Hey everyone, here's chapter 16 of The Misadventures of Vee. This is also part 2 of the two-parter. Let's see how this two-parter wraps up.


A Few Months Ago…

"Come on, Luz, this is the last jump, you can make it!"

The human heart in Vee's chest pounded like crazy. Her brittle human legs shivered on the tree branch that she was convinced shouldn't be able to support her. A step in any direction and she would plummet from a height so great she'd never survive. How could humans go their whole lives with such frail bodies? Why did she agree to climb the mountainous tree Beth slept under? She'd give anything for the privacy to morph into something that could fly.

Directly ahead of her, on the final branch that looked thousands of miles away, Beth beckoned her to follow. "Just count to three and move forward. Don't look down."

"Down?" The foreign instruction made Vee instinctively disobey.

"No, don't!"

Too late. Dozens of sickening sensations hit Vee at once, her stomach lurched, her throat tightened, her head swooned. Everything screamed at her that she was going to fall! Vee hugged the trunk, latching onto the wood with her basilisk skin. The world went dark as she screwed her eyes shut and whimpered.

"Take it easy, breathe, I'm coming," she heard Beth say. A moment later, the branch shook under Vee, making her shriek. Hands stroked her back. "You're okay. You're safe. Just a little case of vertigo. It'll pass."

Vee didn't know what vertigo was but it was officially the thing she hated most about pretending to be a human.

"Luz, listen to me, you need to breathe slower," Beth said in a calm yet commanding voice. "Breathe with me." Soon the sound of Beth's long steady breathing could be heard. Vee hadn't noticed before but her own breathing was short and sporadic huffs, almost wheezy. The more she listened to Beth, the easier it became to mimic her and stretch her huffs into deep inhales. Her stomach settled, her throat relaxed, her head cleared. Eventually she was even able to let go of the tree trunk and open her eyes, this time she made sure not to look down.

"I'm okay," Vee said quietly. "Can we, um, get down now, please?"

Beth smirked. "Sure. It's a long climb though. I think you should take the fast way."

"There's a fast way?" Vee had never felt purer joy.

"Yup!"

Before Vee knew what was happening, Beth scooped her in her arms and leaped back over to the final branch. The thousand-mile trip was so quick she didn't have time to yelp. Vee looked back and forth between the two branches which had seemed so impossibly far from each other just a second ago. Now the distance looked no more insurmountable than a hop.

"This way," Beth said, putting Vee back on her feet and marching through a wall of leaves.

With far less confidence, Vee followed. "Ugh, why do humans do this to them… selves…?" All comprehensible thought was lost as she stepped out of the leaves and saw the canopy. This was the highest point in the forest, according to Beth, and the rest of the lands were spread out before them. It was an ocean of green, swaying in the wind, streaked with crystalline rivers that sparkled like diamonds in the amber glow of the setting sun. It was so otherworldly to see so much land without a single Titan bone. Vee had been on Earth for weeks now but it hadn't truly struck her until right then that she wasn't in the Demon Realm anymore. "Oh, Beth, this… this is amazing."

Beth canted a smile at her. "You really think so?"

"Yes! I've never seen something so beautiful." It was, not just objectively, but to Vee this picturesque landscape also represented her newfound freedom from the Emperor's Coven. And it was so glorious she could cry.

"Wow, I wish my family appreciated nature as much as you did," Beth said.

"They don't?"

The question made Beth fidget uncomfortably. "My parents would if my big sister Autumn liked camping. The only thing my parents care about is recording every little perfect moment of her life, every test she aces, every song she composes is the greatest thing ever created to them. They don't even know where I am half the time. And the worst part is that Autumn is, like, the nicest sister ever. She always supports me, so I can't even hate her. It's just so…" Beth let out a growl that sounded almost like a dragon to Vee. Then the anger was gone and Beth was smiling again. "Sorry, got a bit too real there. I'm just happy to finally meet someone who likes what I like."

The entire exchange left Vee a little worried. She'd seen Dani show that level of anger right before she exploded into yells and howls that shook the cabin which was quickly followed by embarrassed and ashamed apologies and, finally, a sort of peace. This though, it was as if Beth had bottled the fury within herself and hid it behind a grin where no one could see. Vee was still learning how humans worked but whatever she'd witnessed didn't sit right.

"Ready to take the fast way down?" Beth asked, making Vee forget her worries.

"Yes, please!" she said a little too quickly.

Chuckling, Beth pulled a rope out of the leaves. It was already tied to the trunk overhead and stretched down toward the ground so tautly that it vibrated in Beth's hands. A rope attached to a weird hook she produced from her backpack. Beth attached the hook to the tight rope and motioned for Vee to come closer.

"Don't worry," Beth said. "I've tested this zip line, like, a hundred times."

"Ziiiiiiiiiiip liiiiiiiiiine?" Vee sounded out. The next thing she knew Beth had wrapped both of their waists with the hooked rope and Beth hugged the basilisk to her body until their noses pressed together. Vee suddenly worried if this was some sort of human mating ritual. "What are you—"

"Hold on!"

To Vee's absolute horror, Beth jumped off the branch. The basilisk's screams reverberated as they both plunged toward the hard lethal forest floor. But then she noticed the intense pull of the rope around her waist and, more importantly, that they were also moving sideways. The taut rope Beth had attached them to continued its path downward, secured to the many trees that made up the perimeter of the clearing. They weren't falling, Vee realized, they were sliding, gliding, zipping along the rope.

"Ohhhhh," Vee said, suddenly feeling very giddy. "Zip line, I get it." Laughter bubbled from her as they flew. Where the delight came from, she wasn't sure. Vee had flown plenty of times as many winged creatures. Yet something about flying as a human, a creature who had no hope of ever touching a cloud, filled her with glee.

When they reached solid ground, Vee wanted to climb the gargantuan tree all over again. "That was—I never—Did we—I—You—Us—We flew!"

"Fun, right?" Beth asked smugly.

"That was the most fun I've ever had, ever! Again! We have to do that again!" Vee made for the tree only for Beth to stop her.

"Sorry, Luz, it's getting late. The sun will be down by the time we reach the peak. You need to get back to camp." Beth gave her the dirty dishes Vee had brought her lunch on and headed for her lean-to. Disappointment didn't even come close to what Vee felt. She glanced back and forth between the X-marked trees and Beth, not wanting the day to end.

"Come with me," Vee blurted.

Beth froze.

"We have lights at camp, Beth, you don't have to stop just because the sun went down. I'll introduce you to Dani and Lance, they'll love you. Dani will read your fortune and Lance will tell you about his video games, whatever those are, and you don't have to wait for me to bring you meals. You can eat as much as you want. What do you say?"

There was a pause.

"Thanks, but I'm good here, Luz," Beth replied without turning around.

"Oh, come on! This has been the best day ever, I want to keep it going," Vee whined, following her. "I know Reality Check Camp sounds boring but it's not so bad when you're with friends." Vee's hand barely touched Beth's shoulder when the girl suddenly jerked away.

"I'm fine, Luz," Beth insisted, still not looking at her. "I don't need any of that."

At that moment Vee heard Beth's breathing change. Short and sporadic huffs, almost wheezy. Just like hers. Vee couldn't believe it. Was Beth, someone who was brave enough to scale great heights, leap deadly gaps, and careen through the sky, scared? Of people? That made no sense. Then again, Vee being petrified of that last tiny hop was also ridiculous.

Being as gentle as possible, Vee stepped to Beth's side and said softly, "Hey, breathe." She inhaled slow and deep over and over until Beth was breathing with her. Beth at last looked at her. The fear was still there, but it was smaller.

"I don't know if I can, Luz," Beth admitted. "What if they think I'm weird? I can't exactly turn off the whole nature-lover thing."

"You won't have to, we're all kinda weird. Lance doesn't know what a penny is, Dani keeps pretending she can't tell the future, which she totally can, and I'm, well…" Vee searched for the right words, "you could say I'm still figuring out how to be a human, I guess." Vee offered her hand. "But I've found that it's easier when you're not alone. It'll work out. Just count to three and move forward. Do you trust me?"

For a while nothing happened. Vee waited for so long she worried the sun would rise tomorrow morning before Beth made a move.

Then…

Beth took her hand. "I trust you," she said. She didn't let go until they reached Vee's cabin.


Now…

"Hey, give me back my brother, you cultists!" Vee heard the sound of yelling, making the basilisk stir. She knew the yells were coming from Beth.

Vee slowly opened her eyes with a groan. She got a look at her surroundings. Despite how dimly lit it was, Vee could tell that she and Beth were locked in a cage. What amazed Vee was that the cage they were in was the size of her room, making it roomier than the cage she was in when she was in the Demon Realm and definitely roomier than the cage Jacob kept her in. As far as she could tell, their only sources of light were a few lights just down the hall from the bars.

"Beth..." Vee called to the girl, though the girl in question was too far in her panic to actually hear her. Vee approached her, "Beth, calm down," she tried to reach out to her, only for Beth to smack her hand away.

"Calm down? Calm down?!" Beth repeated, "Some hooded jerks kidnapped my little brother! You promised to rescue him and you failed! Why did I ever trust you?!" she yelled, pointing at her accusingly, making the basilisk back away at the sting of her the girl's hurtful words.

"Yikes! Am I interrupting something?" a rather friendly voice commented. Out of the shadows came one of the hooded figures, Vee immediately recognizing them as the one with the limp... and they had Tim with them, "I believe this little guy belongs to you," the hooded opened the cage, allowing the boy in.

"Tim!" Beth bent down as her brother ran up to her, the two siblings embracing each other in a tight hug, "Thank God, you're safe!" she muttered while stroking the boy's hair.

"Aw, that's nice," the hooded figure said in a touched tone. Vee and Beth glared at their prison guard, "Whoa, take it easy, ladies," the hooded figure held up their hands defensively, "I'm not going to hurt you or the little guy. I'm Felix," the hooded figure introduced himself.

"Hi, Felix," Tim said to the man.

"Sorry about keeping your little brother for so long, we had to make sure he wasn't a magical creature in disguise," Felix told them. "Speaking of which..." Felix raised his arm, showing his hand encased in a gauntlet covered in glyphs and anime stickers.

Felix happily booped Beth on the nose... and nothing happened. He then did the same with Vee and the glyphs shimmered and the stickers meowed. This little action caused Vee to be forced out of her disguise, reverting to her basilisk form. Vee gasped in horror. The basilisk tried to change back to her human form... but was unable to.

"What the hell?" Vee looked down at her scaly hands. She knew she had magic, yet something was blocking her from accessing it.

"I can't believe this. My leg got cut from getting tackled by a real, live basilisk!" Felix said, gushing in an almost fanboy manner. Ok, this guy was as nuts as Jacob, "Don't worry, the magic block isn't permanent," he told Vee, "Every inch of this place is covered in glyphs meant to keep magical creatures docile."

"You'd better let us go, Felix. Tim doesn't need to be in a place like this," Beth said in a demanding tone.

"Agreed," Felix nodded.

"What?" Beth looked at him with a mixture of surprise and confusion.

"The Society has no need for humans. Now that we know you don't have magic, you and your little bro are free to go," Felix told her, "I'd be to take you two back to Gravesfield."

"What about Vee?" Tim gestured to the basilisk.

"No can do, little man, we still need her. Don't worry though, we'll take excellent care of her," Felix said reassuringly.

Beth was in a predicament here. She could either get out of here and leave with her brother... or stay behind and try to save Vee despite recent events.

"It's ok, Beth..." Vee said, making the nature lover look at her, "I'll be fine. Just get Tim out of here and go," she told her.

Beth sighed through her nose. She took her brother's hand and was about to walk away with him, only for her to be pulled back by the boy yanking his arm, stopping her.

"But, Beth, I thought you said every life is precious?" Tim asked, repeating the words he often heard his older sister say.

Beth looked into her brother's eyes. He was right, she did say thought. She'd be a bad big sister and a hypocrite if she didn't follow her own words. She looked at Vee then at Felix then back at Vee. She then looked at Tim and smiled. She started forming a plan.

"Hey, Felix, you must really like stickers, huh?" Beth asked the man, pointing at his gauntlet.

"Yes. I love stickers!" Felix beamed with a small smile.

"Do you think we could check out your collection before we head back home?" Beth asked him.

"Sure!" Felix replied.

Beth and Tim step out of the cage.

"Hold on..." Beth said, stopping them, "Can Vee come along? She's harmless with all these glyphs everywhere," she asked.

"Hmm... Alright. Come on, basilisk," Felix looked at Vee.


Gravesfield…

"They were something like this," Jacob Hopkins said, drawing the last few strokes on the paper. "These were the glyphs floating around people's heads that made them all zombie-ish."

"Yôu yì si… (Interesting…)" Dani's aunt said, peering at them with a magnifying glass. "Sealing… Mind… Light… Never tried that combination."

"What are these symbols? I don't recognize them," Dani's uncle asked, pointing to a cat-face that looked remarkably like Hello Kitty.

"That's from the Nekonomicon," Jacob answered, placing his copy before them. "The book sorta makes every spell it casts kawaii. Meows, rainbows, sparkles, that stuff. Glitter gets everywhere."

While Dani's aunt and uncle resumed their examination, muttering to each other occasionally in Chinese, their niece hugged her legs in the corner of the room. Dani hadn't uttered a sound since they lost Beth, Tim, and Vee. She was clearly not taking this well. It had taken nearly ten minutes of begging from Lance and Vincent to get her to leave the school. And when she did, she kept walking without responding to anyone. They had followed her out of concern but eventually realized Dani was heading for her aunt and uncle's place, the only people who could help. Even in a catatonic state, Dani led.

Among their numbers now was Jacob, who repeatedly claimed he wouldn't rest until Vee was rescued, and Autumn, who had ditched her parents after the police proved to be less than useless when she reported the kidnapping. The cops had basically thrown up their hands and said they'd put their best guys on it but they still didn't have a magical crimes division yet so no promises. The young woman had been pacing nonstop since they arrived, spouting questions that just went around in circles.

"So, Vee was a magical creature too? My sister has been friends with a basilisk this whole time?" she asked for the twentieth time.

"Yes!" Lance and Vincent groaned.

"And this cult or sect or whatever has kidnapped her along with every magical creature in town and we don't know why?"

"Yes!"

"Does Bethany normally do stuff this dangerous?!"

The boys looked away guiltily. "...Maybe."

Dani's aunt and uncle exchanged a heavy sigh. "We're sorry, Mr. Hopkins, but it would take us weeks to fully study this book," her aunt said.

"What about music?" Autumn butted in. "I don't know how magic works but my music seemed to break the spell."

"That was lucky, we don't know the full effects anything would have on Nekonomicon magic. Music could nullify some spells and worsen others. I've never seen magic like this before. We would need something far more powerful to even have a hope of winning."

There wasn't any time to reflect on the bad news though, for in that moment the front door burst open and Camilla barreled in. Like a speeding train she went straight for Jacob Hopkins.

"Where is my daughter, hijo de puta?!" Camilla demanded, slamming him against the nearest wall. She was scarily able to lift the full-grown man off his feet by his Demon Gate Society hoodie.

"I didn't take her, I swear!" Jacob lamented.

"Don't lie to me! You've been after Vee since the day you met!" The death glare Camilla was radiating would've melted steel.

"Not anymore! I helped her escape! I bought her time, I thought she got away! I'm not with the Society, I'm not!"

Jacob kept squealing his innocence and Camilla didn't let up until Dani touched the woman's arm and broke her long silence. "Mrs. Noceda, he's telling the truth. He never meant for Vee to be taken." Tears brimmed in Dani's eyes and her voice cracked, "If you need to be angry at anyone, be angry at me."

The rage fled Camilla in an instant. Her head whipped toward Dani in disbelief. "¿Qué?"

"I should've told Vee not to go through with this, I should've made her stay home where she was safe. I said I'd protect her, I said I… I…" The flood of tears was unleashed. Dani collapsed to her knees and wept. "I'm sorry!"

Camilla dropped Jacob and in an instant was hugging Dani tenderly. "No, no, shhh, ángel preciosa, you can't blame yourself. I know that you would've fought an army for her." She caressed the girl's face and wiped away the tears. "Mírame, crying is not going to bring Vee back. We need to work together." Camilla turned to Jacob, "Do you know where these pendejos took her?"

"Uh, I mean, kind of," he sheepishly admitted.

"Then you are going to take us there. Now!" Grabbing him again, Camilla dragged Jacob out of the house. Everyone was close behind, trying to stop her.

"Wait, Mrs. Noceda, we don't have a plan yet," Dani said.

"The Demon Gate Society outsmarted us without trying," Vincent insisted.

"We can't go charging in with nothing," Lance added.

"Who says I have nothing?" Camilla scoffed and popped her car trunk. From it she produced a used napkin contained in a ziploc bag. The napkin was stained a deep blue.

"What is that?" Dani asked.

"I'm not sure, but Vee told me that whatever this liquid is, one drop contains more magic than she could ever eat."

This revelation stunned everyone. Their confidence began to return. With that much magic it didn't matter what the Demon Gate Society threw at them. Maybe this rescue wasn't so impossible after all.

"More magic than a magic-eater can stomach you say?" Dani's uncle hummed, stroking his chin.

Her aunt grinned and rubbed her hands together maliciously. "Wā! We have some big toys that we've been dying to try out." She skipped back into the house, cackling like a madwoman.

"Wait, what's that, Mrs. N?" Lance asked, pointing into the trunk. Lying there was a jar containing the Dragon's Breath flower.

"Plan B. Hopefully we won't need to use it," Camilla replied. She smiled down at Dani and dried a lingering tear from her cheek. "Don't worry, we'll get her back."


Demon Gate Society Sanctorum…

Vee, Beth, and Tim followed Felix down the hall. From the minute they were let out of the cage, the guy just went on and on about his sticker collection, saying how it was an underappreciated art. Like with the cage and Felix himself, this whole place wasn't exactly as Vee expected. She expected it to be dark, creepy, gloomy, and void of life like it was back in Belos' castle. However, this place appeared to be the exact opposite. It was modern. There was air conditioning, bright electric lighting with dimmer switches, and motivational posters everywhere. She definitely wasn't expecting any of this.

Felix led them inside the sanctum's break room. This surprised Vee, it was amazing as well, having a fridge and a coffee maker. This all felt so weird. Vee covered her chest as if she were still in her human form with her breasts exposed. Ever since Vince made that comment wondering if her basilisk form meant she was naked, she felt the need to cover her chest. She also felt the need to wave consciously at Tim every time he glanced at her. The kid must have been fascinated by the way she slithered or something.

"Hey Beth, thanks for not leaving me behind. I appreciate it," Vee whispered to the nature lover, even if she wouldn't talk to her. To Vee's surprise though, Beth did reply.

"I'm just going to get you home, that's it," Beth whispered back in a hiss, "I still haven't forgiven. As far as I'm concerned, we aren't friends," she told her rather harshly, "And stop covering yourself like you're a human girl. You're not human, so stop pretending you are."

Beth opened her mouth again as if she were about to say more... but stopped herself. Vee took note of that. Was she bottling up her negative emotions? She remembered Miss. Canis told her that doing that wasn't healthy for anyone. Hearing those words hurt Vee, but she was also a little happy that Beth was talking to her. Even if she was being a total bitch about it.

"You kids want anything? A drink, maybe some snacks?" Felix offered.

"Nah, I'm still full from the cake," Tim said while rubbing his stomach.

"What about you, basilisk?" Felix looked at Vee.

"I'll take a strawberry soda," Vee replied, "And my name is—"

"Strawberry soda, coming up," Felix said as he opened the fridge.

"So... Felix... any big plans your Secret Society putting together? You know, plans of the evil variety? Like, say I was a member of the Demon Gate Society, went through all the creepy initiations to join, got the hoodie and everything, what would be my role in Operation... I want to say Magical Kidnap?" Beth asked as Felix tossed Vee a can of strawberry soda which Vee caught with her tail.

"Uhh... Are you asking why we—"

"Where's Zaya?!" Tim yelled, interrupting the man.

"Whoa! Calm down, little man," Felix said with a chuckle, taking a bite of his donut, "We aren't going to hurt the magical creatures," he said, taking another bite.

"Then what are you planning to do with them?" Beth raised an eyebrow.

"Get them to help us open a portal to the Demon Realm, duh!" Felix said with a playful roll of his eyes, "I mean, what else would a group called the "Demon Gate Society" do?" he asked rhetorically.

That got Vee's attention. They were trying to open a portal to the Demon Realm? Felix led them out of the break room.

"For generations, the society has known of the existence of the Demon Realm and tried to get there ourselves. However, it's only recently that the grandmaster realized that we've been going about it all wrong," Felix told them as they walked and entered a giant, spacious room labeled the Gate Room, "Now, with these magical creatures, we have a chance of accomplishing our goal of creating a bridge between our two worlds."

In the center of the room was a giant ring the size of a truck standing on its side. The ring had glyphs carved along it, as well as on the floor surrounding it. Vee's jaw dropped at what she was seeing. This whole time, these guys were building the one thing that she was searching for. This was her chance. She finally had a chance to bring Luz home. This little fact filled her with enthusiastic joy and determination.

"If that's the case... then I want to help however I can," Vee spoke up.

"I'm glad to hear that," A voice said. Out of the shadows, came the Grandmaster of the society, "With a basilisk, a creature that can shapeshift, we can speed things along," he told them.

With a snap of the Grandmaster's fingers, the lights around them turned on. That's when Vee's enthusiasm drained in almost an instant. Around them, in cages, were most of the magical creatures that the MCH had met, including Miss. Canis, Tracey and Heather. If Heather was here, and in a cage then Vee's assumption about her being a magical creature was right. By the looks of it, they all were all tired. It was like they had all been drained or something.

"What did you do to them?!" Vee asked in a demanding tone.

"In order to open the portal, we need the blood of a certain magical creature. Though we don't know which one since that information has been lost to time," The Grandmaster explained, "We tested on all of them and they were all failures. We had a banshee and a hym, but we let them go since... well, banshees and hyms are basically ghosts and ghosts don't have blood."

"Liv..." Vee muttered the banshee's name.

"But a basilisk can become any creature and have their blood," the grandmaster said.

"In other words, you're the key, basilisk," Felix told her.

"My name is—"

"So, are you in?" Felix asked, interrupting Vee once again.

There was a brief pause.

"If I do this, will you let the other magical creatures go?" Vee asked, though her body trembled upon learning the disturbing truth of the society's plan.

"You have my word," the grandmaster said with a nod.

Vee sighed.

"Alright... I'm in," Vee said.


Somewhere…

The pink Noceda station wagon zoomed past a large sign on the highway that read, "Welcome To New Jersey! The Garden State! We Don't Ask Questions Here!"

"That's it!" Jacob Hopkins announced, squished in the backseat with Vincent and Lance. "We've entered the lawless lands. We're close."

"Are you sure?" Camilla asked, her hands firmly clenched around the steering wheel. "We've been driving for nearly two hours."

"Yes, stop here."

Camilla pulled into the parking lot of a McDonald's, the only building on the road. Everybody piled out just as a flaming red van with a lightning-breathing dragon decaled across its body parked next to them. The van honked la cucaracha and Dani's aunt and uncle burst out of the vehicle already decked out in glyph-covered armor and carrying an arsenal of children's play-weapons: super-soakers, paintball guns, nerf guns, boomerangs, baseball bats, plastic pirate swords, foam Minecraft swords, and retractable toy lightsabers. All were striped with glyphs. Autumn followed them with her far less impressive violin.

"Do I really have to put a glyph on my instrument? It's an heirloom," Autumn moaned.

Dani's uncle slapped a glyph sticker on the violin. "And now it's a weapon."

"Just needs a little juice." Dani's aunt said, leering hungrily at the blue napkin Camilla carried.

"Not yet, āyí and shūshu, not until we find them," Dani ordered. She turned to Jacob, "Which way?"

Jacob Hopkins slowly walked deeper into the parking lot, observing with his keen eyes the thickly forested land around them. "Follow the Oregon Trail to the land without law," he muttered under his breath. "Under the Holy Arches will you find the Gate."

"What is that?" Vincent asked.

"The sacred riddle of the Demon Gate. According to their website, those who are able to solve it will be led to the entrance of the Sanctum Sanctorum, the secret headquarters of the Society, and will prove themselves worthy." He faced the group and explained with the authority of a college professor, "'Follow the Oregon Trail' is one of this country's oldest ways to tell someone to head west, as for 'the land without law' New Jersey is famous for opening its doors to those considered by the rest of civilization to be unlawful. Witches, warlocks, tax dodgers, all found sanctuary here."

Everybody was stunned, impressed by this level of dissection from the usually kooky man. "Wow," said Dani. "You really thought this through."

"Now we just need to find the right Holy Arches," Jacob finished and proceeded to thoroughly inspect the base of the sign pole that held the McDonald's golden arches. "There's only 261 McDonald's in the state. Let's get started!"

"Aaaaaand I stand corrected," Dani said and grabbed Lance by the shoulders. "Lance, I'm really, really sorry about this. I'm your friend, normally I'd never say this but we have no other options." She took a deep breath. "It'll never work out between you and Miss Canis."

Vincent gasped!

Everyone else was lost.

"Who is Miss Canis?" asked Camilla.

A deep blush burned Lance's face and a shaky smile spread across his lips. "W-What? Why? Because she's a little older than me? Haha! That's not—"

"You might think that it's not a big deal, that she's too old for everyone, she's lived hundreds of years, you just have to wait a few more until you're older but that's not the actual problem. Miss Canis is also your therapist and has played a massive part in raising you emotionally. Your mom is never home, Miss Canis is. She is basically your second mother. It is not going to work out!"

Not a sound was uttered in that forest, even the birds were too dumbstruck to chirp.

A single tear rolled down Lance's cheek.

"I am so sorry," Dani whispered.

Then, in the distance, there could be heard a faint drawn out cry. Slowly, it grew stronger. Trees rustled, birds took flight, a herd of deer fled through the parking lot and from between the trees Ash came speeding out, screaming his head off. As though an invisible lasso were dragging him, the hym was pulled straight to Lance. They collided, knocking Lance off his feet. When the dust settled, Ash was Lance's shadow.

"For the love of—Again?!" Ash roared at the teen. "What is wrong with you, mortal? Do you have chronic depression?"

"Ash!" Lance sobbed in a weird mix of distraught and overjoyed. He wrapped the hym in a hug. "You're okay! Oh, I was so worried!"

"Yuck, bittersweet relief. I hate sweet and sour," Ash grumbled but patted Lance's head. "Yeah, yeah, glad to see you too or whatever."

"It worked!" Vincent cheered.

"Dios mio, is that the shadow monster from mami's story?" Camilla shuddered in disgust at the sight of Ash. More rustling behind her made the woman jump. Seconds later, Liv appeared.

"Children!" cooed the banshee.

Camilla shrieked and dropped to the ground, clutching her heart. "¡Bruja!"

"When I was alive, yes. But this isn't Gravesfield, why are you all so far away from home?"

"Looking for you, Liv," Dani answered, happy to see the banshee safe. "The people who took you and Ash also took every magical creature in town, including Vee."

"They did?" Liv was aghast. "But they were such nice people. They let us go as soon as they realized Ash and I couldn't help them open a gate to the Demon Realm."

Again, shocked silence reigned.

"What? You guys didn't realize that?" Jacob Hopkins scoffed at their astounded gazes. "It's in the name! The Demon Gate Society is dedicated to opening a gate to the Demon Realm and Starbucks is dedicated to turning all of the stars in space into male deers with the microplastics in their coffee. Keep up."

Dani was the first to recover. "We'll worry about that later. Liv, can you lead us back to the place you were released from?"

"Of course I can, dear. It's a bit of a ways but I can get you there."

Everybody piled back into their rides. With Liv as their guide, they pulled back onto the road and made their way to the Demon Gate Society's Sanctum Sanctorum. Serious looks were on every one of their faces. None would rest until their friends were rescued.

"What if I got a different therapist?" Lance suggested.

"Do you want a different therapist?" Dani shot back.

"...No."


Demon Gate Society Sanctorum…

Vee's test had been going on for several minutes now. At this moment, she had taken the form of a bugbear, which was a bearlike goblin. Vee watched as a society member drops her purple blood, her blood changing her color when she changed form, onto a symbol that looked like a crescent moon that was carved in front of the giant portal ring. Nothing happened.

"Yet another failure..." the grandmaster noted, "Buggane," he announced the next creature Vee will transform into.

The basilisk was standing on a glyph pentagram that allowed her to access a trickle of her magic, at least enough for her to transform. Vee groaned as she held her head.

"Something wrong, basilisk?" the grandmaster asked.

"Just a little lightheaded," Vee replied, "I can keep going," she added.

"I admire your tenacity, basilisk," Felix commented as he approached her with a plate, "Cookie? Your blood sugar must be low," he offered.

"That's not... going... to help..." Vee said between breaths.

"What do you need then?" Felix asked.

Vee didn't answer, holding her head as she wobbled from side to side. Beth decided to fill in.

"She's had a long day and probably used up a ton of magic. She probably only has a few more transformations left in her," Beth informed them, "If you want her to keep going then she needs to consume more magic."

"Oh, we've got plenty of magic," Felix replied. That's when several members dragged in a weakened Miss Canis, pushing the lady into the circle with Vee, "Eat up."

Vee gasped as she saw the werewolf counselor collapse to her knees in front of her.

"No..." Vee said, "No, no, not this again. I swore I'd never do this again, not after they forced me to drain the magic of so many!" she said, feeling her heart thump like crazy, "I can't do it. I... I won't do it!" she yelled.

Before the girl could freak out more, she was pulled into a tight embrace by a groggy Miss Canis, the werewolf hugging her head to the cleavage of her ample bosom. Vee then felt Miss Canis stroke her hair just as her mom would whenever she needed to calm her down. And it did calm her down. At that moment, Tim and, surprisingly, Beth joined in the little group hug.

"Calm down, Vee. This all a part of Beth's plan," Miss Canis whispered lowly into Vee's ear, "They act nice, but once they figure out they need Titan's blood, they'll keep you as their Titan... forever. They'll never let you go" she told the basilisk, making the girl gasp under her breath, "So, I'll be giving you my magic. Go on."

A Titan? As in THE Titan? The Titan whose remains was the bedrock of the Boiling Isles? There's no way Vee would ever have thought to try to transform into a Titan. Was it even possible?

"No way," Vee refused, "Even if you're giving it to me, I won't take your magic and leave you helpless. I don't want to be a monster" Vee told her counselor.

That last comment startled Beth, it practically stung her heart. Is that how Vee saw her basilisk self? Did she really see herself as a monster?

"You aren't a monster, sugar. It's up to you to save us. You're the only one that can set us all free" Miss Canis reassured her. Those words touched Vee's heart. She looked the werewolf counselor in the eyes and nodded. "Go on..." Miss Canis insisted.

Against her better judgment, Vee opened her mouth. Out the center of Miss Canis' chest came a wisp of magical energy that entered the basilisk's mouth. After a few good seconds, the color, along with the magic, was drained from Miss Canis' body. It was enough to revert her back to her to the beast mode of her werewolf form. The werewolf counselor collapsed and laid down on her side like a dog when it was tired. With this, Vee now had the magic she needed. She only had one shot at this though.

"Guys, stand back," Vee told the siblings, the two of them doing as they were told. Vee then heard the grandmaster snap his fingers, signaling for her to transform.

Vee closed her eyes and focused. Feeling the magic trickle throughout her body, she transformed into the one thing that could get them out of her. She had transformed into one of the most beloved and favorite magical creatures of humans, especially boys like Tim. She transformed into a mighty dragon! Vee was massive enough to take up a third of the space of the room.

"A dragon?! Awesome!" Tim beamed excitedly.

Vee roared as he swiped at the society members with her tail, knocking them away. She tried to breathe fire to create a barrier between them, but the glyphs prevented her from doing so. Instead, Vee scooped up Beth, Tim, and Miss Canis and placed them on her back. She slashed at the remaining cages with her claws, tearing through them like a hot knife through butter. She grabbed the remaining magical creatures and placed them on her back as well. It was time to escape, but there was just one problem. Vee was too big to fit through the door out the Gate Room.

Vee looked up at the ceiling. She spread her massive wings. She was ready to take off... until she felt something touch her ankle, followed by a meow. In an instant, Vee shrunk back down to her normal size and back to her basilisk form, surrounded by the other barely conscious magical creatures. She then saw Felix standing over her with his sticker-covered gauntlet.

"That was a nice escape attempt, basilisk. Once again, I admire your tenacity," Felix told her, "And you were so close too.

Those were the last nice words out of Felix's mouth.

Gone were the cookies and the encouragement. Vee was shoved back into the pentagram, her throat now wrapped tightly in a glyphed metal collar.

"We tried to be courteous and do this the easy way, basilisk. So disappointing," the Grandmaster sighed. He opened the Nekonomicon, raised his bony fingers, and snapped. "Buggane."

There was a meow and a flash of rainbows followed by pain searing from Vee's neck throughout her body. It was as if thousands of the sharpest claws had sprouted inside her. She writhed and yelled, wishing it would end.

"Vee!" Tim shouted.

"What are you doing?!" Beth cried.

"The hard way," the Grandmaster growled. "I said buggane!"

The order finally clicked and Vee morphed into a buggane, a tall, hairy, ogre-like creature with thick tusks jutting from her lower jaw. Instantly, the collar expanded with her new size and the pain was gone. Her legs gave out, Vee hit the ground with a thud.

"There. Was that so bad?"

Vee didn't think anyone could be worse than the Emperor's Coven. She'd believed anywhere else would've been better than being their prisoner, forcibly experimented on day in and day out. She had never been more wrong. As Felix approached to draw some buggane blood, Vee actually wondered if it was too late to go back to the Emperor's Coven.

"STOP!"

A shadow fell over Vee. She barely managed to open an eye to see Beth standing between her and the Society members, her arms spread protectively.

"You can't treat Vee this way," she said. "What is wrong with you people?"

"Hey, hey, take it easy, kid," Felix soothingly said. "I get it, it's been one of those crazy days. 'Ah! The Secret Society took my brother! Ah! Dragon!' But don't worry, as soon as we're done with the basilisk—"

"Vee! Her name is VEE!" Beth screamed. "Why won't you say her name?!"

"Name?" Felix laughed as though the question was the single most absurd thing he had ever heard. He laughed so hard his hood nearly fell off. "Why would I? It's not even human, it just pretends."

Not human.

Pretending.

Beth's arms dropped and Vee knew why. Those were the same words Beth had hissed at Vee. Coming from Felix they didn't hurt as much but they were still the truth. As badly as Vee wanted Beth to be her friend, as badly as she wanted this world to be her home, it would never happen.

"It doesn't matter."

Vee wasn't sure whether she was imagining things or she had slipped into a coma and was dreaming because there was no way Beth had actually said those words.

"It doesn't matter that Vee isn't human. I wouldn't care if she was a three-headed alien from another galaxy. Vee saved me when I didn't even know I needed to be saved. Vee is the sweetest, bravest, most caring person I have ever met." Beth glared hellfire at Felix and the rest of the Society members. "And if she didn't have to live in fear of monsters like you, maybe she would've trusted me."

A deep boom rumbled overhead, making the entire room tremble. Dust streamed from the high ceiling.

"What was that?" demanded the Grandmaster. Then something caught his ear. "Is that music? Does anyone else hear that song? Who is playing the violin?"

Beth smirked. "That would be my sister."

A series of fast and furious notes vibrated through the ceiling where a crack began to grow. As the music sped up, more booms shook the room and more cracks appeared until the song reached its crescendo and a literal wall of sound exploded through. Debris and smoke scattered, leaving behind a wide hole. In that hole stood a shivering Autumn, glowing violin tucked under her frightened chin.

"Holy—Did I do that?" she asked.

Dani's uncle popped up beside her. "Told you it was a weapon."

"Nerf or nothing, baby!" Dani's aunt cried at the top of her lungs and unleashed a volley of foam nerf darts.

"Uhhh, is that a toy?" Felix had time to say before a dart hit his chest. Instead of plonking off him as any other nerf dart would do, the man was encased in a block of ice! More pillars of ice erupted wherever the darts landed, scattering the Society members. Unfettered chaos was unleashed as Dani's aunt fired everything she had, dropping bombs of magic that spawned everything from miniature jungles of vines with leaves of purple slime to rock golems that vomited bubbles of light. Dani's uncle leaped into the fray, unsheathing a plastic pirate cutlass and a boomerang. Anything he struck was either washed away by an ocean wave or a tornado that whistled like a didgeridoo.

"Bethany! Timothy!" Autumn called down. "Stay there, Mrs. Noceda and the rest are coming for you."

On cue, the only set of doors banged open and a mass of Society members slipped and slid inside on a river of marbles that seemed to be multiplying. Behind them appeared the MCH and Camilla.

"Beth!" Dani said in relief, hugging the girl and Tim.

"Miss Canis?" Lance immediately went to the werewolf laying amongst the rest of the creatures. He pressed his ear to her chest. "She's still breathing. We need to get them out of here."

"Espere, where is Vee?" Camilla asked.

"Mom," Vee weakly replied. Camilla spun around and gasped at the pale-faced buggane, craning back to look the far bigger creature in the eye. She cradled the wrinkly ogre face in her hands. "Mija, I thought I had lost you. It's over now, I promise, you're safe."

Another hand joined her mom's. It was Beth's. The girl smiled up at Vee. "Let's get you home," she said, not a trace of anger in her gaze.

Tears obstructed Vee's sight but she could see it had finally happened. Beth had forgiven her.

Hoisting herself on her thick legs, Vee joined in grabbing all the magical creatures. She was the only one big enough to lift Harry, dragging the sasquatch behind her. This slowed her down more than the rest so Camilla, with Zaya in her purse, and Dani kept pace with her. Again and again, the Sanctorum shook dangerously, and Vee feared all this destruction would bring the roof down on them. The rest of the MCH were already out the door when disaster struck. A stray nerf dart bopped off the wall above the door. There was a shimmer of magic and the wall became purple slime.

"No!" Vee hurled Harry ahead. The sasquatch slid under the slime milliseconds before the liquid cascaded in front of the doorway and froze solid. Harry was out but they were trapped.

Dani pounded on the sealed off exit. "Dang it! We'll never get out now."

"Yes, we will." Dani's uncle stepped forward with the most solemn face. "I've waited my entire life for this moment." From his pocket he pulled out a fingernail-sized scrap of blue paper that Vee found very familiar. From his belt, he drew a plastic lightsaber. Pressing the blue to the toy, he pressed the on switch. The glyphs shimmered and to everyone's astonishment a powerful laser sprouted from the hilt with a vrrrrrrrrrrrmm!

"Wā!" Dani's uncle teared up at the sight of it. His eyes shining the same purple as the saber, he stabbed the melted wall, piercing through it like butter. "Best day! This is the best day—Whoa!" The toy slipped from the man's grip and tumbled saber-first through the floor. It didn't stop. Everyone stared at the red-hot hole in the ground. "Oops, my bad."

"Vee!" Beth cried, appearing at the door with Tracey on her back. The opening Dani's uncle had carved was too narrow for any of them to fit. Everyone grabbed the edges and pulled with all their might but the sludge wouldn't budge.

"We need more firepower," Camilla said and looked up. "Autumn! Clear the way!"

Autumn, who was still shaking in the hole with Dani's aunt, aimed her violin and raised the bow. But another mighty quake shook Sanctorum, throwing the girl off her feet and the bow out of her hands. It fell to the distant ground and snapped in half.

"NO!" Autumn desperately tried to pluck the strings but hardly a spark came out from her efforts.

"Okay, okay, don't panic," Dani said, clearly panicking. "We'll find another way. There has to be an emergency exit, right? Right?!"

There was, Vee realized. But it was risky. So very risky. They could escape but they would be trapped somewhere even more dangerous. Vee took a deep breath and faced Beth.

"The day we met, you saved my life," Vee said. "That should've been enough for me to trust you. I'm sorry I didn't."

The words were like a spell. They were probably the ones Beth had been waiting to hear this entire time. Vee wanted to hug her so bad but with the door in the way… Vee turned around and began to walk.

"What are you doing?" Beth called. "Where are you going? Vee! I'm sorry I got angry! I forgive you! Come back! Please!"

Vee didn't stop. She marched through the warzone, towering over the fleeing Society members until she found the shortest one cowering behind the Felix popsicle, the Nekonomicon in his arms. She crouched down and told the Grandmaster, "Titan. You need Titan blood."

The news made the Grandmaster gawk, but Vee kept moving. Her destination: the portal ring. Somewhere behind her she heard a snap of fingers and felt a trickle of magic. In her mind she pictured the incomprehensibly massive skull of the Titan, so huge its horn reached past the clouds, and willed herself to transform.

She shrank, to her surprise. She became as small as Zaya and covered with black fur. Vee stopped and stared at her own reflection in a chunk of ice with her now red and yellow eyes. She hadn't expected a Titan to be this… puny. Was her skull on the outside?

A slab of ceiling crashed to the floor nearby. There was no time to think, this place was falling apart. Vee scampered the rest of the way on her tiny legs. She reached the crescent moon symbol and bit into her hand. Blue blood seeped from the wound; a shade of blue that again looked so familiar. She slammed her palm against the moon.

Pure gold light filled the etchings, rushing like water through all the glyphs carved along the ring's edge. When the light met at the top, a swirl of stars filled the inside of the ring.

"It's working!" the Grandmaster shouted. "It's actually working! We've done it! We've opened a gate to the Demon—"

The stars cleared and they all saw a scene straight out of a nightmare. The land was littered with bodies, thousands, perhaps millions, all of them convulsing and moaning, their faces gaunt and white. Wisps of energy flowed from their weakened forms into the bottomless depths of a solar eclipse that blemished the blood-red sky. It was as though their very lives were being drained from them.

"...What…?" was all Vee could manage to croak out. This was the Demon Realm, she could tell they were on the crown of the Titan, but what the hell had happened in her absence?

The she caught the scent smoke and spied what looked like some sort of airship or blimp that had recently crashed at the base of one of the Titan's horns. The crash must've been intense because a jagged fissure was crawling up the bone. An explosion ripped from the airship, propelling a great wedge of Titan bone directly toward her.

"Look out!" somebody cried.

Vee flew back as quickly as she could. The hunk of bone crashed through the portal, resulting in a plume of dust that filled the gate room.

"Luz!" Vee shouted between coughs, horrified by whatever calamity her sister was facing.

When the dust cleared the ring was gone. The bone had been far too wide to fit completely through the portal so instead it had shattered the carved stone into smithereens. Without the glyphs, the portal had sealed which in turn sliced the bone, leaving a smaller but still quite large lump on Earth.

It was gone. The bridge to bring Luz home was gone.

"No…" Vee whimpered. "Luz… we were so close…"

"AAAGH!" the Grandmaster roared. "We were there! We had done it! Generations of work and research gone! We'll have to start from scratch again." He opened the Nekonomicon to the chapter about building a portal to the Demon Realm and turned his dark hood toward Vee the Titan. "But at least we know where to start."

Camilla scooped Vee up and dropped her tiny form in her purse with Zaya. "Move! Up! Ándale!" she ordered, gesturing at the Titan bone which now formed a makeshift staircase to the hole in ceiling where Dani's aunt and Autumn waited.

"After them!" the Grandmaster ordered. What few of the Demon Gate Society not trapped in magic gave chase.

Camilla, Dani, and her uncle scaled the bone as fast as they could but the Society members were getting closer.

"Uh, mom…" Vee warned.

"Don't worry, mija, I've got this." Camilla pulled out her phone and dialed. "Plan B!" she yelled.

"Yes, ma'am!" Jacob Hopkins voice yelled back through the phone.

A few seconds later, a jar plummeted through the hole in the ceiling. A second before it cracked on the floor, Vee saw it contained the Dragon's Breath flower. The impact and broken glass split the flower and a small scrap of blue paper on one of its petals shimmered. A green gas burst from the plant and spread across the room. Vee braced for the rotting limbs of the unstoppable undead horde army to reach out of the ground.

A drop of water fell on her head.

Vee looked up and saw the sky and a McDonald's sign through the hole. Clouds grayed the blue and a sudden downpour of rain flooded in.

"Oh," Vee remarked, blushing in embarrassment. "Well, I did say it was one or the other, hehe."

"Shíjiān qiàhǎo! (Perfect timing!)" Dani's aunt cackled. She fired a nerf dart at the soaked section of bone below Vee's group. Sharp spires of ice erupted down the bone, chucking the Society members off. With no way to follow, Vee and her friends were finally free of their pursuers.

"Get back here," the Grandmaster growled and raised his bony fingers, clenched to snap. Vee gasped and grabbed at the collar still around her throat. "I said get back—"

A wall of sound carrying an ear-piercing sour note barreled down and hit the Grandmaster like a truck. He was flung back against a far wall and knocked out. Up above, Autumn stood breathless over her glowing violin, her fingers shaking over the string she'd just broken. The copy of the Nekonomicon, which had taken the brunt of the Bard magic, burned to ashes next to the Grandmaster.


The Noceda House…

After their massive adventure and some magic from Meera via a wish from Vee, everyone was back in Gravesfield at the Noceda house. It was still pouring heavily due to the effects of the Dragon's Breath flower, but that wasn't important. Everyone that had been captured was recovering in the Noceda family room. All the magical creatures, including Vee, had mugs of either coffee or hot cocoa respectively.

Miss Canis, in her human form, leaned against the wall as she spoke with Lance.

"So... Miss Canis?" Lance spoke up.

"Hm?" Miss Canis looked at the rich boy.

"I know you're my counselor and all, but... I've... sort of had a crush on you for a while..." Lance shyly admitted, blushing hard while rubbing his arm.

"Oh? I never knew. I'm so flattered," Miss Canis said playfully with a hand on her chest.

The werewolf counselor suppressed the urge to chuckle but cracked a smirk. She had known for a while that the boy had feelings for her, ever since that second time he told her he want to have lunch with her. Yeah, he wasn't good at keeping that subtle. Plus, in the few centuries that she had been alive, Lance wasn't the first boy to have feelings for her.

"Yeah, so, here's my question..." Lance started, "Do you... Do you think... I might have a chance with you? When I'm older and legal, I mean"

"I don't know, sugar, it's hard to say," Miss Canis replied with a small shrug, making Lance lower his head a bit. Miss Canis placed a finger under his chin, lifting his head to make him look her in the eyes, "But let's see what kind of man you turn out to be first... then we'll see," she told him vaguely with a smile. That made Lance a little hopeful. That wasn't a yes, but it wasn't exactly a no either. "By the way..." Miss Canis leaned in with her eyes closed and planted a kiss upon the boy's cheek, "Thanks for the save," she whispered into his ear.

Lance watched Miss Canis pull back and walk away. Ash, who was still attached as Lance's shadow, appeared beside him.

"Well, that happened. How do you feel, Lance?" the shadow demon asked the rich boy. The only response he got was Lance falling backward, hitting the floor as he fainted, "Overwhelmed. You feel overwhelmed," Ash noted. This mixed bag of emotions, however, was enough to separate Ash from Lance, "Finally!" the hym cheered.

Vincent was talking to Tracey and Heather with a pencil and notepad in hand.

"Honestly, it's astounding that Tracey was the snake creature and Heather is a vampire- the humanoid kind like in the movies, not the beast kind like the one we fought when I first moved here," Vincent commented, "You were magical creatures and I never knew!" he gushed.

"Ok, calm down," Heather chuckled.

"I have so many experiments I want to try with you two," Vince told them.

This made the girls blush. While Vincent meant "experiment" in a scientific manner, Heather and Tracey took it in the other sense of the word.

"Hmph. You could at least ask girls like us to dinner first," Tracey scoffed playfully.

"Yeah, buy us some dinner," Heather said in agreement.

"Ok," Vince replied nonchalantly with a shrug, "But after dinner, would it be alright if I did you both at the same time?" he asked innocently, leaving the two girls stunned at his apparent forwardness.

"So, wait, this isn't you?" Jacob said, gobsmacked as he showed Beth and Harry the supposed photo of the sasquatch on his phone.

"Of course that's not him!" Beth said with a roll of her eyes.

"Yeah, I mean... that sasquatch is clearly female," Harry added.

Over by the TV, Dani's aunt and uncle watched with awe as Zaya and Meera kept tossing a giggling Tim in the air with portals and teleportation magic. While the little boy was having a blast, the adults were making observations.

"Instant transmission of mass across space without time dilation?" Dani's uncle gasped. "Shénme zìxíng zǔhé kěyǐ zuò dào zhè yīdiǎn? (What glyph combination could do this?)"

"Wā! Maybe we can apply this to those used web-shooters we got from the thrift store!" Dani's aunt excitedly suggested and pretended to shoot portals from her wrists. "Pew! Pew!"

Autumn had just finished listening to Liv tell her life's story. The musician was enraptured, to say the least.

"And that's my whole story," Liv told her.

"Cool. Do you mind if I turn it into a song?" Autumn asked.

"Be my guest," Liv said, flattered by the offer.

While all of this was going on, Vee was in the kitchen in her human form, staring at the collar which laid broken on the table. The basilisk then felt herself be pulled into her mother's arms in a tight embrace, and then felt a kiss upon her temple.

"Are you ok, mija?" Camilla asked while running her fingers through her daughter's hair.

"I'll be fine... in time," Vee said, nuzzling her mother's chest, "I'm more worried about Luz and the Demon Realm though. What we saw wasn't normal, even by Demon Realm standards. The Demon Realm is dangerous, but I've never seen anything like what we saw." she said.

Camilla was just as worried as Vee, but she chose not to show it. Instead, she decided to put on a brave face.

"Don't worry, Vee, I know Luz will be fine and we'll get her back someday. She's a tough girl. Just like her sister," Camilla reassured, making Vee sport a small smile.

"She's right, Vee," the mother and daughter turned to see Dani entering the kitchen, "You saved so many lives today. You should feel proud of yourself. And I know Luz would be proud of you, too," she told the basilisk.

"Thanks," Vee replied, blushing at her girlfriend's comment.

"I'll just leave you two alone," Camilla said, releasing Vee and stepping out with a knowing smirk.

"Thanks for coming after me... again," Vee said as Dani walked over to her and took a seat across from her.

"I was really worried about you. I thought I was going to lose you forever," Dani admitted, "I don't think the MCH would be able to survive without you."

That took Vee back a bit.

"What do you mean? You're our leader, you're the one that keeps us together," Vee told her, confused about Dani's comment.

Dani shook her head, "No, I couldn't force the others to forgive. That's something they had to do on their own. I mean, me telling them to forgive you might've worked, but it also might've drifted the group apart even more," she admitted, "So, while it may be true that I may have been the one that started MCH... you're the one that brought us all together," she told her.

As Dani said this, Vee looked over to the family room, locking eyes with the other three members of the MCH. They all waved back at her with smiles, including Beth. Weeks after revealing her true self to them and splitting apart, they were all friends once again. Vee felt warmth in her chest, chuckling to herself as she took in Dani's words. She had no idea of the impact on those around her. She then felt her face in Dani's soft hands.

"Vee, without you, there is no MCH," Dani told her, "Thank you, for being a part of our lives. A part of MY life."

The two girls gazed into each other's eyes, blushes crossing their faces. They simply couldn't look away, especially Dani. As if Vee were a magnet, Dani felt herself drawing closer towards her. She closed her eyes and, in a matter of seconds, pressed her lips against Vee's. This shocked the basilisk for a moment but soon she found herself closing her eyes as well, subconsciously placing her hands on her girlfriend's waist. They could feel the world around them fall apart. In reality, it only lasted a minute, but for the young couple, it felt more like hours, perhaps even days. Eventually, the kiss was broken as the girls pulled apart, staring at each other with wide eyes.

"Bow whacka wow!" Vee said in a cheerful tone of joy. Then she realized what she just said, "Bow whacka wow? Why did say that? Where did that even come from?" she asked herself, a little embarrassed by what she just said.

"Ó, gāisǐ, zhè shì cuòwù de zuòfǎ ma? Wǒ de yìsi shì, wǒ wěnle nǐ de zuǐchún! Shé guài shènzhì huì qīnwěn zuǐchún ma? (Oh shit, was that the wrong thing to do? I mean, I kissed you on the lips! Do basilisks even kiss on the lips?!)" Dani asked, freaking out as she spoke in her native tongue.

There was a long pause between them as they stared at each other. Vee then laughed.

"You're lucky you're cute," Vee told her girlfriend with a wink, her girlfriend chuckling. "Hey, you like my basilisk from, right? Would you have done that if I were in that form?"

"Of course, it's so adorable!" Dani said, gushing a bit, "In fact, change into that form. Just really quick."

Vee reverted to her true form as her girlfriend asked. Dani released an excited shriek, always loving the sight of Vee's reptilian form.

Dani took Vee's face in her hands again and kissed her once more, this time a little deeper. Surprisingly, Vee's basilisk lips were just as soft as her human lips... maybe even a little bit softer. For Vee though, being able to kiss her girlfriend in her true form had made her feel truly accepted in this world. For real this time.

Unknown to either of them, Camilla had taken photos of their kiss. One for their kiss in Vee's human form, and one for their kiss in Vee's basilisk form. It brought tears of joy to her eyes. Her baby girl was growing up so fast.

An Hour Later…

Vee's lips were still tingling with the taste of Dani: roses with an ever so slight hint of magic. Her face seemed to be permanently stuck in a dopey lovestruck grin. It may have something to do with the giddiness that filled her from the top of her head to the tip of her tail as the kiss kept playing in her mind. The moment had been so perfect.

Vee grinned at the kitchen table in her basilisk form, listening to her mom cook soup and the rain pitter-patter in the night. According to the weather channel, this "out of nowhere storm" would last until sometime tomorrow afternoon. After such a wild day it was a relief to just have the house to themselves. Everybody had gone home, except Meera who had poofed back to her South Korean adventure. Vee had the genie's ring in her pocket. The ring wasn't going to leave her side for a while. After all, the Demon Gate Secret Society was still out there. They were hurt and had lost the Nekonomicon but that didn't mean they would leave Vee and the rest of the magical creatures alone.

But for once, Vee wasn't scared.

With the MCH, she could face anything.

Knock, knock!

Vee and Camilla turned toward the front door. Both had the same thought, who could that be this late? Her mom turned off the stove and went for the door. Vee remained in the kitchen, ready to turn human just in case, but peeked to get a look at their visitor.

Camilla opened the door and stifled a gasp.

"Hi, mom," said Luz Noceda, surrounded by strangers. "I'm back."


And that's the end of this chapter and this two-parter. This co-written with I Write Big.

As of this chapter, Vee and the rest of MCH are all now friends again. Also, our loveable human witch, Luz is back! Which means this story is all caught up with the timeline of the show. Will Luz and her friends (Plus Hunter), returning change the story? A little, but not really since this is Vee's story. I'm excited to see how Luz and Vee's relationship as sisters will go. Let's just see where it goes from here.

Sadly, as we all know, season 3 has been cut down to three 45-minute specials… which you might as well call a movie if they're going that route. That being said though, that's what we have fan comics and fanfics for, to fill in those gaps. So, from this point on, expect some chapters that involve Luz and her friends to be like episodes of an unofficial full season 3 (at least until the specials come out at the time of us writing this).

Remember to Read, Review, and Favorite/Follow.