Saturday, May 22, 2021 | 8:24 A.M. | The Noceda Household

Luz gave her luggage for camp one last look over.

The blue duffel bag had about 2 weeks worth of clothes in it, mainly consisting of cargo/athletic shorts, t-shirts, hoodies, and a few pairs of jeans. Some leggings and an ill-fitting button-up shirt were also scrunched in there last minute just in case she needed something more formal. With some creative outfit combos, she could wear a new outfit every single day of camp if she wanted to. (Knowing Luz, though, she would probably just end up wearing her favorite blue-and-white cat hoodie most of the time.)

The black-and-green duffel bag held her larger items. Her personal laptop (Somehow, it was still chugging along even after all these years. "The AMV-inator", as Luz called it, ran really well, considering its age.), the laptop's power cable, her drawing tablet, the tablet's charger, her sketchpad, and a few charcoal pencils. She wanted to have every possible creative outlet at her disposal if an idea struck her.

Finally, there was her backpack, which contained her most important possessions: her phone, its charger, and Good Witch Azura books 1-5. She would only be taking the standard versions of the books though, as she didn't want to risk her Collector's Editions being ruined by some snobby bully with no taste for such literary masterpiece. She had saved up her allowance for nearly two months to buy that set from her local Applegrant Bookshop, and the books sat proudly on her shelf, surrounded on all sides by all the Azura and Hecate figurines she had collected over her years in the GWA fandom.

"Luz, are you almost ready to go?"

"Sí, mamá. Just making sure I have everything packed up."

In his terrarium, Reggie had apparently been awoken by the sudden noise of conversation, as he began looking around, head swiveling to and fro. Noticing her pet, Luz walked over to the baby green tree python and squatted down to be level with him.

"Alright, Reggie. I'm gonna be gone for a while. That means that mom is going to be taking care of you. You have to promise to be good for mom, okay? Can you do that for me?" Reggie quickly flicked his tongue in and out, tasting the air in a gesture that Luz took to mean Yes in Snake-ese.

"Nice chat." Reggie responded by slumping to the floor of the terrarium and doing his best impression of an over-cooked spaghetti noodle.

Swinging her backpack on and grabbing a duffel bag in each hand, Luz made her way downstairs to the main foyer. She then let her mom know she was ready for camp with a shout of, "How much time till the bus gets here?"

"It won't be here for another 30 minutes, cariño."

Sighing, Luz set down her bags and walked into the kitchen to get some last-minute breakfast before heading off to camp. Opening the fridge revealed a dearth of any appealing food options. Three-day-old Chinese food wasn't exactly the most nutritional breakfast one could have.

Switching over to the pantry, she saw a lone package of instant oatmeal with a ginger and maple flavor. Deciding better this than nothing, Luz skimmed the instructions on the packaging and quickly prepared the meal.

The oatmeal was ok. A solid 6.5/10.

Looking at the clock on the wall, the bus was supposed to arrive in about 15 minutes. Picking up her bags and walking out the door with an "I'm gonna go wait outside!", Luz readied herself for the worst and most boring three months of her life.

She waited for the bus to arrive.

And waited.

And waited some more.

Eventually, her shoulders began to ache, so she set her bags down. It had definitely been more than 15 minutes. It had to have been. Maybe the bus was just running late? That could happen. So Luz waited even longer.

Luz gave up. She turned to walk back inside when she heard a HOOT sound. Turning to locate the noise, she saw a tiny owl with her backpack in its beak. The owl met eyes with her and it looked like it had gotten caught red-handed. (Or would it be red-winged? Luz thought to herself) The owl turned and started hopping away as fast as possible, backpack still in tow.

"Oh no you don't!" Luz yelled, and the chase was on. Luz sprinted after the little owl, who was deceptively fast. Everytime she thought she was going to catch the fleeing avian, the owl started hopping a little bit faster and was out of her reach again. The owl ended up hopping its way into an old, abandoned house through an open front door and disappearing from Luz's line of sight.

Luz was normally against doing things like breaking the law, but in this one incerdibly rare instance, she didn't care. It was time for a little breaking and entering. Maybe. All Luz knew was that she wanted her bag back. So with a primal scream, Luz ran through the open door. Suddenly, the door behind her slammed shut and a bright yellow light filled her vision.

Camila looked out her bedroom window, expecting to see her daughter getting ready to hop on the bus to camp.

Luz was nowhere to be seen. Her bags were still there, but their owner wasn't.

"Mija, you forgot your bags outside."

No response.

"Luz? Hello? Are you here?"

Still nothing. It wasn't like Luz to give the silent treatment. Something was off about this.

Camila ran down the stairs and outside. The realization slowly set in.

Luz was gone.

30 Minutes Later

A bus pulled up to the Noceda household. Traffic had been absolutely awful, and they were nearly a half hour late because of it. Nobody was there, and no cars were in the driveway. The driver simply shrugged and drove to the next house on their list. They weren't paid enough to care about one kid being late.