Dear Diary,

You're never gonna believe what happened to me today! So I had just finished a flight to Rome, and there I am in the airport, when I run into none other than Skara! I know, right? What are the odds? At first, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. It had been a much more tiring flight than normal, after all, what with the evasive maneuvers I had to do to avoid the annual flying squid migration – which wasn't supposed to occur for eleven more weeks, I might add. But nope! It was definitely Skara, having a sandwich in a café, talking on the phone to someone.

As soon as she stopped talking on the phone, I sat down at the table across from her. Skara's eyes lit up when she saw me. We've grown even closer in the five years since I got married. It's particularly ironic that, entirely by accident, Odalia did succeed in giving me a friendship that actually worked for me. "Skara! Oh my Titan, what are you doing here of all places? I thought you weren't gonna be on tour until next month."

Skara looked around her, as if searching for hidden cameras. "Okay, look, if I tell you something, can you keep it between us?"

"Uh…" I wasn't sure how comfortable I felt keeping a secret from everyone, including my wife. (Titan, Diary, I still can't believe I get to call Luz my wife.)

As if reading my mind, Skara said, "Oh, I mean, you can tell your friends and all that, I just don't want it getting out there to the public yet." I breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. "Okay, here goes! Gus and I are having a baby!"

"WHAT?!" I shouted. Skara shushed me. "You and Gus? Not Emil?" Last year, Skara married Emil too in a traditional Savage style wedding. Fortunately, a blood bard glyph managed to dampen the sound so I didn't get a sensory overload like I did at Emira's wedding, otherwise I would have been forced to not attend. And since I was the maid of honor, that would have been awkward to say the least. Anyway, Skara is very physical with Emil; the two of them do all the romantic and…uh, well, sexual activities that Gus isn't into. I would have expected Emil to be the father of Skara's child.

"Emil's family has a history of heart disease," Skara explained. "We decided it would just be safer if Gus was the father. We didn't…you know. We used a ritual." Well, that made sense. "Anyway, it doesn't really matter in the end. They're both gonna be the kid's dads." She let out a squeal of joy. "Amity, I'm so happy! I can't wait to be a mother. Yeah, so we decided to move the tour up before the pregnancy prevents me from doing it."

I shook my head in disbelief. Skara a mother. Where did the time go? It seemed like only yesterday that the two of us were…well, bullying people, but the point is, we were young once, and now time is just flying away from us. "Congratulations," I told her warmly. "I'm sure you're gonna be a great mother, Skara."

She gave me a friendly nudge. "You know, I don't think you'd be half bad at that yourself." I stiffened. Skara frowned. "Sorry, Amity. I should have known it would be a thorny topic for you. Let's just pretend I never said that, okay?"

"Yeah, it…okay," I muttered. The truth is, Diary, it's been on my mind a lot lately, ever since Willow had her daughter Cynthia two years ago. (Vee isn't able to reproduce in basilisk form, but xe was able to impregnate Willow shapeshifted to a witch; their daughter is genetically a full witch.) Willow is such a good mother, nurturing but also firm when she has to be. (Which is a very useful trait to have since Clara and Vee are both total pushovers for Cynthia's cuteness.)

What would it be like to be a mother? It's a question that both tantalizes me and terrifies me in equal measures, because the word mother is inextricably bound to Odalia in my mind. A part of me longs to be a better mother than Odalia was, to add one more element to her thorough defeat. To give a child of mine the loving childhood that I longed for more than anything. The other part of me is absolutely petrified of becoming her. I worry that because Odalia was incapable of loving her children, so will I be incapable of loving mine. Is that a silly worry? Probably. But it still almost consumes me sometimes.

Emira's vehemence about never, ever having children doesn't help me with those worries either. Emira hasn't quite said it out loud, but I can very much read the extremely obvious subtext that she has no desire to extend the Blight bloodline any further than it's already been extended. I sometimes worry Emira would turn away from me if I was the one to extend it, even if it's the Noceda bloodline now. Edric doesn't want kids either right now, though in his case, it's because he wants more time to savor life with just Hunter before bringing children into the picture.

"Do…do you want to have a kid, Amity?" Skara asked me gently.

"Luz does," I offered. That was another factor that made me feel incredibly guilty. Luz desperately wants to be a mother. Apparently, humans have a clock inside them that ticks when they want to have babies, and Luz's has been ticking for a while now. I've told her that I don't want to talk about having children right now, and she's been doing a great job of respecting that, but I can practically sense her desperation to have that conversation.

"Okay, but this isn't just about Luz, this is about you too. You know, you're not like your mom, Amity. You're nothing like her. You've proven that over and over again."

"Thank you," I said, genuinely grateful. It was nice to hear that said out loud. It helped a lot. "But I think I need more time."

Skara reached out and squeezed my hand. "And there's nothing wrong with that. Or never having kids. I just wanna make sure you're making the choice because it's what you want, and not what your inner demons want."

I shrugged. "I don't know, Skara. But there's plenty of time to figure it out." In the Human Realm, there's a thing called menopause where humans stop being able to bear children eventually. Witches don't have that; we can bear children until we die in theory, though after a certain point, the likelihood of successfully carrying to term drops precipitously. "Can we agree to no more introspection today?"

"Sure!" Skara said immediately. "Wanna go shopping or are you not able to stick around?"

"Actually, I've got a couple hours before I have to do my next flight," I said. "So I'd love to go shopping."

Skara and I spent a couple of lovely hours together shopping in some of the ritziest stores in Rome. I was able to afford the clothes there too, since Luz is filthily rich from her writing, with a net worth with nine digits, but I didn't end up buying anything. But I had a nice time.

After I got home, I decided that it was time to confront the issue of whether or not I wanted a kid head on. I didn't know which side of the issue I would come down on, but I wanted to come down firmly on one of them. I owed it to Luz to give her a clear answer about whether or not I would be having a child one way or the other, so she could stop being in suspense about the whole matter. And in order to get that answer, I needed to talk things out with my best friend.

So a few days later, I went to Willow's house. If I remembered her schedule, she would be at home. Raising a child and becoming one of the multiverse's leading experts on terraforming were both incredibly difficult tasks; doing both simultaneously was nigh impossible. But Willow, as always, doesn't believe in the impossible. She's juggling both her roles with the greatest of ease. I knew her levelheaded nature would aid me in puzzling out this conundrum.

But when I opened the door, Clara was standing in the doorway instead. I blinked. Clara was supposed to be teaching at Hexside. I knew this because I'd specifically scheduled going to see Willow for when Willow and Cynthia were the only ones in the house. "Oh, hi, Amity!" Clara said with a wave. "Here to see Willow?" I nodded. "Yeah, she got called in for a sudden meeting at the Johnson Space Center. I'm not at liberty to say what it's about."

She did not add that we already both knew what it was about: next year's manned mission to Mars that Willow was participating in. She would soon be the first witch on another planet! No, wait, technically speaking, there've been lots of witches on another planet. But, still, Willow would be the first witch on another planet that wasn't Earth, and it was a big deal! Technically speaking, she'd not yet been chosen, and the upcoming mission was highly classified, but everyone knew it was a done deal.

"So I'm taking time off from work to look after my daughter!" Clara concluded. Huh. So Clara thought of Cynthia as her daughter, even though technically speaking she was just her stepmother. That was nice. "Maybe I can help you with something…though if it's a plant related problem, probably not!" Clara was really bad at glyph magic in general, actually. It was because of something in her genetic makeup. But she was a whiz with potions.

I balked for a few seconds at the thought of telling my problems to Clara. We weren't especially close, and the fact that our counterparts in Eduardo's universe were married just made things even more awkward between us. A part of me still resents Clara too for being mean to Luz as a teenager. But Luz and Clara got along extremely well now, so if my awesome wife trusted her, I figured that it couldn't hurt to extend a little bit of faith. "Okay, but you can't talk to Luz about this until the time is right," I warned her.

"No problem," Clara said immediately. "Oh, where are my manners? Please come in, make yourself comfortable."

I followed Clara into her house. It was a really nice place, custom designed to be a blend of classic Demon Realm style but with a variety of Human Realm amenities, such as a full human style kitchen. As a member of the parliament, Vee had the privilege of having xyr own personal portal, and while xe wasn't supposed to let anyone else use it, xe routinely broke the rules to let Clara come and go to the Human Realm as she so wished for things as mundane as grocery shopping. I went into the living room and sat down on a couch. Clara prepared some orange juice for us both.

As soon as I took a sip of the orange juice, I grimaced. I'd forgotten that everyone in the household prefers their orange juice with a huge amount of pulp. But I was a guest in the house, and it was rude to complain about something so minor. "We've got some time before Cynthia wakes up," Clara said. "She loves it in Vee's nest."

"Why didn't you have a kid with Vee?" I blurted out.

Clara narrowed her eyes. "Cynthia is just as much my daughter as she is Willow and Vee's, even if we don't share blood."

"That's not…that's not what I meant," I said, my voice sounding frantic. "I just meant…why did you decide that Willow would be the child's biological mother? Why didn't you want to be?"

Clara blinked. "Oh. We flipped a coin." I laughed. Here I was expecting some emotional story that would help give me some insight about whether or not it was a good idea to have kids, and it turned out to be just as simple as that! "Yeah, the next time, I'll be the biological mother, but for now, one kid's all our busy schedules can handle."

"Oh," I said, trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice. "So you weren't afraid or anything like that?"

Clara shrugged. "A little. I knew that genetically, Cynthia would be a normal witch, but I was so worried that having a basilisk as a biological parent might have a negative effect on the pregnancy. But it all turned out perfectly!" She seemed like she was about to say something, and then she gave a smirk. "Oh, but that's not what you were talking about, were you? You're thinking about having your own kid!"

I nodded. Denying it seemed pointless. "I was hoping Willow could give me some advice about whether or not it's a good idea. I want to be a good mother…I'm just afraid I can't be."

"I don't see why not," Clara said, her voice infuriatingly logical. "You're a kind person. You have so much love in your heart. You're good with kids, firm but reasonable. What exactly makes you think you wouldn't be a good mother?"

"Her," I spat. There was no need to clarify who I meant by that. There was only one woman I spoke of with such vitriol. "Becoming her is my worst nightmare."

Clara looked incredibly skeptical. "Well, I have nightmares about coming into work naked and getting attacked by wolves, but that doesn't mean either of those things are likely to happen. Besides, you'll have Luz to reel you in if somehow you go too far." That was a good point. I hadn't considered that. "And if you're worried her nature somehow gets passed down genetically, you can still adopt."

I put my orange juice down on a coaster. "Thanks, Clara. I think this helped a lot. Say hi to Willow for me, will you?"

"Will do!" Clara said. "And don't worry. My lips are sealed." I frowned. Clearly, they were not, or she wouldn't be able to be talking to me right now. Probably just another human colloquialism, I concluded. There were just so many of them, it was hard to keep track of them all.

What would it be like to be a mother? I wondered as I made my way back home. Setting aside Odalia, did I really think I had what it took to be a good mother? Well, I liked kids. I always have. I respect them too. Some parents, I've noticed see little kids as an extension of themselves or somehow less than sentient in a way. But I know that just because kids aren't good with emotional regulation doesn't mean that their emotions are invalid. I always treated the kids I read to with courtesy and decency. Wouldn't I do the same with my own children?

When I got back to our house, I knocked on the door to Luz's study. Luz absolutely refused to let anyone, especially me, read her work before it was finished, so I'd always been careful to make sure I didn't accidentally barge in on her while she was writing. Luz opened the door and gave a huge grin at me when she saw me. "Batata!" she said, and pounced on me with a kiss. "How was Rome?"

"Awesome!" I said. "I saw Skara, and get this: She's having a baby!" Luz let out a shriek of excitement. "And, uh, I think I wanna have one too."

Luz's eyes got so wide I was worried they might bulge out of her head. "REALLY?! Oh, wow! WOW! I can't believe it! Oh, man, I was hoping you'd come around – not that I was gonna pressure you, you can totally, like, make these decisions at your own pace, but –"

As adorable as her rambling was, I had to put a stop to it because we needed to have a serious discussion. "Luz…I want you to make me a promise. Actually…I want you to make me an Everlasting Oath." Luz let out a soft gasp. I didn't just go around cavalierly making Everlasting Oaths with people. This would have been the first one we'd made since I'd almost made her stop learning magic. "I want you to swear to me that if I ever become a threat to our child, you will take them away from me and never let me anywhere near them."

Luz laughed. "You? A threat to our child? What, are you gonna bore them to death by explaining how airplane engines work?" She genuinely did not believe that I even had it in me to be anything like my mother, and the idea that I could was preposterous to her. It warmed my heart, but it did not change my mind.

"Luz, I'm serious," I said, and she took one look at my expression and her face went grave. "I won't have you ending up like Alador. You swear the Oath or I'm not having a kid with you. I need insurance."

Luz nodded slowly. "Okay. I, Luz Noceda, swear to protect our child from you, Amity Noceda, should I deem you a threat to them. If you become a threat, I will remove our child from your custody and raise them without you." She held out her hand, and I made the spell to cast the Oath. I could feel the ancient magic working on her. She would now have no other choice but to act if I somehow started to become abusive.

"Okay!" I said, trying to inject some perkiness into my voice. "Thank you, Luz. Now let's get cracking. It's impregnation time!"

Diary, I don't know if I'm making the best or worst choice of my life. But I'm eager to find out.

Yours faithfully,

Amity Noceda

Dear Diary,

Being pregnant is the worst. If there was any way for me to have avoided it and still get our kid (and have them be biologically ours), I would have done it. Witch to witch pregnancies haven't required the child to be borne inside the uterus for ages; we have artificial uteri created by magic. True, some people bear the children themselves due to religious or medical reasons, but for the most part, it's just not a thing people do anymore. I fell into the latter category. In the past twelve years of cross-realm travel, there've been more than a few witch/human hybrids. It's been discovered that humans bearing those hybrids have a low rate of carrying to term and it's just almost completely impossible to carry a hybrid to term in an artificial uterus. Me carrying the baby was the only feasible option.

I really should have adopted. But what's done is done. But, yeah, Diary, being pregnant sucks, 0/5 stars DO NOT RECOMMEND. Being pregnant with a hybrid is even more difficult, because I get all these bizarre cravings for human foods my stomach can't even process correctly, and either I eat the food and get sick or don't and nearly get driven mad. I'm as fat as a leviathan, my complexion is just terrible, and I have these awful mood swings all the time. Sometimes, I can't stop crying for no appreciable reason! It's very frustrating. And then I feel guilty about how I'm making Luz's life even more difficult and that just makes me cry more. Stupid hormones. Stupid pregnancy. Stupid reproductive system! Stupid everything! I can't believe humans get this all over with in nine months. I have to wait eleven to get this thing out of me!

Luz has just been a tower of strength during this horrible ordeal. My tiniest, most petty requests are granted as if she was some goddess who granted wishes. (Pregnancy has not been making my skill at metaphors any better.) She's gamely gone back and forth to the Human Realm to indulge my cravings at a moment's notice. She's even scaled down her writing, though after much arguing on my part I was at least able to persuade her not to completely abandon it. I know how much it means to her. I wish I could be a better wife to her than I am. She doesn't mind at all, of course, constantly giving me reassurance at what a good job I'm doing.

"I still think it's gonna be a boy," Luz informed me just as we were putting the finishing touches on setting up our baby shower. I had on my heaviest raincoat in preparation for the event. I was absolutely sweltering under it, but it paid to be prepared. Luz was living dangerously, dressed in her usual clothes. I had to admire her courage.

"We did the ultrasound, remember, Luz?" I reminded her, as I had dozens of times over the last few months. For some reason, Luz was absolutely certain we were having a son, even though the doctors were very clear that we were, in fact, having a daughter. "You're just upset that you're not going to be able to name her Azura."

Since I had to suffer through carrying the baby, we had both decided that I would be naming our child, and there was no question about it: Her name was going to be Hecate. If we had another girl, I'd name her Azura, but Hecate is not only the best character put to paper (well, of something not written by Luz anyway), but she's also the name of my inner self. It was completely nonnegotiable.

It was a truly surreal experience to see my future daughter on an ultrasound. Before I met humans, I never would have envisioned it was possible to see one's unborn child before birth. But to see her healthy and doing whatever fetuses do was a thrill unimaginable. That's a new life in there, and it's all because of me and Luz! We are going to have a daughter!

Luz sulked theatrically. "Well, whatever. Don't come crying to me for name suggestions when our son needs a name and we haven't come up with one!"

The doorbell rang, saving me from having to figure out if Luz was genuinely serious or not. It was hard to tell with her sometimes. Luz walked over to the door. I would have answered it, but Titan, I just didn't feel up to doing much moving these days, even though I desperately wanted to prove that I wasn't completely helpless. When she opened the door, Camila was on the other side.

"Nuera!" Camila said with joy and just walked straight past her daughter to give me a hug. Luz just looked amused. "Oh, look how far along you are. I just can't wait to finally be an abuela! I'm so excited!" I couldn't wait for Hecate to have Camila as her grandmother. Certainly Camila was infinitely more worthy of that title than the other woman who could have claimed it. I knew that Camila would love and cherish Hecate with all her heart.

Eda and Raine walked in as well. "That's sure some outfit you got there, Boots." I had absolutely no idea why Eda had picked that as my nickname. Raine wouldn't tell me and Camila refused to ask because she knew that Eda would make her keep it a secret from me. "Expecting heavy showers?"

"Shows what you know," I said smugly. "At these events, a bucket of ice is dumped over the expectant mother's head to shower blessings upon her. That's why it's called a baby shower."

Camila cleared her throat. "You didn't happen to get this from Gus, did you?"

I nodded and then groaned as I realized that, once more, I'd fallen for one of Gus's inaccurate human facts. I swear that sometimes he does this to me on purpose. I glared at Luz. "You knew!" I said, and pointed accusingly at her. She just smiled angelically. "You let me make a fool of myself!"

"Now, now, Amity, it was just a harmless little prank to lighten the mood," Camila said. She'd been doing an excellent job at moderating between me and Luz whenever my hormones made me too unreasonable, and this was no exception. "I'm sure she wouldn't actually have dumped ice water on your head – that could have given you pneumonia, and she wouldn't have done anything to risk the health of your…child." She had learned a while ago that it didn't pay to argue with Luz about the gender of our child.

"So I don't really know what happens at these things," Raine offered in an effort to change the subject. "You clearly don't either, Amity, so Luz, could you enlighten us?"

"Oh, well, it's just a convivial party to celebrate the upcoming birth of the child! Some people make a big, fancy, formal deal of it, but I really didn't want that, so we're just gonna have our friends and family there and watch some movies. Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Mission Impossible 8, Alien…"

Camila's eyes nearly bulged out of her sockets. "WHAT?!"

"Just a joke, mami!" Luz said reassuringly. "What's that? I thought I saw something out the window!"

"Where?" Raine asked, as Luz quickly grabbed a DVD from the end table and threw it under the sofa.

"Over there by the window!"

Raine looked confused. "How could you see out the window? The shade's pulled."

"My mistake," Luz said with a nervous laugh.

The rest of the guests arrived not too long after that. It was mandatory for me to stay in the armchair that Eda had…acquired for me in the Human Realm. It was an open secret that she had, in fact, stolen it from one of the palaces of the president of Russia during the epic chaos in both the Human and Demon Realms that Hooty's thankfully brief reign as prime minister had provoked. ("You will be haunted by my actions forever, hoot hoot!" was Hooty's only public comment during his reign and he more than lived up to his promise.)

I can't say that I enjoyed the movies very much – I never really could get much into human cinema – but I did appreciate the fact that I had so many loving family members that were willing to spend time with me seeing those boring movies. As the movie was winding down, I mentioned to Luz that I wanted to have a private conversation with Emira, so it was no surprise that after the movie, all the guests found some excuse to leave the two of us alone.

"Hey, um…you're not mad at me, are you?" I asked her meekly. I'd been avoiding Emira a lot, because I was afraid she was angry at me for choosing to continue my bloodline.

Emira blinked repeatedly. "Mad? Why would I be mad at my baby sister?"

"Because I'm choosing to have this kid," I responded. "I know you hated the idea of continuing the Blight family…"

Emira put up a hand. "Amy, I'm sorry I gave that impression. I refuse to have kids because, well, that was the role I was assigned. Get a husband, be a broodmare, don't have any freedom. You were going to inherit the company when she died. You were going to have freedom. The idea of having kids means something different to me than it does to you."

I breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing I wanted was for my own sister to turn away from me. "You really think I won't be like Odalia?"

"Uh-uh! What's the rule?"

I put my head in my hands. "Seriously, Emira?"

"WE DON'T TALK ABOUT ODALIA!" Emira sang at the top of her lungs. "But! It was my wedding day!" Ugh. She does this all the time, Diary. It's so embarrassing.

Viney stepped out from the pantry she'd been hiding in and said in a delightfully operatic tone, "It was our wedding day!" I'll say this about my sister-in-law: she's a damn good singer.

"We were getting ready and there wasn't a cloud in the sky!" Emira sang.

"No clouds allowed in the sky," Viney intoned solemnly.

Emira waved her hands around dramatically. "Odalia walks in with a malevolent grin!"

"THUNDER!" Viney shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Are you telling this story or am I?"

I was just about to actually laugh at their display when I felt a sharp pain inside my body. My eyes widened as I realized what this meant. "Contractions," I whispered. "I'm having contractions!"

"THE BABY'S COMING!" Viney shouted, and everyone rushed into the room. "Okay, don't panic. Just breathe with me…"

Hi, Amity's Diary, this is Willow! As you may have noticed from the different handwriting, I've been writing this dictated entry while Amity is in labor. Her commitment to retelling this story is honestly very impressive, but now she's in too much pain to continue. Don't worry, everything's normal so far! The next time she writes in you, she'll be a proud mother!

Yours temporarily,

Willow Park

Dear Diary,

I'm a mother now! I am the mother of Hecate Noceda, who is resting in the crib right now while I write this entry. I hope you didn't mind Willow scribing for me while I was indisposed. It won't happen again, I promise. Of course Luz says I should be, you know, getting some sleep instead of writing in you, but honestly, Luz is being such a hypocrite. Like she hasn't done marathon writing sessions when she needed to get some sleep.

I was definitely wrong about pregnancy being the worst, because labor is so much worse than that. I'm not going to go into too many details, because damn it, I just wanna forget most of this, but it was not as smooth as the movies made it look. It was long, and witch labor is even longer than human labor, so it took the better part of fifteen hours. Fifteen hours of contractions and blinding, blinding pain. It's giraffing awful, Diary. I am NEVER doing this again. If I have another child, I am adopting, end of story.

"I HATE YOU!" I screeched at Luz as more pain wracked my insides. "I never should have let you do this to me!" I sobbed. "Why?! Why was I foolish enough to agree to this?"

Luz looked utterly betrayed at my words, but the pain was just too much for me to want to do anything about it. Fortunately, Camila just gave Luz a gentle smile. "She doesn't mean any of it, mija."

"YES, I DO!"

Camila cleared her throat and gave me a mild glare. "She really doesn't. It's very common for mothers to say those things at this point in the birthing process. I was swearing like a sailor at Eduardo when I was having you. The poor man thought I was going to divorce him!"

"I love you and I won't divorce you BUT I STILL HATE YOU!" I screamed tenderly at Luz, who looked befuddled by the absurdly mixed messages on display. I started crying hysterically. "Get out," I sobbed. "Out, out, out…"

"Okay, Luz, it's fine," Camila told her. "It'll all be fine, no te preocupes." The two of them started walking out of the room.

"NO!" I shouted. "Stay, mami," I babbled. "Please, mami, stay, I need you." I didn't care about the fact that Camila wasn't really my mami or that I was being truly pathetic right now. I was beyond caring about any of that. I just wanted Camila to stay.

Camila squeezed my hand. "It's okay, mija. I'm here. Tu mami está aquí." She gave an apologetic grin at Luz. "Luz, don't take it personally. I'll have them call you in when it's time." Luz nodded and then left the room. "Everything's gonna be all right, Amity, sweetie. I've got you."

"What if I don't love her?" I whispered, finally articulating the worry that's been haunting my nightmares since I became pregnant. "What if I can't love her? Odalia couldn't love me! What if I'm the same?"

Camila gave me a very gentle, motherly smile. "Amity," she said in a voice filled with compassion, "that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard anyone say in my entire life." I blinked repeatedly. What? "To think that you, one of the most loving and selfless individuals I know, will not love her own daughter is patently absurd. You. Are. Not. Odalia."

"I…but…"

"And even if this ludicrous suggestion is true, would you mistreat your daughter?" Camila went on inexorably. "Would you stunt her personal development, control her, wipe her memories, as Odalia did to you?"

"Of course not!" I shouted.

"Then there's nothing to be concerned about," Camila concluded. "Odalia was not evil because she lacked the ability to care about you. She was evil because of all the evil things she chose to do. Things that you are just completely incapable of doing."

I nodded slowly, feeling rather absurd. "I had Luz make an Everlasting Oath to take Hecate away from me if I start abusing her."

"If that's what made you more comfortable, then so be it. But that point is academic. You are an amazing woman, Amity Noceda. I am proud to call you my daughter-in-law, and you will be an amazing mother who loves her daughter with all the love you were denied."

"Thank YOU!" I shouted because the pain started intensifying, and it was time to start pushing, and…

Well, look, Diary, I'm not going to talk about this anymore. I just want to forget about it, like I said. But the final process of birth went completely smoothly. I finally summoned Luz back in and she arrived in time to see me give birth to the one, the only, the beautiful and perfect Hecate Noceda. And of course, Camila was right. I took one look at Hecate and I loved her.

"Hecate Noceda," Luz whispered in awe as she held the baby in her arms. "Huh. I really did think we were gonna have a boy. Shows what I know."

I feel…well, much, much too tired to feel much of anything. But I'm preparing myself to feel ludicrously happy, because I'm a mother now, and my daughter is going to be the most amazing witch who ever lived. And if she's not, I won't love her any less. Because I'm a good mother.

Yours faithfully,

Amity Noceda