Camila never considered herself the world's most perceptive of women, a trait she had definitely passed onto her daughter. It had taken her quite some time to realize she was even interested in Manny and an even longer time to realize the two of them were already dating at that point. She knew Eda had been continuously flirting with her – there was a difference between being unperceptive and being an idiot – but Camila had never entertained the idea Eda was serious about it. She had assumed that Eda was teasing her or was trying to pursue a purely physical relationship. But not until Eda had run away in a blind panic after kissing her and Manny did she realize Eda was actually interested in dating them.

Camila had known she was bisexual since she was a teenager and was quite secure in her identity, even though she'd never actually dated a woman before. She had been lucky to have supportive parents and a supportive then-boyfriend in a time that was far less supportive than the present day. So she had no problem with being propositioned by a woman. It honestly wouldn't be the first time. She apparently radiated those vibes. But it had been easy to turn those people down, since she was in a relationship with Manny. Eda was the first person she was tempted to say yes to, and it was absolutely terrifying.

Manny obviously felt the same way, but Camila wasn't too worried about that. Manny would sooner die than cheat on her. Even feeling things for another woman was tearing him up inside, and Camila's confession she was feeling the same way hadn't helped. No, the problem was that Camila had sworn vows to be faithful to no other before God and she was being tempted to break them. How could she do such a thing? How could she even think such a thing? Camila may not have been the world's most religious of individuals, but she despised the idea of breaking a sworn oath, especially marriage vows.

Nor did she blame Eda for her boldness. The truth was, Camila had tacitly been encouraging Eda's flirting because, well, it was extremely flattering. Camila knew she was getting on in years a bit and despite Manny's frequent and vigorous protestations to the contrary, she was nothing terribly special in the looks department. There was something of a rush in having one of the most powerful witches alive think she's attractive. In fact, in retrospect, Camila had actually been flirting back a little bit to encourage Eda to continue.

Eda hadn't made the best first impression on Camila at first, but the owl witch had a way of sneaking into people's hearts. Eda's zest for life, her passion for magic, her clear care for Luz, and her determination to stand against injustice despite terrible odds had all endeared her to Camila greatly. There was absolutely no question that if Camila was single, if she'd just randomly stumbled upon the Isles with no family, she'd not only be dating Eda by this point, but married to her as well. But that was not the life Camila lived. She had responsibilities and obligations and she couldn't just cast it all away for the sake of love. Could she?

Things had been very awkward at the Owl House since the kiss incident. Camila thought they'd reached peak awkwardness after Luz had almost certainly learned an inappropriate word from one of the romance novels Eda loved to read. Eda had apologized and agreed to store her romance novels in a box sealed with blood magic and things seemed to go back to normal. Now, however, they were anything but normal. Eda avoided the Noceda parents like the plague and seemed to be throwing herself even harder than before on brewing Manny's cure, no doubt to get the two of them out of her house as quickly as possible. Even the notoriously poor at socializing Luz had noticed something was wrong, and that was saying something.

Still, it wasn't all unpleasant and awkward silences at the Owl House. Luz had really gotten committed to the pretend wedding she and Amity were throwing and Camila was happy to indulge her daughter's vivid imagination. They'd even helped her write her vows. It was just so precious and adorable to see how seriously Luz took the whole thing. Why, if Camila didn't know any better, she'd assume Luz thought she and Amity were going to get married for real! Though, of course, she couldn't because the two of them were eight.

Hunter had finally seemed to be getting adjusted to being part of a family, thank God. He acted more like a soldier under his parents' command than a child at first, but as time went on, he seemed to be relaxing more and more. She'd even gotten him to call her mom occasionally, though so far he'd only done it at particularly emotional moments. Still, it was progress! And ironically given her background, Vee had absolutely no problems adjusting to a loving environment. Camila supposed that made sense in a way. The monsters at the Conformatorium may have made Vee's life a living hell, but at least they'd been honest about it. No one had even pretended to love Vee before Camila.

With the family doing well and stable, Camila felt more and more comfortable with the idea of letting Steve babysit her children while she and Manny explored all of Bonesborough's nooks and crannies. (The poor boy was constantly apologizing for his role as a guard. He still had a bright future ahead of him, though – he even told Camila yesterday he was in the running for Grom King, whatever that was.) Today, Camila and Manny were savoring one of Bonesborough's best eye scream parlors, which was like an ice cream parlor, except the eye scream, well, screamed when you ate it. And was festooned with eyeballs. But on the bright side, was nondairy!

"We have to talk about what we're going to do about Eda," Manny announced as soon as they'd finished eating.

Camila nodded. "I know she made a mistake, but I don't think we should hold it against her. It's kind of our fault for pretending like we were on a date last night."

Manny take a deep breath. "See, the thing is…I'm kind of thinking it wasn't pretend? Like, if it looks like a date and it smells like a date…"

Camila tilted her head. "A date requires mutual consent, Manny. You know that."

"Yeah, that's not…maybe I didn't say that right. What I mean is…I think we had that."

Camila reached out and took his hand. She looked into his eyes. "Manny, I'd never cheat on you. You know that. I love you with all my heart."

"Right, but I don't think it was cheating," Manny argued. "Not when I was on the date with you. I…all right, I really hope I'm not going to regret this, but it needs to be said. I want to date Eda. And so do you. So how about we both date her?"

Camila wanted so desperately to say yes. She wanted to shout it from the rooftops, actually. But there were other considerations. "I don't know…"

"It wouldn't be the first time we did something like this," Manny reminded her.

"Having a one time threesome with Fiona O'Shaughnessy at a con is not the same thing as having a committed relationship with another woman who isn't even human, Manny!" Camila shot back. What was she supposed to have done, say no when the drop dead gorgeous star of Cosmic Frontier: Traveler propositioned them both?

Manny nodded. "You're right, Camila. It's not. Look, if you can look me in the eye and tell me you don't want to date Eda, I will drop this matter and never speak of it again. I don't want to date Eda if you're not dating her too. But I bet you can't."

Camila tried her best to meet Manny's eyes and say the words that would put everything to rest permanently. But she couldn't. Deep down, she knew the truth. She'd fallen for their almost literally enchanting host as well. "I…I swore vows…"

"I don't believe you'll love me any less if you date Eda too," Manny said, his voice completely certain and ironclad. He really meant that. There wasn't an iota of doubt in his heart. "I wouldn't love you any less."

"She's not human," Camila protested, but she knew all of her protests right now were just perfunctory. She'd made the decision in her heart already and right now, she was trying to get her head to catch up.

"She passes the Harkness test with flying colors and you know it," Manny retorted. "What is this really about, Cammy?"

In that instant, it came to her. The real question all of this brought up. It wasn't about vows or species differences or morality at all. The actual question was, "Are we going to stay, Manny?"

That was what it all boiled down to after all. There were extremely compelling reasons for staying, but the problem was that the reasons for leaving were equally compelling. On the one hand, staying would allow them to not only date Eda, but make sure Luz got an educational experience that actually worked for her for once, to say nothing of allowing her to keep the strong friendships she'd developed for the first time. On the other hand, every second they stayed in the Demon Realm was a second Vee and Hunter were in danger. Eventually, Belos would realize Manny was lying about being in the Spanish Inquisition and while it wasn't quite as inevitable, there was a strong possibility Vee's true identity could also be exposed. It was a conundrum not easily solved.

"I'm happy to stay," Manny said. "I want to stay."

"What about your job?" Camila asked. "Won't they have a problem with you leaving?"

Manny shrugged. "I can get a new job here," he said. "Supporting my country is important to me, but I've given it many years already. I've fought, bled, and killed for it. I think I can safely say I've done enough."

Camila groaned. It was such a hard decision to make! No matter how she sliced it, the repercussions of either choice could be potentially devastating. "I need time to think about it, Manny. It's a big decision. Look, you're right. I…I do like Eda that way. In the same way I like you. But I can't tell her yes until I've decided where we're going in the future. As long as Belos is on the throne, he's a threat to our family."

"What if I told you he won't be in power for much longer?" Lilith said, pulling up a chair at their table.

Camila let out a yelp. She hadn't even noticed Eda's sister walk into the parlor! But sure enough, Camila and Manny had gotten so deep into their conversation they hadn't even noticed when Lilith showed up, kicked everyone else out of the shop, and locked them inside. "Um, you're not going to tell Eda about any of this?" Camila asked.

"The last time I made the mistake of involving myself in Edalyn's love life, I somehow ended up fake dating Tibbles," Lilith said wryly. "Believe me, my lips are sealed."

Lilith reached into her purse and pulled out a mirror with a half moon symbol. "This is the Collector," she announced. "I've only had him for a day and a half, but if anything happened to him, I would kill everyone in this room and then myself."

Lilith went on to explain that the Collector was a cosmic deity with a childlike mentality who had somehow ended up trapped, before being found by Belos. The Collector had taught Belos the darkest of magics. In particular, he taught Belos something called the Draining Spell, which would use the sigils to drain life from everyone who possessed one. She emphasized that the Collector hadn't understood what that would mean, that he'd seen it only as breaking toys. But Lilith had taught him otherwise.

"Isn't Belos going to notice he's gone?" Manny pointed out. "Why did you take him?"

Lilith turned to look at him with a glare more fearsome than anything Camila had ever seen. "Because he's a child and no child should ever be in the hands of that monster. At any rate, setting aside the obvious moral considerations, the Collector is a most potent source of intelligence. We've learned quite a bit from him."

"We?" Manny said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes. I now lead the Citizens Against and Resisting the Throne. Or CART for short."

Camila put a hand up. "Or you could call it the Covens Against the Throne! Or CAT!"

Lilith turned to her and looked at her very steadily. "That is easily the stupidest name I've ever heard in my life. You've clearly been spending far too much time with my sister." She cleared her throat. "In any event, we're striking soon. But before that can happen, there's much to be arranged. Which is why I've come here to ask you to look after the Collector for the afternoon while I meet with Vladimir the Vile, Voivode of the Vampires."

"Dude likes his alliteration," Manny said. "Sure thing, Lilith. I mean, we sort of had plans…"

"They're just going to have to change," Lilith said, not an iota of sympathy in her voice. "There's no one else I trust with them. Certainly not my sister, the avatar of chaos." Camila opened her mouth to defend Eda from that accusation and then closed it when she remembered it was entirely true. "Please, just one afternoon. I'm not going to make a habit of it."

Before Camila or Manny could say another word, Lilith apparently decided it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission, because she just tossed the Collector on the table and fled without another word. Wonderful. At least Camila had just been roped into the role of babysitter instead of replacement mother yet again.

"Hi, I'm the Collector! Can I disassemble your molecules? I'll put them back together again in the right order, I swear!"

"Uh, no, Collector, that'll kill me," Camila said, trying very hard to stay calm. It was not easy. She knew instinctively the Collector had the power to do what he was asking.

The Collector looked confused. "Oh. That's weird."

"It is weird, but that doesn't make it any less true, sweetie," Camila said with a nervous grin. "I'm glad you asked permission first, though. You should always ask for permission from other people before using your powers on them."

Manny stood up from the table. "How about we track down Steve and the other kids and see how they're doing?"

Camila cast Manny a very grateful look. Maybe it was a bit cowardly of her, but she did not want to spend her afternoon looking after a slightly emotionally unstable god. In any event, it would do the Collector good to play with kids his own…well, not age, but mental age.

"So, Mrs. Noceda, if killing people is bad," the Collector began as the two of them went over to the slayground Steve said he'd be at, "then why did Belos do it?" The Collector said killing as if it was a word in a foreign tongue he was only vaguely familiar with.

Manny put a hand on Camila's shoulder. "I'll take this one, Cam. Belos hurt people because he's evil, Collector."

"Oh, okay!" the Collector said brightly. "What's evil?"

Manny was silent for a few moments. How did one define evil, especially to a child with extraordinary power and whose sense of morality was extremely warped by a madman? "Someone who…treats people as things," he decided, falling back on a definition taken from his second favorite book series. "And hurts people who don't deserve it."

Dead silence descended on the group for a while and Camila foolishly thought they were out of the woods for the moment. "Does that mean I'm evil?" the Collector said in a tone of voice that, in a person with functional tear ducts, would have signaled that tears were imminent.

"Not if you didn't know any better, Collector," Camila said immediately. She was beginning to see why Lilith had adopted this poor kid. Though, honestly, while anyone would be better than Belos, Camila suspected Lilith's…flexible sense of morality didn't exactly make her the best role model. "You were tricked, but ever since you learned better, you've been trying to make up for your actions, haven't you?"

The light in the mirror seemed to brighten a little. "Yeah! Yeah, I have! I've been really good. I taught Mom how to reverse petrification and how to summon the dark lord and told her about the Draining Spell!"

Camila wondered if she should be a little worried about this whole summoning the dark lord business, but then decided Lilith could handle herself. If she was dumb enough to do that, it was her problem, not Camila's. "There, you see, Collector? You're a good person, because you looked at what you did and saw it was wrong. I bet Belos didn't do that."

The Collector scowled. "Philip is a jerk and a meanie! I bet he wasn't even really gonna free me." Camila had to agree with that. "I should have seen it! It's just like when my siblings, the Archivists, tried to get me to play with the Titans, but it was all part of their scheme to make them disappear!"

"Titans…like the one we're living on?" Manny asked.

"Yeah, there's supposed to be one left," the Collector said. "A little baby Titan. It was still in an egg when I got sealed away."

"Well, if we see any huge continent sized gods, I'll let you know," Manny said with a twinkle in his eyes. "Oh, look, there they are!"

And sure enough, they've reached the slayground (which, to the best of Camila's knowledge, was just a regular playground with a demonic twist to the name) and there was Steve, playing hide and seek with Luz, Vee, King, and Hunter. "Oh, hi, Mr. and Mrs. Noceda!" he said with a wave. "Everything okay?"

"Yes, everything's fine," Camila assured him. "We just have a friend here we thought might want to play with the kids."

"Sure, the more the merrier," Steve said. "Guess what? I'm gonna be Luz's best man! She was going to ask Gus, but then I bribed her with a chocolate bar. She's really taking this wedding stuff seriously. In fact, she said it absolutely has to occur on the night of a lunar eclipse."

"Yes," Luz agreed, "because of the…penumbral agree –"

"OH MY GOSH, IT'S THE GRIMWALKER!" the Collector screamed, rotating his mirror in Hunter's direction.

Hunter's face went pale. Camila had no clue what a grimwalker was, but whatever it was, Hunter did and thought it wasn't good news. She had a very bad feeling about what was coming. "I'm not a grimwalker," Hunter stammered.

"The heck you're not!" the Collector said cheerfully. "Oh, man, I thought you were dead like all the others!" This was bad. Camila could sense it in her bones. "Nice to meet you! I'm the Collector! You don't remember me cause Belos wiped your memory every time we met, but we had some great times playing together! Sorry about not doing anything when the other grimwalkers were killed."

Hunter took a few steps backwards. "I. Am. Not. A GRIMWALKER!" He suddenly looked very scared and vulnerable. "Right?"

"Of course you are," the Collector said, not seeming to understand why it was bothering Hunter so much. "I was there when you were made."

Manny coughed. "Collector, I'm a stranger to this realm if you recall, so could you please tell me what's a grimwalker and why it's making Hunter so upset?"

"Oh, sure! Well, a grimwalker is an artificial witch. Belos made, like, dozens of them and killed them all when they stopped obeying him. I…kind of helped a little? Sorry." He pouted, looking very sad, and then brightened. "But hey, there's nothing wrong with being a grimwalker!"

Hunter shook his head, still looking panicked. "You don't understand! Grimwalkers are evil! They're creatures of darkness, wretched creatures imitating life animated by the Olympians themselves. Their very existence is an affront to the Titan! I…I can't be one…"

I can just make another one, Camila suddenly recalled Belos saying and her blood froze. At the time, she'd assumed Belos had just meant he could brainwash another poor kid into being his right hand man, but he'd meant it literally when he'd said that, hadn't he? "I'm sorry, Hunter, but I think the Collector is right. But I don't think anything you just said is true in the slightest. Even if you were…made somehow, it doesn't change anything. You're still part of the family."

Hunter took a few steps backwards. "No, no, no. I have to go. I can't burden you with my presence anymore. Good people such as yourselves shouldn't have to be burdened with a grimwalker like myself."

"GRIMWALKER!" a voice screamed and Camila turned to see a three-eyed witch clutching her also three-eyed daughter to her chest. "It's a grimwalker! Kill it!"

Most of the parents – and alarmingly, some of the kids – in the slayground proceeded to pull out weapons or ready spells. Hunter just sank to his knees and awaited the blows. He didn't even think it was worth it to fight back. Needless to say, Camila disagreed very strenuously. She positioned herself in front of Hunter. Manny pulled out a gun and stood at her side. Luz, King, and Vee hid underneath the slide. Vee had to keep pulling Luz back from intervening. Steve grabbed the Collector and held onto him tightly with one hand. In his other hand, he had a spell circle primed and ready to fire. It was a powerful group of people, but they were still outnumbered.

"Collector, please do something!" Camila begged.

"Sure thing, Mrs. Noceda!" the Collector said perkily. "Hey, angry mob, could I please kill you all?"

"No!" the mob shouted as one.

"Well, I tried."

Camila did a face palm. The one time a child actually listened to her! Well, whatever. Camila may not have had phenomenal cosmic power, but no one was going to hurt her son. "You all step away from him!" she yelled. "The leader of the Emperor's Coven happens to be a good friend of mine! She'll have you all in irons for this!"

The mob didn't seemed inclined to listen to her. They started moving in Hunter's directions. Manny shot a demon in the eye (he had, like, 40 to spare, so it probably didn't do any lasting harm) but it didn't even slow him down. Steve conjured an abomination but another abomination witch dispelled it.

The angry mob marched steadily in their direction. Hunter shoved Camila to the ground with a surprising amount of strength and held out his hands. "Please! Don't hurt them! Just hurt me. It's not like I deserve to live."

"THE HELL YOU DON'T!" Camila shrieked. Hunter looked taken aback, not by the volume of her comment, but by its words. "It doesn't matter if you're a grimwalker! You're still my son and I won't let anyone harm you! Ever!"

"But, Mrs. Noceda –"

"But nothing," Camila said sternly. "No more silly talk, Hunter. If I don't have any problem taking in a witch or a bas – I mean, Vee, then what makes you think I'd have a problem with a grimwalker?"

Hunter wiped a tear away from his eye. "Thanks, mom."

Camila reached into her purse and took out the ultimate weapon, the mighty and all powerful chancla. It was time to teach these intolerant jerks the consequences of messing with a member of the Noceda family.

The crowd all started to back away, looks of fear coming across many of their faces. Camila was impressed. She hadn't thought the chancla's fearsome reputation had made its way to the Demon Realm, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. A few seconds later, a fireball lanced through the air and landed in the midst of the crowd, incinerating three people outright and causing vicious burns to six more people. Eda stepped out of the shadows, an unholy grin on her face. Ah. The crowd must have been reacting to Eda's sudden appearance. That…made a lot more sense.

"Anyone else want a piece of the most powerful witch in the Boiling Isles?!" Eda shrieked at the crowd. Before anyone could react, Eda threw a bolt of electricity straight into the three eyed woman's chest and pulled out a potion. Eda made a gesture indicating they should hold their breaths. Thankfully, everyone on Camila's side and no one on the other side got the message.

Eda hurled the potion into the crowd and it exploded in a burst of orange light. The crowd instantly lost their anger and started going back to whatever they'd been doing before the fight started. Aside from the three eyed woman, who was still unconscious, and the many eyed demon, who ran off, looking very alarmed to find a metal pellet suddenly in his eye. No one seemed to give the slightest amount of notice to the horrifically injured and dead people in their midst, but that was par the course for the Boiling Isles in Camila's experience.

"They won't remember what happened for the last ten minutes," Eda bragged. "A neat little concoction I developed myself."

Camila's legs suddenly felt shaky and she lost her balance and sank to one knee. "Whoo! Looks like I got a case of the old jelly legs there." The post fight adrenaline crash was definitely getting to her.

To say the attack on Hunter had been a terrifying experience was a gross understatement and her first kneejerk reaction was to conclude that staying in the Demon Realm was unsafe and they should leave as soon as possible. But as she and her family walked back to the Owl House, Camila realized matters weren't quite so simple. First of all, it had been a fluke grimwalkers had been mentioned at all. Without someone yelling Hunter's true identity in public, there was no way for anyone to tell by just looking at him. The incident shouldn't happen again as long as they took basic precautions.

On the other hand, if they were in the Human Realm and Vee's disguise slipped for an instant, the same type of incident could occur. Except the angry mob could be armed with guns. And video footage would leak onto the internet. And the government would get involved. And probably put out a kill order on Manny for hiding Vee from them. And then they'd find Vee somehow and vivisect her. So despite appearances, they were actually probably safer in the Demon Realm, all in all. At least Vee would probably be able to be her real self once the government was overthrown.

At the end of the day, while there was danger in both realms to their children, the dangers of the Demon Realm could be dealt with easier. As long as they avoided angry mobs, once they took care of Belos, they could lead their lives in relative peace. In the Human Realm, though, they'd have to be constantly on their guard. Vee would never be able to be her true self. Luz's friends would have to take constant precautions when they came to visit too, though pointy ears were easier to explain as a costume than a basilisk.

Camila knew what choice she was going to make. On some level, she'd known since the day she'd stumbled upon the Isles. She was going to make the right one. She was going to choose what was best for her family, the Demon Realm, and, just as importantly, herself. She was going to stay. And that meant she had a certain Owl Lady to seduce.

That was proving to be easier said than done, though. First and foremost, over the next couple of days, Hunter needed a lot of support. Being a grimwalker had hurt him even more than realizing he was abused. While he had likely suspected he was abused on a subconscious level already, the whole grimwalker thing had come right out of left field. Hunter was tormented with nightmares. He could barely bring himself to eat. His performance suffered in school. Camila would love to get him therapy were it not for the open question of whether or not his therapist would try to kill him. So Camila had to devote a lot of attention to him.

Secondly, Eda was doing her level best to make herself as scarce as possible. She had great excuses every single time. Lilith's revolution was nearing a boiling point (no pun intended). There were organized protests all around Bonesborough and Lilith was doing everything in her considerable power to make sure the Emperor's Coven didn't interfere. There were a lot of missions that had to be done to make the process as successful as possible and Eda seemed to be volunteering for as many as she could. When she wasn't on a mission, she was hanging out with the kids (and, Camila strongly suspected but did not pursue for the sake of plausible deniability, teaching them to commit crimes) or working on brewing Manny's potion.

But Camila was nothing if not persistent. She wasn't going to give up and neither was Manny. The two of them had made their choice. They wanted to date Eda and so they would. After all, Luz was not the only one who could come up with Brilliant Schemes. And Luz wasn't the only one who had allies in said schemes. Hooty had been absolutely sick of seeing Eda make a string of horrific romantic decisions and had long shipped the three of them, so he was more than happy to help. Manny had utterly rejected Hooty's suggestion to create a tunnel of love, though, to Camila's slight disappointment.

Gilbert showed up to take the kids to a sleepover at the Park residence and as soon as they all left, Hooty sealed the house to a torrent of rather horrifying laughter. There was no way Eda would be able to dodge this conversation now! Camila and Manny were about to go into Eda's bedroom to wake her up, but Eda beat them to the punch and walked into the living room with a vial of a glowing magenta liquid in her hands.

"Is that…?" Manny began.

Eda gave a tight smile. "That's right, Manny. Your cure, as promised. It'll work or my name ain't Edalyn Clawthorne. You'll probably be feeling a little under the weather over the next couple of days, but there shouldn't really be any other side effects."

Manny grabbed the vial from Eda's hands, tears openly streaking down his cheek. "Thank you so much, Eda. You saved my life. I…I can never repay you. Without you, I never would have lived to see my lucecita grow up. She never would have come here…"

Eda shrugged. "You never know. Maybe one day she would have. I've learned not to underestimate that kid."

"Well, bottoms up," Manny said to Eda's considerable confusion. He drank the vial. He stumbled a little and gagged at what must have been the terrible taste, but he was able to down the whole thing.

Eda took a deep breath. "Anyway, I've had a great time having you and your kids around here, and if you want to stop by later, my door's open." She looked about to cry, the poor thing. Well, she certainly wouldn't be unhappy soon enough. Not if Camila had anything to say about it.

Camila put a hand on Eda's shoulder and smiled at her. Eda's unnaturally pale skin made it particularly easy to see the blush forming on her cheeks. "We're not going to be leaving just yet. I promised you a summer and that summer isn't over yet. I mean, we haven't even had dinner yet!"

Eda looked at the floor. "I just thought you'd want to leave after, you know, that kiss. Which I am so sorry about! I totally overstepped my bounds. I didn't…I didn't mean to offend you."

"Trust me, you didn't offend us, hermosa," Manny purred. Eda looked confused, not understanding Spanish and thus not realizing Manny was flirting with her. Well, Camila would be more direct. Some things were universal. Er, multiversal.

"We made dinner," Camila announced. "You've been doing so much for us, we decided we'd treat you to a nice evening. Just relax and take a load off."

Eda bounced onto the couch with a grin. "That's practically my middle name!"

Making a Boiling Isles style dinner had been a…memorable experience to say the least. It was not for the squeamish. The vegetables, the meat, the fairies in the fairy pie, they all screamed for mercy and Camila had to put them all down. The fairies, in particular, screamed in agony as they were cooked alive in the oven, which Camila was pretty sure would give her nightmares. In the end, Manny had to handle most of the cooking. Well, at least the parts of it that involved killing the ingredients.

But in the end, it had all been worth it, because Eda was super impressed with them both. Not everyone, she said, had what it took to make a special Demon Realm style meal. Most people just bought the ingredients pre-killed at the market. At that point, Camila glared at Hooty, who had suckered them into thinking they had to go out and collect the ingredients themselves.

"It's more romantic this way!" Hooty protested. Camila was a little worried Hooty had just given the game away, but luckily Eda seemed to just take it as just Hooty being his usual self.

"¡Tuve que ver a las hadas morir en agonía, búho diabólico!" Camila screamed at the thrice-accursed house demon.

Manny chuckled softly. "Well, there's something to be said for a home cooked meal. And now that we've eaten dinner, it's time for dessert." He walked into the kitchen and returned with the fairy pie. The pie that he had used cookie cutters to carve the words "Would you be our girlfriend, Eda?" into.

Eda stared at the pie, her mouth open in shock. "I…what? Is this a joke?"

Manny and Camila both grabbed Eda's hands. "It's not a joke, cariño," Camila said. "We liked it when you kissed us. We've thought long and hard about this recently. We'd like to stay here and we'd like to date you. Both of us."

Eda was silent for a long while. "It's too dangerous," she said eventually.

"Why do you think that, Eda?" Manny said a lot more calmly than Camila felt.

Eda looked around her as if she was looking for hidden eavesdroppers. "When I was a kid, I was cursed," she explained. "When I'm under a lot of stress, I turn into this awful owl beast. I don't have control over my own actions when I'm in that form. I hurt my dad and I can't bear the same thing happening to you or your family. I mean, I've got my elixir to keep the beast away, but what if I slip?"

"Have you slipped?" Manny asked.

"Well, no, but…it could happen!"

Manny shook his head. "You've spent the last few years looking after King. If you could trust yourself with him, surely you could trust yourself with my family."

"Huh. I never thought about it like that." Eda gave a sudden, beautiful grin. "Well, then! I don't see any reason to say no. You can consider me your girlfriend!"

"YES!" Manny shouted and did a happy little dance. "Achievement unlocked!" Camila giggled. Her husband was such a dork.

Camila proceeded to kiss Eda very passionately. Manny watched the two of them kiss, absolutely entranced. It was not Camila's first kiss with a woman, but it was by far the best. "Shall we take this to the living room?" she suggested. "I know we have a pull out sofa there." She would not have their first night together in a nest. Camila had her pride.

It was quickly decided that the three of them would adjourn to the living room and put the pie in the fridge to eat another night. Unfortunately, they only got as far as opening up the sofa when the front door slammed open and Gilbert walked in, with the kids by his side.

"Hooty!" Manny shouted. "You were supposed to make sure we weren't going to be disturbed!"

"I'm sorry, but this is a bit of an emergency," Gilbert said. "Vee had a bad reaction to some food and she's rather green around the gills, so I had to take everyone home." At that point, he appeared to notice what was going on and gave Eda a thumbs up.

Sure enough, Gilbert was right, and not just metaphorically. Vee had developed actual gills on her human disguise (as much as she trusted Gilbert, she wasn't going to take the risk someone might read his mind or torture him to gain information about Vee) and the skin around them had indeed turned green.

"No, you did the right thing, Gilbert," Manny assured him. "I'll take her up to her room." He grabbed Vee into his arms and carried her upstairs. Camila was disappointed they weren't going to have the evening she'd hoped for, but her family's health absolutely came first.

She and Eda put the sofa back. There wouldn't be time for any shenanigans tonight. Tomorrow, they'd find a hotel and do the shenanigans there, where they could be assured not to be interrupted. "So, Luz, while we're all here, I have some news for you. I know it's a little strange and if you're upset we can talk about it, but your father and I, well, we've decided we'd both date Eda. Now that doesn't mean we don't love each other any less! We just love Eda too."

Much to Camila's considerable relief, Luz started jumping up and down with excitement. "YES!" she screamed. "I knew it!" She grinned mischievously. "Actually, remember when she asked you out on a date…? Well, that was Vee! All part of my Brilliant Scheme to get the three of you together!"

"Great googly moogly," Camila deadpanned. "What a total shock."

Luz let out a sudden shriek and Camila was worried for a second Luz had gotten sick too, but she quickly realized it was a shriek of excitement. "WE CAN HAVE A DOUBLE WEDDING!"

"Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Camila said with a smile. "Dating is strange enough as it is without adding marriage to the mix."

"Oh, speaking of the wedding, hang on, I have to show you something," Luz said and she quickly went upstairs. Camila gave an affectionate smile as she wondered what adorable things Luz would show her. That smile quickly faded when she saw the large stack of papers that Luz put on the coffee table.

Camila had a very bad feeling and as she looked at it and her feeling was proven right a few seconds later when she started reading, because she now she understood what Luz was trying to tell them back at the slayground. It wasn't anything penumbral she was talking about. She was talking about a prenuptial agreement.

"You were serious," Camila said numbly. "You were really planning on getting married to Amity the whole time?"

Luz blinked, seeming utterly bewildered. "Yeah…? I must have told you, like, a hundred times. Did…did you not believe me?" Tears filled her eyes. "Did you think I was lying?"

"Honey, no, it wasn't like that!" Camila protested, but it wasn't enough to get through to Luz, who was looking at Camila with a betrayed expression Camila would have done anything to avoid seeing. "It's just…Luz, you have to know eight year olds can't get married!"

"And married couples can't date other people, and there's no such thing as magic, and basilisks aren't real!" Luz shot back. "Did I leave anything out, mother? Mrs. Blight said it was okay! I thought you'd be happy for me!"

Of course that horrible woman was behind this. Every single word Amity had ever said about her mother had told Camila that Odalia was beyond bad news. But Camila had never imagined Odalia had her sights on her daughter, was manipulating her for some horrible purpose. Camila couldn't imagine Odalia's intentions in getting Amity and Luz married were anything but absolutely awful.

"I absolutely forbid you from getting married, Luz," Camila said firmly. She regretted having to hurt Luz with those words, but it had to be said and without any hint of ambiguity. "We will discuss this matter again in a decade if you're still interested, but you are too young to get married and that's the end of it."

A venomous look formed on Luz's face. "I should have known," she hissed. "It's just like Mrs. Blight said. You do love Hunter and Vee more!"

"That's not true, Luz!" Camila protested.

"You never take me seriously!" Luz screamed at her. "You didn't believe me! You thought I was just some silly little kid! Well, when I get married to Amity, I'll be able to stay here for good, and I'll never go back to that place! I won't be bullied again. I won't let them hurt me again!" She fixed Camila with a piercing look as cold as ice. "I won't let you hurt me again."

"Luz," Camila began, but Luz was already walking towards the door. "Luz, please stay here and let's talk this out! We're already staying here!"

But Luz was already walking out the door and by the time Camila realized she should have asked Hooty to seal the doors, it was too late. Luz was running off into the distance and vanished. Eda grabbed the prenuptial agreement and flipped through its pages, looking grimmer and grimmer with each word she read.

"This isn't a prenuptial agreement," she spat finally. "It's hardly any better than a slave contract! It'll give Odalia complete control over Luz. And what's worse, she's already signed it. If we don't stop that wedding…you'll never, ever get your daughter back."