Two chapters in one day! That's something to be thankful for!
Enjoy the most likely cringe writing!
"Alright, we got the russet potatoes for the mashed potatoes... The sweet potatoes for the casserole... The white potatoes for the scalloped potatoes..." Vee read off from the shopping list, as Raine pushed the cart with them.
"Who knew one holiday could have so many dishes relating to one vegetable?" Raine remarked.
"Wait till you see the amount of corn dishes." Vee replied lightheartedly.
Raine chuckled slightly, as they picked up a box of turkey stuffing from the shelf. They had been at the store for a while, but were moving along quite quickly.
"Why does the list say to make sure to hide any boxed or canned products we bring home?" Raine questioned, as they put the box in the cart.
"Mom just requested that on the list." Vee shrugged, "I'm not gonna question it."
"Well, alright then." Raine accepted the answer, continuing to push the cart.
They didn't have many other things to get, and had mostly found everything they needed. All that was missing was the canned cranberry sauce that Camila needed, and the medium tub of butter for the rolls and mashed potatoes.
"So, how has school been?" Raine asked, making small talk as they picked up the cranberry sauce from the shelf. "You do go to school, right?"
"I used to when I was posing as Luz... But now that she's back in school, I haven't been going." Vee explained, putting a tub of butter into the cart. "But mom's gonna enroll me after Thanksgiving break."
"Ah, I see." Raine murmured, as they pushed the cart towards the check-out lane.
"Alright, we got everything! So now all we have to do is check out, and we can head back to the house!" Vee smiled, "This is going pretty well so far!"
It seemed like the universe had heard her gloat of things going well, and didn't appreciate it. Because just then, the cashier spoke up to the customer in front of them.
"Have a nice Thanksgiving." The cashier waved off the customer in front of the two, as Raine pushed the cart forward.
Vee's blood ran cold, and glanced up from the cart to see a familiar face as the cashier.
"Do you have a membership card?" Jacob asked flatly, clearly wanting to be anywhere but where he was at the moment.
Vee was silent for a few moments. She hadn't seen Jacob since... Well, since he nearly dissected her live on his social media page.
Jacob cleared his throat, impatient. "Do you?" He asked again, "Don't really have all day here."
"...N-No, we don't." Vee finally managed to stutter out.
Jacob paused a bit, looking at the disguised basilisk curiously.
"You know, I swear I've heard your voice before..." Jacob remarked.
"Nope, we've never met before!" Vee quickly dismissed, trying to avoid making eye contact.
"...I didn't say we did." Jacob squinted a bit, now suspicious.
Vee was getting nervous now, a couple beads of sweat ran down her forehead. He was onto her! He could end up seeing through her disguise and kidnap her again!
But Raine seemed to notice Vee's current state, and spoke up. "You'll have to excuse her stuttering. My niece is a little shy in public." They claimed, making up an excuse and cover for the disguised basilisk's nervousness.
"I swear I've seen your 'niece' before... That hair looks familiar as well..." Jacob noted, as Vee grabbed her hair, trying to cover it a bit from view.
"She's sensitive about her hair, could you please not judge it?" Raine requested, trying to get Jacob to stop questioning Vee's appearance.
They didn't know what was so wrong about this man, but they could clearly see Vee wasn't very comfortable around him. So Raine wanted to try and get through check-out as quick as possible.
"No, no... I've definitely seen your so-called niece somewhere before!" Jacob ignored Raine's request, "Let me ask you something, I'm just curious, has your "niece" been acting sort of weird lately?"
Vee was getting even more nervous, she began to take deep breaths to try and calm herself as to not give herself away. Raine on the other hand, was getting annoyed by the interest this man had in Vee.
"Look, it's not your place to judge people, it IS your place to tell me how much I owe you for the groceries, so we can go." Raine narrowed their eyes at the human.
"I'm telling you, there's something-" Jacob tried to begin again, only for the customer behind Raine and Vee to speak up.
"Hey, could you move it along? I have food to cook at home!" The customer requested, impatient with how long Jacob was taking.
The man sighed hesitantly, but continued to quickly scan the items on the counter. "Your total is $231." Jacob eventually told the two.
Raine pulled out the money Camila had given them, and put it on the counter. As they began to bag the groceries, Jacob took one final glance at Vee.
Vee swore that she heard him mumble "I know it's you, demon..." under his breath. She shuddered, and quickly picked up her share of the bags, following Raine out of the store.
The witch and basilisk exited with the bags of groceries, the latter still slightly shaken from the encounter.
"Are you okay, Vee?" Raine asked as soon as they walked out the doors.
Vee said nothing, and nodded a bit, sighing as she did.
"Who was that man? Did you know them from somewhere?" Raine questioned, feeling concern about how Vee reacted to seeing him.
"...It's a long story, and I'll tell it to you later." Vee mumbled, "Let's just get home."
Raine respected Vee's wishes, and they both began to walk back towards the Noceda house. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, Jacob watched them leave through the store window. He had a weird feeling about those two. A weird feeling that he wanted to look more into...
Camila was very (ironically) thankful that Luz was around to act as a barrier between her and Miranda. She probably would have lost her mind already if it hadn't been the case.
Luz had made them all some pumpkin tea to drink while they looked at the photos on the laptop, which both Camila and Miranda agreed was very nice.
The pictures from "Luz's" stay in the reality camp were a good distraction, but unfortunately, they got through them pretty quickly. So now, Miranda was currently going on a tirade about how Camila's carpet looked.
"...It just clashes with the wallpaper, you really should think about getting it replaced. I know a good company, local business too, that does great carpet work..." Miranda rambled on, making gestures to the floor as she did.
Camila had a completely still expression on her face as she listened from her spot on the recliner. Luz could see it in her eyes, she wanted to snap but was using every fiber of her being to avoid doing it.
"Hey mamá, why don't we go check on the sauce in the fridge? It's probably cold enough by now!" Luz quickly came up with an excuse for the two to leave the room.
"O-Oh! Yes!" Camila was snapped out of her expression, "We should check on that!"
"Dios, finally something that's prepared ahead of time. There's a first time for everything." Miranda commented, making Camila grimace as she got up and turned to walk into the kitchen.
"...Come on, Mija." Camila uttered out, hiding the irritation in her voice.
The mother and daughter walked away into the kitchen, and Camila instantly leaned on one of the counters.
"Oh mi señor, this is hard." Camila panted heavily, stressed out from having to sit and listen to her mother-in-law's nitpicks for so long.
"We're gonna get through this mamá, you're doing great." Luz assured her mother, patting her back.
"Am I?! Because it feels like I'm about to snap like an uncooked taco shell!" Camila replied, her breathing getting faster.
Luz quickly took a paper bag from a drawer, and handed it to Camila. She began to hyperventilate into the bag rapidly.
"Breathe, mamá! Breathe..." Luz told her, trying to calm her mother down.
Camila continued to hyperventilate, until she eventually slowed her breathing down. She sighed heavily, taking the bag away from her mouth.
"What is taking everyone so long? At least a few of them should have been back by now!" She claimed, hushed as to not let Miranda hear.
Suddenly, the sound of magical chiming was heard... Before the Collector burst through the nearby (thankfully open) window on a star platform, he hopped off it with a grin.
"HEY!-" The Collector's loud greeting was cut off as Luz put her hand on his mouth to silence him.
"My abuela is in the other room!" Luz reminded, hushed as she took her hand off his mouth. "How would we explain you on a floating star to her?!"
"Oh, right... Sorry." The Collector sheepishly apologized, "But good news! I got turkey!"
He plopped something on the nearby counter... Something that was moving.
Camila took a single glance at the creature.
"That is a duck, Estrellita." Camila flatly observed, somewhat bewildered.
"...It is?" The Collector blinked, squinting at the duck. It quacked as it waddled around on the surface of the counter.
"Yes, that is definitely a duck. Not a turkey." Luz also observed, just as bewildered.
"My bad! I'll go and get a better turkey!" The Collector hopped back on his star, and zoomed off through the window.
Luz and Camila watched him go... And he returned a few moments later, picking the duck back up.
"I'mma go put this back." The star-child said, before zooming back off out the window.
The Noceda mother sighed. "Well, at least he's trying to help." She remarked.
"Yeah, that's true. Gotta give him that, he's trying." Luz added, before pausing. "How do you think the others are doing?"
"Hopefully fine." Camila sighed. She had a lot of faith in the kids they sent out, especially in the two getting the new table.
"That'll be $132.96." The clerk told Hunter and Gus, as the latter put the money on the table.
"I knew doing those 'magic tricks' in the streets for tips was a good idea!" Gus smiled, glad to have thought ahead to get the money needed for the table.
"Now all we have to do is get the box with the table in it back home!" Hunter said, gesturing at the box on the floor nearby that had been packed up for them.
"Alright, let's do this!" Gus nodded, as they both walked over to either side of the box.
The two strained as they lifted it up. The box holding a heavy table being surprisingly heavy. Who would have thought?
"How is this MORE heavy than the other table from before?!" Hunter grunted from the weight of the box.
"Less questioning physics, more walking!" Gus groaned, as they began to shuffle towards the door to leave.
It took some effort, but they made it to the door... And proceeded to struggle fitting the box through said doorway.
"Oh come on!" Hunter exclaimed, annoyed as he tried to push the box through on his end.
"Tilt it a little! Tilt it!" Gus ordered, trying to keep his footing from the outside end. "Tilt, Hunter!"
"I'M TILTING!" Hunter yelled back, annoyed by Gus repeating himself.
After a minute of arguing and moving the box, they managed to fit it through, and walked out onto the sidewalk. They both sighed in relief.
"We got it out!" Gus grinned, panting as he did.
"Well, at least now we can..." Hunter trailed off when he looked around at all the people walking on the sidewalks nearby.
It was when the realization hit them that they had to carry the box all the way back to the house without using magic.
"Oh Titan, this is gonna suck..." Gus moaned, as they began to slowly walk.
I've learned about so many different potato recipes from writing this chapter. You can boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew... Pretty much anything!
Next chapter won't be today, it'll more likely be tomorrow sometime.
Remember to leave a review and favorite if you enjoyed reading! I love reading your thoughts in the reviews!