The castle was quiet as it was before, even with the new guest. Willow and Gus made their way down the hall, Gus carrying some books on his back. The teapot looked upset as she let out a small sigh. "What's up, Willow?" Gus glanced up at her.
"It's just that...we finally get to see one of our best friends...only for Hunter to kick her out. Now we might never see Luz again," She lamented and he looked away quietly. Growing up, Luz and Lucila were always there to stick up for the two. Like the Nocedas, Willow also had a reputation, mostly in Hexside. She was known by Boscha as a half-a-witch, thanks to her powers always seeming to go awry. It wasn't always bad, as Gus would always stand up to Boscha, and Amity recently had stopped being friends with the Grudgby captain bully. Though Odalia did not know of this for good reason. But sometimes Willow's self-esteem would fall apart, though the sisters would usually cheer her up. Plus Willow was just happy to have more friends after her previous childhood friendship with Amity was...complicated.
For Gus, he was just always fascinated by humans for as long as he could remember. So when they first met the sisters in town a few years back, he was over the moon to lay eyes on them. He had learned so much from them, and Lucila even offered to teach him human things, which he of course accepted. With him being younger than other students at Hexside in his class, he sometimes stuck out. But with the sisters, he had been learning to accept his assumed shortcomings with his age and magic, until...until they had ended up in the castle.
"...Willow-"
"But hey, I shouldn't be upset. I'm sure we'll see Luz or find a way to get in touch with her," Willow spoke up to encourage herself and he smiled. The girl was always the pillar of the castle, always trying to help and cheer people up. Aside from Eda and Darius, she was the one Hunter was closest to. "Let's go greet our guest."
Gus finally made it to Lucila's new bedroom, and they could hear crying. They glanced to each other sadly before Gus silently bumped the door open. The older witch hadn't moved from her position ever since she was placed inside, her face in a pillow. She let out a silent sniff and heard footsteps, glancing over her shoulder and seeing nothing.
"W-Who's there?" She stammered through her sad voice, hoping it wasn't Hunter sneaking up on her.
"Down here!" Lucila glanced down to see her smiling friends looking up at her.
"Oh..." She picked them both up, placing them next to her. She took off her glasses to wipe her eyes with the back of her wrist. "Willow...Gus...I'm sorry, I didn't see you. I should've known you guys were here too," She let out a small sniffle.
"It's okay," Willow told her comfortingly. "We know that...you're still upset," She glanced away as she was trying to be careful with her words here. Lucila frowned at the reminder and then closed her eyes, sighing.
"No, go ahead. I know that it's impossible to not bring up my sister..." The girl murmured quietly and Gus moved himself to be under her arm, frowning. She glanced down at him and smiled, patting the top of his head.
"We brought you some books from the library," Gus spoke up and she took them, noticing that they were books about Bard magic and about legends. She gave a weak smile as she looked at the covers of them. She touched them gently while staring at the pictures, since...she'll need something around here to pass the time now.
"Thanks...can I ask how...you're even here?" She wondered and the two glanced at each other. "We wanted to ask Eda while Luz was still in her cell, but she wasn't able to answer, he interrupted us." She refused to refer to him by name because that would imply that she cared enough to do so.
"As much as we'd love to tell you everything right now, Hunter...doesn't like us talking about that day. It doesn't put him in a good mood whenever he has to think about it," Willow said cautiously and Lucila rolled her eyes.
"So basically I'd still be a prisoner and he'll still be the same monster he was before," She grumbled while looking away. Sure, he was concerned about her panic attack from before, but he was still harsh with her afterwards. Only because she asked a simple question. And the whole 'forced to put away wild witches' thing was still throwing her off.
"Come on, he's not always like this," Gus stated as his eyes softened. "He's a good...bad but sad monster dude?" He shrugged in confusion and Lucila scoffed, standing up in disbelief.
"I don't know how you guys put up with this...this jerk! Does he always treat everyone like this?" She paced in front of them, crossing her arms. "You can't seriously tell me that he's actually a nice person when all he's been is just so...ARGGGH!" She tugged at the end of her hair in frustration.
"You just need to get past the rough start-"
"Get past it? No way!" Lucila interrupted in disbelief. "How am I gonna spend probably the rest of my life with someone so arrogant and distant? I could never even spend an hour in a room with someone like that."
"We wouldn't be telling you all this if we didn't have a reason," Gus mumbled, to which Willow gave him a small glare. However, Lucila heard it anyway and turned back to the two. The friends flinched and glanced around awkwardly. "I mean, you didn't hear that!"
"Guys...what are you saying?" She asked slowly while giving them a death glare. They whistled and she sighed at this response. "Let me guess, you can't tell me. What is it that everyone won't talk about it? It has something to do with me, doesn't it?"
They looked at each other as it was because of the curse to begin with. However, they couldn't tell her because a, it was unlikely she knew anything to stop it and b, Phillip...was a dangerous person that they didn't want her to come across. If he could curse them and initiate a war with the castle, there was no telling what he could do if he found out Lucila was here. Humans were...a complicated subject around the castle.
"Not necessarily," Gus said nervously with a laugh; Lucila was a human and did have magic, but it would be a stretch that she was who they needed to end the war. The girl closed her eyes and sat back down on her bed.
"At least I know that you guys were still alive this whole time..." She whispered gratefully and they smiled up at her. "We missed you guys so much."
"We missed you too, Luci..."
"I hope he's not behind all this either, because then it'd be impossible to hate him more," Lucila growled a bit and Willow shook her head rapidly.
"No, Hunter didn't do this to us."
"But he is connected to it, isn't he?" Lucila pointed out and they stayed silent. "Of course he is," She scoffed while standing up again, crossing her arms in annoyance. Willow and Gus glanced at each other awkwardly, since it was complicated to tell her what they knew. And they didn't want to keep it a secret from her, but they had to.
Meanwhile, Darius stared at Hunter sitting in his bedroom. He tapped his foot against the floor while his hands were pressed together, an annoyed look on his face. The abomination clock sighed heavily while staring at him, as the room was eerily silent. "You really think it's her?" Darius finally spoke up without changing his expression.
"Well, she does fit all the boxes, and she's the only human witch in Bonesborough. Besides her sister, but she's no use to us," Hunter grumbled, a fist on his cheek.
"Though you did screw up by sending away her only family away and almost giving her a panic attack."
"She's an insolent human and her sister got what she deserved! There's no way to know she's the one who can stop this fight with my uncle," He looked away while crossing his arms. Even if Lucila was the Chosen One, to him she wasn't exactly going to be willing to do anything with that information. "And yet I'm supposed to act like she's a regular guest, we haven't had one...ever."
"I know you two got off on the wrong foot, but that doesn't mean we can't salvage the animosity," Darius spoke up, silently rolling his eyes. "Did I seriously raise you to be like this?"
"No, but I don't have to like the human either," Hunter grumbled to himself, the clock shaking his head in disbelief. "We don't even know if it's true or not, it's not like she'd tell us anything anyway. It could just...be a fluke!"
"If you ever call Lucila a fluke again, Eda will be having words with you," Darius narrowed his eyes a bit, sighing. He, Eda, and others had helped raised the boy for years since the only other parent figure he had wasn't exactly nurturing. And Hunter...was a special case but they had always tried to make sure he was cared for. "We should look into it to be sure."
"Darius, there's no point. Whether it's her or not, she's here. Unfortunately," Hunter grunted a bit, leaning back in his chair. He looked up to the ceiling, thinking about how she could've been much worse if he had pushed her further in the hall. For some reason, he felt...concerned a little since he knew that he had to watch his tone around her. And that wasn't going to be easy, since it wasn't like he could change himself in a second.
"Can you at least try to be civil with each other while she's here? The girl only has her friends and no sister now. She's in a new home that she sacrificed her life to be in," Darius gestured to everything around them. "And we have to walk eggshells around her because of..." He faltered as Hunter's glare hardened and he clamped his mouth shut.
"Be civil? Look what her sister did, this girl probably raised her to be like this. How can I be civil with someone who raised a girl who came in uninvited and sat on my chair?" He grunted as he slammed his fist against the arm rest.
"Raine was being...Raine," Darius deadpanned, reminding himself to scold Raine later. "You've only known Lucila for only a half hour. Give it time, and you two can get along. Besides, she's been raising her sister herself for a while now."
Hunter did recall Raine saying that Ms. Noceda was no longer with the girls, glancing towards Darius. "Not that I care, because I don't, but when did the mother disappear?"
The abomination clock gave a small smug smile. Hunter right now pretended to not look interested, but his eyes said otherwise. "When Lucila was 13. Eda took them in afterwards until..." He didn't finish his sentence, looking away. He then cleared his throat. "From what our source told us, Camila was summoned to Latissa by a letter. And when the next day came, she hadn't returned home or contacted her daughters. They looked for months, but...she never turned up again."
"What about her dad? I'm sure she loved being Daddy's little achiever," Hunter rolled her eyes a bit.
"I don't know much about the father. The girls never really mentioned him to anyone," Darius rubbed his chin in thought. "Is someone actually starting to be intrigued by our guest?" He looked up with a teasing smile.
"No," Hunter looked away with a grunt. "I just wanted to know where she gets her insolence from."
"Oh, this is going to take some getting used to," Darius murmured to himself while hopping to the ground. Hunter huffed, tapping his foot against the ground again in thought. He didn't like having to adjust to things sometimes, since...he was raised to just accept things as they were by Phillip. Years and years of lies, deceit, and...other things he never wanted to think about again. And yet these two humans were forcing him to relive things he had regrets doing... "What you two need is to understand each other."
"What?!" Both him and Lucila exclaimed in unison, despite them being in two different rooms. Gus and Willow had said the same thing to her just a few seconds ago. The two looked around in confusion as they swore they heard Hunter's voice, but maybe it was in their imagination.
"Understand him?" She asked in disbelief, angrily pacing in front of them. "Are you serious? How can I understand someone so crass-"
"So defiant-" Hunter continued off while gritting his teeth.
"So cruel-"
"So weak-"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The two shouted in frustration at the top of their lungs so loud that crows literally flew away from the castle.
"...Are you finished?" Darius gave Hunter a blank look. Hunter let out a small breath and let himself fall back into the chair. "Look, I'm not asking you to get down on one knee and propose to the girl-"
"Pfft, like that'll ever happen," He interrupted with a small snort.
"We're just asking you to be nice to each other," Gus spoke up gently. "Because believe me, it'll get awkward real fast around here. As in, we might have to pick sides kind of awkward."
"Absolutely not. This is my home now, not a romantic set-up."
"Well, we didn't ask to be that nice, but if it'll help-" Willow froze as Lucila gave her a glare and the teapot looked away sheepishly. "Pretend that I didn't say that," She murmured nervously so that the girl wouldn't be angrier than she was.
"But you know you're a looker!" Gus winked encouragingly; after all, there was Edric and Morton, who didn't shy away from admitting their crushes on the girl privately. And of course Nevareth, who thankfully she didn't have to see anymore.
"Darius, it's not that simple," Hunter sighed while crossing his arms. "Ever since I've been like this in the castle..."
"Things just haven't worked for me being an outsider and having my mom gone," Lucila spoke up quietly. "And now, all my biological family is gone. There's no way someone like that could ever understand it."
"And you saw the way she reacted when she saw me!" Hunter gestured to himself. "That girl could never know what it's like..."
"Being..." Lucila continued while sitting on her bed, her hands between her friends on opposite sides.
"Stuck," The two finished in unison as their eyes had softened, thinking about their different struggles. And yet at the same time, neither of them knew just how similar their upbringings and hardships were.
Willow and Gus stared at each other knowingly, looking back up at her. They could tell that the two had more in common than they thought. Now they just had to find a way to get them to see it so that they could get along.
Amity looked out her bedroom window with a sigh. She hadn't seen her two friends in a while, it was like they had both disappeared just like the others. She looked down at her Penstagram scroll, where she had attempted to reach out to them, but they hadn't responded. This feeling...she knew it had to be something else, since her mother would've BRAGGED non-stop if she had something to do with it. And when the disappearances happened, there wasn't much of a pattern to determine if the same thing happened here. Not to mention they happened years ago, so if whoever was behind them, it would've occurred a long time ago. No, something else was at play here, she just didn't know what.
"Maybe I'm thinking too much into this," She looked at her scroll. "Maybe there's no reason to worry, and I'll see Luz...at my school," She smiled while blushing, moving away a strand of hair from her face. She couldn't wait to show Luz around and help her with homework, maybe go to Grom together...she flinched at the thought, smiling. But of course, obviously her parents couldn't know about Luz going to Hexside. Odalia could very well get Luz expelled quicker than Amity could stop using a training wand.
There was a knock at her door, but she didn't respond. Emira and Edric stepped in, looking a bit sad. "We've checked all over town. No one's seen them. We even asked Lilith and checked their house."
"They weren't home?" Amity glanced over her shoulder as she was now concerned for them.
"Well, that weird bird worm was still there, but he said he hasn't seen them lately. Luz was going to Hexside and Lucila had...problems," Emira coughed awkwardly as Nevareth's botched proposal had reached Penstragram the minute it was over. "She had headed to the cliff and then flew away."
"But she never came back?" Amity questioned, standing up while pacing. "This is really weird, n-neither of them have acted like this before. They must be in trouble!"
"We don't know that for sure," Emira sat down on her bed. "They could be just...out...Ed?"
"...Well," He rubbed the back of his neck. "I spoke with Principal Bump earlier. He said that Luz never showed up for orientation."
"What?" Amity's eyes went wide in alarm. "Then we've gotta find them!"
"How? We don't know where they are," Edric pointed out to her as they watched their sister put on a cloak. She tossed two to her siblings, putting up her hood over her hair. If anyone recognized them, it would raise huge red flags.
"We'll have to pin down the last people they spoke to."
"What about Mom?" Emira wondered and Amity glared.
"That's not important," She said in determination; she was just being idle for the time being. But now that Luz was gone, her mother's opinion didn't matter to her anymore. Right now, she just wanted her two closest friends safe.
"I'm sorry," Lilith spoke up softly as they were talking to her in an alleyway. "I haven't seen either of them in days. Do you think it's like last time?"
Amity clenched a fist as she didn't want that to be a possibility. So many of their inner circle were already gone. If the same thing happened to them, she wouldn't know what to do. "No...it's not. I can feel it, Lilith. Can you fly around town to keep a look out for them?"
"I'll do all I can," Lilith nodded and they watched her fly away.
"What now?" Edric wondered as Amity looked around. She then saw across the road a pub named after Nevareth.
"I bet he knows something..." She murmured to herself as they watched the shadows inside.
Angel: Sorry this one took longer to get out, I'm still adjusting to the new job. But because I work so much on weekdays, I'm gonna try and get chapters for this out every single weekend, whether it be Saturday or Sunday. I can't promise an update every single weekend because literally yesterday I was out the whole day to go see Mutant Mayhem. But I will try to at least move the story along faster.