Hunter used to be tired all the time. Maybe it was because of all the exercise he had to do, maybe it was all those nights he spent with his head in a book trying to impress Belos. Or maybe it was both, he wasn't sure. Either way, he'd been feeling much brighter since he arrived in the Human Realm. He had originally scoffed at the mandatory 10:00pm bedtime Camila forced on them, but he found that he really needed it, although he could really do without Luz constantly making comments about how weird he looked when he wasn't tired.

Either way, he was the only person in the car who was still awake other than Camila. Luz was asleep with her cheek pressed against the window, and Amity was leaning on her shoulder. Willow was in the same position as Amity, except she was using Hunter as her pillow (which made him feel things that he was unfamiliar with). Gus had also dozed off, and Hunter had realised a few minutes ago that he still had his arm around the younger boy.

The car jolted to a sudden stop, and Camila looked over to the backseat. She quickly panned her view over everyone, before her gaze landed on Hunter. "I need to go into the shop to buy some food, mind giving me a hand?"

"What? Uh, sure."

It was late at this point, but the shop was luckily an all-nighter. As they walked in, Hunter gasped a tad. It was massive, with what seemed like hundreds of aisles of food and everything you could ever need. Despite that, it felt almost dead, with only a few customers.

"Whoa," he muttered.

Camila smiled as she pulled a trolley towards herself. "Do you not have supermarkets in the Boiling Isles?"

"We don't really have anything this big back home," Hunter muttered. "Not that I would've been allowed to go there if we did."

"Well, no one's stopping you now." Camila pushed the trolley forwards as she tried to remind herself what this kid's tragic backstory was again. Something about being the Emperor's nephew/right hand man?

Eh, that was probably close enough.

"Wait!" Hunter ran over to catch up with Camila. "Mrs Noceda, I just want to… apologise for sneaking out the other night. It was foolish, and I won't do it again."

"Don't be so formal, chico," Camila smiled. "You can call me Camila, I'm not royalty."

"Right… uh, Camila." Hunter glanced around, his eyes landing on a giant screen hanging from the ceiling. "What's that?"

"It shows you what the security cameras can see." Camila grabbed a bottle of hot sauce and placed it in the trolley. "The cameras are there to stop people from stealing."

"Seems like it would be an effective incentive."

"It is, mostly," Camila responded. "Hunter, can I ask you something?"

Hunter nodded nervously.

"Why did you and Luz sneak out?"

Shit. Hunter wasn't sure if he should tell the truth or lie; he needed to figure out what Camila wanted to hear. Everyone said she wasn't like Belos, but he had no idea how a parent was supposed to act if it wasn't like him. I don't have enough time to think up a lie, so if tell her the truth, hopefully she'll go easy on me.

"We we're trying to find out more about Belos—" make it sound sympathetic you fool! "—my uncle." And about what he did to my, uh… Dad." Sure, that works.

Camila didn't need Hunter to explain what he meant any further. "I'm so sorry," she apologised. "You may not have anywhere left to stay in the Isles, but you and your friends are will always be welcome in my home."

"Thanks Mrs… I mean, Camila."


Luz woke up just as Hunter and Camila were loading the shopping into the car. It was quite late, late enough for it to be dark outside. They'd stayed in New York longer than expected, but despite their begging and pleading, Camila said that they couldn't go up the Empire State Building, which was a shame. She'd said it was because she wasn't sure it was safe for witches, but Luz could tell that she was lying. She didn't have the money to pay for all of them to go in, so they ended up going to Burger Queen's for dinner and starting the drive home.

She glanced over at her friends; everyone was asleep still asleep. Amity had the headphones on, as she was listening to some calming wave music that Luz would often use to try and fall asleep. Gently, she reached over and pulled them off of Amity's head.

She was about to put some music on and have a listen, but at that moment, Hunter sat down in the backseat.

"Right," Camila said as she buckled her seatbelt. "It should only take us about forty-five minutes to get back, okay?"

Luz nodded. "I'll probably be asleep by then, but Hunter's basically nocturnal at this point, so he'll be fine."

"I've been working on that!"

Luz smiled. "Sure you have, Goldie."

What ensued was the most awkward silence in the history of both Earth and the Boiling Isles.

"Don't call me that," Hunter snapped.

"Sorry," Luz mumbled. "Uh… do you wanna try some music?"

"What?"

"These." Luz held up the headphones and passed them to her friend. "They're called headphones, they let you listen to music without other people hearing."

"Is this what you were showing Amity earlier?"

"Yep. So what do you want – rock music, jazz, country rock, Christian rock – scratch that last one actually."

"Why are humans so fond of naming their music genres after rocks?"

"Because rock music rocks!" Luz said, slightly too loudly. "Sorry." She typed her phone passcode in and scrolled to Spotify. "Right, so put those on and have a listen. I'll just put my liked songs playlist on shuffle."

"I understand all those words separately." Hunter placed the headphones on and was about to continue, but was cut off by loud music blaring into his ears. "Luz, can I ask you a question?" he said, louder than usual. "Why do humans seem so intent of going deaf by the time they reach twenty-two?"

"It's worth it for music," Luz said. "Just give it a shot, please?"

Hunter sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine."

By the time they got back, it was nearing midnight. Luz didn't want to wake Amity, so she picked her up like she did during the grudgby match and carried her into the house. Hunter did the same with Willow (after Luz had managed to get him to stop head banging to the music) and as he was walking up the stairs, Luz giggled.

"What's so funny?"

"You tell me Mr Tomato."

Hunter furrowed his eyebrows. "I have realised that… this seems to happen a lot when I'm around the Captain. Is it some kind of skin condition? Maybe an allergy?"

"No silly, it's a crush! Don't worry, I was just as oblivious as you are."

As they both walked back out to the car, Hunter picked up Gus and carried him back into the house. Vee had woken up by this point and insisted on helping with the shopping, but Camila told her to go to bed.

As Luz attempted (rather successfully) to carry all of the shopping bags at once, Camila stopped her.

"Luz, I need to apologise."

"Hm?"

Camila grabbed some bags from her daughter's arms and sighed. "I haven't exactly been keeping up with the punishment I gave to you and Hunter, and to tell you the truth, it's because I regret it."

"What?"

"Don't get me wrong, you should've told me why you were leaving, but I was too harsh. I never let you explain, and I only found why you did it when I was in the shop. I was afraid… of losing you again."

Luz smiled. "It's okay Mamá, I understand."

"Thank you Luz. Now come on it's getting late, you need to go to bed."