AN: Well happy one year anniversary to me! Seriously, I can't believe I've been working on this thing for that long (even if it has been off-and-on at times). In celebration, here's another installment that ended up being like three times as long as I'd thought it'd be.

(This chapter takes place immediately after the first)

"Luz?" Camila called as she wandered through the woods. Several minutes ago she had followed her daughter into them, but she must have made a wrong turn somewhere because now she herself was lost. And to top it all off, Luz wouldn't answer her texts, which only made her worry more.

No, no, she was probably just over-reacting. Luz was probably fine, she just needed a bit of time alone. And look, there she was in that clearing ahead, perfectly fine. "Luz? Oh thank god, I've been looking everywhere for…" Wait, why was she seeing double? "…you?"

The Luces looked over to her in shock. "Oh… Hi… Mom…" one of them said, scratching her head. "So… funny story…"

Camila tried to give some kind of response, but didn't quite know what to sa- wait, did the other one's eyes just… No, it was just a trick of the light, had to be.

As Luz – the real Luz, she presumed – whispered something to the other girl, Camila cleared her throat. "So… would one of you mind telling me just what exactly is going on here?"

Luz's eyes flicked between her mother and Not-Luz. "Okay, but… could we go home first?"

"Fine." Camila actually knew the way home from the shack, so she led the way with the girls following behind her. "I expect a good explanation for this," she said.

"I- I know, and I promise we'll explain everything when we get home," Luz replied.

"What are we going to tell her?" Camila heard the other child whisper in a nasally voice.

"…I think we're going to have to tell her the truth," Luz whispered back.

"…Do we have to?"

"Yes," Camila said intensely and the two girls paled in realization that they hadn't been as quiet as they thought.

"We were going to have to tell her eventually anyways," Luz said back in an even softer voice. "And how else are we going to explain this?"

"…Are you sure she'll be okay with… you know…"

"I'm… sure it will be fine."

The rest of the trek was spent in silence, and the trio soon arrived at the house. Camila unlocked the door and allowed the two children to pass thr- hold on, did Not-Luz always have her hair combed over like that? Well at least it gave her an easy way to tell between the two.

And oh god wasn't that a scary thought? Had she not stumbled into this prank (which was the only thing this could be) when she did, would she have even noticed the difference? Oh what was she thinking, of course she would! For one thing they sounded completely different, so she'd know something was up the moment Not-Luz spoke. And even if that weren't the case, there's no way she'd have not noticed if her child stared acting different!

(But how long would it have taken?)

Camila shook the thoughts away as she closed the door before leading the kids to the dining table, where they took seats across from her. All three of them sat in silence before Camila broke it. "So… would one of you mind explaining what's going on here?"

The two lookalikes shared a glance before Luz said "Well that's… kind of an interesting story…" She swallowed under Camila's glare. "So… first of all, this is Vee."

"H-hi," said Vee.

Camila made a humming sound. "And just what were you and this 'Vee' planning?"

"Wh- Nothing!" her daughter protested.

Camila crossed her arms, and her expression made it clear she didn't believe that. "Oh? Then what were the two of you doing out in the woods together?"

Luz looked at Vee, who gave a resigned nod, before taking a deep breath. "Okay, so you remember how I threw my Azura book in the trash?"

"Yeah?" Camila managed to avoid flinching at the reminder.

"Well after you left I tried to get it back but it wasn't there, so I looked around and saw a small owl flying away with the trash bag."

"An owl," Camila said flatly.

"Yeah I though it was weird too, anyways I followed it to that old house you told me not to go near – sorry by the way – and… that's where I met Vee."

"Hi," Vee said again.

Camila gave her daughter an unamused look. "So you're saying you just… happened to run into her?"

"…The opposite actually, but yes."

"Alone. In the woods. Despite the fact she looks and dresses… exactly like you." Even just one of those would have been suspicious, but all at once? Yeah, there's no way that wasn't preplanned.

"Well sh-she didn't look like that at first!" Luz objected.

Camila frowned. "I hope you don't expect me to believe there was a spare change of clothes just lying around."

"Not… exactly, uh…" Luz glanced at the girl aside her. "See, the thing is, Vee's kind of… how do I put this… she's actually, uh…"

Vee inhaled sharply. "The thing is I'm actually something called a basilisk and I come from a place called the Boiling Isles in the demon realm but I found a portal to the woods and that's where I met Luz and I took her form because she's the only human I've ever seen pleasedon'thateme!" she quickly said, not managing to meet Camila's eyes.

Camila just stared at her blankly before massaging her temple and letting out a big sigh. "Luz, mija… See, this is what I'm talking about! Now, I love how creative you can be, and I think it's great that you've finally found a friend you can share that with!" Even if that friend did look scarily like her.

"Bu-" Luz tried to protest.

"But you have to understand that there's a time and-" Camila caught a glimpse of something green out of the corner of her eye, and flicked her gaze up to the thing sitting across from her, "plaAAA-A-A-ace!" The woman sat up straight and stared at the snake-like being with wide eyes. "H-how… when di-" She leaned as far back as she could. "O-okay, this… this isn't funny anymore…"

Luz bit her lip. "We're uh… we're not trying to be."

Camila looked at the creature, then to Luz, then back to the creature, which then blinked sideways (which was something Camila was only now starting to realize may have not, in fact, been just her imagination earlier). "You… you really aren't, are you?"

"…No…" the snake-thing answered.

The woman slumped in her chair. "So… so everything you just said, that… that was actually true."

"Yes…"

"You… you're really a…"

"Basilisk…"

"…Huh…" Camila collapsed over the table and rested her head in her hands. "That's… I…"

Luz interjected once more. "Look, I know this is… weird, but Vee is actually really nice, and she doesn't have anywhere to go, so we were hopin-"

"Stop." Camila held up a hand. "Just… stop talking, I…" She took a deep breath. "Excuse me." And with that the woman stood and walked over to the kitchen.

". . ." Luz turned to Vee. "I think that went about as well as we could have hoped, to be honest."

"Yeah…"

". . ."

". . ."

"Want to go see my room?"

"Okay."

Meanwhile, Camila had her phone out and was waiting for someone to answer.

"*click* Thank you for calling Happy Pets Veterinary Clinic, how may I help you?"

"Hey Diane, it's Camila," she greeted. "Listen, I… I don't think I'll be able to come in for a few days."

"Oh, did… something happen?"

"Well, see, the thing is Luz…" Camila glanced over to see her daughter leading the creature – Vee, she reminded herself – upstairs. "…Caught something."

"I'm sorry to hear that… Is she going to be okay?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure she'll be fine… But I want to keep an eye on her just in case."

"I see… that's going to leave us a bit short-handed…"

Camila sighed. "I know, I know, and I'm sorry, bu-"

"No, no, don't apologize; family comes first… I do expect you to make it up to me though."

"I will."

"Okay, thanks… I'll make sure to let Cameron know, talk to you later?"

"Yeah, later…" Camila then hung up the phone. 'Alright, one down,' she thought to herself, dialing another number.

After finishing her call Camila followed her daughter upstairs. "Luz?"

"In here!" came Luz's voice from her room.

Camila poked her head through the door and saw Luz standing in front of her mirror, showing her phone to… some other girl.

Well, that wasn't exactly true, considering just how obvious the identity of this "other girl" was (and not just because she still had the same exact hair as her true form).

"Eh, not really sure about this one," Vee said. "Chin looks a bit pointy."

"Okay, then what about…" Luz scrolled through a few pictures of people on her phone, "this?"

Vee looked at the photo and nodded, before her jawline pulled in on itself, becoming much more square. "Yeah, I think that works, what do you think?"

"I meanIthink it looks good, but it's your decision."

Vee nodded and locked her blue eyes with the refection in the mirror and murmured "Eyes look good…" She ran a hand over her rounded ears, "ears look good…"Then she pulled on a lock of blue hair. "But what should I do with this?"

"I say keep it," Luz suggested.

"Are you sure? It won't look… weird?"

"Eh," Luz replied with a shrug, "plenty of people dye their hair like that, it'll be fine."

"Well in that case maybe something like…" And then her hair exploded outwards and turned the same shade of green as her natural form, aside from the tips which stayed blue. "…This?"

"…I love it," Luz said approvingly. Meanwhile, Camila just shook her head in disbelief as she was once again reminded that yes, this was indeed reality now. "What do you think Mom?"

"Oh, uh…" Camila stammered, I think it looks… good… Luz can you come here for a sec?" Luz took one last glance at Vee before approaching. "Okay, so I just got off the phone with camp and they won't be expecting you today, but…"

Luz sighed. "But I'm still going to have to go, aren't I?"

"Well… that's what I wanted to talk about. I really do still think it'd be a great opportunity to make some friends-" Camila took a quick look at Vee, "Er, more friends," she corrected. "But it mi-"

"Can Vee come with me?" Luz interrupted, and the basilisk snapped her attention over to them upon hearing her name.

Camila blinked at the unexpected question. "I'm… sorry?"

"Can Vee come with me to camp?" Luz repeated. "Be-because like you said, It'd let her make more friends, and it'd let her learn about the human realm, and, and, uh…"

As Luz struggled to think of a third thing Camila turned her attention to Vee. "Is… that what you want?"

Vee hesitated for a moment. "It's… actually something we talked about earlier…" she admitted.

"I…" Camila looked back and for the between the two. "I don't know…" she said slowly. "I mean… don't you need to go back to your own realm at so-"

"NO!" Vee screamed, before cowering at the attention that brought her. "I- I mean, I… There's nothing for me back there."

"Pleeaase Mom?" Luz asked. "I know it's short notice, but I think her being there with me will make things so much better!"

Camila looked back to her daughter's hopeful eyes and sighed. "Okay, if that's what the two of you want."

"Thank you!" Luz squeezed her mother in a tight hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Meanwhile, Vee just looked at the two in confusion.

"I can't promise anything," Camila claimed, "but I'll give them a call tomorrow. In the meantime, maybe we could go back downstairs? I'm… sure we all have a lot of questions."

A short time later the three found themselves once more at the table. "So," Camila started, "tell us about this 'Boiled Isles' place."

"Boiling Isles, actually," Vee corrected.

"Right… why's it called that, anyways?"

"I assume because it's surrounded by the Boiling Sea."

"Is that… literal?" Luz asked. When Vee nodded she continued with "Cool." Meanwhile, Camila pulled out a notepad and started writing things down.

Vee continued to explain the world she came from while answering whatever questions the humans had. Apparently there were two broad category of beings; withes and demons (and yes, witches were apparently a species and not an occupation). Also apparently it was literally built on the corpse of an absolutely massive titan ("So cool," Luz whispered).

Less cool, however, was this "Emperor's Coven" group.

"What makes them so bad?" Luz asked.

"Because if you don't do what they want, they lock you up," Vee said. "Or worse…"

Camila sighed and grumbled "Oh; It's one of those regimes."

Vee continued by saying "Emperor Belos says he's following the Titan's will…"

"I thought the Titan was dead though," Luz asked.

Vee nodded. "But Belos says the Titan still speaks to him, and tells him what to do…" She gulped and exclaimed "Bu-but he's lying! He-" Then she looked down and murmured "he has to be…"

"You know," Camila interjected, "there have been plenty of people in this world who try to justify their own horrible actions by saying the same thing."

Vee looked at her in confusion. "You have people who say they speak to the Titan?"

"Well, maybe not the Titan," she explained, "but other gods, yes… And they're all lying."

"They are?"

"Yes, they're just trying to dodge responsibility, and I'm sure the same is true of this 'Belos' guy." Of course, for all she knew things were different over in that world and Belos could speak to the Titan, but that's probably not what Vee needed to hear right now. But they should probably talk about something else now, so Camila flipped over to the next page in her notes and moved on to her next question. "Anyway, maybe you could tell us more about you? Basilisks, I mean, because there's apparently a lot we got wrong about you."

Vee bit her lip before replying. "Well… first of all, there aren't many of us left… Only five, actually…" She looked down in shame. "Maybe less now…"

Camila looked at her with sympathy. "Only five?" she whispered.

"Hold on," Luz said, "is that why you called yourself 'Number Five' earlier?"

"Wait, she what?"

"…I don't want to talk about it," Vee grumbled.

"Okay, uh… maybe we should move on," Camila suggested, trying to ignore the alarm bells in her head for now. "I'm… sure you probably have some questions for us?"

"Oh, right," Vee said, glad for the change in subject. "For one thing, why are all the plants so green out there?"

That seemed like a bit of an odd question, but Camila still answered to the best of her ability. "I… don't actually know, to be honest, but I think it has something to do with chlorophyll? Hold on, let me check…" She trailed off as she pulled her phone from her pocket.

"Also, which ones do I need to worry about being eaten by?"

"Huh?"

Luz snickered, but then she noticed the look on Vee's face and her smile fell. "Wait, are you serious?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Well, that was concerning…

In the end, it took several hours of asking questions back and forth before both sides had all their questions answered (although Vee seemed to dodge more than a few about herself), and before they knew it, it was already mid-afternoon.

"Wow, I didn't realize it had gotten that late," Camila said as she looked at the clock. "I'd imagine you two are hungry by now?"

Luz frowned and looked at her stomach. "Well, now that you mention it…" Meanwhile, Vee made a "so-so" motion with her hand.

"Okay, well I don't feel like cooking right now, so I think I'm going to order out." She reached for her phone but stopped halfway before looking at Vee. "Actually, what do you eat?" she asked. And she really hoped the whole serpentine appearance wasn't a hint, because she didn't feel like going out and buying a bunch of dead (or worse, living) mice for dinner.

"Magic," Vee responded.

"…I'm sorry, you… you eat magic?"

Vee's eyes widened as her own words caught up with her. "O-oh yeah, we – basilisks, I mean – can drain magic out of like… wands, or… crystal balls, stuff like that!"

Camila gave her a concerned look. "…What else?"

Vee gulped. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"Well uh…" the woman said shakily, "we don't really… have magic here, I think, so if that's all you can eat, then…"

"Oh…" The basilisk visibly relaxed. "In that case, just about anything, technically."

"…Okay, I'm just going to order a pizza then." Camila pulled out her phone.

"Yeah, that sounds good."

"Great; what do you want on it?"

"Uh… what are my options? Also, what's 'peatsuh'"

"Oh, let me pull up a menu real quick." It didn't take long for Camila to find the menu in question, and she passed the phone to Vee.

The demon fiddled with the device for a moment before figuring out how to scroll through the page. "…I have no idea what any of these are," she admitted.

"You know what, how about just our usual," Luz suggested.

Camila nodded. "Yeah, okay, I'll take care of that. In the meantime, Luz could you help Vee set up the guest bed?"

Vee gasped. "R-really?"

Luz frowned. "Is something wrong?

"No, it's just… I've never slept in a real bed before."

Luz and Camila looked at each other in concern before the former turned back to Vee. "Well there's a first time for everything, let's go."

As the two girls left, Camila buried her head in her hands, finally allowing herself to process just how insane this day has been. "¿Qué es mi vida ahora?" she muttered. {What is my life right now?}

The rest of the afternoon passed by rather quickly; Luz showed Vee some her favorite media (resisting the urge to show nothing but Azure), they ate dinner (which was apparently "The best thing [Vee's] ever tasted"), and then Luz helped Vee get ready for bed. "Good night, sleep tight… don't let the bed bugs bite."

Vee bolted upright. "You have those here too!?" she exclaimed.

Luz frowned. "Uh… no, it's just an expression…"

"Oh…" the demon fell back down in relief. "Well then good night to you too."

"Yeah… see you tomorrow." And with that Luz closed the guest bedroom door and went to her own room. But as she was putting on her sleepwear she heard a knock on her door. "Just a second," she said, before finishing getting dressed. "Okay, come in."

Camila opened the door. "Hey, can I talk with you for a second?" she asked softly.

"Sure, what's up?"

"It's about Vee. I'm just a bit… worried, by some of what she said."

"Yeah, I mean I guess the Isles sound a bit dangerous…" Luz admitted, "but they still sound really neat and, you know, they can't be too bad! I mean, they have cites, so things have to be safe there at least, right?"

"No, not that," Camila said. Although yes, that was true also.

"Then what?"

The woman paused, trying to think how to best put this. "I… don't think she's had the best life over there…"

"Oh… yeah, I… kinda got that feeling too…" Luz said, before perking right back up. "But even if that's true, we can still give her a great life here!" And then in a lower voice said "And, you know, maybe once we show her around this world, she can… return the favor."

Camila bit her lip. "…Let's… take this one step at a time. For now I just wanted to ask you to keep her comfortable, and if she doesn't want to talk about something then… don't push her? Please?"

Luz nodded. "Yeah… I can do that."

"Thanks… that's all I wanted to say… Good night Mija."

"Good night, Mama." And with that Camila closed the door and Luz tucked herself into bed, eventually falling asleep with a smile on her face.

Later that night, a figure wandered through the woods. "Hello? Is anyone out here?"

. . .

"Listen, I promise I'm not mad. But this place really isn't safe, you should come back with me."

. . .

"Okay look, I don't even know if you're out here still, but I'm going to leave the door open for a couple hours. If you want to come back through, great; if not, you're on your own."

. . .

"Suit yourself."

True to her word, the next day found Camila on the phone with Reality Check Summer Camp.

"I must say Mrs. Noceda, this is a rather unusual request. Enrolling someone after camp begins, let alone a child who isn't even your own…"

Camila sighed. "I know, and I wouldn't do this otherwise, but… she just doesn't have anywhere to go after the… accident."

"No other family members?"

"I'm afraid not, sadly."

"I see… What did you say her name was?"

"Vee."

"Vee… what?"

Oh crud, she knew they'd forgotten something. "Vee…" Come on, think, think… "Serpiente!"

Luz looked up and gave her mother a questioning look, and Camlia just shrugged.

"Okay. And if you don't mind me asking, how did she end up with you?"

Camila took a deep breath before reciting the cover story they came up with. "Well her parents used to be old friends of mine, and apparently even though we hadn't spoken for a while I was still listed as their emergency contact. So when… you-know-what, I was the only person they could get ahold of."

"And why do you want to send her here?"

"Because I can't just throw her out! But I'm not prepared to take care of her right now, I just… need some time to prepare things…" She over to the two children, who were currently loading the dishwasher. "Also, she and Luz have grown rather attached to each other."

The man on the other end hummed thoughtfully. "May I speak to her?"

"Oh… sure." Camila lowered the phone. "Vee?" Vee's head snapped over to her. "Mr. Duncan wants to speak with you."

Vee walked over and looked at the offered phone before cautiously accepting it and placing it to her head as Camila did. "…Hello?"

"You're holding it upside-down."

Vee flipped the device over and tried again. "Hello?"

"Hello, is this Vee… Serpiente? Am I pronouncing that right?"

"Y-yep, that's my name."

"This is Mr. Duncan from Reality check. So I hear you want to attend our camp?"

"Yes please."

"Why?"

"Uh… because I think it will… teach me valuable life skills?"

"…Did you just read that from the brochure?"

"…No," Vee said, putting down the brochure.

"Right… I'm going to need you to be completely honest with me; is this really what you want?"

"…Yeah…"

"Then please tell me why."

"Because…" Vee gulped. "I… don't want to be alone anymore."

"I see… you can pass the phone back now."

Upon receiving the phone back Camila asked "Well?"

"Technically I shouldn't be doing this, but… I'll email you the registration papers."

"So she's in?" The two children looked at the woman hopefully.

"She's in."

"Okay, I'll be sure to let them know… thank you."

"Don't mention it… I'll be sure to let our councilors know. Take care."

"You too." And with that Camila hung up and turned to Vee. "Looks like you're going to camp."

"YES!" Luz screamed, giving Vee a tight hug from behind.

"Wh-what are you doing?" the demon exclaimed.

"I'm hugging you."

"…Please don't stop…"

"I won't."

"So what do you think of this shirt?" Camila asked, pulling out a shirt from Luz's closet..

"Yeah I guess it's fine, but… I really don't see why you're doing this for me."

Camila answered with "Well you leave tomorrow, so we don't really have time to go shopping and got you packed. So it's probably best if you borrowed some of Luz's shirts for now, and we can get you your own later."

"And I appreciate the thought, but you really don't have to do this for me."

"Luz is fine with it though."

"No I mean, I can just… you know…" And then Vee's current shirt blurred, changed color, and became long-sleeved.

"Oh…" Come to think of it, she never did see Vee put on clothes when she changed shapes, so them being a part of her would make sense.

…Hold on, if they were a part of her body then wouldn't that technically mean that she was always…

. . .

On second thought, Camila decided to ignore those implications. "But what if someone asks where your spare clothes are?"

"…Good point." Vee took a look into the closet with renewed interest. "These ones look nice."

After only a few short days of prep-work, it was finally time for the drive to camp. Most of the drive was spent with more discussions about how the various realms functioned, and before they knew it they found themselves at the campground gates.

"Well, here we are," Luz mumbled. "Home for the next three months…" The two with her gave concerned looks at her demeanor, but she quickly perked back up. "Come on, let's go…" she looked around. "Actually, where are we supposed to go?"

Camila looked around as well. "I thought someone was supposed to meet us…" She then saw someone walking down a dirt path towards them. "Oh, there we go."

"Mrs. Noceda?" The man called out as he approached.

"Yes?"

"I'm Mr. Duncan, we spoke on the phone?"

"Right. Nice to meet you."

"You too." He turned his head to the kids. "So these are our new campers, huh?"

"That they are."

"Hi!" Vee said.

"Hi," Luz said nervously.

The next few minutes were spent discussing the ins and outs of how days were typically spent at camp, and soon the children said their goodbyes to Camila and Mr. Duncan began showing them around the grounds. The tour didn't last terribly long, and ended at a cabin with a large 7 painted on it. "…And this is where you'll be sleeping. Any questions so far." When the children answered no he smiled. "Okay then, let's meet your bunkmates!"

He opened the door and the teens entered. Inside were three other teens of roughly the same age. "Do you need anything else, or should I just leave you to get acquainted?"

"I think we're fine," Luz answered.

"Okay then, catch you later! Oh, and if you need anything else, just ask!" And with that Mr. Duncan left the five to their own devices.

After a few moments one of the kids closed her book and stood from her bed. "So, what are your names?" she asked. After Luz and Vee introduced themselves, she nodded. "Cool. I'm Masha, by the way."

"I'm Zach." the teen who could best be described as "emo" said, before pointing to the sole remained person in the room. "And that's Alex." Alex gave a small wave.

"So!" Masha clapped her hands together. "What're you in for?"

"Vee frowned. "What we're… 'in for?'"

"Yeah, you know… why you got sent here?"

Luz scratched her head. "Uh, I kinda… brought in a couple snakes for a book report at school," she admitted.

"HA!" Masha barked. "Oh, that sounds great."

"Seems like no one else thought so," Luz grumbled.

Vee, on the other hand, had a much different reaction. "You brought in some dead snakes to school?" she asked, mouth gaping in horror.

"What? No!" Luz denied, aghast at the accusation. "They were perfectly healthy!"

Vee relaxed. "Oh. Okay."

"What about you?" Masha asked Vee.

"Oh, I uh… thought it sounded nice?"

"Sorry," Zach piped up, "you… wanted to come here?"

"Uh… yeah?"

Zach scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Weirdo."

Masha shrugged. "Eh, normal's overrated anyways. Anyways, just… 'V,' huh? I assume that's short for something?"

"Uh…" Vee's mind raced to think of an answer. "…Yes!"

". . ."

". . ."

Masha frowned. "…Are you… going to tell us?"

". . . No!"

". . ."

". . ."

"…Heh." Masha's frown turned into a smirk. "I like you."

"Thanks, I… like you too?"

Zach cleared his throat. "Okay girls; I think that's enough flirting for now."

Vee's eyes widened. "Wha- Flirting? We're not flirting! I don't even know her!"

"Hmm…" Masha adopted a thoughtful expression and scratched her chin. "Methinks the lady doth protest too much."

"Wh- what's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, I think you already know," Masha said cryptically. "Sweetheart."

"N-no, really, what's that supposed t- 's-sweetheart?'"

Everyone in the cabin was chuckling now, except Vee who was curling in on herself. This also included Luz, who quickly stopped once she realized what she was doing; was this any different than what some of the other kids did to her back at school? "Okay guys," she said, "I think that's enough."

The rest of the teens quickly noticed Vee's deteriorating state (though not deteriorating form, thankfully) and stopped as well. "Riiiggghht…" Masha said, scratching her head. "Sorry about that."

"I-it's fine," Vee mumbled.

"No, it wasn't; you were obviously uncomfortable and we should have noticed that." The other two kids nodded and gave their own apologies.

Luz was stunned, not honestly having expected that. A smile crossed her face. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as she thought.

Camila approached the shack with her bat held tight. Reaching the front porch she took a deep breath before wrapping a hand around the doorknob, then pushed the door open to reveal…

Nothing. Just a room filled with garbage.

She let out a sigh of relief before closing the door again and walking back the way she came. She should probably check back in a couple days just to be sure, but for now it seems whatever portal led here was closed. She knew Luz would be disappointed, but even so couldn't help but hope things stayed that way.

AN:
Camila: Hey Diane, I won't be able to in today; Luz… caught something.

Diane: Yeash, that sucks… It… it's not…

C: No, not that!

D: Oh, so she didn't catch a shapeshifting demon? Darn, now I owe Cameron twenty bucks.

So I decided to retcon Vee's form a bit; her human disguise now looks a bit more… well, human.

Also, special thanks to the Owl Trust discord server for helping hammer out some of the finer details here. And as always, thank you to everyone who decides to leave kudos/favs/etc, and especially all those who leave such wonderful comments. And if you don't do any of those, you can go screw yourself. (jk, I love you just as much)