Dear Diary,

Believe it or not, I actually find Luz tolerable now.

It all started yesterday at the library. I was reading one of my favorite childhood books, "Otabin the Bookmaker", to a group of kids. I had just finished the book and I was sending the kids back to their parents when she walked in. Luz must have snuck behind a shelf in the kid's section while I was focused on reading. For some reason, she was actually excited to see me. At that point, she was still the somewhat annoying, bumbling human that only brought me trouble.

Luz asked me about what I was doing, and I lied and told her it was extra credit. In reality, it was just something I enjoy. I love reading to the kids, and I know some of their parents love the break. If I wasn't destined for the Emperor's Coven, I think I'd actually want to teach at Hexside. I don't know if I have the patience for the baby class, so maybe I'd teach students my age. I know it's an unforgiving job, and sometimes I don't know how these teachers can come back to work every day, but I think I'm cut out for it.

Of course, Luz wanted to join the fun, and said that we should do it together. Crazy, right? She said we could take turns reading, and that she does the best monster voices. In the Demon Realm, monsters don't really talk, but make horrid screeching sounds, so I don't know where she learned about them.

Anyways, I told her in no uncertain terms that I don't meddle in her life, so she needs to stop meddling in mine. I told her that every time she gets near me, I get in trouble, and that she needed to leave me alone. She apologized and started to leave. I will admit, I felt like I was a little too harsh on her. I know she's trying to be nice to me and be my friend, but I just didn't think we were that alike, or even compatible enough to be friends. I have my own goals and dreams, and she can't come anywhere near them on her own.

As she was leaving, I guess Ed and Em found her. It seemed like they were trying to be her friend. I honestly didn't know why, maybe to spite me? Maybe to get back at me for something? Or maybe they just didn't know how Luz was.

You know, they always do this to me. When I find something I like, they try to somehow turn it against me. Or, in this case, since I don't like Luz, they're becoming all buddy-buddy with her so that she can still be around me. Why can't they stop messing with my life?

To top it all off, they embarrassed me in front of her. Ed called me "mittens" (have I ever told you how much I hate that nickname?) and told me to stop being mean to my "friend". First of all, she wasn't my friend. Though I couldn't care less about Luz's opinion of me, I still hate it when they do that. They also brought me my lunch after I forgot it at home, which I admit was sweet of them, but they just *had* to stick it in the Otabin lunch box I used to use when I was in the baby class. Why did mom even keep that thing?

After grabbing my lunch, I told them to leave. I didn't need them embarrassing me anymore than they already were. Later that afternoon, I busted Luz and the twins after they messed with the demon decimal system cards. Apparently, they had been running amok and pulling pranks all afternoon, so me and one of my bosses ended up kicking them out. It was the night of the Wailing Star shower, we couldn't afford to have the library in disarray, since we knew that there would be enough madness occurring overnight.

What I didn't know, though, was how I would be involved in it.

I overheard the twins telling Luz to meet them back at the library at midnight, so I knew I had to stay and make sure they didn't burn the place down. After my shift ended, I went home to eat dinner and grab a few belongings. Emira saw me and asked what I was doing, and I told her I was gonna stay the night at Boscha's house. She shrugged it off and went to find Edric, they were probably gonna go over their plan for the evening, whatever it was.

After leaving the house, I headed back to the library and went to my secret hideaway. Malphas ended up giving it to me after I worked there for a few months and told me to consider it a reward for a hard job well done. I reorganized the Kid's Corner all by myself after Braxas had a bit of a temper tantrum. I still have no clue how he managed to throw a book all the way into the reference section, it's on the other end of the building! Anyways, I went in and decided to read a book for pleasure. I had been studying so hard that week, and I needed a break. I pulled one of my Azura books off the shelf and began to reread it for probably the millionth time.

When midnight rolled around, I left my study and went to patrol the library. Ed, Em, and Luz weren't gonna get away with anything that night, if I could help it. It took me a while to find anything, but when I did, there was so much to clean up. They had messed up the periodicals section and somehow had a snowball fight in the fiction stacks.

I had just returned to my study when I saw it- Luz was on the ground picking up pages from my diary.

I can only imagine what Ed and Em may have seen, or worse, what Luz may have seen. I heard a few of the entries as I walked in, which were projected into the room due to the effects of the Wailing Star. The entries that I heard didn't sound too bad (except for the one talking about Luz at Covention, I wonder how much she heard of that), but who knows what they may have seen before I found them?

I have no idea how they found out where my study was, or how they broke their way into it. Maybe I accidentally left the "book" that revealed the door pulled a little too far out of its spot on the shelf. Ed and Em had to have followed me around one day to figure out where it was, and tonight they pulled Luz along with them.

Regardless, the three of them totally violated my trust. I get Ed and Em doing it, but Luz? I barely knew her like that, and now she was trying to get into my secrets? It was at that moment that I thought I figured her out- she was nothing but a bully. Ever since she got to the Boiling Isles, she's done nothing but make me (and only me) look bad. She wasn't like this with Willow or Gus, so why me? What did I ever do to her? I told them all off and ran out of the study, my eyes stinging with tears.

While walking off with my diary, Luz found me in one of the stacks. She started to apologize, but I didn't want to hear it. Suddenly, we felt the library floor begin to vibrate, and heard giant booming footsteps that seemed to be closing in on us. A giant evil Otabin strode its way over to Luz and me, with his book bound to his chest acting as his heart. He had giant fangs and claws and looked nothing like the cute little bunny from the book I loved so much. I noticed his illustration was doodled on, I wonder who could have done that.

With Luz clutching onto my arm, Otabin pulled me away, and dragged me into the Kid's Corner. He pinned me to a giant book and began to sew me into it. He nearly missed my head with the huge needle he was using. I felt my arm go flat as I turned into a cartoon from the book. When I asked him why he was doing this, he told me that he only wanted a friend, and now he has one.

You know, I want more friends too (and better ones at that), but I'd never kidnap them and try to kill them!

As I was planning my next move, a purple cloud started to flow into the room, and out emerged who I thought was Azura. Well, I was close. It was Luz pretending to be her, and she was holding my diary. Otabin made me drop it when he dragged me away from her, I really hope she didn't read it! Luz began asking if she looked like her. I had to tell her to get back on track, and she started to write in it. I saw what she wrote after we broke free, it was a command to summon a staff like the one Azura used in her books. Her get-up was also written in there, as well as a drawing of me being impressed with her outfit. It wasn't too far off, I kinda liked how she looked. She pulled the staff, which was promptly snatched away by Otabin, out of the diary, which he then slammed shut, reverting Luz back to her full human status. He threw Luz onto the book I was bound to and gave her the same treatment he did me.

When I sarcastically wished her a good job, she told me that she only did it to try to save me. After I yelled at her in my study, I thought we had a mural agreement of not liking each other. But she decided to come to try and help me when she just as easily could have left me here to become part of the library's collection. I don't think I would have minded being trapped in a book forever, but I find it admirable that she wanted to help me, despite how I've treated her.

Luz quickly came up with an idea on how to save us. She started kicking the book so that we fell on our feet, and we began to run. We got halfway down the aisle, and I asked her what was next. She said she didn't know and made one of her monster noises. In the face of crisis, I couldn't help but laugh. She still found a way to be funny and happy, even when our lives were at stake. I have to commend her for that, for her being able to keep a cool head.

Soon after that, Otabin jabbed our book with his needle and thread, and began to pull us back towards him. I managed to hook onto one of the shelf ladders and broke free, but Luz was still trapped. I knew I had to run back and help her, just as she did for me. So, I rammed one of the book carts at full speed into Otabin, causing a tall shelf to fall down and smother him. I ran over to Luz and loosened the threads that bound her into the book. The moment she was freed, Otabin grabbed her again, so I conjured up an eraser the same way Luz created her Azura outfit. I tossed it to her, and she erased the malicious doodles, reverting Otabin to his adorable, lovable self. I nodded for her to close the book after comforting him, and he returned to his fantasy world.

It took hours for us to clean up the mess, I couldn't let my bosses see a nearly destroyed library when they came in the next morning. By the time we left, the sun was rising over the Isles, and I was exhausted. As we left, Luz began talking about how much fun she had, and I told her to just forget about that night. I was still conflicted on whether or not I could see her as a friend, but only until she handed me her copy of the fifth Azura book. She said it didn't make up for her seeing my diary, but that she somehow wanted to try and make amends with me.

Running away from the beast with Luz made me realize that she wasn't as bad of a person as I was making her out to be. Last night, I learned she had some potential in her, and I realized that I had not been as kind as I could have been towards her. I thanked her for the book, told her I'd think about us being friends, and walked home. I really do need to be nicer to her, she's been a better person in the short time I've known her than Boscha has ever been. Hell, she's almost as nice as Willow, and she's one of the sweetest girls in the world.

So yeah, that was my night. I hope I never have to deal with anything like Otabin ever again, it was hard to fight something I love so much. I'm gonna go try to recover from last night, as you can tell, it was a lot.

Perpetually questioning myself,
Amity