepishly. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this."

"It's fine," Vee replied gently. "Almost as crazy as the debacle with Liv but, hey, what are friends for if not to carry you away from bobcats wrestling with sasquatches?"

That earned a snort from Beth. "Yeah, I guess so." There were a few steps of quiet during which, Vee noticed, Beth looked away with shame. "...You know," Beth finally said, "You, Lance, and Dani are my first friends. Like, ever."

"Really?"

"I used to just play by myself in the forest, pretending to have adventures in unexplored jungles, discovering new species. I never thought I'd need anyone else, least of all a friend. Then mom and dad got tired of pulling ticks off me and sent me to Reality Check Camp and I met you guys and, well…" Beth smiled warmly at Vee. "I'm glad I met you. You're a good friend, Luz."

Those were the kindest words Vee had ever heard. And yet… they left a sting in her heart. Vee knew exactly why. It was the last word Beth had used, the name that didn't belong to her. Vee remembered what Liv had said, Secrets can be a dangerous thing and, if kept for too long, might do more harm than good. The advice was starting to make sense. The longer she kept this going, the deeper she was digging herself into a hole.

Pretending to be who she wasn't… hiding what she was… being called Luz… it was beginning to feel wrong.

"Beth, I…" Vee's confession croaked in her throat. "I'm… I'm not…"

"I said get off!" Harry shouted from far away. This was followed by a drawn-out yowl that slowly got louder and louder.

Vee felt a chill. "I'm not so sure we're out of danger."

Something heavy crashed behind them, kicking up leaves and dirt. The girls dared to look back and were greeted by slitted viper eyes that glowed with savagery.

"I guess cats do always land on their feet," Beth said feebly.

"Move!" Vee shouted.

Beth hobbled as fast as she could but, with only one foot, the two of them were barely going at a brisk jog. They heard the bobcat hiss and growl and spit, vexed beyond limits at its fight with Harry, ready to strike whatever crossed its path, which just so happened to be unlucky them.

"Luz, leave me," Beth ordered.

"What?! No!"

"We'll never get away together. Just go."

"I'm not leaving you!"

The pitter-patter of the bobcat bounding after them became stronger and stronger. It was nearly on them.

"Luz—"

"NO!"

Vee tackled Beth to the side moments after the bobcat leaped. The beast missed completely but Vee knew it would circle back in mere seconds. She fell on top of Beth and wrapped her body around the girl. Without realizing it, she also transformed her lower half into her basilisk tail and coiled that around Beth's legs too.

"Stay down, Beth," Vee said, scrunching her eyes shut. "I won't let it get you." If that bobcat wants Beth, then it needs to go through me!

Vee waited for the slicing and the dicing and the biting. She waited for the end… and waited, and waited… but it never came.

What's taking so long? Just do it already! Vee thought furiously. She peaked and nearly had a heart attack. The bobcat's nose was inches from her own, sniffing with the intensity of a hunter. For a horrible moment, Vee believed the bobcat had been patiently waiting for just this second when she was stupid enough to look to attack but the bobcat continued to sniff. It then raised its paw and slapped at a pile of leaves right next to Vee's head.

What are you doing? she almost asked.

Then the bobcat made a frustrated huff and scampered away, disappearing amongst the trees. When she was sure it wasn't coming back, Vee got off Beth who was covering her eyes. No longer feeling Vee protecting her, Beth looked.

"Is it gone?" Beth asked softly, searching in all directions. Vee was about to say it was and explain how she wasn't sure why when Beth suddenly panicked. "Luz? Where did you go? Luz?!"

Much to Vee's confusion, Beth swiveled her head back and forth, looking right past Vee as if she wasn't there. Vee raised her arm to wave it in Beth's face only to discover she couldn't see her own arm. She could feel it but there was nothing there.

"Am I… dead?" Vee asked herself in her head. The idea of being a ghost like Liv frightened Vee until she felt her hand pinch her cheek. "No. I'm not dead, I'm… invisible?"

She was! She was really invisible! How? she wondered. How am I doing this?

"Luz!" Beth called desperately, struggling to her one good foot. "Answer me! Please!"

Vee's question would have to wait. Concentrating with all her might, Vee watched with fascination as she faded back into existence, leaving a perfectly visible Vee.

She started to say, "Beth, I—"

"Luz!" and Beth was instantly hugging her tightly. "Oh my gosh, you're okay. Thank goodness!" Vee couldn't help but hug her back. "Where did the bobcat go? How did we escape?"

"I, uh, hid us under some brush and stuff," Vee quickly excused.

"Oh, like camouflage? Good thinking. Is that why it felt like my legs were wrapped in a big vine?"

Vee went pale for a second as she realized her tail was still exposed. She quickly morphed it back into human legs. "Y'up! Just a vine!" Vee stood up and hefted Beth to her foot. "Let's get you to a doctor, come on, before that scary bobcat wises up and comes ba—"

The bobcat leaped out of the nearest bush! The girls screamed! The bobcat pounced at them claws first!

"No!" A massive hairy arm swooped down and caught the bobcat mid-air, just out of scratching range of the girls. Harry lifted the animal to his face and scolded it like a kid, "No more of that."

"RAWR!" the bobcat roared at him.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWR!" Harry roared back even louder than before. The trees around them quivered like they had suddenly turned into jello. Beth, Vee, and the bobcat were stupefied by the power. Instantly, the once feral animal sheathed its claws and squeaked like a newborn kitten.

"Whoa…" said Vee.

"The king of nature," Beth whispered in wonder.

"You two alright?" Harry asked the girls. They were too stunned to respond. He spotted Beth's ankle and sighed. "Come here, let's get you some help." With his other massive arm, Harry easily picked up both girls at the same time and plopped one on each of his shoulders. "You okay up there?" he asked.

Beth's eyes glistened with stars. "This is a dream come true…" she said.

"Okay…" Harry replied, a little weirded out, and started walking.


"Hey, Harry... I'm sorry about everything that happened. I just thought you'd be happier if you were in nature, your element" Beth told the sasquatch.

"It's ok. I'll admit, the beauty of nature is undeniable, but... I'm just tired of fighting to survive and for power" Harry told the nature-lover, "To be honest, I'm eager to get into the stock market with trading and stuff. Far less hectic than living in nature" he said.

The two girls looked at each other. Thanks to the reality check summer camp, they and their friends were able to learn a lot of stuff, from doing taxes to balancing checkbooks and everything in between. They knew the stock market was the exact opposite of what Harry expected. The girls, however, decided to keep that little bit of information to themselves. Wouldn't want to crush the big guy's dreams after all.

After a while, they had arrived back at the cave where they had run into the bobcat, surprising the girls. They then heard a few meows. At the entrance of the cave, out came three bobcat kittens. Suddenly, the bobcat's earlier attack now made sense.

"I get it. She was just trying to protect her babies" Vee said as she smiled.

Vee remembered how her mom protected her from that conspiracy theorist when she learned Luz was in the Demon Realm and of her basilisk form. Granted, Vee wasn't considered a Noceda yet, but still, it was a thoughtful gesture. Adopted or not, she knew any decent mother would protect their child.

Harry set the bobcat mother down, the female and her kittens purring as they cuddled up with each other. The tech-loving sasquatch then set the girls down as well, being careful with Beth as to not worsen her injury.

"You drop your flashcards earlier, Luz. I'll go get them" Beth said as she hopped into the cave.

Once she was sure they were alone, Vee decided now would be a good time to speak to Harry.

"So, Harry, can I ask you something? You're really from the Demon Realm, aren't you?" Vee asked the sasquatch.

"I am. And you're really a basilisk, aren't you?" Harry replied, making Vee go wide-eyed, "I saw your lower half change into a tail and saw you turn invisible when the bobcat was about to attack you. If it weren't for that, I'd be completely convinced you were a human the whole time. I thought you guys were extinct"

"It's a long story," Vee said, "What I really wanted to ask was... how did you get from the Demon Realm to Human Realm?" she asked.

"I'm not sure" Harry shrugged, "One minute, I'm walking through a trail, minding my own business when I step into some blue stuff that stained the bottom of my foot. I went to go wash it off in a nearby lake, and then the next, I'm here in the human realm" he informed her.

"Blue stuff?" Vee questioned with a mutter, cocking an eyebrow with a tilt of her head. What could he be talking about?

"Hey, Luz" Vee looked to see Beth hopping out of the cave towards her, "Here are your flashcards," the nature lover said, handing the cards to her friend.

"Oh, thanks, Beth. I really need to get these back to my mom" Vee smiled as she took them, putting the flashcards back into her pocket.


The Noceda Residence…

"Uh, Vee, what happened to my cards?" Camilla asked. It was well after dinner and the moon was high in the night sky. Camilla had been too busy to inspect the deck Vee had borrowed until now and was surprised by what she found. If she didn't know any better, she'd think the scratches were… claw marks.

"It's a… long story," she heard Vee answer from the bathroom.

Camilla raised a suspicious eyebrow. "That talk of sasquatches was just pretend, right?"

"Yeah, totally just pretend."

"I know that magic exists, mija. If you're doing something dangerous, you should tell…" The rest of Camilla's sentence petered out when she saw Vee exit the bathroom.

The basilisk was dressed nearly exactly the way Luz had been when she left Earth. There hadn't been anymore cat-eared hoodies in the house for Vee to wear, but she made do. The most important detail, though, was the hair. No longer was it clipped back but instead hanging freely in a mirror image of Luz's tousled locks. The effect was immediate. Camilla gawked at her as if she was seeing a ghost.

"Hola, mami," Vee said in Luz's voice. She peeked at the cheat-sheet she'd scribbled on her hand and continued, "Low seen-too me escapé, pero tea pro-me-to qwee is-toy a salvo why volve-ré." She finished with a nervous smile. Her absolute butchering of Spanish seemed to break the spell over Camilla. The woman blinked rapidly several times.

"Oh, Vee, it's you," Camilla croaked and her eyes began to water. "For a second, I thought…" A tear streamed down the woman's cheek.

"Oh no, no, no," Vee blurted and frantically tried to brush her hair back. "I didn't mean to—I was trying to make you happy—I-I-I—" Her eyes changed color and her real ears sprouted, but no matter how much she brushed, her hair wouldn't stay down, she couldn't drop the disguise.

This had all backfired. She'd made a terrible mistake. She'd hurt the woman who had given her a home. She was a terrible daughter. Vee just wanted to disappear.

So, she did.

She curled into a ball and, without wanting to, turned invisible. There was a soft gasp from Camilla, "Mija?"

"I'm sorry," Vee murmured over and over. What else could she say? She'd screwed up. There was no way she could make this better. Then Vee felt a warm hand touch her invisible head and search until it found her frilly basilisk ears. The gentle strokes calmed her nerves.

"Talk to me, Vee," her mom said gently. "What were you trying to do here?"

"I-I-I—" Vee sniffled. "I know you miss her, so I thought I could help by being more like her."

"Oh, mija," her mom pulled her into a tender hug. "I understand. But I didn't want to teach you Spanish so you could be more like Luz. I just wanted to spend time with you."

Vee looked up at her, her invisibility wearing off in a flash. "With me?"

"Of course. Here, I want to show you something," Camilla said and retrieved a thick binder from a bookshelf. She opened it, revealing the pages to be filled with old photos of people Vee didn't know. "Vee, this is your family."

"My… fam…" Vee couldn't finish. She was too astounded by the sheer number of faces. Luz was in there and so was Camilla but there were dozens more, young and old, big and small. There were enough to populate a small village. Up until this point, to Vee, "family" had just been children and their parents and maybe grandparents. She had no idea that a family could be so… huge.

"And this is Ingrid. She's married to my cousin Paulo," Camilla said, pointing to a woman in a group shot. Vee inspected Ingrid closely. She was so different from the rest. Pale as snow with curly golden hair. "The two of you are a lot alike, you know. She's from a country far away from here, some would say a completely different world."

"A different world?"

"That's right, and Ingrid is also not very good at Spanish. But she is still a Noceda and we love her all the same. Just like you." Camilla caressed her face. "You're my daughter too, Vee. Mija mágica especial."

Vee stared blankly at her.

"My special magic daughter," Camilla translated. That made Vee smile and she hugged her mom back as hard as she could. All was right in the world again. "Speaking of which…" Camilla said when the moment was over, "Since when could you disappear like that?"

"Oh! Just today actually," Vee said. She held out her arms and with a little concentration made them vanish. "I thought basilisks could only shapeshift but I guess there's stuff I still don't know about my species." She picked up the photo album and gazed happily at her extended family. In her see-through grip, the binder looked like it was floating in the air.

"Well, I can't wait to discover more, mija," Camilla said and kissed the top of Vee's head. It was a moment of love, understanding, and of true acceptance.

"So, "mija" means daughter?" Vee asked.

"Mija means—Yes!" Camilla sputtered with a laugh. "What did you think I was calling you this whole time?"

"Honestly, I thought "ha" was how you humans called your kids." Vee admitted sheepishly, Camilla chuckling as they hugged each other yet again.


Alright, that's the end of this chapter. I think it's nice of Vee to try to learn Spanish to make Camilla happy, but Camilla loves Vee just the way she is. That being said though, there'll probably still be moments where Vee will still try to speak Spanish… you know, just to keep up appearance and stuff. She'll probably suck at it, but still. For example, what if one of Luz's (now also Vee's) family members shows up and tries to talk to her in Spanish? Actually, that sounds like it might be a fun chapter. Now I have something to think about.

I'm sure you're curious about Vee's new power of invisibility. Yeah, I made that up. I thought it'd be cool to give her (and the rest of her species by extension) other abilities outside of shapeshifting and draining magic. Unlike shapeshifting though, the invisibility doesn't require her to use magic to maintain it. There'll be other abilities shown off in the future, some Vee will have already known about while others will be ones she's just discovering.

This chapter was co-written with I Write Big.

If you have ideas for creatures Vee and her friends could run into or have ideas for future chapter, say it in a review or feel free to message me so we can discuss it.

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