AN: Turns out this part was already mostly done, which is why I managed to get it out so fast (If you can call two weeks "fast").
Sitting in front of her computer, Luz hummed as she pulled up a web browser. "Let's see… 'Gravesfield,' 'magic…' uh… 'witches?'" To be honest, she really wasn't expecting anything to pop up, but it was still worth a shot. "Helllloo," she drawled.
"Hey Luz?" Luz looked over to Vee, who pointed at the face mask she now sported. "Think this'll work?" she ask, voice slightly muffled.
Luz nodded. "Yeah, should do for now," she said before beckoning the demon over. "Hey, come take a look at this."
Vee walked over to the screen and read the website's header. "'Secrets of Gravesfield?'" She raised an eyebrow. "I… don't get it."
"No, this part." Luz highlighted a section of text.
"'Come learn the tale of the Brothers Wittebane, and see the history of Gravesfield's role in the… witch hunts of yore?'" Vee frowned. "I thought you said witch hunts didn't actually go after witches, it was just a bunch of people panicking."
"We-well yes, but," Luz held up a finger, "what if it wasn't?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean if you found a portal here, then… maybe someone else did? And if they did then… maybe they left something behind?" Vee didn't respond, so she continued. "Plus, I mean, it's a museum. If some magic artifact is anywhere, it would be in one of those." Seeing her sister still wasn't entirely convinced she let out a sigh. "Look, it's the only thing I can think of, and it's better than nothing."
Vee bit her lip. It was a long shot in all honesty; even if they could find something, chances are any magic it had would have leaked out by now. But even then… "Yeah, I guess you're right…" She sighed. "I guess we should probably get started then."
"Yeah…" Luz closed her laptop and the two left the Noceda residence. "¡Adiós, mamá! " Luz called out as she exited the door. "¡Vee y yo vamos a salir un rato!" {Bye Mom! Vee and I are going out for a bit!}
"¡OK, Diviertete! ¡Vuelve pronto!" {Okay, have fun! Be back soon!} Camila called from the kitchen before sighing. It was great how her two kids were getting along (and was it weird she already thought of Vee like that? Actually, better question, did she care?), but was it too much to ask to get some family time together? She quickly shook the selfish thought away; it was only their second day back, there would be plenty of time for family bonding later.
Camila was drawn out her thoughts when Luz's cry of alarm came from outside. Immediately dropping what she was doing, not even registering this also involved dropping a sharp knife, she burst out the door after her kids. "LUZ!" She called.
"I'm fine!" Luz called back, prone on the ground. "By the way, I found another trap!" She pointed down at her ankle, where Vee was busy trying to untie the string that had tripped her.
Camila sighed, rested her head in her hand and muttered "Lo juro, si alguna vez encuentro a quien está preparando esto, yo..."{I swear, if I ever find whoever's setting these up, I'll…} She left the threat unfinished and went back in to grab some bandages.
"The Gravesfield Historical Society…" Luz mused.
Vee gave her sister an unamused look. "Yes, that… is what the sign says…"
As Vee stated, that is indeed what the sign said (with the haphazard addition of "Under new management," as well as a further addition of "Help wanted" below that).
"So it is…" Luz looked at her sister. "Shall we go in?"
Vee sighed. "Yeah, let's get this over with…"
The two walked down the path and up the stairs to their destination. Before they could open the door though, it was opened for them by someone with a very familiar face.
"Oh, hey girls."
"Oh, hi Masha," Luz responded. "Fancy meeting you here."
"Yeah what are the odds?" Masha responded. "I mean, if I knew you were interested in coming here I'd have invited you to come with."
"Yeah, funny how things work out," Vee said with a chuckle.
Masha frowned, noticing something about her friend. "Are you… feeling alright?"
"Wh-what do you mean?" Vee asked.
Instead of responding verbally, Masha simply raised a hand to her cheek.
Vee mirrored the action. "Oh, the mask. Yeah, I just… caught a mold or something and figured better safe than sorry, you know?"
"Ah." Masha nodded, before cocking her head. "Wait, you mean a 'cold,' right?"
"…That's what I said."
"Oh, I thought you said…" Masha waved a hand. "Ah, never mind, it's silly."
Vee looked down and noticed what Masha was holding. "So, uh… where'd you get the cards?"
"Oh, these?" Masha held up the cards in question. "Yeah, cool huh? The curator guy was selling them."
"Oh, cool." Vee nodded. "Well nice seeing you."
"Yeah, you too," Masha said, walking off. "Catch ya later."
"Yeah, you too," Vee said with a wave before leaning in and whispering to Luz "We're on the right track, did you see those cards she had?"
"You mean the tarot cards?"
"Hexas Hold-em cards," Vee corrected. "It's a game from the Isles." She frowned, not that it was visible. "Those ones were drained though."
Luz grinned. "Ha, see? Told you!"
"Yeah, yeah…" Vee opened the door. "Come on, let's go."
On the other side of the door was a simple room, with several brochure stands lining the walls and a desk in the center. On said desk was a stack of those Hold-em cards, with a hand written "for sale" sign propped up next to them.
"Oh, hi." Also, there was a man. "Welcome to the Historical Society. Can I help you?"
Luz frowned. "Um, actually…"
"Could you distract him for a moment?" Vee whispered.
"Yes," Luz corrected. "We were actually wondering about…" Luz's gaze darted around before landing on a nearby cardboard cutout, "that!"
"Ah, yes," said the man (Jacob, according to his name tag) as he walked over to the depiction of an old croan (or, according to the plaque, a witch). "That's part our exhibit on the Gravesfield witch hunts. Now obviously this is a bit of an exaggeration, not all witches actually looked like this…"
As Jacob was busy explaining, Vee pulled her mask down and took a deep whiff over the cards.
"…Which is only one of the reasons why witch hunters could have such a hard time tracking down actual witches."
"Uh, right…" Luz said. Did he have to sound so positive about that?
"You know I actually have a tour starting in about half an hour. You're welcome to join if you don't mind waiting a bit."
"Oh, thanks, but we…" She glanced over to Vee. "We'd like to do our own research… Uh, no offense."
Jacob looked down at her before giving a wide smile. "None taken; it's always good to see people drawing their own conclusions."
And with that Jacob moved back behind the desk, with Vee quickly taking his place beside Luz. "Anything?" the latter whispered.
"Not the cards, but there's definitely something around here."
"Alright, let's check the exhibits."
The two exited the reception area through the doorway labeled "museum." The next few minutes were then spent wandering the displays, with Vee pausing ever so often to make sure they were still on the right track. It didn't take long before Vee frowned. "Okay; good news is I know where it is."
Luz groaned, knowing there was only one way phrasing like that could be followed up. "And the bad?"
"The bad news is it's in there," she explained, pointing at the door labeled "Staff only."
"Ah," Luz said. That… wasn't actually too big a problem. "…Up for some trespassing then?" she asked.
Vee sighed. "It wouldn't be the first time," she grumbled.
Luz looked around. No one was in the room, and there weren't any security cameras pointed their way. "Okay, let's get this over with," she said pushing open the door for Vee. Several seconds of silence followed, as Luz stood guard. "Anything?" she asked.
No response.
"Vee?" Luz entered the room. "Is everything…" she trailed off upon seeing the room's contents.
The various boxes and shelves gave it the appearance of a storage room. However, there were several things that subtracted from that image. For example, the mount of various blades and torture instruments. More eye-catching however, was the wall covered in various newspaper clippings and pictures, with red string connecting several together.
Luz turned as pale as her sister currently was. "Oh genial," she muttered, "un cuarto llena de locos." {Oh great, a room full of crazy}
Vee slowly nodded.
"Okay, uh… let's just find what we need and get out," Luz hastily suggested.
Vee nodded. "Right," she agreed, before taking a deep breath. Her attention snapped over to a table on the far side of the room, directly under the string-covered wall. "Over here," she said, leading Luz over.
The table had several knickknacks on it, many of which Vee actually recognized as actual magic items. Unfortunately many of them seemed drained, but there were still a few that weren't. The sisters browsed the items, with Vee grabbing a charged stack of cards and Luz examining a wand that caught her eye.
"So what do you need to do?" Luz asked. "Like do you need something or is there some kind of-"
Vee crumpled one of the cards into a ball and popped it into her mouth.
"Oh, you just… literally eat it." Luz blinked. "I… don't know why I expected something different." As Vee continued enjoying her snack, Luz looked at the wand in her hand. "Hey is this thing even real?" she asked.
Vee slipped the remaining cards into her pocket. "Oh yeah, that's a training wand. Apparently they're supposed to give extra magic to help witches learn spells."
"Oh really…" A grin grew on Luz's face. If this thing supplied its own magic, did that mean she could use it? "Abracadabra!" she cried, flicking the wand. Nothing happened. "Magic!" She flicked it again. "Bippity-boppity-bo!" This time she at least managed to make a few sparks. "So uh… how do you use this thing?"
Vee thought for a moment. "Actually, I don't know. I've never really used one. Well, not for spells at least."
"Well then what did you use them for?"
"…Lunch, mainly."
"…Fair enough," Luz said, moving to place the wand down before reconsidering. "I'm still keeping this," she said, slipping it into her pocket. "But we should probably go now."
"Right."
The two moved to exit the room. However, neither of them noticed the small laser tripwire on the floor until it was too late.
A soft beeping was all the warning Luz got before she was surrounded on all sides by metal bars.
AN: Hope you enjoyed. Unfortunately, unlike this one was, the third and final part is mostly unfinished, so it may be a bit longer of a wait. Also, as I'm sure you noticed, I decided to try adding a bit of Spanish to the dialogue. Feel free to correct me if I made a mistake, because I had to rely on a translator program as I do not speak Spanish myself, nor do I have any friends