From two, the days became three and then four. Every morning Luz and her friends woke up hoping to be in time, but it was always too late: in a place where they did nothing but play and have fun from morning to night and there were no alarm clocks or adults who forced them to get out of bed, it was basically impossible for them not to sleep until late; and once they woke up, the amusements and rides entertained them so much that they always ended up forgetting that they had to go to the port and they stayed at the park until late at night. They had tried to resist the temptation, and to refrain from continuing to have fun at least when the sun began to set, but they never succeeded: every time there was a new ride, a new game, a new entertainment, and in the end they gave in and returned to have fun. Their young kids' bodies loved that fun and always wanted more, and in the end that desire always got the better of their conscience.

Only late at night, when they finally went to sleep, they felt a little guilty again for all the worry they were surely causing their families, but that feeling seemed to grow weaker each time. How could it be otherwise, in a place where they could finally do whatever they wanted without having to submit to the tyrannical rules of adults? How could they regret their previous life, in which they were forced to go to school and study and work hard, and if they did something wrong they were scolded and punished? Even if they loved them, what did they care about their poor parents who were surely very scared to never see them return? They would have scolded them anyway by now; one day more or less, what difference did it make?

Even Luz, as much as she felt sorry for King who was probably getting very scared, was having less and less desire to return to Bonesborough; the Boiling Islands were a place too beautiful, and maybe because of all the fun, maybe because the other kids seemed to think exactly like her, maybe because no one was reminding her that she had to go home, she was giving in more and more to her 'bratty side', and although she kept hearing a little voice in her head reminding her that she promised herself to act like a good girl and making the young Titan worry and skip school and disappear from home for days didn't exactly fit the definition, she was listening to it less and less. She felt a little guilty when she noticed it, but the aforementioned moments of noticing became rarer and shorter every day.

If every now and then she at least tried to remember that they would have to return, Amity by now seemed to have completely forgotten, so much so that that morning she hadn't even bothered to check if they were in time to catch the ship but she had instead tried to drag her straight away to the rides. Despite everything, Luz was happy to see her like this: it seemed that whatever problems were pressing on her girlfriend's shoulders had finally vanished. Amity had become loose, free, smiling and giggly; basically everything she already was when she spent time with Luz and their friends, with the difference that now she was so constantly, without ever stopping and without showing the slightest sign of rigidity or seriousness. Every opportunity to laugh was a good one, and she seemed a hundred times happier than she had ever been. Definitely, all the bad thoughts had evaporated in that idyllic place, and Luz couldn't help but be happy about that... although she still felt that she should have been more careful and not behave as if she had really chosen to spend her life there.

Even their other friends were no different, in fact, even all the other inhabitants of Bonesborough: none of them seemed to remember that they had to go home anymore, and the few who did immediately chased that feeling away. The thought of having fun day and night was far too tempting.

"Ha ha! I won again!" Amity laughed as she very accurately shot a ball into a hole. They were in an arcade and what she was playing consisted of hitting a very small hole with an equally small ball at a great distance.

Edric snorted angrily. "I don't believe it! You win too many times, you're cheating!"

"Yeah! I bet you direct the ball with magic!" Emira supported him.

Amity shrugged in response. "Can you prove it? And then, even if it were like that... I don't remember there being a rule against it" she said with such a mocking face that Luz couldn't help but burst out laughing when she looked at her.

The twins wrinkled their noses in annoyance. "You know what? I don't like this game anymore" Edric muttered.

"I agree. Let's find a better one" Emira confirmed. Evidently the seventeen consecutive defeats burned inside her quite a bit.

Luz put her mouth close to Amity's ear: "You cheated, didn't you?"

Amity giggled. "Only when they were about to put the ball in the hole. I enjoy seeing them pissed off too much" she whispered back, and they both had to put a hand over their mouths to keep from laughing.

"If you're bored, then come and try this! It's super funny!" Boscha exclaimed as she held a large hammer and tried to hit several wooden mole-like figures that were coming out of various holes in a box.

"Or even this! It makes you tired a lot, but damn, it is fun!" Skara told them; she was on a carpet with circles of various colors, and in front of her there was a kind of pole that lit up with the color of the circle on which she had to step, all to the rhythm of a music that came out from who knows where.

"They look like fun, actually" Luz admitted, trying to decide which of the two she wanted to try first.

But she didn't have time to choose, because Gus appeared almost out of nowhere and shouted at them: "Guys, come on, everyone! Matt and I have found the ultimate game!"

And in saying this he almost dragged them away by force. Curious, the others followed him and arrived in a sort of large room where there were numerous carts stuffed with cushions. "Um… what is it?" Amity asked confused.

"It says here that they're called 'bumper cars'! We just turn them on and they move as we please, and the game consists of hitting each other!" Gus responded by pointing to a sign that explained exactly what he already had said, and then he jumped onto one of the strange carts with Matt, who immediately started moving, splashing across the track like a fireball.

"Wow, amazing! How does it move? Is it magic or some strange device?" Amity asked curiously.

"Who cares! Jump on board!" Gus answered them. "Trust me, it's super fun!"

His friends weren't sure what was funny about driving a cart and pushing each other, but they took his advice; since there were two seats on each cart, Amity went with Luz, Edric with Emira, Boscha with Skara, and Cat with Amelia. It didn't take them long to figure out how to start the cart, and when they did, the fun began in its entirety. Within three seconds they fully understood why Gus and Matt liked it so much: not only were the carts moving so fast that their hair was messed up by the wind, but every time they bumped into each other for some reason it was guaranteed laughter. Soon the competition became super fierce, and everyone tried to hit the others as violently as possible.

"Come on, Edric!"

"Tsk! Do you think you can beat me?"

"Amity, to your left!"

"Ah! You won't defeat me that easily!"

"Girls, all over Gus and Matt!"

"You won't have us alive!"

They played with the aforementioned 'bumper cars' for over two hours, and they forced themselves to stop only because their bellies were starting to hurt because of all their laughter. Plus, they were starting to get a little hungry. "Let's go have lunch" Emira proposed, rubbing her stomach, and everyone agreed; just the thought of the treats that awaited them was enough to make them salivate.

"I'm going to the bathroom for a moment. Come ahead of me, I'll join you right away" Luz said, and after giving her girlfriend a kiss on the cheek she ran away.

After going to the bathroom she went back, but she realized that she hadn't asked the others if they had decided to go for lunch, so she started looking for them. Even just taking a walk in the middle of the Boiling Islands was enough to make her happy: everywhere just laughed and shouts of joy rang out, so it was impossible for her lips not to curve into a smile. If there wasn't heaven, surely she and her friends had ended up in something very, very similar.

"Are you looking for someone?" a familiar voice asked her.

Luz turned and saw Philip approaching her, still dressed in his usual white cloak and golden mask. "Yes, I can't find my friends"

"If you're referring to the girl with lavander hair, the two guys with green hair and all the others, they went to the fry shop over there" the man told her kindly, pointing to a street.

"Thank you very much!" Luz replied cheerfully, and then she added: "Mr. Philip, let me tell you: you have built the best amusement park ever!"

"Oh oh! You are flattering me, my girl. I'm not so arrogant as to think I've created the best of the best" Philip replied with a laugh.

"But it's the pure truth! Trust me, I can't lie, my nose would grow if I did!" Luz insisted. "I am one hundred percent sure that this is the most beautiful amusement park in the world! You are a real genius when it comes to rides, toys, entertainment and so on!"

"Well, I've had some experience in the past. It's not the first amusement park I've built. By experimenting, sooner or later you manage to create something that all the kids like; you just need to have a little patience" Philip answered her with a bit of pride in his voice.

"So you've been in this business for a long time?" Luz asked him.

"For several years, yes. Decades actually... you can tell I'm so old, right?" Philip replied jokingly.

"Well, I'm sure your other amusement parks were a success too!" Luz told him with a smile, and then she didn't hold back from asking: "Why did you decide to do this work, by the way?"

Philip shrugged: "Well, I started when I was very young, and as often happens, I made my first attempt more as a bet, or rather out of spite. There was a person who accused me of not knowing how to make people happy, and I decided to confirm... I mean, to pay them back by opening an amusement park. But then I realized that I liked working in this business, and a lot too; so I continued. Believe me, even if I'm not on one of these rides, there's no more fun and entertaining sight for me than seeing you kids all here"

"You're a really good person" Luz told him. "May I ask if you are a wizard?"

"Oh oh! I can't answer that question" Philip told her, putting his finger to her lips in an almost comical manner. "A true showman never reveals all his secrets!"

Luz giggled at that, although she was a little disappointed that she hadn't gotten a response. But after all, she reflected, her question had been a little too personal. "You're right. It would take away all the flavor" she admitted.

Philip put a hand on her shoulder. His touch felt just like that of a gentle grandfather. "You're clearly a little upset. Has something happened?"

Luz was surprised by the man's intuition, but she answered truthfully: "Well... it's just that it seems like no one cares about going home anymore". She bit her lip: "I'm not saying that your park is bad, in fact I would gladly spend my life there... but at home we have people waiting for us, and yet no one seems to care anymore... not even Amity..."

"Yeah, I noticed that" Philip told her. "Amity is that girlfriend of yours with the lavander hair, right? Correct me if I'm wrong, but... she has a lot of stress built up on her, right?"

Luz wondered how the man could understand so many things, but after thinking about it for a moment she thought it plausible that after so many years spent working closely with the kids he had learned to recognize when something was wrong. "Well... yeah. It's a long story, but she didn't exactly have an easy life"

"Then it's normal that she's no longer thinking about going home. It's what happens when a kid gets too many chains put on them, and suddenly they are free to taste freedom" Philip told her. "You don't have to worry about her, there is nothing strange in all of this. She just really needs to distract herself and have fun. She needs to make up for all the time she has lost during her life"

"Well, actually that's the case... but still, I think she should at least remember that we have people waiting for us at home..." the puppet protested.

"She remember it well, Luz. She haven't forgotten it. She just want to take a break now" Philip replied. "You'll see, when she finally lets off steam properly, she'll want to go home too. Like you, right? You want to go home?"

Luz fell silent for a moment and scratched the back of her neck. "Well... partly yes, but... I admit that I would also happily stay here a little longer..."

"See? You want to take a break too" Philip told her, and from his tone he almost seemed to have expected that answer. "You've had a lot of stress on you too lately, haven't you?"

Luz bit her lip. "Yes... in fact it is like that. A lot of things have happened... some bad, some good... but I would be lying if I said that I didn't feel a bit of pressure on myself, even just because of the urgency I feel to become a real girl..."

"A real girl?" Philip asked her. "It's a rather unusual dream, but a nice one"

Luz blushed. "Yes, that's right. And lately I've been close, I've completed one of the requirements... but, ironically, that's only made me more tense. Now I feel more urgent than ever to complete the second requirement... but at the same time I have to think about supporting Amity, who needs my help given everything she's been through... I feel a lot of responsibility, even more than before..."

Philip knelt beside her and took off his mask, showing his old and gentle face. "Luz, I don't know what you're dealing with, and I won't ask you to explain it to me; but… if you want my advice, you should stop thinking about it, even if just for a little while. Just do what your girlfriend and friends do. Sometimes it's good to take a break and relax, especially at your age. It's not a negative thing" he told her. "There will be time tomorrow to become a real girl, to help Amity, to solve all those messes that afflict you. Today... don't think about it. Just think about having fun, like all the kids of your age should do. Laugh and joke and play, and let it wash away your problems. Trust me, when both you and your girlfriend will be truly ready to go home and face everything will wait you there, you'll know. Until then, don't worry about being my guest and just think about having fun"

Luz smiled at his words; even though Philip didn't know all the series of misfortunes that she and her friends had stumbled upon, he had still been able to lift her spirits. Maybe he was right… there was no harm in taking a break every now and then. She would apologize to King when she returned. "Thank you, Mr. Philip. You are truly a good person"

"Don't thank me, it's my duty as the leader of this place to make sure you kids don't have the slightest upset and are always smiling!" Philip replied to her with his usual comical manner, and he put the mask back on his face and pointed to the road as if he were a valiant leader: "Go now! Go back to your friends, and think about having fun!"

"If the owner of the house orders it, I certainly can't refuse!" Luz responded with a big laugh, and she ran off after giving him a final goodbye. If she hadn't turned around, she would have seen an evil and cold light appear in the man's eyes, which shone even through the mask. "So she's close to becoming a real girl... it's lucky I acted in time. Stupid Hunter, he and his attitude were seriously risking of ruining everything. Well, it doesn't matter now anymore. Another day... just another day, and finally the seed will take root properly and I will the one that will have a lot of fun!"

Belos somehow had to find out that Luz is just one requirement away from becoming a real girl (remember, he only knows Hunter's memories, and he doesn't know what happened while Amity and Luz were together in the nightmare caused by Grometheus). Luckily for him, after years of working in that industry he became an excellent psychologist of kids... even if you don't need so much effort to convince Luz to talk.