Sunlight streamed through the spaced covering of the trees over a rickety shack in Gravesfield Connecticut. Rather secluded and out of the way in the forest where only a few townsfolk even knew it was there. A rather ideal place to open a portal where no one would see. A swirling black and purple portal of shadow opened up right in front of the rundown house where two people passed through on a sky blue 1955 Vespa with some small bags.
"You're sure nobody comes around here?" Jim asked.
"Definitely. Place has been abandoned long as we've known it. Maybe even since the town has been here." Claire said taking off her helmet. Revealing the lock of pure white hair among her brunette head.
"You and your cousin came here a lot, huh?" Jim took off his own helmet.
"Yep. Almost every summer since she moved here. Made for pretty a good secret clubhouse when we visited." The two got off put their helmets on the seat.
"Must have been some fun time times."
"Oh you bet your amulet. I'm gonna take a quick look inside and see if it's as shabby as I remember."
"I wanna see too."
The two of them walked through the open, and broken door, into the living room. Old newspapers strewn about and a broken sofa chair sitting in the corner greeted the two trollhunters.
"Old and gross. Just the way we left it." Claire smiled nostalgically walking forward.
"And here I thought my girlfriend was super neat and tidy." Jim teased.
"Oh I am. But this place let us be as messy and destructive as we wanted when we played." She took a couple more steps forward intent on exploring further only for her foot to be snagged by a tiny rope.
"WOah!" Claire yelped as she nearly fell over. Luckily caught by Jim helping her stand upright. They both looked down at her left ankle and saw the trip wire leading up the wall and to a mounted camera. Likely rigged to turn on when the trap was sprung.
"Well that's new." Claire frowned. Quickly untying the offending rope and tossing it aside.
Jim looked up at the camera. "Doesn't look like a real security camera. And judging by the snare I'd say it's probably set up by some amateur monster hunter." He almost laughed. As if a cheap rope could catch what the two of them knew was actually roaming in this world.
Maybe a gnome... Maybe.
"Well whoever they are I don't appreciate them setting up traps in our secret hideout." Claire shot a small blast of shadow magic at the camera. It sparked for a moment before all its lights went out.
"There, that should be enough to short it out all the way back to the whole system. Now let's head over to my aunt's house." The two then proceeded down the path while Jim walked the Vespa. It was a short walk only about a minute or two from the shack.
"You sure they'll buy that the airport just let us check in the vespa?" Jim asked.
"Better that than saying I teleported us across the country in one go." Claire shrugged.
As they walked they took in the sights of the surrounding woods. They even kicked over another trap on the way much to Claire's pleasure. It wasn't that much different from arcadia. From how Claire described it it's a decent sized town nestled in a forest a bit away from major cities. For a place so far across the country it was pretty close to their actual home.
"Must have been a while since your last saw each other."
"Yep. Two years, and a couple more if you count our resets with the time stone." Jim nodded. That was a long time.
"So you and your cousin Luz are super close, right?"
"She's probably the closest I have to a little sister. Though that could change if my parents take a baby girl off your mom and Strickler like they talked about."
"Any stories you can share so I get the picture?" Jim asked curiously.
"Well before Enrique was born I actually gave her Suzy Snooze to remember arcadia." That was a bit of a surprise.
"For real?"
"Yep. When Enrique was born we both gave her to him. And Luz is actually- oh we're here." She cut her sentence when the house came in to view. It was a simple two story house with a chimney and no garage. The reached the porch in time for a purple station wagon to pull into the driveway.
"Tía Camila!" Claire waved to her aunt as she stepped out into the sun.
"Oh! !Mi sobrina favorita! ¿Como estás?" Camila asked giving her niece a hug.
"Muy bien." They pulled away and Camila noticed Jim with his vespa.
"¿Trajiste tú novio?" Camila asked curiously.
"Sí senora. Me llamo James Lake. Si quieres puedes llamarme Jim." Jim spoke up putting up the kickstand on the Vespa.
"Wow. You speak Spanish very well, Jim. It's nice to meet you" Camila said smiling at Jim.
"You can thank me for helping him learn. It's nice to see you. Did you just come back from work?" Claire asked noticing her scrubs.
"Claire said you're a veterinarian, did you have an emergency to deal with?" Jim's mom Barbara sometimes had to work through the night when serious cases show up.
Camila shook her head gently. "Nothing so serious. It was just my turn for the night shift." The conversation was halted by the sound of the front door opening. And out walked Luz. Claire looked at her cousin and noticed she had changed her style. Simple clothes that didn't stand out so much and her hair was combed as opposed to the cute unkempt hair she always saw her with every time. She was also carrying a cardboard box with a lot of her stuff. Even things that Claire herself had given her for special occasions.
"Luz, look who came to visit." Camila beamed at Luz as she reached the curb. Where she promptly put her box next to the trash bins.
The newly neat Luz looked up. "Oh, uh... Claire. It's been a while. Is that your boyfriend...Jim?" Claire kept a neutral face. It wasn't like Luz to take so long to remember a name. Especially since she knew her cousin to be able to flawlessly keep track of the names and backgrounds of all her favorite characters from every book, manga, comic, videogame, anime, and tv show she ever absorbed. And summer camp or not, but Luz would be way more excited to see her favorite cousin.
"Yes it has and yeah he is. What are you doing there?" She asked eyeing the contents of the box. Now she was getting suspicious. There are even photos Luz would not so much as smudge, let alone put on the side of the road for trash pickup.
"Oh I was just cleaning up my room. Camp has taught me a lot, you know." Luz said with a small smile. Camila picked up a tinfoil bird from the box.
"But you love all these things. Especially making me tinfoil swans." She held up the aluminum bird for emphasis.
"Yeah well, I'm just looking for a change." She shrugged and walked back inside.
"Let's go inside and I'll make some lunch. I hope you two are in the mood for some maduros." Camila smiled and started toward the front door.
"I can help with that if you want." to Camila's surprise.
"Yeah, Jim's a really great chef." Claire added and Camila agreed. She looked back at the box of stuff as Jim and her aunt entered the house and frowned. She waved her hand and a small portal appeared underneath the box and it dropped through to her room back in arcadia. Something doesn't feel quite right. Claire could feel it with her magic. Her emotional anchors to places and things here were still strong but not with her cousin. Like it was wasn't actually Luz she just talked to. She shook off that thought. There was no way she was a changeling. All the kids were rescued from the darklands and she took it upon herself to make sure none of hers or their friends families were missing any other family members. NotEnrique's list was very thorough. And even if every magical earth and/or alien space god made it so that Luz was taken when she was born then the changeling that would have been in her place must have lost their disguise and fled or died in the sun.
Claire sighed and joined everyone inside. She may not like it but maybe camp had actually changed her favorite cousin.
Jim was busying himself preparing the plantains that Camila planned for lunch. She herself was preparing special toppings according to Claire and Luz's taste. Some music was playing from her phone that was plugged into a speaker. Something Claire said her parents do a lot when they cooked. And if he was being honest he would to if nearly all his cooking didn't take place in the early morning. Claire was currently in the guest room setting up where they would sleep while they cooked.
He started on frying and Luz asked if she could help. Camila said she didn't need to and to just relax. When this happened Jim though he heard something wrong with the speaker and turned to look at it. His eyes shot open and he very nearly tumbled the skillet and spilled the hot oil and currently frying plantains. There, in the reflection of Camila's phone pounding on the screen, was Luz. He was so glad that neither Camila nor the Luz pounding on the screen noticed his near fumble. Just as quick as he saw her she vanished from the screen.
Thinking quick Jim lowered the flame on the stove. "I just remembered something. Be right back miss Noceda."
"Don't worry about it Jim. I can finish up here." She smiled as Jim gave a shaky thumbs up and walked out of the kitchen. When he was out of sight he rushed up the stairs to the guest room.
Claire was just finished with the bed when Jim yanked the door open. "Claire!" The urgent tone caught her by surprise.
"Have you noticed anything off about your cousin since we showed up." Claire frowned in thought.
"Yeah, a few things to be honest. Why do you ask?" She had a feeling she wasn't going to like this.
"Well maybe you check to see if Luz is actually-" He turned back to the door ensuring he wouldn't be heard. " You know, REALLY Luz."
She knew it. She definitely did not like the sound of that. And she's been around Jim long enough to know he's serious. Made worse by the fact her magic doesn't quite register Luz as a proper emotional anchor.
"I saw something when she asked to help with the cooking just now, something is definitely off and I'm not sure what. I figured I should tell you since she's your cousin and all." Jim finished, gauging his girlfriend's reaction. She was about to respond when they heard Luz yelp from the next room. Claire moved so quickly if Jim blinked he would have thought she portaled over there.
"Luz. Are you alright?" Claire asked pushing the door to her cousin's room open. Luz stood in front of her closet mirror, very close to it actually. Blocking it's view.
"Oh! Uh- I'm fine! Just... thought I saw a spider." She did not sound convincing. And the fact she could not look either of them in the face was not helping. Claire closed the door on the three of them. Her face was concerned but Jim could tell her eyes meant something different.
"Are you feeling okay Luz? You've been different since the last time I saw you." Claire asked sounding a bit worried. Jim stood off to the side and let Claire handle this.
"Oh yeah. You know, I did learn a lot from camp and all." Luz glanced back at the mirror and let out a breath she held in. Now she wasn't blocking and Jim narrowed his eyes slightly. So the thing he saw was real and almost definitely magic related when he saw another Luz. He met Claire's eye and gestured to the mirror, his face unchanged.
"Hey luz, do you remember the last time we saw each other?" Claire asked. There was a slight change to her tone. Jim recognized it, he heard it whenever changelings were involved.
"Oh... yeah. You and your parents came to visit again right?" Her tone sounded like she wasn't sure what she said was right. And judging by the look Jim saw it was not.
"Do you remember the gift we gave my little brother?" Claire's eyes were narrowing slightly.
"Yeah I think so. It was a stuffed toy right?" Jim could feel the storm brewing.
"What was her name?" 'Luz' might as well be a deer in headlights.
"Oh I don't really remember."
"But you named her."
It happened in an instant. Claire shot her hand towards 'Luz' and a portal opened underneath her. Her yelp was silenced as she fell through. Claire and Jim followed and landed on their feet in the shack where they first arrived. Her 'cousin' was on her butt and disoriented by what just happened. Claire didn't stop there. She waved her hand again and glowing purple chains were conjured into existence and coiled themselves around her like snakes. Claire conjured a dagger into her right hand and pointed it at the terrified captive.
"You're not my cousin." Something started to happen to her chained imposter. She started to change. Not like the way a changeling would. She wriggled in her chains as her skin and clothes shifted into something between scales and skin like a seal. Her head changed to something aquatic and reptilian with furry ears and turquoise hair and her legs changed into a finned snake like tail. She looked up into the angry eyes of Claire and Jim with tears threatening to leak out of hers.
"WAIT!" A loud and familiar voice cut into the situation. Only the three of them have no idea where it came from.
"Oh! Sorry, down here!" The voice directed the three eyes to a dirty old hand held makeup mirror that was left on the floor. And just like Jim saw in the Kitchen there was Luz. The real Luz.
"LUZ!" Claire snatched the mirror and looked at her cousin.
"I know this is weird but please don't hurt her! She's just scared." She looked back at the imposter who was shaking in the chains.
"Luz what happened to you!? Why are you in a mirror? Where are you!?" Claire fired questions off one after the other into the mirror.
"It's a long story but I'm in a place called the boiling isles in the demon realm and I'm safe... kinda. And I have some questions too." Luz said looking at the chains and dagger.
"And her?" She looked back at her terrified captive.
"She's definitely from demon realm. But I don't think she means any harm, look at her." She was right Claire and Jim noticed that she just looked at them genuinely scared. She hadn't made any move to attack.
"Okay." She let the dagger in her hand disappear but did not dispel the chains. In return the imposter shifted into a halfway form. Her ears were still the furry fins and her eyes were the same reptilian ones.
"Hey." Luz called out to the creature. "You're a demon from the isles right? My name is Luz what's yours?"
The imposter sat up in her chains. "My name is number fi- I mean Vee. So you're Camila's real daughter?"
"I am and right now I'm kinda stuck here on the isles. But who are you and why are you pretending to be me?"
"Something I would like to know too." Claire said sternly.
Vee sniffed. "I'm sorry. I was just looking for a place to belong. You were missing and Camila was just so kind so I decided to stay." She looked down at her chains. "But I guess that's not an option anymore."
"Well actually-" Luz was cut off by Claire pulling the mirror back to face her.
"Luz, if you were gonna tell her she can keep being you, then I will not be held responsible for what I do to you when I find you." Claire sounded like the big sister she is.
"Just for a while! She needs a place to stay. And I kinda have no way to get back in the first place...I might have, sorta, destroyed the only portal." And Luz sounded like the complaining little one.
"Maybe on your end, but we'll see about that over here." She looked at Jim. "We need to tell our friends."
"Already texted Tobes and Krel, and just sent the last one to Douxie." Jim showed his phone which already had replies from their friends.
"Ah yes, which reminds. *Ahem* How can you do magic!? And what do you mean by 'you'll see about it'? And is that your boyfriend Jim?" The last one was more out of curiosity than urgency.
"What ever long story you have this will be even longer. But the short of it is all the legends and fairy tales about magic around the world are real. And so are things like Trolls, dragons, aliens, and sorcerers. Which I am by the way." She proved it by conjuring a purple dove before having it fly away. She also dispelled the chains around Vee, who sat on her knees watching the conversation.
"Whaaaaaat?! The fairy tales were real the whole time! What else is real?! Is Merlin real? Is Camelot?" Luz asked with wonder in her eyes.
"Yep, the whole time. And yes they are too." Jim answered.
"No way! What next? Are you gonna tell me Jim is the wielder of Excalibur?!"
The two of them smiled at Luz.
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!"
I wanted to do a little more but I thought this would be a good place to stop. I won't add much spanish other than the odd word here or there or short sentences. Reason being I speak Spanish better than I write or spell.