The Abandoned Shack
Luz and her friends waved to her mom as Camila drove off to go to her job. Once her car was out of sight, Luz stopped waving and looked at the others.
"Okay," She began. "We spent all of yesterday having fun," She looked at Gus. "Well, not so fun for Gus," She then was determined. "but today, it's time we get down to business." Her friends all looked at her.
"What are you talking about, Luz?" Amity asked her.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. We need to find Titan Blood so that all of you guys can return home, see what the Collector has in store, and reunite with your families and me with Eda and King." And for me to return home and live with my mama and not come back to the Boiling Isles ever again, Luz wanted to say, but didn't. "So we need to come up with a plan to get the portal door working again."
"Oh, right." Gus said. "I was having so much fun here in the Human Realm, minus the whole Karen situation, that I almost forgot about home."
"Exactly my point. The sooner we open the portal, the better. You guys need to get home."
"But how?" Willow wanted to know. "Where would we even start looking for Titan Blood?"
"Don't know. That's why we need to all think about this." So that is what they did. They all began to think, except Hunter. Should he tell them? That although he was sure that Belos was gone, that if they returned, it might give him bad memories of living with his so-called 'uncle' back at the castle? He wanted to help out his friends and protect them at all costs, but, oh, Titan, he just didn't know what to do. Luckily, he didn't have to tell them anything for Amity spoke up.
"What about that weird, creepy, old looking shack that we all came out of from the portal?" She suggested. "Maybe that has some clues." Luz snapped her fingers.
"The abandoned shack! Amity, you're a genius!" Amity was confused.
"It's abandoned?"
"Yeah, it's been abandoned for years." Amity smiled.
"Then that's what we are doing today." The kids all agreed. Flapjack chirped at Hunter. Hunter looked at him.
"You want to go too, Flap?" He wanted to know. Flapjack chirped again. "Well, okay, then." He told this to the others.
"Good idea!" Gus stated. "All of our palismen can go. Maybe they can all find something that their witches can't." Luz nodded.
Luz opened the door to the shack and they all went in. After they were all in, Gus opened the door and shut it again. He did this a few times. His friends all noticed.
"Uh, Gus,…" Willow began. "What are you doing?"
"Just checking that this isn't the portal itself." Gus told her. "And that the Human Realm is on the other side, back where we left it."
"This isn't the portal, Gus." Amity told him. "We need Titan Blood for that."
"Right, but it still doesn't hurt to check." He closed the door and joined them all in the middle of the room. "And this place isn't haunted with ghosts, right?" This made Hunter nervous.
"Ghosts?" He asked. "Haunted?"
"Don't worry." Luz told them. "Ghosts don't exist here in the Human Realm. And despite it looking creepy, this place is not haunted." Hunter sighed in relief.
"Oh, thank Titan! You made me worried there."
"Anyways, Operation 'Find a Way Back to the Demon Realm' is a go." She put her hand in the middle. "Hexsquad!"
"Hexsquad?" Her girlfriend asked.
"Yeah, we are the Hexsquad because we come from Hexside. I came up with the name myself. Pretty clever, am I right?" Willow smiled.
"Hexsquad." She stated. "I like it."
"I don't even go to Hexside." Hunter stated. "I just played one game of Flyer Derby with The Emerald Entrails and went by my fake name Caleb that Flapjack helped me come up with."
"Yeah, you did lie to us about that." Willow said. "But without you, we wouldn't have come up with the name The Emerald Entrails. We thank you for that, Caleb Jasper Bloodwilliams." Hunter blushed at this.
"And I did find you hiding from the Emperor's Coven at Hexside." Gus put in. "So, you like our school well enough that when things went bad for you, you came back."
"Yeah." Hunter agreed in realization. "I guess I did."
"And the name 'Hexsquad and Hunter' isn't as good as just 'Hexsquad', is it?"
"No, I guess not."
"Now put your hands in the middle like me." Luz told everyone. Her friends were all confused.
"Why?" Amity wanted to know.
"It's just something we humans do." Luz explained. "We then chant and take our hands away."
"Both of our hands?"
"Just one each. It doesn't matter which one." They were still all unsure, but they all stuck their hands in the middle on top of Luz's.
"One, two, three, HEXSQUAD!" She shouted. They all repeated what Luz said and took their hands away from the middle. "Okay, the search for clues begins now! Search every nook and cranny of this place!" Her friends all nodded, and all began to look. They also let their palsmen search as well. Flapjack began to peck at the floorboards.
The kids searched every room of the shack, but didn't find anything useful. They were all disappointed. Luz hung her head in shame.
"Man, I really thought we'd find something useful." Luz said.
"Cheer up, Luz." Amity told her girlfriend. "We did our best. That is all that matters." Luz smiled at her.
"Yeah, you're right."
"Now, what are we to do?" Gus asked. "Camila's going to be gone a while yet and we have no plans."
"We can spruce this place up a bit." Willow suggested. They all looked at her. "You know, since Luz said this place is abandoned, this can be our second home here after Camila's and our hangout. This can be our home away from home."
"You mean our home away from home away from home!" Gus piped in. "You know, our first home being the Boiling Isles." Willow looked at him.
"We know that, Gus." Amity told him. "Anyways, Willow's right. A place for us to all hangout just for us so we don't crowd at Camila's the whole time will be nice. What do you say?" The kids all agreed.
"And we can go back to my house to get some cleaning supplies to help us clean this place up a bit so it looks nice and homey.: Luz added. "We can also paint the walls." Her friends all agreed. Hunter looked at Flapjack who was still pecking at the floor.
"I think we're done here, Flap." He said to the bird. "Unless you think you're onto something. Are you?" Flapjack looked at him and nodded his head with chirps.
"What did he say, bird whisperer?" Gus questioned. Hunter looked at him and the others.
"Flapjack thinks there may be something in here left to find. He's not sure, but he has a feeling. He is going to stay here. He says we can go back to the house though and then do what was discussed."
"Then we'll leave all of our palisman here too." Amity stated.
"We'll be back." Willow said to Clover. She headed for the door.
"Make Daddy proud." Gus told Emmaline. Luz frowned.
"Wish my palisman could help, but it's still an egg." She put in.
"Don't worry." Amity assured her. "It'll hatch and it'll be as amazing as you." Luz smiled again.
"You're right." They all left. Hunter stuck his head in one last time.
"Don't weaken the floorboards too much, Flap." Hunter told his palsman. "If we all want this to be our hangout, we would prefer a floor with it." Flapjack chirped again. He left the palismen be. Emmaline, Clover and Ghost looked at the bird busy at work. They wanted to talk to him, but didn't want him to lose focus, so they all searched some more instead.
The Hexsquad all came back with cleaning supplies, paint cans and paint brushes, went into groups and started cleaning. Amity, Willow and Luz cleaned upstairs while Gus and Hunter went downstairs to clean.
Vee came in a couple hours later. Newspapers were all over the floor.
"I'm sorry to interrupt." She told them. "But I made lunch. I figure with your guys cleaning, you could all use a break to eat." Amity, Willow and Luz stopped at what they were doing and looked at her.
"You're right, Vee." Willow told her. "Lunch would be good right about now. We could all use a break."
"You cook?" Amity wanted to know.
"Yeah." Vee told her. "Camila taught me. Where are Hunter and Gus?"
"They are painting the walls downstairs." Luz explained to her. "I'll go get them."
"Don't bother, batata." Amity said to her. She bent down to her cat palisman. "Ghost, can you lead Gus and Hunter up to us, please?" Ghost meowed and walked to the stairs.
"Flapjack could've gone down and told them instead." Luz said.
"Yeah." Amity agreed. They looked at the bird who was still pecking at the floor. "But he still looks pretty focused. I don't want him to lose his focus. Besides, Ghost's got this."
"I guess you're right."
"Ghost!" Gus announced when he saw her come downstairs. Newspapers were all over the basement floor as well.
"Nice try!" Hunter told him. "Luz says ghosts don't exist in The Human Realm."
"No!" Gus pointed to the cat. "Ghost!" Hunter looked at the cat as well.
"Oh, that kind of ghost." Ghost put her paw in a paint can and put her paw print on the wall. Gus smiled at this.
"It looks like Ghost wants to help. She left her mark on the wall."
"Yeah. Looks like she did." Ghost meowed at the boys and went upstairs.
"I think Ghost wants us to follow her upstairs. Come on!" Gus put his paintbrush in the paint can and followed the cat. Hunter did too.
"Amity!" Gus called to her when he, Hunter and Ghost came upstairs. "Ghost wanted us to follow her upstairs. What's up?" Amity stroked her cat's chin, then picked up her paw, observing it. She frowned.
"Oh, Ghost!" She told her. "Your paw's wet. We need to have that cleaned up." Ghost didn't look happy. "It's just your paw, Ghost. You don't have to put your whole body in." Ghost still didn't look happy.
"Looks to me like Ghost wanted to help Gus and Hunter a bit." Willow observed.
"Her paw print is now on the wall that we were painting on downstairs." Gus said. "Should we keep it?"
"Yeah, keep it." Amity told him. "Why not? It'll be nice to have her contribution." Ghost perked up and agreed with a meow.
"Okie-dokie then; will do! We'll just paint around it."
"To why you two are up here, I just told Ghost to get you guys. Vee made us lunch."
"Yum, sounds good! We could use a break!" They headed for the door. Hunter looked at Flapjack.
"You have been doing that for a long time now, Flap." He told him. "I think it's time to stop." Flapjack looked at him and shook his head. Hunter sighed. "Alright. You should have something to eat at least." Flapjack chirped. "I don't know if I can find any rattleworms for you here, but I'll try."
"I saw some worms in the kitchen." Gus told him. Hunter looked at him.
"You have? Luz and her mom keep worms in their kitchen?"
"Sure do! They're nice and colorful!"
"I think you mean the gummy worms." Vee explained. "They're not real worms. I don't think he should have them." Gus looked at her.
"But we can, right?"
"You sure can, Gus." Luz said. Gus cheered.
"Yes, I just love trying human cuisine!" With that, they all left the shack, leaving Flapjack behind.
When the kids were in the kitchen, Gus opened the cupboard to show Hunter the bag of gummy worms.
"See?" He told him. "These are the worms I meant."
"Again." Vee told them. "Those are gummy worms."
"Well, I have to admit they do look like they would taste better than the worms that Flapjack eats." Hunter admitted. "I wonder if I should try them."
"Go ahead!" Luz told him.
"You know what?" Hunter said, grabbing a bag. "Maybe I will. After all, I like pancakes and bananas now. Maybe I'll like these too."
"Glad to see you trying new things, Hunter." Gus told him. "Can you grab one for me too?" Hunter grabbed another bag and shut the cupboard. He gave the extra bag to Gus.
"Thank you."
After lunch, the kids went berry picking. They all placed the berries in a bucket. Hunter carried the bucket back to the shack. As soon as they were back in the shack, Hunter placed the bucket next to Flapjack. Flapjack looked at them, then at his owner.
"These are for you, buddy." Hunter told the bird. "Luz, Amity, Gus, the Captain and I picked them out for you. Enjoy. Oh and they're not the Gore Berries." Flapjack just ignored the berries and kept on pecking. "Flapjack, come on, you have to eat, please!" Flapjack just chirped. This angered Hunter. "Flapjack, as your owner, I command you to eat! You need to get your strength up." Flapjack ignored him which angered him even more. "Flapjack! I can't believe you right now! I am your owner, you are my palisman, you have to listen to me! I know what's best for you." Flapjack still refused to eat. Hunter was about to argue some more when Luz spoke up.
"Let's just paint some more." She spoke. "Maybe Flapjack will eat while we work." Hunter agreed. He and Gus headed towards the stairs.
"Those berries better be gone by the time we all get done for the day, Flap." Hunter ordered him. "I mean it. Work is important, but you need to eat too." He and Gus walked downstairs.
"Don't worry." Gus assured Hunter when they were downstairs. "Flapjack will eat. I'm sure."
"I hope so." Hunter stated. "I like the little guy, so I hate to be firm with him."
"Sometimes we need to be firm with the ones we love."
"I suppose. Still, I don't want to upset him and have him hate me. He's the first friend I made, and I don't want to lose him.'
"You won't lose him, just like you won't lose any of us. Flapjack knows you love him and always will. Now, come on. Those walls won't paint themselves. It'll be nice if our magic can do that, but they can't, so we have to do it ourselves." He went to the paint cans. "Oh, and remember to paint around Ghost's paw print."
"I remember." He went by Gus and picked up a paintbrush.
A couple hours later, Luz came downstairs and told them they were done for the day. The boys agreed as they were done too. They cleaned up and walked back upstairs, carrying the paint cans and cleaning supplies.
"Flapjack!" Hunter said once back upstairs. "Did you like the berries we gave you?"
"Uh, Flapjack still hasn't eaten the berries." Amity told him. "They're still in the same spot where we left them."
"What?" Hunter saw the berries in a pile still in the corner. He grew mad and dropped everything to the floor. "Flapjack!" Flapjack came up to them. Hunter looked at him and pointed at the berries. "You didn't eat a single berry. Why? My friends and I went berry picking for you." Flapjack looked at his owner and chirped. Hunter did a loud groan. "No excuses, Flapjack! I'm sorry I'm raising my voice, but you were a very bad palisman! I gave you an order and you didn't obey it. Look, I'm only disciplining and being firm with you because I love you and don't want to lose you." Flapjack kept chirping. "I will lose you if you don't eat anything!" Flapjack chirped again. "No, enough, Flap! I don't want to hear it! I just can't! Even though Belos was awful, he still made sure the others and I were fed. So, why can't you?" He grunted in frustration again at Flapjack's response. "Do what you want to Flap, I honestly don't care right now. But I'm not going to watch my best friend starve to death!" Hunter's friends watched him storm out and slam the door behind him. They looked at Flapjack who looked back at them. They then went out as well. Luz grabbed and carried the things out that Hunter madly dropped to the floor.
"I'm going to go to the basement." Hunter said once they were in the garage, putting the stuff away. "Luz, thank you for carrying my stuff in for me as well as your own. I'm sorry I didn't do it myself." With that, he went inside.
"Guess I'm not going to the basement then." Gus piped up. "I don't want to go down there with a mad Hunter."
"I'll go talk to him." Luz said. She went into the house.
"Hunter?" Luz said to him once she was in the basement. He found him sitting on the couch, so she sat next to him. "You okay?" Hunter sighed.
"Not really." He stated. "I just don't get it. Why would Flapjack disobey me like that? Doesn't he know that I want the best for him?"
"I'm sure he does."
"Then why…?"
"I don't know, Hunter. It's hard being a parent I imagine. Just ask my mom. She used to be a single mom with just me when Dad died, then came Vee and poof! Now she's taking care of six kids. I bet whenever my egg hatches, I'll yell at it from time to time. It's just how it is with loved ones. We may say we hate our parents sometimes, but we don't really mean it. That's just our anger talking. We don't mean what we say sometimes when we're really mad. We're teenagers. We may mess up and think that we know best, but at the end of the day, the ones we love know that we still love them."
"That's kind of what Gus said too. So, you don't think Flapjack hates me?"
"No, of course not. He knew what he was getting himself into when he chose to be your palisman." Hunter smiled.
"Wow, Luz. I guess you have a point there. Thank you for this talk. I really need it."
"Anytime, Hunter." Hunter stood up.
"I'm going to go back and apologize to Flap. I assume he's still back at the shack."
"You might be right. Want me to come with you?" Hunter shook his head.
"No, I got this." Luz smiled.
"I know you do." The two went upstairs.
Hunter went back to the shack alone. He walked inside and looked around.
"Flapjack!" He called. "Flapjack! Where are you? I came to apologize. Flap!" He was about to head downstairs when he heard a chirp and turned around. "Flapjack?" He saw the bird on the brim of the bucket, a berry in his beak. "You're eating the berries?" Flapjack resumed eating. Hunter walked over to the bucket and looked into it and gasped. All of the berries were gone. Hunter smiled. "Good job, Flapjack! You ate every last one. I'm so proud of you." He then frowned. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. But you know I was just looking out for you, right? You know I love you right, and will never hurt you?" Flapjack nodded. "So you don't hate me?" Flapjack flew to his owner and nuzzled him on his cheek, making him laugh. "I'm glad. I would never hate you too. I'm glad you chose me as your owner. Thank you for always being there for me, especially after I found out the horrible truth about Belos and I was at my lowest point." Flapjack chirped, which made him confused. "You would die for me? Oh, Flap!" He got teary eyed. "I'm touched! No one ever said that to me before. But, don't do that, okay? Please? You mean the world to me and I don't want you to ever leave me." Flapjack chirped again, making Hunter laugh again. "Okay, if you really think something's here, I won't stop you." Flapjack chirped and headed for the door, and Hunter got what his palisman wanted. "I think a break is a good idea, Flap." He picked up the bucket and they went outside. "Race you to the house? No cheating, Flap. 3, 2, 1, go!" The two raced to the Noceda's.
Flapjack chirped when he was victorious. Hunter smiled.
"Congrats for winning, Flap!" He congratulated him. "You are really speedy with those wings of yours. Take good care of them." The two went inside. Flapjack perched himself on Hunter's shoulder.
Vee and the others were in the room in front of the TV when they entered. They looked up at him.
"Are you and Flapjack good now?" Gus wanted to know.
"Yeah, we're good." Hunter told him.
"Good. We're about to watch a movie if you're interested."
"Cool! What's it about?" He sat down with his friends.
"A boy who finds out that he's a wizard." Luz answered. "I thought it was a good choice since most of us are witches and can relate. Spoiler alert, there is a game that is really familiar. You're see what I mean later. There's eight films total, so if any of you like the first one…"
"Just start the movie, batata." Amity said to Luz.
"Whatever you say, batata." And so Luz clicked the play button on the remote and the movie began.
After the movie, they all had dinner. After they all ate, Camila came home carrying a bird cage. Luz ran over to her.
"Hola, Mama!" She greeted her. "How was your day."
"It was great, but also exhausting." Camila replied. "I'm so glad I took the day off yesterday. I needed it." She looked at Hunter. "And Hunter, I sadly had to put down a bird today. I told the owner of the bird that I knew someone that could use this birdcage and she gave it to me."
"Oooooohhhhhh!" Gus said, trying to sound scary. "A birdcage that now belongs to a dead bird. Creepy. I wonder if the bird died inside of it and its ghost is inside it. Flapjack will have a ghost playmate."
"Once again, ghosts don't exist in the Human Realm." Hunter told him. Ghost let out a meow. "I wasn't talking about you, Ghost. I was talking about different ghosts, spirits."
"You don't know that." They all looked at him. He frowned. "Okay, I'll stop now."
"Do you have bird cages in The Demon Realm?" Camila wanted to know. "You must since Gus knows about them."
"Yes." Hunter answered her. "I once…" trapped King in it when I was in the Emperor's Coven. I was also going to murder your daughter and an old witch. He was going to say, but chose not to in fear what Camila might do to him. "I once had one back where I lived previously."
"Now, Flapjack has a place to go in and out of whenever he wants." Luz stated. Hunter grabbed it from her. Flapjack went in it. He checked it out. He flew around it, then landed back on the bottom.
"What do you think, buddy?" Flapjack chirped. Hunter looked at Camila. "He likes it very much."
"Oh, good. I was hoping that he would." Hunter looked back at Flapjack.
"What do you say to Camila, Flap?" The red cardinal flew out and chirped his thanks to Camila. Hunter looked back at Camila. "He said thank you."
"Oh, you're so welcome. Uh, he understood that, right?"
"Yes, he did."
"Oh, good. It's amazing how you all can understand your animal friends and they understand you back. Here's the lock and key to the cage if you need it." She also gave Hunter the lock and key.
"It's a special bond that witches can have with their palismen." Willow explained to her.
"Only witches can understand their own palismen." Amity put in. "We can't understand other witches' palismen."
"Well, I'm going to bring this cage, key and lock to the basement." Hunter announced. "Then I think I'm going to start on reading that booklet that Gus gave me."
"Sounds good, Hunter." Luz said. Hunter went to the basement with the cage, key and lock. Flapjack was still in the cage.
As soon as Hunter placed the cage, key and lock on top of the nightstand in the basement, he heard gentle snoring. He looked and saw that the bird had fallen fast asleep. He smiled. Flapjack must have worn himself out today after all of that searching. He thought to himself. He deserves it. Goodnight, Flap. And with that, he sat on his sleeping bag, driving booklet in hand, and began to read it to himself.