The sun finished settling on the horizon, Emperor Belos observed the end of that pathetic spectacle that the head of his coven had mounted and would be more than willing to give her a well-deserved punishment not only for letting The Owl Lady escape again, but also to be subdued by a simple human girl in front of the entire castle. But there was something else he had to deal with. That "human", the owl lady was irrelevant again, but maybe Lilith could still be useful.
Lilith Clawthorne was handcuffed and chained, like all the criminals and wild witches that she herself commissioned to bring to the justice of the emperor on her glory days, the great Head of the Emperor's Coven reduced to a pathetic excuse of a witch that a girl had emotionally broken, she was right, Lilith was the real monster, she ruined her sister's life for a stupid competition that in the end she won by default. Being in a cell the rest of her life without causing any more suffering to anyone was the least she could do. Or at least that was what she expected.
Stepping out of the hole of misery that had become her own being, Lilith observed that they were not dragging her way to the Conformatorium but down the corridors towards the throne room. The huge door opened by itself and the two guards who were escorting her carelessly threw her into the center of the room just below the throbbing heart of the titan, and there in front, on his golden throne was waiting for her the man who promised her everything would be worth, Emperor Belos himself. "Em…Emperor." Lilith mumbled, the misery that ran through her body turned into absolute fear, she knew what the emperor did personally to those who disappointed him and despite everything, she was not ready to end like this.
"Save your words Lilith" He responded with a tone that seemed calm but still imposed terror, it was too scary as with such a calm voice he was capable of defeating anyone who faced him, "After that pathetic show you gave to disrespect my Coven's name, the only reason I'm willing to forgive you is because I still need you to do something for me". He rose from his throne, and silently advanced until his imposing figure totally outshined the light in front of the now covenless witch, "If you do this, I will forgive you everything, I will even heal your sister as promised. You will regain your position and she will be offered an amnesty; do you understand me?"
Lilith doubted, would it really be that easy? What other mission could he assign to her other than to capture her sister in exchange for such compensation? With what little strength was left in her throat, she answered "What do I need to do?".
"What was she doing here?! Why was my daughter in the isles Eda?!" Camila was impossible to calm down, the children gave her a quick summary of the situation, Lilith had captured Luz and after that this happened, her little girl was in critical condition. Viney made a cursory review and even so she could see how Luz's entire nervous system was in chaos, her vile sac was damaged by the release of such magic outburst she had experienced and the magic flowed uncontrollably throughout her body, the same magic that she had always wanted to have was the one that was killing her, "Why you didn't protect my daughter!".
Eda couldn't answer, completely sunk in guilt and shame to even try to defend herself. King, Willow and Gus didn't know what to say, the three of them pulled away the moment the mother went against the witch in such an accusatory tone. Viney was the one who had to break the moment. "Enough! We won't get anything by searching guilty now! We need to act now to save Luz and, ma'am, although Luz has taught me what humans are capable of do, I need to know what you can do at this time or I will be forced to take her to a hospital".
This wake-up call was enough for Camila to leave Eda and focus on what's important, her daughter. "Viney right? I hope you have some field training," Hesitating, Camila brought her hands to her earrings. Taking them off now would be a complete return to her old life, but she had to, just like when she decided to run away in the first place, all for the sake of her little girl. A small breath and it was done, the illusion of her on her ears was undone and quickly the magic of the isles began to flow back to her vile sack, taking off her glasses she looked back with determined red eyes at the now astonished girl, "Because we are going to do an operation and I need you with me".
The group was sitting outside the barn, King was at the door pacing back and forth impatient to know what would happen, Willow and Gus had to process the fact that Luz and her mother really were witches and not only that, but not only that, but also Luz's mother had been a very important healer given Viney's reaction after recognizing her, and that she had some history with Eda. The witch for her part was hiding her face between her knees, almost as if she were seeking refuge from all the shame and guilt that invaded her, she had failed years ago as a couple by not doing something to prevent Camille's engagement, she had failed as a lover when not having insisted on leaving with her despite the possible consequences, and now she failed as a mentor by allowing Luz to end up like this, she was a failure. It was incredible that her curse had not taken her already, normally it would be the precise moment when she would transform, either from fear or misery. But in reality she didn't feel anything, it was like she had accepted the possibility of having lost everything she really cared about, as if she were now an empty shell.
Eda raised her head a little, in her hand the earrings that her beloved left behind when she went behind the curtain, the earrings that she had given him so many years ago when they promised to be together in the future. Her commitment. Eda remembered something else, something that she had pushed deep into her memory with industrial amounts of Apple Blood and a false disinterest in her love life. She almost with a jump she got up herself and she started running towards the forest. "Eda? Eda where are you going?!" Willow screamed when realizing that the older woman was running away at full speed.
"Tell Camille to meet me at our special place after they are sure Luz is ok!" She screamed back, before her silhouette was lost among the trees and the night.
To say that Camila had been worried was to leave the bar very low, after so many years being forced to work alone as a nurse it was difficult to take command of an operation again, to that added the fact that she had to get used to using her magic after 14 long years, and of course the fact that he was operating on was his own daughter. Luckily the Viney girl knew very well what she was doing and was a great help throughout the process, Willow mentioned something about she studying in the Beast Keeping track in addition to Healing, how many things had changed on Hexside since she graduated? Questions for later.
A saying in the human world was that you never forget how to ride a bicycle, and likewise she did not forget her abilities for medicine and healing and was able to complete the operation successfully. Who would have believed that combining her magical knowledge with what she learned in the human world would achieve such efficient results? Only a couple of hours for an operation that normally would have taken them all night, and most importantly, Luz was stable and would recover after resting for a few days.
She was now resting on the same bed she was when they arrived early but now in total peace, just sleeping like a baby, Camila was at her side just gently stroking her hair, tears in the corners of her eyes happy that her baby was safe. "I'll tell the others that everything is in order now, so they can be calm," Viney said as she finished to clean her equipment, but before going she turn around to watch the woman again, looking for the courage to say something, "Y… you're Camille Nogueira, aren't you? The famous Bonesborough healer who was comparable to the high ranks of the coven".
The girl's words were full of admiration, so Camila didn't bother to hide it. "That's right, but don't refer to me by that name anymore please, that's my old life, now I'm Camila Noceda, Luz's mother". Viney's eyes lit up like those of someone who meet their idol, she mumbled something that seemed like "the boys will never believe who I met today" and then she continued her way out of the barn to tell Luz's friends about her condition.
From a recognized healer to only a simple mother, it was not a change that she really disliked, even with everything she had left behind she was relatively happy with her daughter, things were fine ... Right? Now that everything was calmer, the woman began to think seriously about the situation, Luz had lied to her, Luz hadn't gone to the camp and somehow arrive to the isles. Why would her daughter lie to her about this situation? Things were fine between them not to lie to each other like this… Right? Camila was immersed in her thoughts, for the first time going over everything that had led to having to send her to Reality Check camp, by the titan that name was in itself a bad sign that did not give her any confidence and even so Principal Hal left her with no more options. She was just trying to help her daughter adapt to the world where they lived in, it wasn't such a bad thing ... right? And for the first time it all made sense, in her attempt for Luz to adapt to the human world as she had done, Camila had made her daughter believe that all these things disliked her, that she disliked her own way of being, she had to speak with her about this soon, had to fix things.
Camila's train of thought snapped to a halt as Willow's hand fell on her shoulder to get her attention. "M… Miss Camille? Miss Owl Lady told me to tell you something".
Eda was running around the forest, she should remember the way after going there so many times years ago, maybe flying would be easier if only she didn't have leaved Owlbert behind when she sprint down to the forest. She stopped for a moment both to take a breath and to locate herself, the Bonesborough forest at night was not only dangerous but also a natural labyrinth someone could get lost if not being careful. It was there that I noticed that strangely everything was silent, neither the demons that lived in the depths of the forest nor the wind seemed to be present, the silence was broken by the sound of footsteps approaching. Eda clenched her fists as she scowled, of all the people to meet right now, it had to be her "What are you doing here?".
Lilith Clawthorne again stood decisively in front of her sister, even with the dirty and torn clothes from when she was captured and thrown with to the throne room, in her hands she brought her staff and squeezed it as if trying to assure herself that this was the right thing to do. "Emperor Belos has ordered me to take your apprentice back to the castle, I am here to take her with me".