"Are you sure we should be doing this so soon?" Amity questioned, her backpack lugging her body down into the door, crimson-colored soil. "I mean why couldn't Eda or Lilith accompany us?"
Luz nodded and paused to rest around the nearest tree. "But they all are busy down at Hexide, trying to rebuild and orchestrate that mess. I'm pretty sure we have got this down in the bag."
"Are you?" Amity questioned again, her golden eyes staring. "Because I think following the Collector's Star Map without the pinpoint coordinates— might be a little risky... don't you think?" her voice softened at the last minute. Amity didn't want to come off as demanding or pushy, but it didn't help that they had already been through uncharted waters. They had no idea where or what they were going to face... and that made her anxiety go through the roof. So she tried to keep her tone insistent as possible.
"I know because that was what the telescope was pointing to." Luz held out her hand, and pointed to The Knee, far off and into the distance.
"Telescope? What telescope?" Amity's brows furrowed, and Hunter twisted his head around from his own bag. His was the most full out of the three since he thought it was a good idea to bring extra supplies just in case of emergency. "What are you not telling us?"
Willow stayed quiet, and used her bag as a pillow, leaning on it which was resting on the rough trunk in exchange.
Luz pensively sighed. "The telescope that was in Belos' study. It was pointing right at the tip of the Knee. And that was where his notes were pointing too." She inched over to the edge of the cliffside, looked out. The protruding ribcage of the Titan blocked out the illuminating crescent, and a creeping umbra masked their line of sight.
Amity marked a few long strides, and rested herself against Luz. "It's pretty nice out here, huh?" her voice crooned.
Luz nodded, "Seeing the world outside Bonesburrow and the castle is a nice refresher." she let out a breath, "Not being hunted down by crazy sociopathic dictator from the human world come the Boiling Isles is— enjoyable."
Hunter chuckled, as well as Amity who scoffed playfully. "Yeah," she admitted.
Hunter slowly creeped up, and a small gust of cold wind came upon them. He shivered. "What are we going to do?"
Willow shrugged. "I think that's been a pretty trendy question Hunter." she paused. "The fact is," She looked to all of her friends, (Whom were eithers sitting down or standing up leaning on something.) "— we all don't know, but what we do know is that we are friends."
The mushy gushy feeling seeped into everyone's hearts as Willow said those encouraging words. Hell, they knew those lines so well, the might have been embedded into their retinas for reference.
Luz rose up. "So us weirdos got to stick together, from beginning..." She smirked, eyes glowing with power. "...to end."
Meanwhile at Hexide...
Eda and Lilith both slumped into their wooden furnishings, exhausted from their hours on end of work. Even with the help of Luz's Titan magic spurt regarding Hexide all back and spiffy - it didn't leave any less work that needed to be done. Everyone was working on the now titled: Bonesburrow Rebuilding. Camila was one of their biggest helps, since she'd had access to the human world and their easier forms of building. She couldn't help but admire that the human look gave a more... diverse.. feel to the Boiling Isles. It was nice, like a little chunk of Luz was there. Her impact on the place, and forever the history as old as time (Literally) was there.
Lilith's dragged her glazed eyes upward to the orange sky, her overwhelming irritation was present. Pretty obvious to Eda no doubt. She could tell just by the looks of it that being around hundreds of people was not helping her professional stoicism (Not to mention a little bit of introvertism dabbled in there too). "Why is this so hard? And difficult?" she groaned.
Eda let out a presumptuous chortle, a smirk pierced her lips. "Oh you have no idea," She agreed, swinging her body back up and giving it a good stretch. "Imagine raising..." she started to count with her one hand. "...f-five kids!" she boasted, setting her hand on her hip.
"Ugh." Lilith scoffed at her sisters tease, her eye lids lowering in annoyance. "For the fact, you didn't technically raise them. You merely took them in, taught them, mentored them, and protected them from the impending doom of the world." She answered dryly.
"Soooo raising them practically." Eda said in a proud tone, "I think they all turned out pretty good Lily. Especially Luz." Eda began to smile, gazing up at the sky with a wondrous expression.Nothing could hold that kid down. She thought. Me or not, Luz was going to be a powerful witch, human or not.
"How you guys doing? I'm beat." Gus raised his hands over his head, walking aimlessly in a circle.
"Ditto." Eda and Lilith commented in a pained unison.
"Nice. Two tired witches and a beat illusionist." He plopped on the ground, summoning a small version of himself that danced around giving confident words of advice.
"Three tired witches." Lilith corrected with a grin, which sparked in Gus' eyes for a moment. He sure as hell liked that compliment.
"Nice one Lily." Eda whispered, a caring punch to the shoulder pecked.
Eda, Lilith, and Gus all looked up to the dusk painted sky. Dark maroons, oranges, and yellows swirling in a chaotic unison; twisting and churning like they were smooth and fluffy.
Raine came over not to long after, with Boscha, Eberwolf, and Darius collectively watching as well. It was peaceful, quiet. As if everyone on the boiling Isles just stopped to watch the majestic change in the sky.
"What do you think they're getting up to up there?" Raine questioned, turning to Darius who shook his head in amusement.
"Something interesting I bet. Probably more than what's going on down here." Darius said bluntly, shrugging his shoulders. But, in the corner of his peripheral vision, he spotted Eberwolf's ears perk up. His head whipped around, and snorted loudly - loudly enough for everyone to get up in alarm.
"What is it?" Raine questioned, his breath hitching.
Eberwolf quickly ran over to the nearest rock, and climbed up it to get a better look to what he was seeing out in the distance, and growled menacingly.
Boscha turned her head to meet his lingering gaze, and what she saw sent a ripple of fear through her spine. "Guys...?" She called.
"Oh no." Eda's strides lengthened to as long as she could manage, getting in front of the group. "No no no no..." Her eyes were wide. She knew what it was, and that meant bad things.
Very...very...bad things.
"It's a flare spell." Lilith confirmed, and Eda gripped onto Raine's hand. They exchanged horrified glances.
Darius stepped up with utmost haste. "I'll notify the other heads and the principle." He said, and failed to keep a composed tone, his vocal cords shaking.
Camila watched in horror from behind, swallowing hard. She covered her hands over her mouth, a small cry escaping.
Something was wrong.
She wasn't going to lose Luz again...
...right?