"I can't do this," Luz announced. It was, I knew, as much of a lie as the concept of viral fame being a worthy pursuit. Luz was the bravest person I knew. She had literally faced down a monster that was fear incarnate just for me. She could do this.

She sat down on her living room couch. Camila was already sitting next to her. "Would it help if you were sitting here with me when you did it, mija?" she asked. Luz had been reluctant to let Camila get involved, but I had persuaded her that it was a good idea. Camila cared so much about Luz. It was important that she be here for this moment.

"Yeah," Luz said quietly. "I think it would."

"If anyone has anything negative to say – which they won't, because they all love you – then I will personally cross the dimensions and teach them a lesson they will never forget," Camila vowed. "It's going to be fine. Am I right in assuming that everything will be fine, Amity?"

"You most certainly are, Camila," I said. She grinned at me. She liked it now that I was finally calling her by her first name. It still felt weird, but it was a good weird. "I know these people. Nothing you do could make them hate you, much less anything you are."

Camila put her arm around Luz's shoulder. "You don't have to do this now. You can wait until the summer when you see them again."

"Yeah, and then I'll find another excuse and another one, and I'll never tell them. I have to do it now."

"You're so brave," I told Luz. "Mi valiente defensora."

Camila raised an eyebrow. "Someday, you're going to have to give me the story of how you became Amity's brave defender, mija."

Luz coughed, looking distinctly uncomfortable. I could hardly blame her. What she was about to do was nerve-wracking enough without telling Camila the story of the fear monster that took on her form.

"Another time," I told Camila gently but firmly. Camila seemed to get it without me needing to say anything else. She's an extremely perceptive woman, especially when it comes to emotions. I admire that about her, even if it can be damnably inconvenient at times.

Moving quickly, I used magic to sync my scroll to their television. (A television, by the way, is like a crystal ball, but flat and much bigger. It is often mounted on a wall, but by no means always.) It took some time, but I'd been experimenting on this before Luz came up with this idea in order to make communications between us easier, and soon enough, the video conference began.

Well, you know this part. You were there. But posterity needs to know what happened (and, yes, before you ask, Gus, this has all been cleared by Luz). Posterity needs to know that everything went well. They need to know what kind of people their leaders were.

Frames of Eda, Lilith, Willow, and you appeared on the screen. There was a black square in the corner which soon became filled with an image of King. King was lounging around in that adorable cat bed Luz got him as a coronation present – er, sorry, Your Majesty, I mean "morning throne." Willow was watering her plants in her greenhouse. Eda was drinking from her morning apple blood in the kitchen of the Owl House. Lilith was sitting calmly behind a desk in her office. I desperately want to know how she looks so composed in the morning. And you were in your room, sitting on a chair.

"Good morning," Lilith said, sounding slightly formal. She had been taking to the role of deputy prime minister extremely well, though Eda complained that she was just using it as an excuse to lord it over everyone else. "I hope that you've been enjoying your stay in the Human Realm, Amity, and staying out of trouble?"

"It's been a very enjoyable time, thank you," I responded just as formally. By the way Lilith's eyes narrowed, I could tell that she had noticed that I hadn't answered the second part of her question. "I brought you all together because Luz has something important she wants to say to you all."

Camila squeezed Luz's hand. "Puedes hacerlo, mija. Creo en ti."

Luz took a deep breath. "I'm bisexual." When she noticed that some of the people in the chat were looking confused, she added, "In my case, that means I'm attracted to more than one gender."

King looked annoyed. "You woke me up from my nap for this? Love stuff is boring!"

"Yeah, so you like guys and girls and whatever, what's the big deal?" Eda wondered.

"On Earth, bisexuality can often come with immense stigma," Camila explained. "People can be disowned by their families or even be placed in danger when they come out to less than understanding individuals."

At that point, everyone seemed to get it. "Oh, you were scared we'd stop loving you, weren't you?" Eda asked. "Well, get that ridiculous idea out of your head right now. That can't happen. Besides, I'm bisexual myself!"

"I'm pansexual," Willow revealed. "You're the best friend I've ever had, and I love you."

"I'm an aromantic asexual," you revealed. "Love you too, Luz!"

"I'm…still not entirely sure what my sexuality is," Lilith admitted. "I'm not as straight as I assumed, I know that much, but I'm still questioning. And of course I love you, dear. That's not even open for debate."

"I really don't get this whole sexuality stuff," King told her. "But you're my favorite subject, and that will never change!"

Luz had been on the verge of bursting into tears through the entire conversation, but King's comment sent her over the edge, and she started crying.

"Oh, no!" King shrieked. "I broke her! Um, calm down. Your king commands you! Amity, how do I get her to stop crying?!"

"These aren't tears of sadness, they're tears of joy!" Luz shouted. Yep, humans cry when they're happy too sometimes. What can I say? They're weird creatures. "You're the best family I could ever imagine. All of you are. Amity y Mami, ustedes también."

I walked over and kissed her on the forehead. "There you go, Luz. I told you. We're in your corner, always."

After we said our goodbyes, I decided to give Luz some time to come to terms with the whole thing, but she seemed eager to put it behind her, because she jumped out of the couch and headed into her room.

When Luz and I had gone over yesterday's report and submitted it, she didn't seem to realize the implications of having including our conversation about her bisexuality. It wasn't until I complimented her for having the courage to come out to you that she realized that she had come out to you at all. That was when I suggested that she talk to everyone at once and tell them that she was bisexual. She was hesitant, but after Camila endorsed the idea, she eventually came around.

Thank you, Gus. Thank you for supporting her. Thank you for having the courage to come out, yourself, even if you didn't think it was a big deal. Because it was to Luz, and that means it was to me too. [You're welcome!]

When Luz came down the staircase, she was holding a pair of very familiar outfits in her hands. They were both ones that I recognized from the covers of the Good Witch Azura series. One of them was a long white and dark grey robe with a hat that looked like a white traffic cone. The other was an elegant sleeveless blue dress. They had been worn by Azura and Hecate respectively.

"Okay!" she shouted, her usual boundless enthusiasm returning full force. "I'm so glad I can finally put all that behind me, because I was freaking out about that all night. Anyway, remember when I promised to introduce you to cosplay? Well, this is cosplay!" She held out the costumes for emphasis. "Costume play, or cosplay for short. A lot of people at ECCC will be wearing costumes, and I thought we could dress up as Azura and Hecate."

"That sounds amazing!" I told her. I really meant it too. They'd been such an important part of our relationship that it was only fitting that we dress up as them.

"But I haven't even told you the best part! Today, you can have your ears uncovered!"

I was shocked to learn this. After all, my cover had nearly been blown at the barest sight of my ears getting uncovered yesterday. "You see," Luz explained, "since everyone's going to be dressed up in a costume anyway, they'll just assume that your ears are fake!"

That did seem to make a certain amount of sense. And it would be lovely not to cover them up anymore, or have to worry about them blowing my cover. There was just one problem. "But Azura is the one with the pointed ears," I reminded her. "Hecate has round ears, because she's a human. Weren't you planning on dressing up as Azura?"

Luz shrugged. "Yeah, well, plans change! Now you can dress up as Azura, and I'll dress up as Hecate." I knew that this was a big deal for her. Azura was her favorite character in the series, so to give that up just so I'd be able to walk around with my ears uncovered was a huge gesture. So I gave her a big hug and hoped that she'd get how appreciative I am.

"Well, then, let's get changed," I said. After we changed into our clothes, I discovered that I looked rather good in the Azura costume. But that was nothing compared to how beautiful Luz looked in the Hecate costume. I was glad that Camila was there, because if we'd been alone, I would have been very tempted to do some things to her that you'd have to redact thoroughly. [EW! I so did not need to know that.]

"How do I look?" she said, twirling around.

I remember the early days of our relationship and the days before it when she would stun me to complete gibberish. No longer. Today, I am completely composed and calm no matter what Luz throws at me. [You do realize that you are seriously straining credulity here, right?]

So I merely said, in an utterly composed tone, "You look sensational, as you always do, mi amor." When Luz speaks to you, she will no doubt spin a set of lies about how I stammered and started rambling in Spanish, making an average of three errors per sentence, and at one point calling her "mi valiente defenestrada." I, however, submit that she was so blinded by my beauty that she started hallucinating. We will let you be the judge of who is telling the truth. [It's Luz. Luz is telling the truth. Do I win?]

"There's just one thing that's missing," I said, and I cast an illusion spell that styled and colored her hair the exact same shade as Hecate's.

Camila gasped. She still isn't fully used to magic and though she tries to hide it, her sheer joy at seeing it shines through every time. "Oh, mija, Amity made your hair look just like Hecate's! This isn't permanent?"

"Oh, no, it'll wear off in twenty-four hours," I assured her.

I readied an illusion spell to change my hair. But then I hesitated. Azura has green hair, you see. After I was disowned by my parents, I let my hair return to its natural brown. Mother forced me to dye it so I would match the twins, but now she can no longer do so. The idea of returning to having green hair, even if it was entirely my choice and for motivations that Mother would be disgusted by, rankled.

I'm not sure what exactly made me decide to do what I did next. It was an impulsive decision. It certainly wasn't motivated by any looks that Azura had in the books. But I did it anyway, and I believe that it was the right choice.

I cast the spell and turned my hair purple.

Luz's jaw dropped open in astonishment. She approved of the new color choice. She approved of it a lot. "Wow. Just…wow."

"I know it's not like the books, but I thought it would be a good look for me."

She kissed me on the lips. No matter how many times we kissed, it would never, ever get old for me. "It's sensational. Did you know that purple is a symbol of royalty? It's perfect for the Grom queen that you are."

I kissed her again, and only stopped when Camila gave a not all that subtle cough. "All right, you two, time for me to drive you down to the convention center!" she said, clapping her hands. "And by the way, Amity? She's right. Purple is your color."

I had tried repeatedly to convince Camila that she did not need to drive us to the convention center, only to fail miserably. And no wonder, since she had taken a rare day off from work in order to attend. "It's not just about driving you," she told us pointedly in the car. "I happen to enjoy these conventions too. Besides, Jeri Ryan is a guest, and I will simply die if I get her autograph."

"That's a metaphor," I announced proudly. I'm getting better at this sort of thing by the day. The more time I spend time with humans, the more time I can blend seamlessly into their culture. And not a word out of you, Gus.

Camila looked at me in the rearview mirror. She was struggling not to laugh. "That's right, cariño. It's just a metaphor. But I have waited over twenty years to meet her, and now my moment has arrived. I even took a vacation day. I've never done that."

Camila has been saving her vacation days since she started working at the hospital. She's accumulated quite a bit of vacation time in that time. She has vowed to spend all her collected time at once traveling the world as soon as Luz became an adult. Even spending one of those days was an incredible expression of her commitment to meeting this Ryan woman, whoever she was.

As we drove into Seattle, I saw that Luz had definitely been right about my ears today. All around the convention center, I saw people dressed in all sorts of strange and bizarre costumes. Plate armor, skintight uniforms, even skimpier clothing, anything and everything you could think of, people were wearing. And the clothes weren't the end of it. People had dyed their hair all sorts of colors and some of them had even painted their skin. My pointy ears and purple hair barely stood out at all. In fact, I could see several people wearing costumes with both of these features.

"This is awesome!" I shouted. "We're going to have so much fun today! Best girlfriend ever!"

"No, you're the best girlfriend ever," Luz retorted.

"No, you are."

Camila groaned, looking like she was seriously reconsidering her life choices. But her urge to get Ryan's autograph must have been stronger than her regret. She parked the car in a parking garage, which is like a parking lot, but inside (and sometimes beneath) a building.

"Okay, girls," she said. "I trust you both, and I'm here to embrace my inner Trekkie." I stared at Luz in bewilderment, but she just mouthed 'later' at me. "That means that I don't want you to contact me unless it's an emergency. That's defined as what?"

"Amity's cover getting broken, us being in danger, or if we spot Jeri Ryan anywhere," Luz recited promptly. Camila must have gone over this repeatedly for Luz to have such a good memory of it. Normally, these kind of things sailed way over her head.

Camila grinned at us both. "You're such good girls. I know you're going to have tons of fun today. And remember, no magic unless your lives are in danger and you cannot escape through nonmagical methods. Even though we'd probably be able to explain it away a lot better here than average, we still can't take any risks."

After we left the car, we went our separate ways. Camila may have phrased it in terms of wanting to "embrace her inner Trekkie," whatever that meant, but I knew that she wanted Luz to have fun without having to be embarrassed to have her mother around. Not that Luz has anything against Camila! But, well, we were going to be meeting with her friends, and it was not the norm to have parents around when one met with one's friends.

The Washington State Convention Center makes our Covention Center look absolutely tiny in comparison. It's six floors tall, for starters, and it was absolutely packed with people. Everywhere I went, I saw people who looked far odder than I did wandering around with their friends. I had no clue how we were going to be finding Sean and Caroline amidst all these people without any magic.

As if she was reading my mind, Luz told me, "Don't worry, we already agreed on a place to meet. Remember the cover story?"

"You met me at Reality Check Summer Camp, I go to a boarding school in Vancouver, and I'm an ordinary human with no magic in any way whatsoever," I recited. "Um, Luz, do tell me if I'm out of bounds here, but should we tell them the truth? I mean, we told Avery the truth, and they reacted well."

Luz looked deeply uncomfortable. I could tell that the idea of saying yes was making her uncomfortable, and so was the idea of saying no, and she couldn't tell which one made her more uncomfortable, which, itself, made her uncomfortable. [Wow, human emotions are confusing!] "But, of course, they're your friends and you know them best," I told her, more to give her an out than for any other reason.

"I want to tell them," Luz admitted. "But I'm worried about how they'd react. I've been keeping this huge secret for so long. What if they get angry?" She sighed. "Plus, there's another factor to consider. Caroline's dad is an FBI agent. What if she lets slip something around him?"

"FBI?"

She laughed dryly. "Yeah, good thing we're discussing this now. No way would an actual human not know what that is. You know how Aunt Lilith also heads the Law Enforcement Coven now? Well, it's sort of like that. They're best of the best in their field."

"In that case, I think that we should keep it to ourselves," I said. In actuality, I was more motivated by the fact that Luz had already had one phenomenally difficult conversation today. She probably wasn't equipped to handle a second one.

The WSCC consists of two separate buildings on both sides of the street, and we walked over to the bridge connecting them both on the fourth floor of the building. We waited for a few moments, and then a boy and a girl about Luz's age approached us. I presumed that these were Sean and Caroline. I had never met or seen pictures of them.

Both of them were wearing armor of the same general style. Caroline's armor was mostly dark blue with light blue accents on the arms and legs. She had skin almost as light as mine, blue eyes that matched her armor perfectly, and was wearing a medium length red wig. Sean's armor, on the other hand, was mostly dark brown with silver accents. His skin was darker than luz, and he had short black hair, and brown eyes.

And both of them were looking at me like I was some celebrity of as much renown as Jeri Ryan! Of course, this time I knew exactly why they were doing it – because I'd beaten up their longtime bully. Which, again, for the purposes of posterity, I should emphasize that I did so both in self-defense and in defense of Luz's honor.

"Hi," I said with a wave. "I'm Amity Blight."

Out of nowhere, Caroline nearly knocked me off my feet with a hug. "Oh, wow! I've heard all sorts of stories about you. I mean, they're mostly wild rumors, probably. Did you really throw Erik Hellinger off a balcony?"

"No," I said sadly. "I wish I had, though. The [REDACTED] deserved a lot worse."

"I love your costume!" Sean told me. "The ears are a great touch; they almost look real!"

"Um, thanks?" I said, with a nervous laugh. "So what are you guys supposed to be?"

Caroline posed. "Well, I'm Bo-Katan and Sean's Din Djarin. You know, the Mandalorian." I nodded sagely, hoping that no one would notice that I hadn't the slightest clue what a Mandalorian was.

"Avery couldn't make it?" Sean asked Luz.

"No, they've been grounded," she explained. "Someone decided that it would be a great idea to convince them to play hooky." She elbowed me and gave me a wink.

Caroline looked quite impressed. "You seriously persuaded the oh-so-responsible Avery to play hooky from their job? You must be quite the rebel."

I tried to hide the indignity that comment had given me. I wasn't a rebel, just because I had convinced Avery to have fun with me instead of being bored to tears at the Parapsychological Library. And I beat up a jerk. And I personally assisted in plotting the revolution that overthrew Belos. And I inadvertently cheated in a witches' duel. And I defied my parents' expectations and testified against them. And crap, I was a rebel now. Oh, Titan. Gus, you must edit this part out. Emira will never let me hear the end of it. [Sorry, Amity, but historical integrity demands that I keep it in. Also, Emira promised to buy me some new reagents that I can use to make even more powerful illusions if I furnished her with blackmail material so…yeah.]

Luz put an arm around my shoulder before I could short circuit. "Amity's a bit sensitive about that. It reminds her too much of Reality Check Camp."

"Okay, well, let's talk about happier things," Sean suggested. "I hear you're into magic."

I just stared at him, and then I looked over at Luz, feeling completely betrayed. She had told them about me without even asking for permission. And then she had lied about it. To my face! She had lied about it right in front of me! Caroline's father was an FBI agent, my left foot!

"I can't believe you told them that," I shouted. "You had no right to tell them that without my okay!"

Luz shook her head frantically. "Amity, it's not what you think. I told them that –"

"Oh, so you want to see my magic, then?" I said to Caroline and Sean, not listening to Luz or even caring about the consequences. "Let me show you my magic!"

"Are we missing something?" Caroline wondered.

I conjured a small flame in my hand. "Behold, the wonders of Boiling Isles magic!" I shouted People were staring at us, though I don't think any of them noticed the flame. They were just looking at us because I was shouting.

"AMITY, I TOLD THEM YOU COULD DO STAGE MAGIC!" Luz shrieked at me.

"What is that?"

"Tricks! Tricks that make it look like you can do real magic!"

Oh, Titan, I thought. I had just made a terrible, terrible mistake. I had not only blown my cover to Luz's friends, I had thought my own girlfriend had betrayed me. I was acting just like I had before, back when I had been a bully. Back when I had tried to get Luz dissected. Back when I had accused her, of all people, of being a bully.

"Let's get out of here and talk this out somewhere else," Caroline suggested gently. At least she didn't look like she was freaking out too much. Sean, on the other hand, was trembling in fear. I don't think that it was necessarily because I could do magic, though. It was probably just because he was worried I'd lose control and hurt him.

I withdrew the flame and followed Luz and her friends into one of the exhibit halls. It was absolutely packed with people everywhere. We were hidden in plain sight. Various companies and artists had booths throughout the exhibit hall, displaying tributes to stories of all kinds, whether they be novels, comics, roleplaying games. You name it, they had it. Yet I didn't care about any of that.

"I'm terribly sorry I lost my temper," I said formally. "I assure you that I don't mean either of you any harm. I just freaked out. I've been trying to do that less, but…I snapped."

Luz squeezed my hand. "It's okay. I should have warned you, but I forgot."

"So it is true, then!" Sean said, sounding like he had suspected it all along. "Some part of me knew that all your Boiling Isles stories sounded way too detailed to be fake. But, you know, I just told myself that I was jealous of your imagination, and I waved it off."

Caroline looked over at Luz, a hurt expression on her face. "Why couldn't you trust us with the truth? We'd have kept it secret. We will keep it secret."

"I thought you wouldn't believe me," Luz admitted. "I'm used to people laughing at me. So many people did. But I didn't care about those people. I care about you, though, and if you'd laughed at me…it would have been awful."

"We will never laugh at you," Sean promised her. "Ever. You told Avery, though, right?"

"Since they believed in magic already, I thought they could handle it," Luz explained. "And I was right. They could. I'm so sorry I lied to you. Can you ever forgive me?"

Caroline waved a hand in dismissal. "There's nothing to forgive, Luz. It's all water under the bridge now." (That's a human expression for it's in the past and not important anymore.)

"You can't tell anyone this secret," Luz warned them. "Especially not your dad, Caroline. If the government finds out, I don't even want to think of what the consequences could be." Caroline made a gesture that looked like she was zipping her lips, which I am given to understand means that she'd keep it a secret.

There was silence for a few moments, and then Sean asked, "So what exactly are you doing here, then?"

"I'm just here on vacation, seeing my girlfriend," I said. "We're going to meet Leandra Phalanx and if I am very, very lucky, I will not make an utter fool of myself in the process." Yeah, like that would happen. I could only imagine how tongue-tied I'd be in front of Phalanx. I would let Luz do the talking, except for the part where she'll probably be more incoherent than I am.

"Yeah, the best thing we can do right now is act like everything's the same as it was before you found her secret," Luz said. "It really doesn't change anything. She's still Amity. And I'm still her fearless champion. All right, let's go tour the exhibit halls!"

I've mentioned before that stories are an essential part of understanding the human condition, but I may not have impressed upon you the sheer depth to which those stories are imprinted upon the human psyche. Every single human being partakes in such things, no matter who they are or where they come from. And the Emerald City Comic Con was, in a sense, a shrine to storytelling. It was where people could be enthusiastic about the stories they love, even if people thought they were weird for it.

Now that Sean and Caroline knew my secret, they were only too happy to explain various human media in great depth when I didn't get something (which was quite often). For example, their costumes were based on characters from a television show called The Mandalorian, which was connected to those Star Wars movies I mentioned. The variety of human entertainment options was near infinite, but one thing I learned is that there was something for everyone. There were stories that could fill any niche you could think of, and quite a few I sincerely hope you cannot.

"You really should get your adventures into novel form, though," Caroline told Luz after we had finished touring the exhibit halls and found a table at the food court to eat lunch. During our tour, we had spotted the table where Phalanx was supposed to be signing books, but she had not yet arrived, and there wasn't much of a line yet, so we figured we could grab some lunch.

Luz giggled nervously. "Well, I don't know about that. I mean, why would anyone want to read them? I just…our journey is so important to me, and I want to do it justice."

It was a good idea, in my opinion. Luz was such a good storyteller. I had read some of her fanfiction, and she had a gift. On the other hand, did I really want our whole love story, even with the names changed, laid bare for the public to see? It's one thing to have this account published when I know it's just going to end up in some dusty library and be only of interest to academics. But Luz has bestseller potential. She could easily become the next Phalanx.

"Well, you don't have to decide now," Sean pointed out. "But it would be cool. It's just such so sweet and romantic. Like, I can't believe you actually fought a fear monster for her. I wish Caroline would do that for me." Caroline swatted him on the arm playfully.

Luz shrugged. "No big deal. We fought it together in the end, and we had ourselves one hell of a first dance, didn't we?" Embarrassingly, I actually blushed at this. Which is honestly pathetic, because I thought that I was over that problem months ago. "Well, I'm just glad I made a great impression on you. Otherwise, you might have ended up with whoever you wanted to ask to Grom instead of me."

Ah, Luz has a great sense of humor – oh, Titan, no, she's not joking, is she? Wow. That's…I've never encountered anyone more oblivious than her. I love it about her, but it can be so aggravating sometimes. I was about to tell her the truth – which, by the looks of it, Sean and Caroline already suspected, and they weren't even there – but then I stopped.

It would be more fun, I decided, to wait and see how long it would take her before she figured it out, if ever. I'll redact the whole "Grom crush thing" when I show this to her tonight. Oh, Titan, I am turning into Emira. Great. Still, I'll be merciful. If she hasn't figured it out by our wedding, I'll tell her.

Wait a second, did I just think the words our wedding?! Immediately, images of Luz in a wedding dress, or, more likely, given her fashion sense, a tuxedo, popped in my mind, followed by a cavalcade of images. Luz and I walking down the aisle. Luz and I making the traditional matrimonial Everlasting Oath. Willow and you as our honor attendants. Me impaling a dragon with an ice spike after it tried to kidnap Luz and add her to its newlywed hoard. You know. Typical wedding stuff.

"Sweetie, are you okay?" Luz asked, sounding genuinely concerned. "You look upset."

"I'm not upset, I just really need to pee, I'll be right back," I said in one breath, and I ran in a completely random direction that wasn't anywhere near the restrooms.

I didn't stop running until I was in the other exhibit hall in the other building. I didn't care how ridiculous I looked. I was in full panic mode, the likes of which I hadn't been in since before Luz and I got together. "Oh, she would look so beautiful in that tux," I whispered aloud, not caring who was listening to me. "But where would we hold the wedding? Here or there? Would we need a rabbi to officiate? So many questions!"

I had to calm myself. When I got back to the Isles, I could talk to Emira about getting her permission as head of the family to marry Luz. Of course, I didn't truly need her permission, but I thought it would be a nice thing to get anyway, and she adores Luz, so it's not like she would say no. And the betrothal could be a long one. I didn't mind waiting. Okay, that was a total lie, but I would do it anyway, because that's what would make Luz comfortable. Furthermore –

"Hello, Miss Blight," a voice said from behind me. I very calmly turned around and in no way let out a strangled "eep" sound, for I am dignified and refined.

The speaker was a man I'd never seen before. Unlike most of the people at the convention, he wasn't wearing a costume, instead wearing a very expensive looking business suit. I'm not terribly good at judging human ages, but I'd have to guess that he was somewhere around sixty. He had short grey hair and grey eyes that were so pale they were almost white. And there was a very unpleasant smile on his face, as if he was a predator and I was his prey.

This was a man, I realized instinctively, who was used to mingling in the highest reaches of society. And almost certainly a man who wasn't used to hearing the words no. I would have to be very cautious. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure of making your acquaintance," I told him.

"That is correct. We've never met." I knew very little about human accents, but the one he had was markedly different from the ones that I've heard on Earth so far. "I've been watching you and Miss Noceda very closely since your arrival in town."

I gulped. That did not sound good at all. "So if you've been watching us from afar, why are you suddenly making contact?"

"An astute question," he said, his voice calm and ice, ice cold. "I suppose you could say that it was an act of vanity. I wanted to see you with my own two eyes. You have not been as subtle as you think you have been. The incident on the ferry. The incident at the zoo. Your little conjuration effort here. All these things add up." He suddenly smiled, which made him look even more unnerving. "To be fair to you, however, they would not have been noticed if I didn't know what to look for."

"Who are you?" I demanded. "What do you want with me? Are you from the government?"

The man laughed at me. It sent a chill down my spine. "I'm not so foolish as to give my name to a magical practitioner, Miss Blight. But no, I'm not from the government. I operate in a private capacity." He looked contemplative for a moment. "As for what I want from you, I think I'd like you to take back a message to the ones who slayed Julian Belos. Tell them that I'm putting them on notice. Their borrowed time is running out."

I put up a hand and waved it in a circle. This man was dangerous, and if I had to blow my cover to defend myself, I would. "I'll burn your face off if you take a single step towards me!"

"Then it is a good thing that our business is concluded," the man responded, looking utterly calm for a human who'd just been threatened with magical incineration. "I'll be seeing you, Mittens. Sooner than you might think."

He walked away, and I didn't even bother stopping him. I was frozen in shock. He had called me Mittens. Luz never called me Mittens. And neither did my siblings anymore. Because Mittens had been Mother's nickname for me.

The man knew my mother.

I didn't realize I was running back into the direction of the food court until I had arrived. I was just too consumed by fear. Mother was in prison still. She had to be. I would have heard if she wasn't. But how did she know this human? She always said that humans were beneath us as witches. Unless that was one more thing she had been lying about. There were so many lies that it was hard to keep track.

"What's going on?" Luz said, instantly sensing something was wrong. "Amity, are you all right? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Most of the time when I see ghosts, I'm totally unfazed, so I didn't really understand exactly what she meant by that. It didn't matter, though. I filled her in on what had happened. Luz looked exactly as shellshocked as I was. The last thing we had expected was to find out that someone in the Human Realm already knew about the Boiling Isles.

"Do you think we should leave?" I asked. The idea of leaving without meeting Phalanx made me want to cry, but if that's what it took to ensure our safety, then we'd do that.

"I don't think you're in danger right now, actually," Caroline said. "That guy said that he wants you to deliver a message. You have to be alive to do that."

"Unless your death is the message," Sean muttered. Caroline glared at him.

I didn't know what to do. Their logic was sound. The problem was that both of their logic was equally sound. I had no idea whether or not we were in danger, and not the slightest idea what to do about it. This was totally out of my wheelhouse.

"We shouldn't let this get to us," Luz said eventually. "We came here to have a good time. If this man wanted to hurt us, he'd have done it already. Besides, if your mother sent him, then she'd want you alive, right?"

Technically speaking, that was true, although I strongly suspected that if Mother got her hands on me now, I would wish I was dead. That settled matters for me. Okay, yes, I really, really wanted to meet Phalanx and was latching onto any excuse to still do so. But Luz was right. I wasn't going to let some creepy stranger ruin my day.

After we finished eating lunch, we left Sean and Caroline to do their own thing. The line to get our books signed would be extremely long, and they had no interest in the series. In fact, they didn't even like it, as shocking and absurd as that notion was. How could you not like the Good Witch Azura series?

Well, as it turned out, there must have been a lot of people who didn't like the series, because the line was not nearly as long as I feared. I had assumed, solely based on the fact that the Good Witch Azura series was the best example of literature in not one but two dimensions, that it would be correspondingly popular. Much to my surprise, I found that while it was certainly nowhere close to unpopular and enjoyed a robust fan base, it didn't have the same worldwide cultural impact as, for example, the Harry Potter series. Anyway, that just made the fact that Luz and I had correctly seen it as the apex of human culture even more impressive.

As I waited on the line, I reflected on how remarkably my life had changed. I was in another dimension, with my human girlfriend and probable true love, waiting to meet the author of the Good Witch Azura series. My parents were in jail, I was completely free to do and be the things I wanted to be, I was studying bard magic, I was happy, and I was free. If you had told me a year ago that even one of these things would be true, much less all of them, I would have laughed in your face.

The line seemed to move at a phenomenally slow pace, but in time, we reached the meeting room that Phalanx and several other authors were using to sign their books. I reached into my bag and plopped all five books in the series on the table, and then I looked into the face of my literary idol.

Leandra Phalanx is a striking figure on the book jackets, but that's nothing compared to how she is in real life. Even though she's only in her early fifties, her hair is pure white, the color of a fresh snowfall, tied back tightly in a bun. She's tall, extremely tall for a human woman, and very thin. Her skin has always been pallid, but in the flesh, it looks almost chalk white. She's wearing a white dress that matches her hair almost perfectly. It contrasts nicely with her eyes, which are a luminous, almost haunting shade of green.

And she took one look at me and those brilliantly green eyes widened in shock.

Before I could process why, Luz leaned in and squealed with excitement. "Oh, my God, Miss Phalanx, this is a huge honor! Huge! My name is Luz Noceda, and I know you get this from everyone, but I'm, like, your biggest fan. Your books literally changed my life! I mean, literally! You see, I was going to summer camp when this owl –"

I glared at her. The last thing we needed was for her to divulge the whole story to a woman who was technically a stranger. "I'm Amity Blight. Luz is my girlfriend. We didn't get along very well when we first met, but we discovered that we had a shared love of Azura. And, well, one thing led to another, and now we're in love!" That was technically true!

Phalanx just stared at me. It was as if I had shaken her to her core. I was getting a very bad feeling about the whole thing.

"Yeah," Luz said, "so while I've got you here, I have a couple of questions, by which I mean, maybe about a hundred, but I'll start with –"

Phalanx shook herself, took a deep breath, and then gave her what look like a genuine smile. "I do appreciate enthusiastic fans, dear. And I can tell that you and your girlfriend are truly devoted to the series. If you'd care to stay here until the signing is done, I could give you a private audience to answer some of your questions?"

I would not be surprised if Luz's shriek of joy could be heard all the way on the other side of the country. "Oh, wow, yes, thank you so much, ma'am!" she babbled. "Amity, we're getting a one on one with Leandra Phalanx! This is the happiest day of my life!"

It took two hours for the signing to be done. As time went on, Phalanx kept on sneaking glances at us. At a guess, I'd say that she actually looked afraid. Once everyone was gone, she stalked over to us and pointed her finger in our face, looking furious. "You're not taking me back," she hissed at me. What? What was she even talking about?

"Amity, what is she talking about?" Luz asked, sounding just as confused as I was.

Phalanx actually snarled at me. "I wasn't born yesterday. The others may think your ears are just a costume, but I recognize a witch when I see one. I will never return to the Boiling Isles." Return to the Boiling Isles?! "Earth is my home, and Belos will not have me!"

"No, you've got it all wrong!" Luz said. "Belos is dead! We killed him! Well, sort of!"

Phalanx blinked, looking utterly stunned. "Dead…? But…everyone said he was invincible. That his command of magic was so immense that he could never be killed."

"Everyone was wrong," I said.

She sat down in a chair, looking shellshocked. "Can we have some answers, maybe?" I asked.

"I'm still not convinced this isn't some sort of ruse," Phalanx said. "But if it is, it's not like you don't know any of those answers already. I'm a refugee. My parents were leading figures in the anti-Belos resistance movement, and pioneers in the field of magical research. They managed to create something completely unparalleled in the Isles: an interdimensional portal."

Luz looked at me and I could tell that she was thinking the exact same thing that I was. "This portal wouldn't happen to look like a door with an eye on it?"

Phalanx nodded. "Eventually, it became clear that Belos' ascension was unstoppable, and so my parents fled into the Human Realm." She sighed. "I was a baby at the time. I was raised as a human. They had plastic surgery done on my ears so that I looked normal. But eventually, my magic manifested itself and they were forced to tell me the truth. My parents never returned to the Boiling Isles. They died here, of natural causes. I wrote the Good Witch Azura series and made sure to send copies through the portal to honor their legacy, to inspire a rebellion in the Boiling Isles."

"It sort of worked," I told her. "I mean, it was a factor in me joining. I wanted to be like Azura. Of course, there were a lot of other factors," I added quickly.

She shook her head in disbelief. "And now you've used the portal to come here. Why?"

"We were telling the truth," I explained. "We're huge fans. Nothing more. I'm a witch, but my girlfriend is human."

"I can do glyph magic," Luz said cheerfully. She took out the glyph paper containing the light spell and activated it. A dot of light floated to the ceiling, before dissipating.

"Truly astonishing," Phalanx said. "Extraordinary. You are both extraordinary. A romance between a witch and a human…my parents would have approved. Thank you for telling me about Belos' death. I feel safer now." She offered a sad smile. "I'm not going back, though. For all intents and purposes, I am human. I don't belong on the Boiling Isles. Just as you, I can sense, don't belong here, Luz."

Luz didn't say anything to confirm or deny her statement. Instead, she said, "Well, you can come and visit! You have a lot more fans than just the two of us! You're a bestseller there! You should stop on by and do a book signing."

I expected her to reject the offer out of hand, but she looked contemplative instead and she said, "I might just do that. No promises, though. All right, well, you said you had a ton of questions about the series. Let's go over them one by one."

I won't burden you with a long account of Azura minutiae. [THANK YOU!] Suffice it to say that the whole experience was one of the best moments of my life. But it wouldn't have been half as good if I hadn't had Luz by my side.

When we finally rendezvoused with Camila in the parking garage, she looked immensely satisfied. "I take it that you had a chance to meet Miss Ryan," I said.

"She signed my copy of her autobiography! I don't think I've been so happy since you were born, Luz!" Camila said with a squeak of joy. Luz looked torn between amusement and discomfort. "Oh, come on, mija, one can have celebrity crushes, even if one is in a relationship. It's allowed. So how was your day?"

"It had its ups and downs," I admitted, and then I gave her a complete account of what had happened, including my encounter of the man who might know my mother.

Camila looked extremely worried by the fact that the man could have been sent by Mother, more so than anything else that I told her. "This is terrible news, Amity. But I vow to you that I won't let her get her hands on you. If that miserable swine tries to hurt you again, I will kill her."

I knew she meant it, and that it was not an oath sworn likely. Camila was a healer, and a very ethical one. Doing no harm was an essential keystone of her profession. Hurting someone would have been a very difficult thing for her. Killing someone would have been incalculably more so. But she'd do it, to protect me. Me!

"You must tell Eda this immediately," she decided. "Perhaps that Law Enforcement Coven that you mentioned could send an agent here to investigate. This is not a threat that you should be taking lightly. Nevertheless, living our lives in fear will accomplish nothing." She gave me a smile. "So, Amity, did you have a good time in our realm?"

I looked over at Luz, at the infinite love that I could see in her eyes, a love that meant everything to me. I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life seeing that love in her eyes. "Yes, Camila. I did."