You think, with how much hacking I'd been doing, one of my lungs would've popped. With every breath I took there was a fifty/fifty chance I'd be thrown into a coughing fit. Us witches were used to mold. I mean everyone got the common mold at least once or twice a year. But the human mold that was covering the entire second and third floor was really kicking everyone's asses.
There were a few exceptions. The poor Blight kid with the head injury and Luz's snake sister had two balcony doors in their room that they could let air in from, and the two humans were barely affected by it. Meanwhile Alador and I had it the worst. Everyone else spent a lot of time in the mold free downstairs, but we both spent most of our time up here. The Blight patriarch spent a good amount of time with his wounded daughter, while I spent all of time trying to cheer up mine.
Ever since she found her girlfriend's body for the second time, Luz stayed locked up in her hotel room. That door hadn't opened in days. She didn't come out to get food, she barely touched the food we slid under the door for her, and she wouldn't talk to anyone on the other end of it. You don't know how close I was to turning into my harpy form and bursting into her room. But Camila fought against it every time. Said that we shouldn't make her open up by force, and we should only push so much.
She had a point. Forcing her to push through the pain would just make her more miserable. But who knew what that kid was doing in there? Sure, she could've spent the whole day sleeping like she had been weeks prior, but there was a chance that she could be hurting herself or worse.
I was willing to give my apprentice a little more time to open up to someone on her own. Though, mark my words. If she suddenly stopped eating altogether, or didn't shout "go away" or "not now" when we knocked, Camila wouldn't be able to stop me from breaking in.
Speaking of Luz's mother, I found her standing in the hallway in front of a small table. It was mottled in smudged black splotches, also known as mold, while the vase on top was weathered and partially broken. The tired human echoed its gloom. I could feel her sadness all the way down the corridor.
"Still no luck?". It hurt to speak. My throat was completely shredded.
Camila jumped, letting out a holler in surprise. As she turned towards me, she grabbed at her chest.
"Eda" she welcomed while catching her breath. "You startled me".
"I seem to have that effect on people". My voice then shrunk to a whisper. "How is she?".
The woman was hesitant to answer, but her silence was clear enough. The kid wasn't doing any better. I figured she wouldn't be. The real question was did she get any worse.
"Is she still eating?".
"Yes, but not much. I think the only reason she's eating at all is to stop the hunger pains".
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath out. The more and more this whole thing dragged on the farther away the Luz of old felt. What kind of horrid things had to have happened for the sickeningly optimistic teen, who wanted more than anything to become a human witch, to hit rock bottom so hard? Everything that happened inside the hotel was only a part of it, the final straw. That kid had been corroding for years and none of us noticed until she started to break.
"Mi precioso bebé (my precious baby)" the human next to me squeaked to herself. "What did this summer do to you?".
"You think this is all from her time in the demon realm?" I rasped around a humorless scoff. "Yeah, she's had some problems with Belos and the law, but she made new friends, she made the daughter of one of the richest families here fall head over heels for her, she became a witch for the titan's sake. That was literally her dream. I doubt any of that would have happened in that "summer camp" place she was going to".
The desolation in Camila's eyes lit ablaze. By the way she tensed and gnashed her teeth I knew quite an argument was coming.
"And yet she's just as miserable as she was at home, except now she's stuck in a place that threatens her life on a daily basis".
"At least she belongs here" I spat back. My fangs came out just as fast as Camila's did.
"She belongs at home!".
"Apparently not! She hated it there! The only reason she worked so hard on that portal was she cared about you!".
"I tried to make her happy! I really did!". The floorboards creaked in anguish as the angry human stepped closer to me. "And for a while we were, despite all of the assholes who thought we shouldn't be! But then Manny got sick, and we were forced to move to an even worse town! And when we lost him… I…I".
Camila threw her head into her hands. She held her breath to prevent letting out all of her grief with a sob. The sorry sight made my defensive rage disappear. Luz went on and on about what her mom was like, but she never mentioned her father. And, I guess, now I knew why.
"Luz lost her dad?" I asked while reaching out to her mourning mother.
"A few years ago" she sniffled. "She says it doesn't upset her anymore, but I can clearly see it does".
"You don't just get over something like that" I hmmed while nodding. "Was she and him close?".
"As close as they possibly could be. I don't think I'd ever seen someone so excited as Luz was whenever her papi came home from work. She just got this certain look in her eyes" The more she spoke, the more Camila relaxed. Her fiery temper cooled back into her usual exhaustion. "I miss seeing her happy".
"Tell me about it. As annoying as it was, I'd kill to go back to the days where she'd pester me about magic stuff. Seeing her like this is one of the most painful things I've ever experienced, and I've been through a lot of shit".
"I can't believe she wants me to just up and stop caring about her. If I ever lost her, it would be the end of me".
"Then what am I supposed to do, mom?".
The sudden new voice startled the shit out of me. Despite standing outside of her room, Luz was the last person I expected to join our conversation.
The sight of her scared me even more. The already skinny human had lost a ton of weight she didn't even have. Her eyes were as cloudy as a thunderstorm, while the bags under them were as dark as they possibly could be. Her hair was so greasy it looked soaking wet, ironically like she had just showered.
"Mija," her mother cheered in raw relief.
"It's about time" I added before being thrown into a coughing fit.
Luz's angry scowl fell for a second. Her mouth gaped in surprise; the heartache reflected in her eyes projected her inner guilt.
"See" she cried while her self-loathing returned. "That's what caring about me gets you. Even when I try to disappear, I'm still getting my loved ones hurt".
"Seriously?" I coughed. "You're blaming yourself for all of the mold around here too? I'm pretty sure it's older than you are".
"You wouldn't have breathed all of it in if you never came here".
"I know, but some douche trapped my kid in this shithole" I wryly huffed. The older of the two Noceda's smacked me on the side of my arm. If looks could kill, Luz would be down a mentor.
"Language".
"Oh, yes. Because that's what's important right n-".
"Luz,". Camila walked over to her child. I noticed her chest jolt as the musty smell that was trapped inside of Luz's room hit her senses. "Why are you being so cruel to yourself? You're acting as if you're as bad as the hotel owner, when you're the reason he hasn't killed more people".
The older woman put her hand on Luz's shoulder but her eldest shook it off. "Tell that to Amity".
"Amity was murdered, both times. And she wasn't murdered by you". Desperation laced my voice. It was bad enough she lost the love of her life, twice, but, like she did with everything else, she had to blame herself for it.
The second we got out of this hotel we were getting that girl a therapist.
"He said he killed her because she hurt me. I know she didn't turn me down because she didn't like me. Why did I have to go and overreact?".
It was my turn to walk to Lu–- Son of a hellhound! The closer I got to the kid the less and less I could breathe! How had she not been suffocated by mold by then!
"Eda!" Luz yowled as she closed the space between us. I was barely able to choke out a response.
"I'm okay, kid. I've just got a mold".
"It's killing you!" Luz pushed. "You need to leave, now!".
"Nope. I'm not leaving without you, and I doubt Willow and Goops will either".
"So, you're just going to sit here and die?! And for what? For me?!".
"Who's gonna die?" a new voice called out.
At the speed of light, a young basilisk slithered towards the three of us. She was as impatient as possible, like she had left something cooking on the stove that could explode at any second.
"Nobody" I hacked through my shaky breathing.
"Oh, yes. Eda's perfectly fine, the prettiest picture of health I've ever seen" her sister sardonically griped.
"And don't you forget it".
Vee looked just as reassured as Luz did. She shrank while the weight of the whole situation pushed her down. Her blue eyes were bright with a fearful unease.
"Is it the sickness?".
"The sickness?" Camila questioned. "Which sickness?".
"The one Emira predicted. She said that it'll destroy your lungs, and that, if your lips turn blue, you'll die" she explained. She turned her attention towards Luz. "Emira sent me after you. She said the sickness would kill you if you didn't come out of your room, just like Edric".
"Edric's dead?!" Luz yowled. As her heart dropped her body threatened to do the same.
"I don't know!" Vee yipped. "I haven't heard anything about that except from Emira".
"He's not dead" Camila cooed to both of her panicking children. "I was just downstairs, and he was standing behind the counter as usual".
Luz took a moment to slow down her breathing before uttering, "We still need to get him out of here, and everyone else. We're running out of time!".
"That's the other reason Emira wanted me to fetch you" Vee went on. "She says her sister's going to wake up soon, and it's time for "light to turn to flame".
"Light to turn to flame? Baby Blight had another vision?".
My question was pointed towards her new sister, but my eyes were on Luz. The sickly Blight went on and on about how fire would free us. Now there was no way in hell the human could deny her self-worth now.
Okay, sure. Being told that you had to save all your friends from a deranged criminal could also be very stress inducing. But she'd already help free most of her classmates. She just had a handful more to go.
"No," Luz answered for her sibling. "That was one of the things Amity said when her mom took a piece of her hair".
Camila's similar brown eyes went wide at her daughter's response. Her expression showed her worry and pity for the younger witch, but I knew there had to be a bit of anger hiding underneath it.
"She what?".
"She stole a lock of her kid's hair and talked gossip with a bunch of ghosts with it. You know, like every normal loving mother does" I murmured while leaning over to her.
"And Emira thinks it's all up to me?" Luz asked, her fear overshadowing her anger more and more each word.
"It has to mean you" I jumped in. "Look at how close you've already got to bringing your girlfriend's memories back".
"Until I screwed everything up and got all of her memories erased".
"No" I spat assertively. "The hotel owner erased her memories by killing her".
"Because—" Luz tried to argue before I interrupted.
"Because he wanted her to die in front of all of his guests. He would have killed her eventually, whether you were there or not".
"And now she's up here, away from the crowd downstairs and the killer" Camila continued just as strongly. "It'll be much harder for him to reset her memories, especially with Dusty around".
Just like her mother, I placed my hand on my apprentice's shoulders. This time she didn't shake it off of her or shove me away. She simply brought her gaze to mine.
"Amiyah needs you, and I know you need her just as much. That's not going to change no matter how many mistakes you make".
Luz's shoulders sank. The fire in her eyes diminished into nothing but a tired cloudy smoke. All of the child's hatred towards herself hadn't disappeared, it was definitely still there. But she pushed it all into a dark little crevice in her mind for her beloved girlfriend's sake.
"I'll do my best" she mumbled before making her way to Vee's side. The young basilisk let out a sigh of relief.
"I was worried there for a second. If I would've come back without you, then Emira would've gotten up and dragged you back herself".
"Isn't someone watching her?" her human healer asked in alarm.
"Her dad is, but that won't stop her from escaping" her youngest answered before the two children said their goodbyes, turned around, and headed back down the corridor.
"Dios" I barely heard their mother puff. "I don't know how much more of this I can take". I took my own deep breath.
"Who knew children could get so complicated".
The human fell silent, and so did I. The former was staring off at her thoughts. By the way she frowned I could tell she was deeply lost in them.
"I'm sorry". The shock from the out of the blue apology pulled Camila right back to reality. "I shouldn't've blown up like that earlier. It's just…Titandammit! Not knowing if she was ok or not, for days, was torture".
"Now you know how I've felt for the past few months. I mean the demon realm". Camila laughed despite not finding what she said funny. "My baby was trapped in a world filled with creatures I only thought existed in horror movies".
"A lot of those creatures aren't too bad," I tried to reassure. "Just look at Vee. Her appearance would scare most witches, let alone humans. Yet you took her in like she was one of your own".
"I'm not denying there are good people here, Eda. But from all I've heard from Vee, Amity, even Luz herself, it's hard not to be scared for both her and for myself".
I'd completely forgotten about that. Everyone was too busy fussing about Luz, for good reason mind you, that Camila's struggles were shoved to the side. She was new to this realm and, unlike her kid who got to explore the isle with the most powerful witch by her side, she was welcomed by a bunch of dead children shoved into meat puppets.
"There are scary things in every realm. I mean your realm has Giraffes in it".
"Giraffes" Camila chuckled. "With all the monsters you all face, you're scared of giraffes".
"They are unholy freaks of nature!" I argued. "Besides. They aren't the only scary thing there. Are there or are there not giant metal birds that can wipe out entire cities with their eggs?".
The human's short-lived smile withered away. I may have gotten a few things wrong there, but the destroyed cities part was definitely true.
"They aren't birds. They're machines controlled by people".
"You're saying humans destroy their own cities?" I deadpanned. She had to be messing with me. There have been many wars that have broken out on the isle, but they have never ended with entire cities being destroyed.
"Never near where Luz and I live".
"But that happens?". When Camila said nothing, I continued. "Look. I've had my fair share of outings in your realm so I know that everything can seem a lot scarier when you don't know what you're doing. Maybe it might help if you ask some of the witches here about the magic they practice or learn some glyph magic".
The woman next to me was once again silently searching through her thoughts. Though, her trek this time was much shorter.
"Do you think it would help the bears too?".
"Well… Yeah… That sounds like a great idea. Learning about magic, even if they can't perform it, might help spark their memories of being witches. And it would give Luz something to focus on other than moping". Excitedly, I hooked my arm around Camila's shoulder. "Now we're cooking with snake-oil!".
"Snake -oil?".
"Hey. Nobody wants an un-oiled snake" I explained with a shrug. "Now, com' on. We gotta go talk to your kid".
"She's your kid too".
She thought I didn't hear that, but I definitely did. My breath caught my surprise. I didn't say anything back; I'd had enough of being sappy for one day. But I'm glad I was beginning to see that Luz's human mother was finally seeing eye to eye with her owl one.