Luz was back in the cave.
Hazy shapes in vague humanoid form surrounded Amity's prone form, their shifting masks jeering from the shadows. Blood pooled beneath her face. She was vaguely aware of Willow and Gus struggling against their own unseen attackers, but they might as well have been in another world
She reached outwards, desperately clawing for any sort of purchase, but the harder she fought, the heavier her body grew. It felt like a hundred shackles were locked around her, each trying to wrench her into the inky depths.
"Amity!" Luz tried to scream, but only a coarse whisper came out.
The figures closed in, moving towards her still-unmoving girlfriend. Their faces glowed brighter, nearly blinding against the umbral backdrop.
"Amity!" she repeated, louder this time. "Not again! I can't— I have to—"
"Luz!" a voice answered. Everything seemed to freeze for a moment. The weight on her body briefly diminished. The voice came again. "Luz! Come on!"
With each pleading word, the manacles restraining her shook steadily looser. All around Amity, the shrouded forms began to shift and distort, wavering like smoke in the wind.
A desperate cry escaped from Luz's throat as she leapt forward, shaking off the invisible chains which weighed her down. Her blood pounded in her ears like a hail of cannonfire each time her feet struck the rocky floor, a jolt running through her body with each step.
Space stretched in front of her like some sort of infernal treadmill, pushing her further away the faster she ran. Even as her joints turned to rubber, she knew she couldn't stop. She wouldn't let this happen again. Her name continued to ring out from the abyss, echoing off imperceptible walls in an overlapping aural assault until it was nearly unintelligible.
The cries rose in a deafening crescendo, growing increasingly discordant until they suddenly unified into one singular voice. "Luz! ¡Despiértate!"
Luz woke with a scream, falling to the floor. Her heart threatened to pound out of her chest as she frantically looked around the room. Rays of sunlight beamed in through the windows, glaring off the television screen and wall-mounted picture frames. Her sweat-soaked shirt clung to her skin.
Vee was watching from the arm of the couch, a look of concern written on her face. She was only partially shapeshifted, patches of scales breaking through her skin. Her finned ears flicked nervously beneath her hair. "Were you having the dream again?"
Luz stared at her vacantly for a couple moments before shakily nodding.
"¿Estás bien? You didn't hit your head again when you fell, did you?"
"I'm alright. Estoy bien," she responded after a few moments, rising to her feet. She looked over her sister's appearance. "I thought you and Mom were going out today?"
"Yeah. We're just about to go."
"Then shouldn't you be, you know… not a snake?" She wiped the sweat from her face, her mind still catching up. "Sorry, I'm still a bit out of it."
A ripple ran across Vee's body as she scrunched up her face, fully returning to her adopted image. "We probably should've gone a week or two ago. I'm all out of stuff."
Groaning as she stretched her shoulders, Luz watched as her mom walked down the stairs carrying an empty backpack. She called into the living room, "¿Estás listo para salir?"
"Si, mamá." Vee turned with a skip. She glanced over her shoulder as she reached the doorway. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"It's just a dream, carnalita. I'm alright." Her sister sat back down on the couch. Some schlocky 80s B-movie was playing on the TV, as Generic Action Hero #246 shot his way through a legion of faceless goons while the villain chewed the scenery like his life depended on it.
After waiting a few moments for the car to pull away, she headed back upstairs and unlocked her desk drawer to reveal Caleb's journal. It was difficult for her to remain focused at the best of times, and when coupled with the mother of all concussions and constant mom-mandated rest, she had been unable to make much progress on her research. However, that didn't mean she wasn't trying.
Gently placing the journal and her notebook on her desk, she opened to the point where she had left off. From the little she had managed to glean while recovering, Caleb had developed into something of a pariah among his fellow witch hunters due to his unwillingness to compromise on his morals, with some attempting to have him cast out and disbarred, and others going so far as to attempt to frame him for various crimes, or even claiming he was a devil-worshipper himself, using the fact he had never executed a witch as evidence.
The public perception was little better, with much of the slander spreading along the road to various other settlements in the region, making it difficult for him to perform his duties. Despite these troubles, he managed to hold firm, performing his due diligence when it came to dealing with suspected witches, and avoiding bloodshed whenever possible.
As Luz was continuing her investigation, Vee and Camila had parked up the street from the city center, and were walking down the street towards Robin's Roast. The building had been temporarily closed since the attack a week and a half prior in order to repair the damages.
"And you're sure this thing came from the Demon Realm?" Camila inquired for the umpteenth time, nervously glancing around.
"Mom, you've seen the pictures," her daughter responded exasperatedly. "Has anyone ever brought a bear-sized, eight-legged badger into the clinic? And believe me, this thing smelled like portal magic." Vee exhaled through her nose. "Lo siento. That was rude. This just has me on edge."
"No pasa nada, cariño. Have you noticed anything else magical?"
Vee considered for a moment. "Well, nothing concrete, but the first day Luz was back, there was… something. I don't know what, but I smelled magic when we were leaving the house."
"Was it the same kind of magic as the thing in the café?"
"I don't know." She paused for a moment, before beginning her explanation. "Different types of magic have different smells, but it can also change depending on where the magic came from, and how it was made. Unless the base magic is really, really strong, then it can take a while to actually figure out what kind of magic something is."
The café came into view as the pair rounded a corner. I thought you said that you could smell portal magic on the monster?"
"Well, yeah, but it's kind of the same thing , where I could smell really strong portal magic on it, but I couldn't actually figure out anything other than that." She glanced up and down the road. A few people were out and about, occasional cars moving up the road, but the area was mostly quiet. The work was already finished, but the owners were waiting until Monday to reopen.
Vee and Camila quickly slipped behind the back of the shop. The area had been cleaned up, though there were still signs of the scuffle, with exposed patches of earth where the beast's claws had torn the grass free, and clear scapes on the concrete from the door being blasted off its hinges.
Glancing around the area a final time, Vee closed her eyes and deeply inhaled. Keeping her eyes shut, she began to slowly walk around the area, smelling the air. She circled the area, running her fingertips along the concrete wall and the tree trunks.
Her mother watched from the door, keeping an eye on the road which curved around the trees to their left. A few cars moved past, but their occupants paid her no mind.
After a couple laps, Vee suddenly dropped to the ground at the edge of the treeline. She lay on her stomach, hands feeling around through the grass. Her eyes opened once more, reverting to their natural form. Camila appeared at her side. "Did you find something?"
The disguised basilisk's pupils contracted, the colors in her vision dulling save for a golden mist which billowed from a small object on the ground. She plucked it from the grass and inspected it, revealing a clump of metallic fur.
"Yeah, I've got something," she reported, hopping to a low squat. The fur was caked with blood and muck, but the stench of the portal magic still clearly radiated off of it. After a moment of hesitation, she brought the matted cluster to her nose and smelled.
The scent was strong, even after the days spent exposed to the elements. Portal magic was extremely distinct, and a bit overwhelming. She supposed it was due to its reliance on Titan's Blood. The scent was quite familiar to the portal door through which she first came to this realm, but with some very apparent differences.
Rather than the refined, powerful magic of the door, this was chaotic and crude. And unlike the complex and multilayered, yet clearly-organized scents of witches' magic, this was an anarchic array of disorderly sensations all assaulting her nostrils at once.
However that thing had come here, it wasn't the same way she had, that's for sure.
Oddly enough, however, as she continued to inspect its scent, she also noticed an underlying scent, with that specific, deliberately-structured intricacy unique to spellcasting, but with something else she couldn't put her finger on.
As she opened her mouth to relay her findings, another voice called from across the way. "What do you two— Vee?"
She spun around to see her manager standing at the far side of the buildings, walking towards them from the adjacent sidewalk.
"Oh, hey Mr. Lindsey!" she responded cheerfully, tucking the fur into her pocket. She hopped bak to her feet as she turned her eyes back to normal. "What're you doing here?"
"I was coming to make sure everything was ready for tomorrow. What are you doing here?"
Camila started stammering at her side. "Oh, w-we were just—"
"—looking for Luz's wallet! She lost it and we were thinking it might've fallen out of her pocket when she was fighting that… thing. Hard part is that she doesn't actually remember the last time she had it." She tapped her temple. "Since she's, you know, concussed."
He considered for a moment. "I don't think we found any wallets back here." He turned and pulled his keys from his pocket. "Lemme check my office quick."
"Oh, no. I can just come back tomorrow. You don't have to—"
"No, no. It's fine. It'll only take a minute." He strode to the door and unlocked it, briefly looking back at them before entering the building.
Vee and Camila shared a look.
"Well, I guess we're sticking around for a bit," the older woman said. "Should I be concerned about how good you are at lying?"
Vee gave her a coy smile. "I've been lying every day since I came here."
"...Fair enough. Anyways, could you tell anything from that… stuff?"
She pulled the fur from her back packet and inhaled again. "This is definitely covered in portal magic, and I don't think it's like the door. It feels… more raw, I guess?"
"Do you think it's one of those… what did Luz call them?"
"Rifts?" Vee suggested.
Her mother snapped her fingers. "Sí, esos. Could it be one of them?"
"That's what I'm thinking."
Camila pursed her lips and looked off to the side. Her fingers drummed against her thigh.
"¿En qué está pensando?" Vee asked.
She sighed. "I'm just wondering if we should tell Luz about this. That thing was already in the news for a few days before you saw it, so it's probably been at least two weeks since it showed up. I haven't looked too much into these portal things, but as far as I can tell, they don't stick around very long. What are the odds that whatever it came through is even there anymore?"
Vee hesitated for a moment. "Shouldn't we at least let her know what we find? She knows that thing came from the Isles, so she's probably already trying to figure out how it got here. If the rift's still there, then she might finally have a way back. If it's gone, then we let her know that it's a dead end and she doesn't waste her time chasing it."
A silence passed between the two. Camila crossed her arms as she considered the best course of action. She hated to keep things from her daughters, but she knew that there were many situations where knowing would end up causing them more hurt.
Vee wordlessly began inspecting the treeline, looking for any traces of the beast's trail. This was only a small closed-in section of forest, with the road cutting it off to the left and more buildings on the other sides, but it was near-enough to the greater Gravesfield Forest that it wouldn't have been particularly difficult for the creature to move between the two.
Her eyes flicked back to their native state once again, and as she honed her senses, she spotted a few more patches of fur leading in a sporadic path through the trees.
Mr. Lindsey returned after a few minutes, predictably empty-handed. "I didn't find any wallets, but I'll keep an eye out."
"Well, thanks for checking," Vee replied. "Let's head back home. Vamos, I know a shortcut."
She stepped into the trees, boots trampling the longer grasses as she followed the clumps of fur. After a moment's hesitation, Camila gave the manager a small shrug and followed her daughter.
They moved through the forested gloom, Vee's basilisk eyes scanning the shadows for the next proverbial breadcrumb. Her mother trailed a short distance behind, one arm swatting away branches as the other desperately shielded her head from the inevitable snap-back.
"¿Adónde vamos?" she asked, already beginning to breathe heavily. She liked to think that she was in decent shape—she spent most of the day on her feet and went to the gym a few times a week—but trudging through the wilderness was a step or two above what she was used to.
"There's more bits of fur around here. I think they might lead back to the portal. Or a dead end. Either way, we're gonna find some… thing…"
She stopped short, Camila almost bumping into her back.
A short distance forward, the ground seemed to have buckled beneath the roots of a large tree, causing it to bow dangerously to one side. The trail led to this depression in the earth. Inching closer, it became apparent that this was no mere hole, but a partially-collapsed tunnel running under the ground. Clumps of fur were caught on the jagged stones which protruded from the uneven interior.
"Well, that's a problem."
Back in her room, Luz was still working her way through Caleb's journal. A mug of tea rested on the desk. Soft music was playing through her phone.
She had hit another dead zone in the journal, with several pages focusing on his day-to-day activities and inconveniences. He had found strong evidence of a witch living within Bonesborough itself, but he was making little progress determining their identity.
However, things were beginning to get interesting once more, as a name which always seemed to pop up in retellings of the Wittebanes' story entered the fray: Evelyn.
Luz made a mental note to call up Masha sometime. They were something of a self-professed expert on Evelyn, particularly after she worked the annual Hallowe'en hayride as part of her brief internship with the GHS, in the two-year interlude in which Jacob Hopkins had been fired after making certain "revisions" to the museum's displays.
She still had no idea how he managed to weasel his way back into his job.
Of course, there was also the small matter of finishing whatever Masha had wanted to talk to her back in the cafe. However, she would cross that bridge when the two came to it.
In any case, it was very apparent that Caleb had a thing for Evelyn. Whereas the previous pages included only a few sporadic descriptions of a select few of the individuals within, this included only flowery descriptions of her appearance, as he waxed poetic about his encounters with the strange, "alluring uncouth" woman with "wild hair like a dancing bonfire".
"Es desesperado," she chuckled. "Mae was simping hardcore."
She doodled in the margins of her notebook as she read through the page, trying to find anything to fuel her investigation from within the lines upon lines of barely-restrained fascination. Even after five years, her muscle memory had yet to fade, and it was something of a subconscious tic that she would sketch glyphs as she worked.
Luz took another sip of her tea, finishing off the cup. She placed her pencil on her notebook as she returned to her feet, her knuckle grazing one of her drawings.
She headed to the kitchen for a refill.
The notebook page rippled as if by a breeze. A faint light glimmered across the symbol's surface. Small wrinkles formed on the paper's surface as it tried to come to life, only for the light to fade and the sheet to settle, leaving the glyph partially faded.
A couple minutes later, Luz returned with a fresh cup of tea. As she sat down and cracked her knuckles, prepared to get back to work, she noticed the deformities on her page.
"What the…?" She tentatively touched the page, pressing it flush with those beneath it. It could have been wishful thinking, but she thought she felt a familiar tingle of energy on her fingertips.
Hesitating for a moment, she touched one of the other glyphs resting in the page margins.
A second passed. Two. Three.
Luz glanced at the cork board.