Hey guys, here's chapter 18 of The Misadventures of Vee. Here we go.
It was time.
After a long, wordless breakfast, Luz twiddled her thumbs on the family room couch between Vee in her basilisk form and their mom. Sweat dripped down the side of her face and her bottom lip kept trembling. Clearly the girl was nervous.
"Take your time, cariño," Camilla said softly, stroking her hair. "Just tell us what happened."
Luz swallowed. "I, uhhh, I don't know where to begin. Guys?" She made a pleading face at the witches who sat across from her.
"Ooh, how about when we first met?" suggested Willow.
"Or when you enrolled in Hexside!" Gus proposed.
"When I defeated Blight in one-on-one combat," said Hunter.
"Luz wasn't there for that." Amity elbowed him. "And you can never prove that happened."
"It doesn't matter where you begin, Luz." Camilla took her daughter's hand. "Tell us all of it."
"All of it?" Luz stammered. "But-but-but there's so much to tell, so many side stories and filler characters that never come back, we can probably skip those. And yet they add so much flavor to the world—"
"Luz, you're stalling." Camilla cupped her cheek and gently guided Luz until they were looking into each other's eyes. "Please, I need to know where you went."
"Just…" Luz took a shuddering breath, "promise you won't get angry?"
"You ran away to a world called the Demon Realm. The. Demon. Realm," Camilla pointed out with a no-nonsense attitude. "As your mother, it is impossible for me not to get angry. But…" she smiled and kissed Luz's forehead, "I promise to only ground you for two weeks maximum, depending on how much danger you got into. Deal?"
"Two weeks?" Luz heaved a sigh of relief. "Phew! I thought you'd ground me for life after I told you about how I nearly got sewn alive into a book."
Camilla's eye twitched. "Four weeks."
"What? But you said—"
"You want it to be five?"
"Four weeks! You are the best mom in the world!" Luz quickly sealed the deal with a hug. Now that the punishment negotiations were over there was nothing left to delay the inevitable. Luz leaned back in her seat and began. "It started when my Azura book got stolen by an owl—"
"Wait!" Vee cried. "I forgot! We're missing someone."
Everyone looked around but as far as they could tell no one was missing. Vee pulled out her phone and dialed. It was answered on the first ring.
"¿Hola?"
"Abuela, it's me Vee. I'm so sorry I forgot to call you yesterday. Luz is back!"
The line went dead.
"Hello? Abuela?"
The doorbell rang. Vee turned human and opened the door to find Abuela on the doorstep. "Ay, mi muñequita!" She embraced Vee in a bone-cracking hug. "Muéstrame tus hermosos ojos, (Show me your beautiful eyes,)" her Abuela insisted, making Vee blush but shine her blue and yellow basilisk eyes. Immediately Vee's face was plastered with enough kisses to paint her face pink with lipstick. When not a millimeter of skin remained, Abuela's attention landed on… "Luz! Ven aquí, hija de mi corazón?" She tackled the defenseless girl.
Vee, dizzy, looked back and forth between her phone and Abuela, wondering how she got here so fast.
It took a while to get Abuela to stop showering Luz with love and she kept interrupting the recounting of the girl's adventures in the Demon Realm. Whenever they reached a truly deadly moment, such as nearly being eaten by a plant in detention, Abuela would praise Luz's tenacity while Camilla would only get more concerned. The rest of the witches found the whole display adorable except Hunter, Vee noticed. He appeared to be unnerved by the open affection, almost as though he wasn't sure what he was looking at. Even more vexing was that he seemed to become more anxious as the story progressed. She didn't have to wait long before she found out why.
Abuela got up and strode across the room to the witches. "Thank you so much for looking after mi nieta," she said to them. "You have all faced so many challenges and at such a young age, Dios te proteja. In these times, you need one another. I know you will keep each other safe." The words were as warm and kind and full of fondness as the woman who spoke them. Each of the witches were moved.
Then that warm kindness darkened into a death glare that would've made the Grim Reaper hide under their bed.
"But you," she sneered at Hunter, "I'm keeping my eye on you after how many times you've tried to kill Luz. ¿Oistes, lambeculo (asskisser)?"
Hunter gulped in fear, which told Vee he didn't know who was scarier, Belos, The Collector she'd just learned about, or Luz and Vee's Abuela.
"¡Bueno!" Abuela faced everyone, a ray of sunshine again. "¿Tienes hambre? (Are you hungry?)"
The witches looked lost except for Amity who clumsily replied. "Oh, um, no gra-see-us. We ate, uh, de-sigh-uno, like, thirty minutes ago."
"Sí, which means it is time to cook lunch! Come!" Abuela grabbed the witches and dragged them into the kitchen.
When Hunter was gone, Vee released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. The Golden Guard. Hunter was the only witch in the Emperor's Coven more feared than Lilith. He wasn't as intimidating to look at without his signature mask, but Vee knew the horrors he was capable of… firsthand. Abuela might think she can keep Hunter in line but Vee wouldn't be letting her guard down around him.
"So… how did I do?" Luz asked their mom.
The woman was paler than bone.
"Sure, I might've nearly got turned to stone, and nearly autopsied, and nearly eaten, twice. Thrice? No, wait, four, five… yikes, now that I count, I've been nearly eaten a lot, but the important thing, mom, is that I'm back, right?" Luz smiled widely, hoping it would be quick.
Vee, however, recognized the level of fear Camilla had sunken to, it was the same paralyzing fear from after the vampire attack. She had to help.
"Mom," Vee cautiously touched the woman's hand. Camilla flinched and looked at Vee. "You know how crazy things have gotten in Gravesfield. It's dangerous but you trust me and my friends to look out for each other. You can trust us and Luz's friends to look out for Luz as well. We won't let anything happen to her. I promise."
The fear ebbed away. Camilla squeezed Vee's hand and faced Luz and said with parental authority, "All the chores. All the dishes, all the cleaning, all the laundry. Four weeks."
"All the dishes?" Luz shuddered. They all knew Abuela was turning the kitchen into a restaurant right now. It would take a whole day to scrub the frying pans alone.
"But…" Camilla braced herself, "you can still go out with your friends as long as your sister is with you."
"I can?" Luz gasped and hugged the woman. "Oh, thank you, Mom! Thank you, thank—" She caught herself and pretended to suffer. "I mean, oh no, what a harsh but totally fair punishment. Truly the sentence fits the crime." She peeked at Camilla to make sure it was working.
Camilla was not amused.
"Te amo, bye!" Luz blurted and yanked Vee to the kitchen. There they found Abuela ordering the witches around like a Head Chef directing her Sous Chefs to stir stews, fry plantains, and chop veggies. Only Gus was having fun.
"You're telling me humans can't digest gum?" he asked Abuela as he teared up over some onions. "I thought it was a human cuisine! I've eaten bricks of the stuff."
"Um, Abuela, can me and my friends step out for a bit?" Luz asked cautiously.
Abuela hummed. "No sé, this lunch is a difficult dish. I could maybe spare one—"
"Captain! Run! Save yourself!" Hunter bellowed and pushed Willow out of the kitchen.
"Bueno, your Abuelo is in the car outside," Abuela said. "He'll take you wherever you want to go."
"Gracias, Abuela, te amo," Luz called. She and Vee chased after Willow.
"Vee," Camilla called before she made it to the door. The basilisk stopped and looked at her mom who was still shaken by what Luz had endured on the Boiling Isles. "She is your sister, don't let anything happen to her. I'm trusting you."
Vee nodded firmly and went outside.
The three girls ran out to the car that was out in front. They opened the doors and stepped inside, Willow sitting in the back while Luz and Vee sat in front. In the driver's seat was Luz and Vee's Abuelo, a rather chubby man with black hair that was turning silver on the sides and a mustache. The girls closed the doors, causing the sleeping man to jolt awake, although it was hard to tell with his eyelids drooping heavily. Abuelo mumbled something.
"What did he say?" Vee asked Luz in a whisper.
"He said "Hola, Luz"," Luz said, making Vee raise an eyebrow, "Abuelo tends to talk in mumbles, but most of us have talked to him enough to know what he's saying," Luz explained. "Abuelo, this is Vee," she gestured to her sister, "And that's Willow," she gestured to her friend who was in the backseat, "Willow, don't you want to join us in the front? There's plenty of room."
"Uhh... no, I'm fine right here," Willow said, a slight nervousness in her voice. Vee could tell it was because of her.
Abuelo mumbled something that sounded like a greeting. What amazed Vee though was that the man didn't react to his granddaughter suddenly having a twin. Although his gaze did linger on the basilisk for a bit. Abuelo started the engine and drove off.
Beth's House…
Vee had planned on introducing Luz to the rest of her friends. Sadly, that wouldn't be the case since most of her friends were busy. Even Dani, who was normally free, was unavailable due to a dentist appointment she had. That meant the only one available was Beth. Not that Vee minded, she could use a little bonding time with her nature-loving friend. Speaking of bonding, Beth and Willow seemed to be hitting it off.
"So, you're a witch that specializes in plant magic?" Beth asked as she dropped a pumpkin seed into the soil before covering it up.
"Yeah, watch..." Willow twirled her finger, creating a small spell circle that made the seed grow into a whole pumpkin in a matter of seconds. In fact, she made Beth's entire garden bloom in an instant, like it was nothing.
"Sounds like my kind of witch," Beth said with an impressed smirk.
The Noceda twins had been watching from a few feet away.
"Well, it looks like Beth and Willow are getting along nicely. Looks like they've already become friends," Luz noted with a proud smile.
"I know, I'm just as surprised as you are," Vee replied with the same smile.
"I'm glad those two are getting along, but..." Luz started, her face falling.
"But what?" Vee looked at her sister.
"Well, it's cool that Willow and the others can still do magic, but I'm no longer able to. I mean, I could do magic back in the Demon Realm through glyphs, but the glyphs don't work here on Earth," Luz told Vee, hanging her head a bit. If only she knew.
"Hey, why don't we do something else? You know, to get your mind off magic," Vee suggested, placing a hand on her sister's shoulder. She didn't have to worry about shocking her since the additional electricity she gained had been discharged last night. Though it would always remain within her as a surplus of electrical power.
"Ok, like what?" Luz asked.
"I've got an idea," Beth spoke up as she and Willow approached the sisters, "How about a little race, Vee? I've been raring to have one with you ever since you got your electric powers," Beth said as she stretched her arms from side to side.
"That sounds kind of fun!" Willow admitted.
"I don't know. It might not be fair for Luz..." Vee said cautiously.
"Actually, I'm up for it. Let's do it, Vee," Luz said in agreement.
Vee thought it over for a moment then nodded.
"By the way, do you know if Vince is going to show up later?" Beth asked Vee, kicking the ground later.
"Sorry, but he's busy today," Vee told her.
"Oh..." Beth glanced down a bit, lightly kicking the grass a bit before clearing her thoughts with a shake of her head, "Anyway. Here's how it goes: We go from her to the library and back. Any route, any means. Got it?" she told them.
"Yep," the other three replied in unison.
A minute later, they were at the starting line, which was Abuelo's car.
"Alright..." Beth said as they all got into a running stance, "One... two... three... GO!"
The racers took off across the street, the wind whipping through Vee's hair. She'd barely reached the sidewalk before she heard Willow shout, "Wait, where is the library?"
"Keep up and I'll show you," Beth snarked back. Then, instead of taking a left and speeding toward the next intersection, Beth leaped high into the air, jumped off a building's side, and grasped the bottom rung of a fire escape ladder. Not missing a beat, she hoisted herself up and parkoured to the roof in seconds. She grinned down at the rest. "Any route, any means. Come on, slowpokes."
"Did she just— How are we supposed to beat that?" Luz demanded.
Electricity sparked off Vee and there was the smell of ozone. A burst of lightning erupted from her feet and she launched partway up the side of the building. Sticking to the brick wall with her basilisk hands, Vee scaled the rest of the way to the roof. Willow traced a circle in the air, grunting with effort to grow a giant beanstalk to lift her into the sky. Only a vine as thin as a rope and barely taller than her sprouted from the ground. Rather than be disappointed, Willow tied one end of the vine to her wrist and lassoed the fire escape. She reached the roof seconds after Vee.
Luz gawked wide-eyed at being left in the dust.
"Okay, hehe, seems easy enough. Come on, Luz, you've jumped higher… with magic," she said to herself nervously. Getting a running start Luz dove for the ladder, missed by a mile, and landed flat on her face. "Ow."
Up on the rooftops, Vee basked in the adrenaline rush from her speed. Hurdling over chimneys and vaulting between buildings, she was just barely behind Beth. It was going to be a tight race. Unless, of course, Willow or Luz unexpectedly come from behind. Glancing over her shoulder, Vee saw Willow was a close third, using her vine like a whip to pull herself along, but not within striking distance. Luz though… she couldn't see Luz. Had she already slipped ahead without Vee noticing?
Then an arm shot over the edge of the first roof all the way back at the starting line. It immediately began to slip. A cold ball of ice settled in Vee's stomach. She skidded to a halt and reversed course as fast as she could. She grabbed Luz's hand just as she lost hold of the roof.
"I got ya," Vee huffed between pants and yanked her sister up the rest of the way. If Vee was out of breath from that mad dash, Luz was nearly comatose.
Drenched in sweat, Luz barely got a word in between her deep gulps of breath. "...What… about… the… race?"
"Forget about that, are you okay?" Vee asked and examined her sister's palms. They were scuffed and scraped. "Did you climb the wall barehanded?! Why didn't you use the ladder?"
"Well, you girls did totally amazing climbs—" Luz's excuse petered out to a high-pitched squeak. She took the biggest breath of her life. "Dios mio, I think I gave myself asthma."
"Okay, okay, let's just sit here and take it easy." Vee tried to guide Luz to the floor but her sister pushed herself free and moved to rejoin the race.
"Take it easy? We don't have time to take it easy, we've got a race to… win…" The eagerness in Luz shriveled when she saw Willow and Beth were nothing but distant specks in the distance. There was no way she could reach them. Her legs became jelly and she dropped to her knees.
"Hey, don't let it bother you, Luz. It's just a silly race," Vee assured, sitting next to her.
Luz hung her head. "No, it's not. I've lost my magic, I've lost the portal, I'm not a witch. How am I supposed to help Eda and King and Hooty and the rest of the Boiling Isles when I'm just a… normal girl?"
"Help them?" Vee was taken aback as she realized what that would entail. "You mean… you want to go back to the Demon Realm and stop this Collector thing? You told us he liquified Emperor Belos with a flick! Moved the moon like it was nothing! Luz, how the hell are you going to—"
"I don't know!" Luz shouted at the sky. Her eyes were clenched shut tight and Vee knew she was forcing herself not to cry. "I get it, it's crazy. I can't even win a footrace, what chance do I stand? But I can't just leave them. I have to save everybody!" The declaration of war echoed across the rooftops, but that only emphasized how pathetic and hollow it was. Luz had nothing to back up her words and she knew it. She slumped forward, sniffled, and rubbed her hand under her nose as though she'd already lost.
In that moment, Vee again felt the desire to reveal the power of glyphs on Earth clash in her heart with the promise to protect her sister. She didn't want to lie, especially not after dealing with the months of lying to her friends. Maybe, she thought, there's a way to help and keep mom's promise. "You know," Vee said, draping an arm over Luz's shoulder, "Beth doesn't have any magic either and I can barely keep up with her. She doesn't need any spells, it's what she's good at."
Luz raised her head, a curious look in her eye.
"You may be a normal girl again, Luz, but that doesn't mean there's nothing special about you. You need to find what you're good at without magic."
"You mean, like… writing Azucate slash fics?" she asked with hope.
Vee snorted. "Pfffft, yeah, who knows? Maybe The Collector will love your fanfiction so much that he'll trade all of the Demon Realm for the complete compendium of your horribly misspelled works."
The sisters laughed and laughed over the absurdity of The Collector, a child with the power of a god, fawning over Luz's shipfics, crackfics, poems, and epic 200-chapter sagas. Any trace of her sister's sorrow was gone.
"In all seriousness, that might actually work," Luz suddenly said with a straight face.
Thud!
The building shook beneath their feet. Both girls froze. The shaking stopped.
"Was that a mini-earthquake?" Luz asked.
Thud!
The building shook again, stronger but stopped just as quickly.
"What's going on?" Vee asked.
Thud!
Even stronger this time. And quicker. It was almost as if something massive… was getting closer.
"Run!" screamed Beth. She and Willow were barreling over the rooftops toward Luz and Vee, absolutely terrified. Before Vee could ask why, something bigger than a bus shot into the air, following the girls, and landed between buildings out of sight.
Thud!
The sisters were thrown to the floor by the shake.
"What was that?!" Luz gasped.
"I don't know. We gotta get outta here!" Vee replied.
The four girls scrambled down the building and to the road. They then quickly piled into the car.
"Abuelo. Abuelo, wake up!" Luz shouted as she shook the elderly man, "You have to drive! Now!" she said as the man woke up.
Abuelo mumbled something in confusion. That's when the thing that was causing the earthquakes landed in front of the car. The windshield was taken up by the cute furry face of a cat that was framed with adorable, long, floppy bunny ears.
"Awww!" everyone gushed, fond of the sight of the creature.
The large beast then released a mewl, its mouth full of dagger-like teeth as the sound shook the car. Everyone screamed
"What is that thing?!" Beth asked with a mix of surprise, a touch of fear, and... fondness.
"A cabbit," Vee and Willow said in unison as they heard the creature mewl at the car.
"They're not supposed to be that huge though," Willow noted.
The cabbit extended its paw and batted the car a bit. They all saw the look of a hunter in its gaze. Vee swallowed the lump in her throat.
"I... I think it thinks the car is a mouse," Vee told the others.
They heard Abuelo mumble something.
"No, Abuelo, this isn't a dream," Luz replied, "Drive!"
Abuelo put the car in reverse and drove for his and the kids' lives. The cabbit meowed and hopped after vehicle, purring in delight. Honestly, it could've easily caught the car with little effort. However, the hybrid creature preferred to take its time and relish in the hunt. In the car, everyone was panicking as Abuelo swerved and avoided traffic as he drove in reverse to avoid the creature. Luz and Vee were even holding each other.
"Willow, do you know how to take care of a cabbit?" Luz asked her friend.
"No. Not unless humans have cabbitnip growing in the wild," Willow said.
That's when a realization came to Luz.
"No, but we have something that should be close enough," Luz replied, and then looked at Vee's nature-loving friend, "Beth, do you have catnip in your garden?" she asked her.
"No, but there should be some seeds at the pet store," Beth replied.
"Abuelo, to the pet store and step on it!" Luz told her grandfather.
After a speedy drive, they managed to arrive at the pet store. Beth ran inside to get the seeds. Sadly, the cabbit had managed to catch up to them, hopping towards them at a fast pace.
"Vee, transform into the biggest dog you can!" Luz told her sister.
"Right," Vee nodded and then stepped out of the car.
Focusing her magical power, Vee changed into the biggest dog she could think of. With three heads, she had transformed into a Cerberus. Vee growled while flashing her teeth, foaming at the mouth in her attempt to scare the cabbit. That would be the case... if she weren't a head shorter than the creature. She was like a puppy in comparison.
"Aw, crap..." Vee muttered before being batted repeatedly on each of her heads by the cabbit's paws. Luckily for her, the cabbit's claws were retracted. The attacks surprisingly pinned Vee to the ground, the cabbit having put its paw on Vee's snout which prevented her from escaping.
"Vee!" Luz shouted with worry. Scared for her sister, the human girl stepped out and climbed onto the roof of the car. "Hey, little cat bunny! Wouldn't you rather munch on a carrot or cough up a hairball?" she shouted to the creature, getting its attention. The cabbit removed itself from Vee and took a step toward Luz, leaning in close to her. It was so close that its nose was prodding her chest and Luz could see herself reflected in its slitted eyes.
"I wanna play Owl House!" Luz heard a voice that sounded like a little boy's. A voice she immediately recognized.
"Collector?" Luz muttered the child's name, now noticing the cabbit's slitted eyes were more curved to resemble crescent moons. Luz started to hyperventilate as her heart rate increased.
That's when Beth and Willow burst from the pet store with a pot of dirt and a bag of catnip seeds. Beth planted the seeds and, just as before, Willow cast a spell that made them bloom within seconds. Immediately, the cabbit caught the scent of it, practically shoving its face in the catnip bush. Like how a cat would, the cabbit started rolling around on its back, meowing and purring as the aroma of the catnip hit its senses. Admittedly, it made the girls chuckle. After a while, the cabbit collapsed, worn out with its pupils dilated.
Everyone sighed with relief.
Noceda House…
Abuelo parked the car in front of the Noceda house. The back door opened and out hopped the cabbit, now no bigger than an average house cat, and it proceeded to roll around on the lawn. Beth was immediately playing with the creature's bunny ears and making kissy-faces.
"D'awww, you're so cute when you're not super big and hunting people," she cooed. "Don't you worry your floppy ears, I'm going to take good care of you, Mr. Kitty Thumper."
Willow and Vee stepped out and watched the cute display. Vee was a little sick from eating so much foul-tasting magic.
"Thanks for your help out there, Vee, you're alright," Willow said and offered her hand to the basilisk.
Vee stared at that hand, shocked at how the witch's uneasiness from before was gone. "Really? You mean you're not scared I'll…"
"Yeah, sorry about overreacting when we first met. I'm actually glad to have someone like you on our side. It'll be interesting to get to know you."
Not used to such acceptance, Vee missed the mark when she went for the handshake and ended up slapping her own arm. She quickly recovered and shook Willow's hand, marking the beginning of her first friendship with one of her sister's friends.
"By the way…" Willow aimed a worried glance at Beth who was cuddling the cabbit, "is it safe for a human to keep a cabbit as a pet? They do tend to mind control those without magical training."
"She'll be fine. I drained that thing dry; it couldn't control a—"
Beth's eyes glowed purple. "Yes, Mr. Kitty Thumper, I'd be happy to build you a castle," she moaned. "How many scratching posts do you desire?"
"Whoops, guess I missed a couple drops. I'll take care of that after I digest a little." Vee belched and made a nauseous face. "Ugh, Titan, why does cabbit magic taste as disgusting as bug magic?"
"Because it wasn't either," they heard Luz say. The girl was still in the car, staring into the distance with the now familiar haunted look. "That was the magic of The Collector."
"What?!" Willow gasped.
Vee's hands shot up and covered her mouth. She felt like she was going to hurl. She didn't even know if she could hurl magic she'd eaten. A million fear-fueled questions rushed to her at once. Was it even magic? Was that why it had tasted so wrong? Was she going to be okay? Was she going to die?
"I heard his voice from the cabbit," Luz continued, hugging her knees. "He must've changed Mr. Kitty Thumper and the Lightning Bugs as part of the Owl House game. I don't know how they got here but this is the kind of nightmare we've stranded everybody in the Demon Realm with, all part of some twisted game we made up to save ourselves."
Silence filled the car. Willow and Vee watched Luz with sympathy as a purple-eyed Beth gathered construction materials unnoticed. Vee pushed away her own dread of eating The Collector's magic and crawled into the car with her sister. "Hey," she said gently, "I think you figured out what you're good at without magic."
Luz blinked. "I did?"
"From the few of your fics that I've read I can confidently say you've got the wildest imagination. Which also means are an expert at coming up with crazy plans, Luz. While the rest of us were screaming our heads off, you figured out how to stop the cabbit and ordered us around like a drill sergeant. Dani would be jealous. And to top it all off when everything was going wrong, even without any magic, you distracted the cabbit, nearly getting yourself eaten for, what, the twenty-second time?"
Luz laughed a little and corrected proudly, "Twenty-third."
Willow joined them, taking Luz's hand. "We're never going to give up, Luz. Even if you're a normal human and I'm a half-witch. We're going to save them."
Vee took a deep breath, praying she wouldn't regret this, and added her hand to the pile. "We'll find a way," she promised her sister. "Just don't tell mom."
There was a group hug and for a moment everything was right in the world. The three headed inside but Vee paused when she saw Beth hammering some plywood walls together.
"I'll be there in a second, girls," she said and went over to drain the last of Mr. Kitty Thumper's magic. Beth didn't seem to recall her temporary loss of free will and resumed babying the cabbit and carried him indoors. Vee was about to follow her when…
"Espere."
Vee turned and was surprised to see Abuelo step out of the car and gaze at her. At least she thought he was gazing at her; his droopy eyelids and thick brows practically buried the man's eyes.
"Did you… just talk?" she asked.
"My English… not good," Abuelo said, his voice deep and accented, his words slow and careful. He was making a visible effort to not mumble. "Your grandmother… she tell me about… you, Vee. I thought… she tell her, um, cómo se dice cuentos… stories? Sí, stories. I thought she tell stories. But after the uh, gato? ¿Conejo? Y la chica de las orejas puntiagudas… I see is true." Abuelo reached down and caressed Vee's face with a hand that was as rough as leather but at the same time as gentle as a feather. His thick mustache spread into a wrinkled smile. "You are good sister. Luz protect you… you protect Luz. Eres familia. ¿Lo entiendes? You are family."
Luz leaned into the comfortable touch that made her feel safe. "Entiendo, Abuelo. Protegeré a Luz con mi vida. Y si el inglés es demasiado difícil, puedo hablar español. (I understand, Abuelo. I will protect Luz with my life. And if English is too hard, I can speak Spanish.)"
Abuelo sputtered, his sleepy demeanor suddenly coming to comical life. His peepers actually shined out for a brief second. "Ay! ¡Escucha a esta chica! Hablas como una verdadera dominicana." That was all Vee was able to understand before Abuelo excitement devolved his speech to mumbles. Overjoyed but impossible to follow. Vee giggled along, sharing in the joy. She took Abuelo's arm and shepherded him toward the house.
"Vamos, Abuelo. Abuela ya debería tener el almuerzo listo. (Come on, Abuelo. Abuela should have lunch ready by now.)"
Abuelo hummed in delight and rubbed his chubby belly. He went off on another mumbled mess but Vee caught the end of the speech. "Necesito una siesta después. (I need a nap after.)"
And that's the end of this chapter. This chapter was co-written with I Write Big.
Well, looks like Willow's the first of Luz's friends to become Vee's friend as well. It also looks like Willow and Beth have become fast friends as well. Plus, Beth has got a new pet cabbit. If you've seen the Tench Muyo anime series or read the manga of it then you know what a cabbit is.
If you have ideas for future chapters, say it in a review or feel free to message me.
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