Hey everyone, here's chapter 17 of The Misadventures of Vee. This will be the first chapter with Luz and her friends on Earth, so consider this the first episode of our take on season 3. Here we go.
Vee couldn't sleep. She'd thought that the exhaustion of being kidnapped and tortured would make it impossible to stay awake yet the surprise last night had kept her eyes open all the way to the crack of dawn.
Luz had come home!
And she had brought with her a group of witches, unexpectedly.
All night the basilisk had kept peering over the edge of her bed at the huddle of bodies on the floor, making sure it wasn't a dream. There weren't any spare mattresses in the house to fit them all so a large quilt had been laid out in Luz's bedroom with tons of pillows and couch cushions. Rather than join Vee on the bunk bed, Luz had opted to sleep with the witches. All of them had this haunted gaze that Vee knew had to do with the catastrophe in the Demon Realm she'd briefly glimpsed. Whatever Luz had been through, it had been a lot, and Vee intended to be there for her sister.
As the first rays of sunlight crept through the curtains so wafted a delicious smell past Vee's nose. Instantly, Luz sat up, drool on her chin. "Is that… are those…?" she asked. Luz sped out of the room, Vee close behind. Both arrived at the kitchen to find Camilla plating a stack of warm, fluffy, discs of heaven.
"...Panqueques…" Luz moaned like a starved zombie.
"Ay! Buenos dias, sleepyheads," Camilla said.
"I haven't had panqueques or anything that wasn't still wiggling in… I don't know how long."
"Wiggling?" Camilla looked as though she was going to be sick for a moment but quickly swallowed the nausea. "I wanted to make your first breakfast back special, cariño. Sit down, you two."
They didn't have to be told twice. Vee and Luz dashed to the table which was covered with toppings: blueberries, bananas, pecans, maple syrup, whipped cream, butter, and strawberry pop-tarts. Luz stared at that last bowl as Camilla put a stack in front of each of them.
"Uh, why are those—"
Vee stuck a pop-tart between two pancakes and ate her creation like a sandwich. Luz couldn't turn away.
"You… are a genius!" Luz made her own pop-tart-pancake sandwich and chowed down.
Delighted laughter chorused from Camilla and she wrapped them both in a hug. "Gracias a Dios, I'm so happy to have both of my daughters here with me," she said, planting a kiss on each of their heads.
Luz stopped chewing and raised a brow. "Both?"
An excited look was exchanged between Camilla and Vee. "Do you want to tell her or should I?" Camilla asked.
Overwhelmed and unsure where to even begin, Vee looked away with a blush. "Mmm, you should."
"Bueno, Luz, after I discovered that Vee was actually not you, I asked her if she wanted to be part of our family and well…" Camilla ruffled Vee's head until her basilisk ears poofed out. The woman giggled and began to teasingly tickle them.
"Haahaahaahahaa! Mom, stop!" Vee shouted.
"Mom…?" Luz whispered.
Vee froze. Her ears flattened. Glancing nervously at Luz she decided to just risk it all. "Welcome back… sis."
"Sis?" The word was a squeak. The concept seemed to short out Luz's brain. "Sis…ter? I have a sister?" Luz gasped. "I have a sister!" There was a blur of limbs and Vee suddenly found herself lifted off the ground, Luz carrying her by her waist. "This is the greatest thing I've ever heard! I've always wanted a sister! Haha! This is just like in the third Good Witch Azura volume when she adopted a gorgon! I need to tell everybody!"
"E-Everybody?" Vee stuttered. "Wait!" Before she knew it, Luz had dragged her upstairs, kicked open her bedroom door, and carried her in.
"Guys! Guys!" Luz cheered. "You're not going to believe it! I have a sister! And she's a basilisk!"
Harrowing silence.
"SHE'S A WHAT?!" shouted the witch with pink hair. Terrified screams erupted from the group as the witches tripped over each other to escape out the bedroom window.
"Ohhhh, yeah…" Luz mumbled in embarrassment. "The basilisk invasion of Hexside. I forgot about that. Hehe, oops."
Later that day, after getting everyone to calm down, everyone was out of their pajamas and gathered in the living room. However, Luz's friends stood on the side of the room that was opposite from Luz and Vee. More specifically from Vee. Due to the basilisk incident that they had a while back at Hexside, the witches understandably tried to keep their distance from Vee. It was to the point where they armored themselves with stuff they found around the house... stuff wouldn't be considered to be used as armor. To be fair, the witches didn't know how human stuff worked, especially Gus, so they could be forgiven.
"Guys, it's ok. I know you had a bad experience with that fake basilisk inspector, but trust me, Vee's one of the good ones," Luz reassured, placing a hand on her sister's shoulder.
"Si, chamacos, Vee is a sweet girl and wouldn't hurt one. She won't eat your magic," Camilla chimed in, placing a hand on Vee's other shoulder.
"Yeah. Besides, I've got all the magic I need thanks to my wand," Vee said, eating some of the infinite stores of magic within her wand, "See?" she said with a grin.
Sadly, seeing the basilisk eat magic only scared them even more. Evident by them stepping back a bit.
"Huh. Never thought I'd see someone being scared that wasn't me. It's weirder that I'm the source of that fear," Vee muttered, "I wish there were a way to show them I'm not a threat like that greater basilisk you mentioned," she told her sister.
That's when a lightbulb went off in Luz's head.
"Hey, I know!" Luz spoke, "Instead of all at once, why not prove it to each of them, one at a time? You know, ease each of them into it," she offered.
"How?" Vee raised an eyebrow.
"We'll start with Amity," Luz gestured to the pink-haired witch.
"WHAT?!" Amity looked at Luz with shock and disbelief.
"Come on, Amity, it'll be fun. Besides, I still owe you a real date, don't I?" Luz looked at her girlfriend.
"Date?" Camilla repeated, looking at her human daughter, "You mean a date-date?" she gasped, "Luz, are you saying Amity is your girlfriend?"
"Uh-huh" Luz nodded.
"Ah! Both of my girls are dating! Ooh, this is so exciting! I need a photo!" Camilla said, taking out her phone and going to the camera.
Luz was taken back a bit by her mom's enthusiasm. This was one of the few times that her mom surprised her with overexcitement.
"Wait a minute..." Luz said, remembering what her mom just said a minute ago, "Vee, you've got a girlfriend, too?" she looked at her sister with surprise.
"I... I do..." Vee admitted, shyly rubbing her arm with a blush and a small smile.
"Nice. You're a smooth player, hermana," Luz teased, winking at her twin. That's when another idea hit her, "Ooh! I just had a better idea. Why don't we make it a double date?" she spoke.
"Ooh, that's even better! The photo can wait," Camilla said with a grin, "What do you say, Vee?" she looked at her basilisk daughter.
"Sure. Just one question..." Vee started, "What's a double date?"
The Coffee Shop…
Turns out "double date" was the practice of two couples going out together in a group. In theory, this was perfect since it added a fourth person who could put Amity at ease and vouch for Vee. In practice though…
The tension in the coffee shop was palpable.
Amity had her back pressed flat against the far corner of the booth she shared with Luz, Dani, and Vee, her nails were dug deeply into the seat leather. Luz wore a shaky disarming smile but Amity looked as though she was ready to claw her way out of there if Vee even sneezed wrong. Getting the witch here had been an ordeal and a half. Not wanting to leave the other witches alone in this strange new world, and also to make sure they didn't electrocute themselves, Camilla had called in sick and stayed home. Vee, Luz, and Amity had taken the bus, which required convincing Amity they were not crawling into the mouth giant metal worm. The entire trip, Amity had marveled at every inch of Gravesfield much like how Vee had done when she first arrived. However, Amity had also kept as much distance from Vee as possible, making the basilisk feel as though she shouldn't have come. Now that they had gotten to their destination, Vee just wanted to go home.
Across from Amity, Dani sipped her drink, no clue what all the stress was about. "So…" she started awkwardly, "you're Vee's sister, huh?"
"That's right!" Luz boomed with enthusiasm. "Her long lost twin sister. We were tragically separated at birth, never told of each other's existence. I was absconded with across the globe to the filthy, crime-ridden, underworld of China where I was raised to be a kick-butt assassin for the Triads, but throughout my years of brutal training I couldn't help sensing this emptiness within me, as if there was a part of me that had unfairly ripped away and— why are you laughing?"
Both Dani and Vee were failing to contain their snickers.
"Because she knows," Vee snorted.
"Vee told me and the rest of our friends a while ago," Dani added.
"She did?" Luz harrumphed like a child. "But I spent forever working on my epic backstory."
That broke the dam, leaving Dani and Vee guffawing. The tension was beginning to melt away. Maybe this wouldn't be a disaster after all.
"Hold on, you know she's a basilisk?" Amity suddenly jumped in, glaring at Dani. "You know she's a magic-eater disguised as a human and you're still dating her?!"
"Hey! Whoa! So what if Vee eats magic?" Dani shot back.
"So what? So, I have magic! Do you know what it's like to have that robbed of you? To have an essential part of yourself just taken for a meal?"
"Amity, batata, calm down—" Luz tried to say. Amity reared on her, her fury mounting.
"And you! What are we doing here, Luz? What is wrong with you? Why are you acting like everything is fine, like we didn't just abandon everyone, including my family, on the Boiling Isles to be the playthings of a psychotic space-god-child? We should be figuring out how to get back there and rescue them, not having drinks with a monster!"
Amity climbed over Luz, storming out of the cafe. The scene left everyone else in the shop speechless.
"I'm really, really sorry about her," Luz said, already moving to follow Amity.
"It's fine," Vee managed to reply, but she was pretty shaken by the outburst. "What did… what did she mean by "psychotic space-god-child"?"
The same haunted look from last night passed over Luz's face and her breaths became rapid wheezes. "God-child? I don't know anything about a god-child, hehe, I didn't lose everyone—there wasn't—I need to go!" Luz bolted for the exit.
"Luz! Wait! What happened?" Vee chased after her sister, hoping Dani would forgive them for stranding her with the bill. She'd barely gotten out the door when a bolt of lightning struck a tree down the street. The explosion triggered several car alarms and cracked dozens of windows. When the ringing in her ears stopped Vee saw the tree was now a blackened husk. Craning her head back, she was surprised to find not a cloud in the sunny sky. "How did—"
Something hard rammed into Vee's side, thrusting her into the alley next to the cafe. Glowering at her over a trash can lid raised like a shield, Amity bared her fangs. "Give it back," she hissed.
Vee backed away from the mad witch. "Huh? What are you talking about? Give what back?"
"Don't play dumb! You drained me when I was sleeping last night, didn't you? Couldn't resist a midnight snack, is that it? Give me back my magic!" Amity swung the lid at Vee, pushing her to the alley's dead end.
"Your magic? Amity, I didn't eat your magic, I swear."
"Then how do you explain this?!" Amity traced a circle in the air. The ring of light Vee had seen hundreds of witches create in order to cast spells began to appear but flickered away before Amity could complete the shape. Needless to say, the failure puzzled Vee.
"Amity! Stop, leave her alone." Luz arrived and grabbed the witch's arm but Amity ignored her girlfriend and raised her voice, tears brimming.
"I can't summon my abominations or anything. I need my magic, I need to save the twins, my dad, dammit, even my mom, I need to save them. Give me back my magic!"
"No one took your magic, dear," a grandmotherly voice said. Liv floated through the brick wall, a sympathetic frown on her gruesome face. "There is no magic in the Human Realm."
Luz went wide-eyed at the sight of a banshee on Earth but Amity was still too distraught to question Liv's presence. "No magic?"
"I went through what you are experiencing when I was first stranded here. The land has not a drop of magic for our bile sacs to collect. Rather distressing to not be able to cast a spell, I know, dear, but you're not powerless. Try to cast something simpler, a baby spell."
Sniffling, Amity traced a smaller ring of light, this time completing it. From the jar on her hip flowed purple slime which collected on her hands to form mittens. Relieved laughs and tears spilled from Amity as she dropped the lid and hugged the mittens to her chest. Luz held her.
"Well done, dear," Liv went on. "Turns out a witch's bile sac produces its own little spring of magic, some magical creatures such as werewolves and boggles have deeper wells to draw from but for witches like us it's not enough to power the complicated spells we're used to, just enough to get by."
With the threat of a fight gone, Vee finally breathed easy. She didn't blame Amity, not after what Liv had revealed. Vee knew what it was like to be on the edge of losing your magic, and from the sounds of it, Amity and the rest of the witches were worried sick about those still on the Boiling Isles. Whatever travesty had happened there, it had left its mark.
"Vee?" Dani jogged into the alley, pausing when she saw Amity crying. "What happened?"
Vee sighed. "A misunderstanding. Nothing to worry about."
Suddenly, Liv flinched. "Oh, pardon me, dears. Duty calls." The banshee vanished in a flash. A bloodcurdling shriek echoed in the distance followed moments later by a crash of lightning that rumbled the streets.
"What was that?" Luz gasped.
"Nothing normal," Dani answered and headed toward the danger. "Come on!"
Town Square…
The four girls arrived at town square. They gasped upon what they saw. What was once a water fountain was now a burnt, smoldering spout of water. There was even a person that had been drinking from the water fountain, scared out of their mind yet unharmed. They could see Liv popping around every few seconds, shrieking people away before more bolts of lightning blew something up.
"What the hell is going on here?! And why is there a banshee in Gravesfield?!" Luz asked in disbelief.
"Uh, it's a long story. Let's just say a lot has happened while you were gone," Vee replied vaguely.
Suddenly, what looked like a firefly, buzzed over to Amity. Amity held up a finger, the small bug landing on it.
"Huh. These bugs look similar to the Lightning Bugs we have back in the Demon Realm," Amity commented.
Suddenly, the bug started to spark with electricity.
"Look out!" Vee shouted, tackling the pink-haired witch to the ground. Liv appeared before them and shrieked just before a massive bolt of lightning erupted from the bug, leaving a smoldering crater. The bug then flew off. "You ok?" Vee asked Amity.
"Yeah... I'm ok," Amity whimpered, "Now please get off," she told her.
Vee backed away as she watched Amity scramble to get away from her. She understandably scared at the thought of the basilisk touching her. Ok, it was going to take a while for Amity to trust her. The girls watched as several more bolts of electricity erupt around town square, to the point where Liv was practically a blur from all the danger. The threat had even caused the group of four to split up with Vee running away with Amity.
"Luz never mentioned that fireflies on Earth were so dangerous," Amity said.
"They're not. Fireflies don't do this, they must be Lightning Bugs from the Demon Realm," Vee pointed out, "But even then, they shouldn't be this dangerous. At best they should just give you a static shock, not full-on lightning strikes that can fry you. How'd they even get here?"
That's when they saw a bolt of lightning explode from a phone store behind them. The electronics added to the power of the boom which knocked both girls off their feet. After a minute, Amity had managed to recover, the young witch opening her eyes to find Vee hunched over her with her mouth open. Amity gasped under her breath, her eyes pupils shrinking to the size of pins as she knew her magic was going to be drained. All she could do was watch as magic siphoned into Vee's mouth, only... it wasn't Amity's.
Amity looked down and saw a Lightning Bug that was sparking on her chest drop to the ground, completely drained. She looked back at Vee. Vee, a basilisk, just saved her life. Amity was stunned.
"You... Y-You just..." Amity stuttered, unable to complete that sentence.
"Eh, don't worry about it. I couldn't forgive myself if my sister's girlfriend got hurt," Vee waved it off. The basilisk smacked her lips and cringed, "Eck! Lightning Bug magic is gross. Worse than genie magic," she muttered, spitting the taste out, "Basura! (Garbage!)"
With the bug drained, Amity was able to get a better look at it. It was a Lightning Bug, but it had a crescent moon on its body that shouldn't be there. That's when an idea came to her.
"Hey Vee, you still hungry?" Amity asked the basilisk.
"Oh, sweet Titan, I know where this is going..." Vee muttered with a groan.
On the other side of town square, a car burst and flipped onto the sidewalk, blocking Luz and Dani from running further. They turned but found themselves cut off by a swarm of Lightning Bugs. The creatures weren't advancing, thankfully, but there were so many now that the entire square had essentially become a minefield.
"Great, now what do we do?" Dani said.
"Uh, um, uh…" Luz glanced up at the nearest roof and got an idea. "Hold on!" She knelt next to Dani and slammed an ice glyph on the ground.
Nothing happened.
"Wow," Luz remarked. "Amity was right, that is super depressing."
Dani squinted at the paper. "Wait, isn't that my aunt's—" A Lightning Bug crawled toward them. The girls yelped and pressed themselves against the nearest wall. Arcs of electricity sparked from the bug as it skittered closer and closer.
"Dani, I'm sorry about today, the bad date, the bugs," Luz said, trembling. "You seem like a really cool girl, thanks for looking out for Vee."
Dani laughed despite their inevitable doom. "Me? Vee has saved us way more times."
"Really?" Luz tried and failed to imagine the cowardly Vee she'd first met being a hero.
"Hey, you battery-powered insects!" Vee's voice interrupted. To both Luz and Dani's confusion, Vee strode out into the street, getting the attention of the Lightning Bugs. "You think you're so tough? Come on, hit me!"
"Vee, what are you doing?!" Luz screamed.
A Lightning Bug casually landed on the basilisk's shoulder and fired off a bolt of lightning. The explosion overpowered Luz's cry. The asphalt was charred and smoking… but Vee was unharmed.
"Heh, is that all you got?" Vee taunted.
Immediately, every single Lightning Bug in the town square swarmed Vee at the same time, covering her from head to toe. The smell of ozone filled the air as the bugs glowed as one. With dread, Luz could tell this lightning strike would make the others look like parlor tricks.
"VEE! NO!"
Then abomination ooze flowed over Vee, encasing her in a purple bubble. Amity stepped out from behind a bench, sweating and breathing laboriously, shaky arms extended. The simple spell was pushing her to her absolute limit.
For one glorious moment nothing happened.
Then there was an earth shattering kaboom and the bubble doubled in size. Amity held on for another second before collapsing from exhaustion. The bubble fell apart, releasing Vee who was still covered in Lightning Bugs, but her hair was now spiked in every direction and smoke was sizzling from her head. Vee gagged and all the Lightning Bugs fell off her. "Gross, bug magic has to be the worst magic I've ever tasted."
Luz was left gaping. "How did—They were—Is that—She drained them all? What?"
"Yeah, your sister can be very brave when the people she cares about are in danger." Dani patted the stupefied girl on the back. "And I guess she's electric-proof too. Neat."
The Noceda House…
After their little Lightning Bug adventure, Luz, Vee, and Amity returned to the Noceda house, the sun setting on the horizon. Vee sat on the porch swing, watching the Lightning Bugs glow blue through the streets. Now that they had been drained of their magic, they were as harmless and beautiful as the fireflies on Earth which glowed yellow.
"This was some crazy day, eh, sis?" Luz asked as she joined Vee on the swing. She still couldn't get over how excited she was to even have a sister.
"Eh, a little," Vee shrugged, "To be honest, this is pretty normal for me and my friends," she told her twin.
"Still, you were pretty impressive today. I mean, taking the full force of an attack from an army of Lightning Bugs, and then de-powering them by absorbing their magic, all without fear? You've definitely changed since the last time I saw you" Luz noted, making her sister blush.
"Heh. Thanks," Vee chuckled.
The Noceda twins watched as Luz's friends were enchanted by the dances of the fireflies and lightning bugs. Their mom even showed them how to catch the glowing bugs in their hands. Vee glanced at Amity, smiling at her. They weren't exactly friends, but Vee could tell that there was at least some level of trust between them.
"Just give them time, Vee. After a while, my friends will like you just as much as your own friends do—OW!" Luz tried to place a hand on her sister's shoulder, only to receive a shock before she could.
"Sorry. It's probably going to be a while before I discharge," Vee told her.
"How'd you even get electric powers?" Luz raised an eyebrow.
"It was an unexpected side effect from when a 400-year-old ghost hijacked an experiment my friend Vincent and I were conducting," Vee briefly explained. Luz's face then fell, looking down a bit. "What's wrong, Luz?" Vee asked with concern.
"I chose to stay in the Demon Realm because I wanted a life full of magic and adventure. If had stayed on Earth just a little longer, that life could've come to me, and then I wouldn't have hurt Mom," Luz admitted.
"Yeah, maybe. But look at it this way..." Vee started, "If you hadn't gone to the Demon Realm then you wouldn't have met your friends, and then I wouldn't have met mom and we wouldn't be sisters," she pointed out, "So, in a way, you could say that you running away was a blessing in disguise."
Those words brought a small smile to Luz's face.
"I guess you're right," Luz admitted, "Alright, enough with the moping. I want to hear more about these misadventures you've been on... especially the romantic stuff between you and Dani," she said, saying that last part with a playful smirk.
"Fine. But only if you tell me about everything you've been through on the Boiling Isles," Vee countered with a chuckled, but then formed a serious expression, "And I mean everything," she emphasized that last word with a knowing glint in her eyes.
The haunted look from earlier appeared on Luz's face again. She sighed in defeat, knowing there was no way out of this.
"Alright, I'll tell you tomorrow. But tonight, it's all about you, hermana," Luz said.
Alright, that's the end of this chapter. This chapter was co-written with I Write Big.
So, given the basilisk incident at Hexside, Luz's friends are understandably afraid of Vee… well, Hunter might not be, but the other three certainly are. As for Hunter, Vee will have her own problems with him and given Vee's and Hunter's pasts, I'm sure we can all guess why.
Amity was the first to have some progression with Vee and the first of Luz's friends to meet one of Vee's friends. One down, two to go… unless you count Hunter as one of Luz's friends (which I'm on the fence about) then it's three to go, but you guys get the idea.
Anyway, just to be safe, this story takes place in an alternate universe. Just in case the official season 3 retcons our take on season 3. Although, consider all of the magical creatures we've introduced and all the extra powers and abilities I've given Vee, it probably already takes place in an alternate universe.
Oh, and since she ate the Lightning Bugs' magic, more specifically the electric part, Vee's electric powers have been amplified.
If you have ideas for future chapters, say it in a review or feel free to message me.
Remember to Read, Review and Favorite/Follow.
