"Amity!" Luz called out through the ultraviolet hall of mirrors. No response came. Luz called again, "AMITY!" but still received no response. All she could do was guess where she had last heard her girlfriend's calls and head down whatever hallway she thought lead that direction.
"I think she was down here," Willow said, pointing to a hallway in front of Luz over her shoulder.
"Let's hope so," Luz huffed, "This place is giving me a headache."
The girls ran down the hall in that direction, and after several twists and turns, they found something off. On one of the walls, it looked as though one of the mirrors had shattered, glass having littered the floor. In the center of the glass was a small parchment that looked like a plain sticky note from the Human Realm. Luz rushed over and picked it up to read it.
"Dear Otter and Flower Clip," it began, "Thanks to you both, I now have the vessel I can use to regain my physical form again in your respective worlds. Your friend will be very useful to me. Wish I could see your faces. Shock and anguish are hilarious to me! — B Cipher" Around the writing appeared to be multiple eyes with slit pupils like a snakes, along with a triangle with an eye in the bottom left corner and what looked like some sort of alien humanoid with what looked like a long red spiraling tongue or tentacle instead of a head in the bottom right.
"No," Luz began muttering to herself, "No, no, no…This can't be happening…" Luz then crouched down into a ball on the floor.
"Hey, it's okay, Luz," Willow placed her hands on her shoulder, "We'll find her! I know we will!"
"How?" Luz asked, "Where do we even start?"
Just then, there came from behind them a deep, heavy, raspy breathing sound that echoed through the halls. It became louder and faster, as though whatever was making it was gliding quickly down the hallway towards them. But not a moment before the two girls could look over their shoulder to see what it was, the two of them awoke back to their world, both sitting up and cold sweats running down their temples. Luz looked down to see Amity was still asleep, gripping Luz's hand tightly.
Luz wiggled out of Amity's grip and flipped over to examine her. Willow followed and got on the opposite side.
"Amity!" Luz called out, "Amity, wake up!" There wasn't a response for a few seconds before Amity finally made some soft, pained groaning. She looked as though she were gritting her teeth together while gripping the sheets over Luz's mattress tightly.
"She's still in the dream," Willow muttered, "Whatever she's going through…"
"…It can't be good," Luz followed, "We need to see Eda."
A few moments later, All were downstairs in the parlor. Amity lay on the couch, still making soft moans in her sleep.
"Alright," Eda moaned, "What was so important you kids had to wake me up in the middle of the night to stop?"
"Amity can't wake up," Luz frantically explained, "We've been having vivid collective dreams, and they just keep getting worse and worse, and we think something was following her every night, and now we think it got her and is keeping her locked in the dream, and…"
"Slow down, kiddo," Eda waved her hands in the air, "Not the first time I've seen this and probably won't be the last. Alright, so what do we know about where your dream left off?"
"We found this note near where we think she was taken," Willow interjected, "It said something about being used as a vessel and was signed by a B. Cipher."
"Oh no…" Eda breathed and continued talking to herself, "Is that the guy Stan was talking about last time I was at the Mystery Shack?"
"Who's Staaaan," Luz narrowed her eyes and made an involuntary smirk despite how frazzled she had been a few seconds ago.
"Uh, no one, not important," Eda answered defensively, looking away and blushing. Luz had never seen Eda turn that color. "Anyway, I think the solution is pretty clear. We have to wake Amity up, and I think I know how to do that." She waved her finger in the air and conjured the same brass bell from a few months ago. "We'll need to enter her mind, the same way we did Willow's."
"Alright then," Luz took the bell, "Can do. There's no time to lose."
"I'm all set," Willow said.
"And there's the drag," Eda rolled her eyes, "I think I can only send one of you this time. We're going into the Dreamlands, which goes even deeper into the subconscious than short term or long term memories. It's its own separate world there."
"Well, darn," Willow shrugged, "I had a certain aromatic spell I wanted to try on her."
"Thanks, Willow,' Luz nodded, "I'll need to be the one to go; she's my girlfriend. If anyone can pull her out of there, it's gotta be me."
"Just be careful in there," Eda commanded with a concern in her voice, "It can get pretty confusing in there, and certain things might mess with your head. The good thing is, you can't die in there, at least not permanently. You'll just get sent back here if that happens."
Luz knelt down next to the couch to look at Amity in her restless sleep. She reminded her of two crushes she had back in the Human Realm. One was a studious boy who seemed to spend all day in the school library. Luz thought about approaching him one day, but he seemed so wrapped up in what he was doing, she didn't want to interrupt him. She had regretted it ever since; maybe they could have cuddled next to each other while she introduced him to one of the Azura novels. The other was a very elegant goth girl who would hang out with her group of friends in a nearby graveyard after school. The groundskeeper didn't seem to mind, as the kids weren't doing any harm. Luz wanted to approach her one day and even followed her to said graveyard, all creepy-like, before being noticed and chickening out. This was also around the time Luz realized she liked girls as well as guys, but she didn't know how to vocalize it just yet.
Amity was a combination of both of them. She was well-read, always striving for knowledge, and had a dark yet gorgeous aesthetic about her Luz couldn't help but admire. Luz would have done anything for her and was willing to risk whatever she had to help make her healthy and happy again.
"Alright," Luz breathed heavy, "Let's wake up sleeping beauty." With that, Eda made another circular motion with her finger, and Luz was teleported away in a beam of light.