"Willow!" I hollered. I tried to knock on the door in front of me but ended up knocking on the air instead.
Life with one eye was rough. Because of my awful depth perception, I never quite knew where something was until I either failed to grab it or crashed into it. But it was much better than not being alive at all. That I was one-hundred percent sure of.
I didn't have to worry about an untimely demise anymore, at least not as much as I had to while staying at the killer's hotel. Both were just a bad memory now. The fire had turned the death filled building to ashes, while the smoke ended the owner's killing spree forever.
I can't say it was like it never happened. The gaping hole that used to be my left eye and the skin suits my dead peers were bound to were a constant reminder of that horrible fieldtrip, but it was also a reminder that we escaped.
"Willow!" I called again after finding the door. "Time to go!".
"Just a second!" my old friend shouted back. After a few moments the door opened, revealing a lively looking teen. Her green eyes glistened in the sun, the life the hotel drained from them fully rejuvenated.
"Morning, Gus" she greeted. "How's your eye feeling today?".
Right. I'd been having a little trouble with it the day before. I lost my eye patch for a little bit and my surgical wounds weren't happy about it.
"It's doing better now" I answered nonchalantly. "The healing patches did wonders for it".
The fluffy bee palisman on her shoulder crawled down her arm and jumped. While it did so, it turned into its staff form. Willow broke into a sprint and hopped onto it. She shot into the air like a bolt of magic. I raced after her just as quickly.
Next stop was the owl house, to pick up Hexide's two human students. Unlike her daughter, Mrs. Camila only attended a few classes. She didn't have a uniform or a track. She wasn't there to learn magic, just to learn more about the place she was stuck in.
Both her and Eda were standing in the clearing, right outside of their home. They were facing each other, both in a rigid stance. If I hazard a guess, Mrs. Camila and Eda were doing some early morning sparring.
The owl lady threw a plant spell towards the human. Despite her age, Mrs. Camila swiftly jolted out of the way. She tossed a glyph of her own onto the ground. She activated it with her foot but mistakenly didn't move out of the way.
A pillar of ice launched her right into Eda. The two tumbled around in the dust, before the former bounced onto her feet. It took her a moment to realize what happened, but she then let out a "ha!".
"That was sloppy," Eda grumbled. "Completely ungraceful".
"But it worked," Willow laughed while the both of us landed.
"Willow, Gus" the Noceda welcomed. She shifted her attention to me. "How is your eye, cariño?".
"It's doing okay now that the swelling's gone" I answered before asking, "Where's Luz?".
"She went to school early to prepare for today's lesson" Eda huffed as she hoisted herself up.
Luz was taking her job as a teacher very seriously. She began teaching a new class that principal Bump created for the bears and Camila called "Bare Necessities" (the name was Luz's idea not Bumps). It not only taught the artificial humans about adapting to life in the demon realm, but it also taught them about glyph combos.
"Flight for one then?" Willow hmmed. Mrs. Camilla's confidence melted like her ice spell. Even though she had flown before in the human realm, the older woman was not a huge fan of air-travel.
"Let me get my bag first," she chuckled nervously.
"Allow me" an annoying voice chirped. The house demon had been so quiet I nearly forgot he was there. Yet he still was able to give me the creeps.
Hooty stretched his wiggly neck to Mrs. Camila's side and began to heave. Sliding its way past all of his gagging noises, an old, slobber-covered black backpack dropped into the human's arm.
"Thank you, Hooty" Camila squeaked before rushing onto Willow's staff. She wrapped her arms around the teen's torso, clinging on for dear life.
For everyone else but Mrs. Noceda, the flight to Blight Manor was short. Emira was patiently sitting on the stairs, wearing lounge pants and a shirt that said "I see dead people". She no longer had the bandages on her head, and her hygiene had majorly improved now that swelling in her brain disappeared.
But even though she could walk and bathe, it was much harder for her. She would be stuck with chronic headaches for the rest of her life and her inner ear needed a lot of physical therapy before her balance got anywhere close to normal. That was probably why she wasn't in her school uniform. She was taking the school day off to go to the healing coven.
"Hey guys" she called while Willow and I landed in front of her. Her voice had since gone back to normal. "How's your eye…er?".
"Gus".
"I know. Just screwing with you" Emira chuckled. "Glad to hear your eye isn't still bothering you. Wish I could say the same about my head".
"I can't say your head will heal one hundred percent, querida" Mrs. Camila hushed, comforted by her feet being on the ground again. "But the more you work at it, the easier things will get".
"It's like with my eye," I added. "It's pretty difficult doing pretty much anything, but I can't move past it if I don't push forward".
"I know," Emira murmured, still a bit disheartened. "You've gotta fight for the pain free days".
The door behind the injured Blight creaked open slightly, but then stopped. Amiyah was partially outside but she paused and turned towards her brother.
"You first," she said with a smooth smile.
"Why, so everyone can see how ugly you've made me" Edric gruffed.
"Come on, Ed" Emira laughed, she being the only one knowing what the two were up to. "You don't look that bad".
"No" Amiyah responded before pushing her younger brother outside. He ducked into his arms in attempts to hide his hair, but the newly black locks stuck out like a sore thumb. "Because you've never heard of closing a goddamn door".
Mrs. Camila shed her confusion. She couldn't hold back her laughter, no matter how hard she tried.
"I'm sorry, joven but…Luz showed you that emo cd she found on the third floor, didn't she?".
"Oh" I gaped at Edric and Amiyah in intrigue. "This is a human thing".
"This is a Mittens put dye in the shampoo and let him get to the shower first thing" Emira snickered.
"I thought we agreed the bathroom was prank free?".
"For me," Amiyah corrected. "Besides, I did it for love".
"This was Luz's idea?". Willow barely kept her chuckle inside of her.
"She told me that, since Ed and Em love pranks so much, I should join them".
"She meant come goblin tipping with us not–". Edric ruffled his dark hair in frustration. "THIS!".
Mrs. Camila dug into the front pocket of her backpack. After a bit of rummaging, she pulled out a pair of sunglasses. She tossed them to the angry Blight, who fell in love with her idea before she could tell him.
When he put them on, he summoned a mirror and gazed at his reflection. He did a small pose, then another.
"It goes well with the hair, doesn't it".
"Mrs. Camila,". Edric took a breath out and casually put his palms together. "You are literally the coolest adult ever".
"And you literally look like a dork" his twin put in. "Now you nerds need to get going before you're late for the first period".
"Hold on". Just as Amiyah said, we all froze in our tracks. "I think Edric wants to say something about his chemical romance".
Camila's laughing turned to frightened crying as Willow took off. Amiyah hopped onto ghost. Though she didn't remember all her flying lessons, all that knowledge was still inside of her.
"You coming?" I question while glancing at Edric.
"I'm going to walk today".
"Oh, no you're not," Emira chided. "You're supposed to be taking it easy on your lungs".
"Shut up, mom," he joked back. Emira leapt to her feet and whacked the back of her brother's head.
"You get your ass on the palisman before I throw you on there myself".
He griped about it, but he hopped onto the back of my staff. Good choice. If I'd learned anything in the past few months, it was that hell hath no fury like the Blight's scorn.
The hallways of Hexide were hectic as normal. Witches gathered into cliques, talking all they could before they were all forced to go to class. Boscha and her crew were no exception.
"It's not too bad," Anna argued with a smile. "She barely gives us any homework".
"Yea. Luz is a pretty laid back teach–". Skyler's sentence was broken by her peer bumping into her.
Boscha lit ablaze. She went nose to nose with the frightened student, her eyes burying themselves into him.
"I'm so so sorry" he stammered.
"You're sorry?" The triclops bit back. When he didn't say anything, she spat, "Are you SORRY?".
"Yes, yes,".
"Then tell that to Skyler, and then get lost".
"Sorry for bumping into you!" he barked, flinching as he braced for more scorn.
"It's fine". The bear was more speaking to her friend than the kid who bumped into her. With that the poor student scampered away like a scared rat.
"Careful, Boscha" Amiyah jokingly hmphed as we passed by. "Don't want anyone seeing you have a soul".
"Please. I was only helping my fellow Banshee out".
"You joined the grudgby team!" I cheered. Skyler had been so unsure about it she asked Luz's class what to do. Glad to see we were able to talk her into it.
"Yep! I'm the team strategist".
"Which means we can't afford you getting hurt, EVER".
"I'll be fine, Bosch" Skyler giggled as she pushed the overbearing bully away. "I'm not a baby anymore".
As both her and Anna joined Camila, Amiyah, and I, Boscha cried out, "protect her with your lives".
We were the first few to make it to the classroom aside from Luz. When we walked in, we found said human next to the window. She stared off into the vivid blue sky. She wallowed in her many thoughts, her feelings obviously sitting on her shoulders.
Amiyah crept up behind her and rested her hand on her girlfriend's arm.
"Penny for your thoughts" the red head murmured delicately.
"No," Luz replied with a weak smile. "My thoughts are priceless".
Like a switch had been flicked, the younger Noceda snapped into a happier self. She latched onto Amiyah with the widest smile.
"Good morning, Agridulce".
"Buenos días, batata (good morning, sweet potato)".
"Amiyah…did you just speak Spanish?!" Luz gasped. Her brown eyes grew watery in pride.
"Muy bien, cariño. Veo que has estado practicando (Very good, sweetie. I see you've been practicing)".
Before the stunned human could ask further, Amiyah purred, "As your awesome girlfriend, I figured I should start taking lessons". The squee that Luz let out in response was ear piercing.
"Are we interrupting something?".
We all carried our attention to the classroom door. Standing there was a familiar blonde bear with a missing eye. I waved my old pen pal inside while I took my seat.
"Morning, Augustus," Julius acknowledged, settling in the spot beside me. "How's your–".
"It's good". The bear just confusedly gawked at me. "Sorry. You're like the third person to ask this morning".
As the two of us continued talking, all the tables around us filled up. Soon the entire class had gathered. Luz hushed them, then gathered her lesson notes on her desk.
"Alright, everybody!" she cheerily began. "Before we start today's lecture, does anybody have any questions from yesterday?".
A bulkier bear in the back raised his hand high into the air, ready to ask the same question he'd asked a million times now.
"No Randel," Luz answered with a sigh. "We still haven't found a way to separate your souls from your suits".
"What's your hurry anyways" Amiyah added. "You do realize what will happen when our souls are free. We'll be forced to leave this world forever".
"Would you prefer we stay human children forever? That's not what we are".
"But it is. We are bears, at least for now". Amiyah dramatically rose to her feet as her voice got bolder. It was almost as if she was pretending to be me when I gave my before battle speeches. "Look, we'll find a way to pass on but for now, we have a chance to live. So, let's live until we can't".
Amiyah gazed into her love's eyes. Though she was speaking to everyone, all her attention was for Luz.
"Wow…" she sputtered while her face flushed red. "Thank you for your awesome answer, miss Ba–".
When the human least expected it, Amiyah crashed her lips into Luz's. Luz sunk into her embrace, letting herself relax from her surprise, while the rest of the class hooted and hollered.
"Te quiero, mi amor (I love you, my love)" she whispered into her teacher's round ear.
That clever girl. That was why she was in such a good mood that morning. She knew that would happen.
"Yep" was all Luz could say in response. "On to today's lesson!".
(Well, we're finally here, at the end! I am so grateful for everyone who took the time to read this story and for all the praise and comments I've gotten. I truly hope you all have enjoyed it just as much as I have)