Luz felt something nice and warm next to her as she started to wake up. She snuggled more into the thing and tried to go back to sleep, but the thing moved and she jerked her eyes open. She turned her head and saw that the thing she had wrapped her arms around was actually Anne, who looked at her with tired brown eyes. Realization hit her and a small muffled squeak of surprise escaped her throat.
''Good morning to you too.'' Anne said in a whisper. ''The others are still asleep, so please be quiet.''
Luz felt her face heat up and started trying to pull away. ''Sorry, sorry, sorry...''
''It's okay, Marcy does that too sometimes.'' Anne said looking at her other friend who was still sleeping on the other end of the bed next to the wall.
Luz yawned. ''What time is it?''
Anne looked at her phone. ''It's now seven thirty. I recommend you get some more sleep. Three hours of sleep is barely enough.''
''What about you?" the other girl asked, her eyes already closing.
''I can't fall asleep. I woke up a little while ago.'' Anne said, her gaze on the wall. ''Don't worry about me, it'll be better if I stay awake anyway, because if Sasha wakes up before me and sees what I did to her face, she won't be too happy and will probably return the favor.'' she chuckled.
Luz relaxed and looked around the room. Sasha was still asleep on the beanbag, covered with a purple blanket and her back turned to them. Something in the corner of the room caught her eye. ''You play the guitar?
Anne looked at the guitar. It was an ordinary classical guitar with her name carved on it. ''Didn't I tell you that we have something like a small band? I'm usually a guitarist or bassist, it depends on what the song is. Sasha has two electric guitars at her place and gives me one when we are performing.''
''I completely forgot about that. I didn't know you could play a musical instrument, even two!'' Luz said, still whispering. ''I can't play musical instruments and I don't think I can sing.''
''But you can draw wonderfully!'' the compliment made Luz blush a little. ''And I'm not the best bass player, but I'm getting up there for guitarist. If you want I can try to teach you how to play guitar.'' Anne said as she put her arm around Luz. Luz leaned against Anne and felt herself drifting off again. ''Yeah... Sounds nice...'' she said sleepily.
She was woken up along with Marcy and Sasha by Anne. ''Get up guys! Me and my parents made you breakfast.''
''Shut up.'' Sasha muttered muffledly from her pillow. ''Since when are you a morning person?'' the blonde girl stood up and rubbed her eyes sleepily. Luz could barely contain her laughter when she saw her face. There was a black moustache drawn with a marker and a game of tic tac toe on her forehead. Sasha turned to Marcy and Luz. ''What are you looking at?" she asked and then realized what was probably going on. She almost tripped on the way to the mirror in the room. ''ANNE! IS THAT A PERMAMENT MARKER!" she shouted and got a laugh in response from Anne.
After Anne managed to get Sasha off of her and the blonde girl cleaned the marker off her face the four girls had breakfast and Sasha packed up her things and left because she had to go to cheerleading practice. Marcy and Luz decided to finish the chapter from Azura fanfiction. But when they were done, Marcy noticed one of the desktop icons on Anne's laptop.
"You play Minecraft?!" said Marcy excitedly, with stars in her eyes. ''Why didn't you tell me?''
''I only play from time to time. I just pirated it a few weeks ago.'' Anne replied.
Marcy's eyes somehow lit up even more. ''Do you want to play when I get home? You have no idea how long I've been wanting to make an SMP to play with you guys!''
''So we have plans for tonight.'' Anne said and got a small excited hug from Marcy in response.
''Thank you so much Anne! You're the best!'' Marcy said in a loud voice, which made Anne laugh.
''By the way, did I tell you that I'll be staying in LA?" asked Luz. ''Turns out we're moving into my aunt's house and she's going to Connecticut!
Marcy somehow beamed even more. ''Really! If I'm honest, I don't know how I'd let you leave, I'd miss you!''
''Yep! You're not getting rid of me anytime soon!'' Luz said happily, but then added ''Unless you want to of course.''
''Don't worry about it, you're staying with us.'' said Anne.
''Hey Anne, I never asked.'' Luz started. ''What do you want me to get you for your birthday?
''Don't get me a present.'' said Anne. ''Make me a card with a nice wish if you want or draw me something if you want, but it doesn't matter to me. It's important to me that we just hang out and have a little fun.''
''Hmm... I'll think of something for you.'' muttered Luz.
Anne put her hand around her neck and ruffled her hair lightly with her hand. ''Of course you won't listen to me. But still remember, you won't ruin my birthday if you don't get me something, you can just come with us for a bit after school.''
''We'll see.'' Luz said with a small smile. ''I think I have an idea for something.''
The days went by and everything was going well. Luz played Minecraft some nights after school with Anne and Marcy and they had a lot of fun. Other days, if they didn't have a lot of homework and hard classes all four girls would go to the mall or walk around the neighborhood. Luz and Marcy started going to the library regularly, either writing fanfiction, studying with Anne, or discussing Azura books and movies.
However, Luz also noticed that her aunt was being a little more strange around her. She barely looked her in the eye anymore and seemed a little more nervous than usual. When she was going to ask her about the unnecessary plastic for Anne's present she had caught her talking to Vee about her, and she looked worried. Luz had talked to her mother and everything seemed fine, so she ruled out the possibility that something had happened in the family.
Anne's birthday was the next day, which meant Luz had to finish her present, which wouldn't be much of a problem because she was almost ready. She began to carefully sand down the cut out of plastic she had just made. Once she was satisfied with the result, she placed it with the other cutouts.
She had decided to give Anne some handmade guitar and bass picks. She'd used some of the anime cards she'd saved in case they became highly valuable. She'd also used four Minecraft cards she didn't even know existed until she'd found them for sale at a thrift store nearby and bought them all with Marcy. She couldn't deny that she felt some regret for cutting Minecraft cards, especially the rarer ones, but she knew Anne would like them. Luz had made a few different colored feathers out of Tara's leftover plastic as well.
Now all she had to do was put them in a box or something and she'd be done. She decided to ask her aunt for something she could use. She paused for a moment because it was a few hours after dinner, but then she remembered Tara usually worked till late. However, she only found Vee in the living room. She had something in her hands and was fiddling with it.
''Hey Vee!" said Luz cheerfully. ''Where is Tara? I need a box or something for Anne's gift.''
Vee jumped a little when she saw her, but then said ''Tara went out to get groceries. Uh... I'll find you something.'' Vee said and pocketed the thing. Luz saw a small part of it and it looked like some sort of puzzle in the shape of an owl or some sort of bird. Vee headed to her room and came back with her backpack and started rummaging inside. She pulled out a small wooden cube shaped box that looked like a very small chest and opened it and smelled it for some reason. ''Here, this should work for you.'' Vee said as she handed it to her. ''If there's anything, knock on my room door! Bye!" and with that, the girl closed the door in front of Luz's face.
Luz shrugged and headed to her room to put the picks in the box. After she finished, she looked at the time and saw that it was late, and she had school tomorrow. She quickly got her things ready for tomorrow, put on her pajamas and went to bed. She managed to fall asleep almost immediately.
Luz woke up refreshed and ready for the day. She put on her school uniform and walked down the stairs with her backpack. She found no one in the kitchen, but that wasn't too unusual. There was breakfast on the table and a box lunch. She ate her breakfast and put her lunch box away. Luz double-checked to make sure she had taken Anne's gift, then opened the front door and locked it behind her.
As usual Anne was coming towards her. Luz had planned to give her the present after school and barely hid her smile.
''What did you do?" asked Anne suspiciously when she reached her. ''Should I be worried?
''Nooo...'' Luz replied with a smug smile. ''You'll see after school!
Anne sighed. ''I hope you didn't waste all your pocket money on a present for me.''
''Don't worry.'' replied Luz with the same smirk. ''You'll see after school.'' she said smugly and got a small groan from Anne.
They started talking about random things like they do usually, with Marcy joining them along the way. They reached the school building where Sasha was waiting for them as usual. They chatted for a bit before classes started. As the hours passed, they got to PE class, which wasn't bad at all this time because their coach let them do whatever they wanted. Luz only had that class with Marcy, so the two spent the time talking about video games.
After PE though, Luz realized that someone had stolen her school uniform. She was sure it was Maggie or someone in her group. They hadn't bullied her as much as she was bullied at her old school, but they didn't stop insulting her or making nasty comments at the smallest things when they passed each other in the school hallways. If Anne was around she'd give them a bad look and they'd shut up as if they were afraid of her. Of course, they only did it when Sasha wasn't around because they were cowards and they knew Luz wouldn't have complained to Sasha.
PE was their last class, so it wouldn't be that big of a deal if she spent some time with her sports clothes. After school Marcy and Luz went to the library to kill some time before meeting up with Sasha and Anne. Marcy took out an eleventh grade math book and started reading it when they both got a message in the group chat from Sasha.
''It's Anne's birthday! I almost forgot!" said Marcy and started putting her things away quickly in her backpack.
''But I reminded you a moment ago-'' Luz started, but stopped when a book fell at her feet. Marcy picked up the book and tried to tell the woman that she had dropped her book, but the name of the book caught her attention.
''Dr. P's Extraordinary Guide to Magic and Mystery?" read Marcy aloud and began flipping through the pages quickly. Luz peeked behind her shoulder. ''Whoa, Calamity Box? Travel to other worlds? Luz check this out!''
''It looks cool, but it's probably not real,'' Luz said. ''But it would be cool to be able to go on an isekai adventure.''
Marcy took out her phone and took a picture of the drawing on the box. A message appeared from her father. ''I wonder what this is for...'' Marcy said. ''You go to the park and meet the others, I'll go back through the house to see what's up there and come over.'' Marcy put the hood of her hoodie on her head and left, which left Luz alone.
''Hey Vee, am I the only one who feels like something is terribly wrong?" asked Tara as she stopped writing papers on her desk for a moment.
''No?" said Vee. ''Does it have something to do with the prophecy?" as she was saying it Kurt appeared from the window and landed on Tara's desk and started to croak. ''What's he saying?" asked Vee, slightly worried.
Tara's face turned slightly pale. ''He said the prophecy is starting to come true.''
''But didn't you say something was wrong with it? Should we stop it?'' Vee asked with visible concern in her voice.
''You don't stop a prophecy.'' said Tara, her voice trembling slightly. ''Is Luz home?''
Luz found Sasha and Anne at the table they usually gather at.
''Hey guys!'' she greeted them in a cheerful voice. ''Happy birthday Anne!''
''Thanks!" smiled Anne as well.
Luz started digging into her backpack and took out the small box. ''Here it is, my present for you! I hope you like it!'' Luz said, her smile growing with excitement.
Anne took the box carefully and opened it with Sasha peeking behind her shoulder. Her eyes lit up and she smiled even wider. ''You made me custom guitar picks! Did you cut them yourself?" she said and pulled out one made from a Pokémon card.
''I had to sacrifice some cards and plastic, but I think it was worth it-'' Luz was hugged by Anne.
''Thanks dude! You made something for me all by yourself, you have no idea what that means to me!'' Anne said and let her go.
Sasha got the message behind them. ''Oooh, Marcy has found the perfect gift for you!" she said and showed them a picture of a music box with three stones. Luz immediately thought of what was written in the book. Could the box be real? Nah, it's probably some kind of replica...
''But I might have to get going, my parents have thrown me a party and are probably waiting for me-''
''Anne.'' Sasha said firmly. ''Don't you think it would be rude of you not to let Marcy give you the present. And Luz just came here, don't you want to celebrate your birthday with her.''
Anne shut up, she knew she couldn't escape. ''It won't be a problem if I'm a little late...'' she said.
Sasha smiled victoriously.
The three girls got to Marcy, who was by a thrift store. She pointed to one of the racks through the window and there was the same music box from the book.
''If these stones are real they must be worth a lot...'' Sasha muttered. ''Hey Anne, why don't you go in and steal the box so we can heat things up a bit? It'll be easy, the cashier will be asleep soon, wait until she's asleep and quickly put it in your backpack.''
''What! But I can't steal something!'' Anne resisted. ''What if it's worth thousands of dollars!
''It's a thrift store, Anne. How much could it be worth?'' Sasha said calmly. ''Now go into the store and get the box.'' she said in a firmer voice.
Anne looked helplessly at Marcy and Luz. Luz lifted her shoulders and looked away uncomfortably because she really didn't know what to do. Marcy, however, surprised her. ''It's just a box Anne, you'll be in and out and done.'' she said making no eye contact. Anne looked at her in surprise as if she had been betrayed.
Anne walked into the store and pretended to look at something until the cashier fell asleep. She walked over to the shelf with the box and looked through the window at her friends uncertainly. She quietly picked up the box and quickly stuffed it into her backpack then left the store with a hurried pace.
''Well done Anne! I knew the you'd do it!'' Sasha congratulated her, Anne looked down with visible guilt in her eyes. Luz felt sorry for her, but really didn't know how she could protect her. Sasha patted Anne on the shoulder. ''Let's go back to that park bench and see if there's anything valuable inside!
As they walked back to the park, the guilt was eating away at Luz. Anne constantly defended her from the bullies at school, and Luz couldn't stand up for her even once. It wasn't right to make your friends miss their birthday with their family, let alone make them steal a strange box from a shop. Luz had to do something for Anne, had to give her credit back and defend her to Sasha.
The four girls reached the bench. Anne sat in the middle and put the box in her lap. Marcy and Sasha stood on either side of her, and Luz grabbed her shoulder and peeked behind her. Luz thought for a moment about what was written in the book about the box, but there was no way it could have been real. Right? She had to ask Marcy later.
Anne opened the box.
Luz saw bright colors she had to look away from, lest they blind her. She nearly fell backwards, but managed to grab Anne's shoulder. Her gaze was wrapped in bright light in less than a second.
''What do you mean Luz hasn't come home!? We have to-'' Tara said almost angrily, however she was interrupted by a bright blue light illuminating the room through the window. Tara and Vee quickly walked outside and saw a beam of blue coming from the park. The lamps flickered as blue energy crept across them. As it appeared so it disappeared. The beam completely diminished and disappeared. ''It's too late now...'' whispered Tara.
Vee sniffed the air. ''It smells like magic. But not magic from the Demon Realm. It smells like a different kind of magic.''
''Vee can you do me a favor?'' asked Tara still looking at where the beam of energy had appeared.
''Of course!" she said timidly.
''You can take anyone's appearance right?'' said Tara. ''You have to take on Luz's appearance.''
''What?! But what if she sees me when she comes home-''
''She won't be coming home anytime soon. We don't have to worry her mother, I need to fix this...''
Luz could only see a white flash of light. She couldn't move, speak, or even feel the things around her, she felt like she was floating. It was as if something powerful approached her. Three lights in blue, green, and hot red appeared in front of her.
''You weren't supposed to be here.'' something said, it's voice echoed and seemed to be only in her head. It sounded incredibly powerful.
''But it's too late to bring you back...'' the thing continued. ''The fates of three worlds are tangled...''
''But maybe... You could help the stars...''