BREAKING THE FANTASY
Written by Gwendolyn Frost.
The following morning at the Noceda home, Luz was found with her eyes glued to those books she took with her from the library. However, while she was mumbling every word in them under her breath - she was unable to understand a single thing.
Amity, who was watching the whole thing while eating breakfast next to her, was startled by the sudden 'thump' sound that Luz made when she dropped the very last book over to the side of the table in frustration. "Are you… ok?" Amity had to ask.
"Sorry." Luz just realized that Amity was still next to her. She smiled and sighed. "I have no idea what I was thinking. I hardly understand math at school. This… is waaay beyond my understanding."
Amity leaned in to hold Luz's hand and smiled back at her. "I know you are frustrated and disappointed right now, but if it helps - I didn't understand a single one of your mumblings either."
Luz chuckles softly and squeezes Amity's hand gently. "Our schools are so much different. At least you guys get to learn magic."
"Well, I wouldn't be so sure of that." Amity grinned. "Your dad has a lot of magazines down in the basement about something called… science fiction? I enjoyed reading one about a certain subject called robotics. It's kinda like humans are building their own abominations to do their bidding."
Both of them stared at each other for a brief moment before Luz was unable to hold out some laughter which soon made Amity to laugh it off as well.
"I can't believe you put that thought in my head!" Luz exclaimed, still laughing.
By now, Amity's face had become a little red from laughing so hard but soon was able to calm down. "If you think about it, if my dad were human - he would be building these things in your world."
Luz's own laughter began to fade down. "You know what… you're so right." Luz looked at Amity with a grin. "I mean, your family owns a tech-company in your world. It is so bizarre how things seem different yet so alike."
"Feeling better now?" Amity asked, squeezing Luz's hand a little bit.
"Yup. Thanks." Luz leaned in to give Amity's cheek a quick smooch. "I promise you…" Luz was about to yet again make a promise about bringing Amity back to her family, her dad and siblings, but was cut off by Amity herself as if she was reading her mind.
"I know." Amity said, trying her best not to show how she truly felt about the situation by giving her a small kiss on her lips and smiled once it was over. However, Amity's eyes showed some concern towards Luz putting so much responsibility over her own shoulders. "So, aren't you going to tell them about your plans for today?" Amity quickly changed the conversation so that Luz would distract herself.
"Oh, right!" Luz exclaimed as she got up from the chair and walked over to the living room where Gus, Willow and Hunter were playing video games.
There, sitting on the couch were Willow and Gus holding the controllers while Hunter was sitting on Gus' side on the floor, in addition Vee -sitting next to Willow on the couch- was watching them all play rather than participating.
When the game was over, Gus groaned in frustration. "How?! How are you this good? We started playing yesterday!"
Willow shrugged. "I dunno, skills perhaps." She said almost with a sly grin on her face.
Gus was still bewildered by losing in such hopeless fashion, mumbling and rambling about what just happened without making any sense whatsoever.
"Wow!" Vee exclaimed almost with a glee in her voice. "That was amazing! How did you manage to figure that human game out in such a short time?" The Basilisk asked as she listened to Willow answer her question with a look of awe and admiration in her eyes.
Willow almost blushed a little bit after getting so much praise and genuine appreciation. "Aww, shucks. It's not that big of a deal. Fight Fighters is just a game that's all about movement, spacing and…" She then looked at Gus when she finished her explanation. "Learn not to mash buttons like a mad man."
"Willow…" Gus glared back at her. "Mashing buttons is the whole point of video games." He said with the most serious look on his face. "Mashing buttons is fun." Gus picked up his controller again and started pressing those buttons over and over. "See how fun this is?"
Hunter was unable to hold his laughter soon after. "Ok, ok. We all like to mash buttons too, Gus."
"Well, I guess now it's your turn." Gus said, handing out the controller at his blonde friend who immediately raised his palms out to refuse the chance to play.
"Nope, I had my own fair of humiliating defeats at the hands of the King/Queen of the Couch for today. I'm not worthy." Hunter said with a grin and a faint line of blushing on his face.
Willow, the King/Queen of the Couch shook her head and laughed softly. "Tell you what, since you've both been such good sports - Hunter specially- you can have my controller. You two keep playing, I'm going to take a break." Willow offered the controller to Hunter before she stretched, cracking a few bones in the process after sitting on the couch for so long.
Hunter, who was now holding the controller, asked Willow "Oh, are you sure you don't want to keep playing? You haven't lost yet, those are the rules of the couch."
Willow nodded with a smile. "Yeah, you guys decide who's the next King/Queen of the Couch." She winks.
Hunter didn't need to be told twice and brought himself back on the couch next to Gus. "Dibs on Rumble McSkirmish!" He exclaimed before Gus had any time to react.
"Dibs on…! Aww man!" Gus said in frustration. "He's the best character in the game!"
It was then that Luz joined them in the living room. "Hey, guys. Before you start the next set, can we have a word?"
"Sure, what's up Luz?" Hunter said as all four of them raised their eyes at her.
"Well…" Luz cleared her throat, they could tell she was a little nervous.
"Uh, well. Remember my quinceañera a few months ago. We stayed all day home since… well, we weren't so sure you guys were ready to go out and y'know, be exposed to other humans. But we've come a long way since then. You've gone out, done some errands and interacted with the neighbors - so I think you're ready. Ahem. I was hoping to invite you all to go out and have some pizza." Luz said, rubbing the back of her head with a small blush on her face.
Shortly enough, Amity joined them as well, gently placing her hand over her girlfriend's shoulder with a smile. "Well, you know I'm coming." She said gently kissing Luz's cheek.
"Oh, I've read about this!" Gus exclaimed.
"What is pizza?" Hunter said, raising his hand as if he was in school.
Gus, being the human expert from the Human Appreciation Society back at Hexside, was ready to answer the question by pulling out a frozen pizza coupon he had in his wallet and showing it to Hunter and Willow. "It is food for Human Teenagers, the No. 1 pick for social gatherings according to popular Human magazine Vague." He said, pulling out the article from a pocket on his pants. "It's made out of cheese, which Humans extract from a creature called a cow. I bet it may be as tasty as Centaur cheese, granted they both have the same name. But I'm eager to have pizza for the first time! I'm in!" He said towards Luz.
"You should stop taking Vague so seriously, but great!" Luz said with a soft chuckle. "What about you guys?" She asked Willow and Hunter.
"Why do you even have to ask, Luz. Of course we're coming! Right, Hunter?" Willow said.
"Absolutely. So this will be like a Quinceañera part two?" Hunter asked with a smile.
"Something like that." Luz said with a soft laugh, the way she laughed gave away how happy she felt.
"Hm." Vee interrupted. "Can I come too?" The young Basilisk asked nervously.
Luz faced Vee and replied with a nod. "Of course, Vee. You're part of my family now." She said, holding her green scaly hands.
Vee smiled widely. "So what you said yesterday was all true? You weren't making this up?" Vee asked with small tears starting to gather under her eyes already. After all she has been through, she was happy to have a family of her own - and was unable to hold those tears even if she was asked to.
"All true. I mean it." Luz said, hugging the Basilisk who hugged her back tightly.
Vee sniffed a little bit which made her apologize for it. "Sorry, I'm just so happy." She said as she wiped those tears off her cheeks with her hand.
"You're not the only one." Luz said as she cleaned her own face as well. " As a matter of fact…" A few more tears began to flow down her tanned face, making Amity and the others a bit worried as they could tell that Luz was trying to fight back the urge to cry.
"Hey, it's ok. What's the matter?" Amity asked as she got closer to her, even Vee's own emotions vanished the moment she saw Luz's expression.
Luz successfully won the war against her emotions by showing them a smile, even though there were tears showing up under her eyes every now and then as she explained. "I'm sorry. I would have hoped we were in better circumstances but I'm so happy that I met you guys. Before I got to stay in the Owl House, I had no friends… now I got you all, and a new adopted sister. I know I've been joking about you guys having your first pizza, and I still intend to record you guys experiencing it for the first time. But this will also be my first time having pizza with friends. I was never invited to things… I was never a part of a group, a part of something. From the bottom of my heart, thank you." Luz said with a blush and a small smile which brought the group to gather around for a group hug.
"You changed our lives, Luz." Hunter said.
"You made me a better witch." Amity said.
"You helped me boost my self-esteem and reconnect with an old friend." Willow said.
"You're not the only one thankful for this moment, Luz. Our world would never be the same without you around." Gus said.
"You don't have to thank us, thank you." Vee said.
Luz let out a few sniffs, yet again fighting back tears and broke the moment with a soft chuckle. "Ok, we better stop now or you all are truly making me cry of happiness."
Willow laughed softly. "I couldn't agree more." She said as she took her glasses off and began to clean her own face.
"You guys finish playing your game. We should head out in about an hour. I got another thing planned later in the day with Amity, but we should have enough time to visit the arcade." Luz said.
"What's the arcade?" Hunter asked before Gus' voice exclaimed once more.
"I've read about this!" And so, Gus flexed his knowledge of the Human World with Hunter once more while Luz, Amity and Willow went to the dining room and hung out there before it was time to leave.
THE LOOKING GLASS
Chapter 2: The Spook Tour
When it was time to leave, the witches have come to the conclusion that it'll be best if all palismans stay in the house for the time being. Sure, Emmeline could go invisible at will, Clover could pass as Willow's plushie and Flapjack and Ghost could pass as animals from the Human Realm - but the idea of them getting lost or hurt out there worried the bunch, so they asked their palismans to watch over the Noceda House while they were gone.
Thanks to Gus' Illusion Magic, he helped Hunter and Willow hide their ears through illusions - as long as they stayed within 100 feet from him.
Hunter's hair was a little short, therefore he was the one who needed the spell the most. While Willow had long braids now, they would often swing around - which could potentially expose them for humans to see. The witches now wore casual outfits that helped them fit in the Human Realm… to an extent. Hunter and Willow passed as humans perfectly, but Gus was adamant of being a little more… expressive. As a matter of fact, his shirt, pants and shoes seem to belong to a different decade from one another. However, Gus didn't care if people looked at him funny, he was perfectly comfortable wearing these human clothes in public.
They head a few blocks away from home led by Luz until they reach Luigi's, the pizza joint that Luz told Amity about the day before - which had an arcade to their left called Litwak's Retro Arcade.
Once inside, Luz ordered the pizza and some sodas for them before finding a lone table on the far end of the place. They chatted while waiting for the pizza about various things. However, there seemed to be something bothering Hunter. No one noticed at first, but every time that someone would shine the conversation on him and hear them calling him 'Hunter' over and over, he became more and more uncomfortable - as if he had something to share.
It wasn't until Willow noticed this pattern of flinching, looking down, swallowing spit and looking away when hearing his name that she had to ask.
"Hey, Hunter…" He flinched yet again. "Are you ok, dude?"
But instead of avoiding the topic, Hunter decided that it was time to address it. "No, as a matter of fact. I have something to tell you. I know that I should have said something earlier, since we were all… y'know opening up. But… I wanted you all to know that I'm probably… changing my name."
Everyone was silent for a brief moment before Luz broke the silence by asking.
"Ok, you mean… as in no longer calling yourself Hunter?" There was no flinching this time, instead - Hunter nodded, smiling.
"That name represents something I'm not. It was given to me by someone that I no longer want in my life. But I want you all to know that I'm not deterring you from calling me Hunter for the time being. As I haven't found the name I'm looking for. I just want you to know that someday, I'll figure out who I want to be -hopefully- and that I'll be calling myself something else." Hunter said with a blush on his face.
"That's… great. Of course." Luz said with a smile while the others nodded in agreement. "When you find out, let us know."
"Thanks." Hunter said with a soft chuckle and his blushing became worse when Willow leaned forward and placed a hand over his shoulder with a supporting smile.
"Just do me a favor." Willow said while displaying the sweetest smile Hunter has ever seen, but the words she spoke after did not matched the look on her face which gave off a serious tone in her voice. "Do not call yourself after Rumble."
"What?! But he is sooo cool!" Hunter complained.
Everyone couldn't help but laugh softly.
"Ok, but what about Wolfgang?" Hunter suggested, everyone look at each other with doubtful looks on their faces.
"Did you like the name from the classic music composer, the Utuber or from wolves in general?" Luz asked.
Hunter blushed and looked around them. "All three. C'mon it's a cool name?"
"It sounds old fashioned, if you ask me." Luz couldn't help but chuckle some more.
"Oh wait!" Gus exclaimed, catching Hunter's attention. "Remember the other day, when we were watching Jeopardy and that guy with the long wavy hair popped up?"
"Oh, yeah yeah!" Hunter nodded in agreement. "Wait… are you suggesting?"
"That is a cool name." Gus said before waving his finger a little bit.
"What name?" Luz had to ask out of curiosity.
The two witches looked at the rest of the group and with a smooth look on their faces they revealed the name in unison. "Tyrone."
Willow snorted and shook her head. "No."
By this time, Hunter joined in the laughter - sure, his first 3 options were all rejected, but like everyone, he was having a good time. Luckily, they didn't have to wait much for the pizza. Everyone was astonished when that huge pie got inches away from their faces. The smell was somewhat intoxicating, mouth-watering even.
"Finally. Guys, this is pepperoni pizza. Pepperoni pizza, these are my friends." Luz said with a grin on her face, enjoying every bit of watching her witch friends react to the pizza before them. Of course, Vee being the one that has been in the Human Realm the most - she already had pizza, so she was just as pleased to watch the show.
"This doesn't smell like Centaur cheese at all." Gus commented while swallowing saliva.
"Ready?" Luz asked Vee, who was holding the phone while recording.
"Ready." She winked.
"Ok, now you all grab a slice like this." Luz looked around them as she got a hold of one slice and pulled it off the rest of the pie, making that melted cheese to split in all directions as she lifted it.
One by one, they all grabbed themselves a slice. Hunter and Gus looked the hungriest, while Willow and Amity had a more curious look on their faces - not that they weren't any less hungry, but they had this look on their faces that they've not seen anything quite like this before.
When everyone had a slice, Luz scanned everyone before she leaned in closer to have a bite. "NOW!" She exclaimed before giving her slice of pizza a generous chomp.
One by one followed suit. Each one's expression changes in an instant to a face of delight or complete utter satisfaction.
"YISCH ISCH DA BESHT THING EVAH!" Hunter said with a mouth full.
"This is munch definitely much better than munch centaur cheese!" Gus said.
Willow had her mouth full, so unlike Hunter she finished munching down and gulping on her pizza before she was able to speak. "No joke, I've been eating nothing but garbage until now!" She said before moving her mouth back to her own slice.
Luz was pleased with herself, and even Vee was grinning from ear to ear - even though she was probably also having a similar reaction to the food not long ago. Luz giggled at each one's comment before noticing there was but one comment remaining.
"Amity, is there something you'd like to say?" Luz asked, looking at her girlfriend next to her whom was having bite after bite after bite without stopping, a similar thing Luz was exposed to the day before when they had french fries together.
"Mhmhm…" Amity was not really saying anything, her cheeks puffed with food inside she was munching on. But her body language was saying it all, she was ecstatic.
Luz has been eating pizza her whole life, therefore she wasn't in any rush to finish her slice… unlike her friends. Seeing them all enjoy themselves so much had drawn a huge smile on her face. "It's a shame that I can't upload this video to Utube." Luz told Vee recording the whole thing with Luz's phone. "I can almost see this going viral. Bunch of witches eating pizza for the first time. Top notch content." She said with a soft laugh.
"Well…" Vee said as she looked away from the phone. "This is definitely something worth showing to mom, at least." Vee blushed a little bit when calling Camila 'mom', it'll be something that'll take time getting used to say.
"You're damn right, sis.~" Luz said as she wrapped her arm around Vee, making the younger Basilisk smile back at her.
Eventually, Vee and Luz stopped the recording and joined everyone eating pizza. At some point they even ordered a second pizza. Of course, after several slices - Luz had to remind them to help wash that pizza down their throats with some soda. They were all too eager to eat. When they were all full and with a slice remaining, Luz looked around each of her friends. "So, who wants the last slice?"
Everyone groaned, too full to even speak.
Luz couldn't help but give a soft laugh in response. "Vee?" She asked her Basilisk sister if she wanted it but got a negative response in the form of a head shake. "Ok, cool. More for me!~" Luz said with a glee in her voice as she grabbed the last slice and started to munch on it.
"Luigi's… you're now officially my new favorite place." Gus said while leaning on his seat.
Hunter seemed to be in a food coma after eating so fast, but was somehow able to grunt in response as if agreeing to Gus' notion.
"What?!" Luz exclaimed before she gulped down on her pizza. "Guys, it's too early for you to form an opinion on your favorite human food. Let me tell you that humans have not perfected food yet, but we're pretty close. The competition is really fierce, tho."
"Luz, what can be better than pizza?" Willow asked. "You've raised the bar too high."
"Well, I mean… pizza is really really good - don't get me wrong. But there's other top tier food out there as well. There's tacos, ramen, sushi, burgers, hot dogs, lasagne, chinese, thai, burritos, nachos, quesadillas, pasta. I could keep going. There's just so many things out there, even food I've not tried myself before. So, it'll be amazing to join you in this food delicacy experience.~" Luz said proudly.
Next to her, Amity wasn't able to hold a soft chuckle. "Well, I'm keeping my mind open. Yesterday, Luz and I shared something called french fries, and I thought that was the best food I ever had." She said with a blush, since it was hard for her to admit that french fries beat her self-control the day before.
"That's the spirit!" Luz exclaimed before giving her girlfriend a smooch on the cheek. "Now, are you guys ready to head to the arcade?"
"I cannot eat anything else, Luz." Hunter said as he woke up from his food coma.
"No, silly. You don't eat an arcade." Luz laughed softly. "It's a place full of old-timey video game machines."
"Oh, neat." Hunter exclaimed.
"Anything like Fight Fighters?" Willow asked. "I think of all the games in your collection, that's the one that kind of spoke to me on a personal level if I have to be honest. Since I cannot play Grudgby in the Human Realm, that's the one game that has woken up something I thought was dormant." Willow then said with a serious face. "Something dark, ruthless and unbreakable. The spirit of competition." Willow's expression immediately changed to an uplift friendly one in just a split second soon after. "So, if it's possible to find better players than Hunter and Gus, that'll be great. No offense, guys."
"Oh, not at all. We're certainly no match for you." Hunter said with a soft chuckle and a small blush.
"If you ask me, I'd prefer games where you go fast. Like that Speedster the Warhog game." Gus said with a grin.
Amity joined in the conversation. "Well, I've been playing this Animal Trail game that Luz lent me. It's a super cute game where you're supposed to build trails to connect towns and find new animal friends and potential neighbors."
"Well, I do admit that that game is really cute. But I'm still craving for violence." Willow said, bringing a laugh out of Luz.
"Ok, ok. There's plenty of violent games at the arcade." Luz commented.
"Nice." Willow said in response.
"So, what're we waiting for?!" Gus exclaimed.
Shortly after, Luz and her friends were heading inside Litwak's Retro Arcade, the place next to Luigi's. Once inside, their ears were exposed to the deafening sound of dozens of arcade machines all operating at the same time. With awe they head deeper into the place, filling their eyes with multiple screens flashing all over the place. It wasn't exactly crowded, but there were people playing games in every corner their eyes could lay on.
Luz introduced the group to how the arcade machines work. Sliding their token card over the slide under the machine would grant them the chance to play. Gus was happy, now mashing buttons on an arcade board. Willow had to learn to play with an arcade stick, but after a few games - she seemed to be able to translate her skills from the controller's pad to the lever on the board. Hunter on the other hand, was right in the middle - learning how to properly play the game like Willow, but also having fun mashing buttons like Gus.
While Willow, Vee, Gus and Hunter were trying out different machines, Luz and Amity were having some fun of their own like whacking moles, throwing some hoops for points, playing air hockey - mostly games that allowed them to earn tickets and exchange them for prizes at the prize corner on the far end of the place.
By the end of the day, Luz and Amity have earned enough tickets to get a bunch of bracelets forming the bisexual and lesbian flags respectively, alongside a couple of plushies.
Several hours went by until Luz and Amity approached Vee who was leaning against an arcade cabinet that Willow was playing with a random human. Vee seemed to be texting, bringing Luz to ask: "Hey, has Masha said anything about meeting them?"
"Oh, yeah. I told them we're at the arcade a few minutes ago. They should be popping up soon enough." Vee replied.
By the time that Vee finished her sentence, Masha made their presence be known through a message on Vee's phone that said:
Masha: im outside, shall i wait for u here or should i come in?
"Oh, they're here already." Vee told Luz, showing her and Amity the message on her phone. "What should I say?"
Luz thought for a moment as she looked around for Hunter and Gus, once they made eye contact - she proceeded to wave at them and gestured to them to come over. Once the two made their way to them, Luz asked Willow as she walked away from the machine she was playing. "Hey, could we talk?"
Willow blinked in confusion and shrugged. "Yeah, sure. What's up?"
Luz explained: "Hey, yesterday we made some plans with a human called Masha. They work at the museum and we had a conversation about several locations in Gravesfield worth checking." Luz cleared her throat and continued. "This has to do with finding a way back home, your home."
"Wait… did you tell another human we're witches?" Willow asked.
"No, no!" Luz exclaimed.
"Masha has no idea, yet." Amity said. "But they told us a story about a paranormal hot spot in town where there were claims of people seeing portals opening in the woods."
"It's a long shot… I know." Luz said. "But, I asked them if they could show us the place."
"Hm." Willow looked somewhat skeptical. "Do you want us all to come?"
Luz looked around every witch before replying with a nervous chuckle. "Well, that was the plan."
"Wouldn't we be a bit crowded, though?" Gus asked, both him and Hunter had a nervous looking smile on their face that instantly made Luz figure it out what was going on.
"You guys…" Luz's eyes moved from Gus to Hunter, then back to Gus. "Want to stay, don't you?" She asked with a soft chuckle.
"Well…" Gus was scratching the back of his neck while giving a soft laugh. "I mean, sure, checking a spooky place would be something worth doing. But…"
"We were kind of in the middle of something." Hunter finished Gus' sentence while showcasing the same nervous type of body language.
"We've been hoarding tickets to win those power rings in the prize corner." Gus pointed at the place which was a few inches away from them where they could see the enigmatic power rings behind the glass, the rings were worth over 100 tickets each and for Gus and Hunter they looked so rad that you could almost listen to the guitar solo in the background.
"Ok, what about you - Willow?" Luz asked with a smile.
Willow didn't answer for a few seconds, but sighed soon after. "Ok, fine. I've been getting washed up all day, but these humans I've been playing with told me there is going to be a tournament in the console rental area and I was hoping to check it out and learn a thing or two to improve…" She blushed slightly.
Luz was worried for a moment, but once she looked at them one more time - she realized that even though everything they have gone through, they were still young just like she was. They felt just like she was the moment she stepped into the Owl House, wanting to experience this brand new world and have a good time.
"Well, I believe you guys have been hiding indoors for too long. I get it, you need to spread your wings. And yeah, I think it is time for me to let you all fly solo." Luz said with a large smile as she leaned forward to hug her friends who hugged her back. "Ok, I'll leave you guys in charge of my phone. If anything happens, you call Vee. We'll be back in an hour or two. Do not take things from strangers, be sure to stay in range of Gus for the illusion spell and please don't step out of the arcade until we're back." Luz said as she handed the phone to Willow, whom she deemed the most responsible.
"Ok, mom." Willow said jokingly as she took the phone.
Luz laughed softly. "Be sure to send me a message every 20 mins or you are all grounded." Luz finished off her sentence with a serious face before reverting to her friendly smile once she turned to face Amity. "Hm, do you want to stay here as well?"
"I mean, this place is fun. But it wouldn't be the same without you." Amity said. "I'm coming with you."
Luz grinned and blushed lightly. "Ok. Shall we go, Vee? You sure you want to do this?"
With a determined look on her face, Vee nodded. "I will prove to Masha I'm not scared of spooky places."
Luz and Amity gave each other a look, almost grinning, as if they knew there has to be other reasons but they didn't dared to say it out loud.
Soon enough, the three of them met with Masha who was still outside waiting for them. The goth was dressed with a similar looking shirt they wore the day before with the logo of the museum on the front side, but in a different color. Instead of green, it was purple. Also, instead of a skirt like the day before, they wore some darker pants and the typical goth boots covering a good portion of their legs and feet.
"Hey, Masha!" Vee greeted them, the goth lifted their head to greet them with a smile and a small wave.
"Took you long enough. You're not trying to back off from the tour, are you?"
"Not at all! We were hanging out with some friends, so we were telling them we'll be back in a few." Luz said, holding hands with Amity who greeted the goth with a small wave of her own with her other hand.
"Ok, great. Now, everyone is wearing shoes, right?" Masha asked as their eyes scanned each one of them to make sure of it.
"Why is that so important?" Luz asked while tilting her head in confusion.
"We're walking through a lengthy amount of forest, Luz. Sandals or flip flops are not the appropriate equipment for hiking. And I'm aware that these boots might not be comfortable-looking either, but… I still have not earned enough money for a decent pair of kicks." Masha said with a soft sigh. "Part timer life. I'm saving money for something else. Ok, we're walking south. Follow me!" They said while walking next to Vee with Luz and Amity following behind.
After walking a few blocks south in silence, Luz broke the ice with Masha by asking. "So, you mentioned yesterday you walk through the Morton Ranch all the time. If that place's reputation is as frightening as you've said, why do you keep doing it? Is it all true or do you think it is all a hoax?"
Masha looked back at Luz with a soft chuckle. "Well, Luz. I cannot say for sure if anything they've said about this place is true. As far as I know, I haven't really experienced anything weird going on whenever I've walked through the place myself." Masha looked away for a brief moment, biting their lip before facing back Luz with a serious look on their face. "Can you keep a secret?"
Luz, Amity and Vee looked at each other before everyone nodded in agreement. "Of course." Luz said.
They all stopped once Masha did so in front of a large building that seemed to be a medical clinic. "Ok, so… when you ask your local goth about the spookiest places in town, you expect them to be seasoned paranormal experts… right?"
"Uhuh…" They all said in unison.
"Well…" Masha sighed and cleared their thoughts with their eyes closed before finally spilling the beans. "I've never had a paranormal experience in my entire life." They turned to face the three of them, all astonished at the revelation.
"Are you serious?" Luz asked with a soft chuckle.
Masha sighed heavily once more and nodded. "I've never seen a ghost, I've never seen aliens or flying saucers, I've never felt watched while walking in the forest, I've never even felt goosebumps in my life! It's hard for me to admit. I've been to multiple paranormal spots in Gravesfield and not once have I experienced something remotely close to paranormal. If I would have to form an opinion based on what I've experienced in the Morton Ranch - I'd say it's a hoax. But what I do know is true, is that people have gone missing there. Hence why I advised you that if you ever go there without me, please do it together. Safety in numbers, ok?"
"Ok." Luz said with a grin, in fact - Amity and Vee looked like they wanted to have a laugh just like Luz, but they didn't dare. It wasn't until Masha saw their expressions that they allowed them to do so.
"Great. Now you can laugh at my sad goth story." Masha said with a smile while they laughed it off. "Yeah, yeah. I'm a ghost repellant."
"Don't worry ha ha!" Luz said while still laughing. "I'm sure that you'll have your own paranormal experience if you hang out with us enough." She said while winking at Amity, who winked back.
"You're definitely closer to one already." Vee said with a smug look on her face, no longer laughing unlike Luz and Amity.
"Oh, am I?" Masha asked with a defying grin.
"Very much so." Vee said. "Because I'm a shapeshifter." Vee said while she placed some cat ears over her head she cashed in from tickets at the arcade and stared into Masha's eyes with a big innocent smile. By now, the laughter from Luz and Amity had stopped and the both of them choked on their spit as they nervously looked at Masha when they replied to Vee with a soft laugh of their own.
"Ok, weirdo." Masha said while wrapping their arm around Vee, who looked back at Luz and Amity with a wink of her own.
It took Luz and Amity a bit longer for them to process the fact that Masha wasn't taking Vee's confession seriously, so eventually - they forced themselves to laugh to join in on 'the joke.'
"Yeah, she's a bit of a jokester, my little sis, ha ha!" Luz said nervously.
"Mhm." Vee said proudly.
"Ok, we should get going." Masha said as their laughter died down. "We should be heading out of the forest before the sun comes down." They began to lead the way down the street once more.
"So…" Luz broke the silence once more while they walked a few more steps. "You've mentioned that you've been to multiple paranormal spots in Gravesfield. I've been living in Gravesfield my whole life and I've never heard of such places…" Luz said, but the more she thinks about it - she realizes that it must have been for her lack of human friends.
"Oh, there's plenty of strange places in Gravesfield. As a matter of fact, that clinic we just passed by - until last week, it was completely abandoned and in ruins. Suddenly, poof, there's a clinic there." Masha said as they looked back at the place while the rest did so themselves.
"Seriously?" Amity asked.
"Yeah. It was the hot topic in town, several local podcasts covered the news even. Apparently, the Green House Foundation sold that property to the government the year before. But there was never anyone on the site until last week when literally during the night, a clinic materialized itself. The Greenes were interviewed about it and they're just as baffled as we all are. The clinic is free for all apparently, it's being operated by a freaky-looking doctor. But other than the mysterious way it was built from one day to the other, people have been mostly satisfied with the services it provides." Masha said while still leading them away from the enigmatic clinic.
"What do you mean by a freaky looking doctor?" Luz asked.
"He is literally ten feet tall." Masha replied.
"What?!"
"Yeah, you'll see him one of these days walking around. Just be sure not to stare. Might be intimidating, but I've been told that he's really friendly and well… he is literally working for free. You must have the biggest heart on Earth if you're a doctor and work all day in a hospital where there's no money to be made." Masha said with a smile before they spotted another place worth showing. "Oh, this theater was once the headquarters of a well-known witch hunter clan. While I don't celebrate what they did, unfortunately, they're all part of our rather dark history."
"Are there still witch hunters lurking around?" Amity asked with somewhat of a worried tone in her voice, making Luz squeeze her hand in reassurance as they walked together.
"Nah. People have evolved since then. While nutjobs like Jacob still exist, I think they're a minority now that just became conspiranoid freaks." Masha said with a little bit of annoyance in their voice.
Once they walked closer to the theater in question, they were able to take a good look at the dilapidated state in which the building found itself. They could not spot the name of the theatre anywhere they looked. Pieces of concrete were still laying around the entrance. By now, a shadow of its former glory centuries ago.
"Oh, we're almost reaching the forest. There's but one place worth looking at before we go to the Morton Ranch. Hurry up!" Masha said excitedly, picking up the pace which caused their large goth boots to stomp on the concrete a little louder than before.
Luz, Amity and Vee hurried up as they tried to stay behind Masha. They were soon reaching a large gate on their way by the end of the street where they could see the forest on the far end. The place that Masha was talking about was behind that gate. A large mansion that was probably built in the 1800s.
"This is the Ledger Manor." Masha said, panting softly as she showed off the place to their new friends proudly. "This place was built by the surviving member of a well-known witch hunter family in the early 1700s; Hugh Ledger. The man wasn't a witch hunter, but he was known to be an eccentric collector. Some say that he was a regular collector, others claim that he was a collector of cursed objects. It's hard to tell since the man was very reserved and traveled the world looking for unique pieces of artwork. Specifically from the Asian Continent. Most places he visited were China, Korea and Japan."
"Ooo." Luz said as she looked at the mansion behind that large gate. The place wasn't in disrepair like the theater they just walked away from, but it certainly looked like an old looking house. "Have you been in there as well?"
"No." Masha laughed softly. "I mean, I once sneaked through the bars when younger to have a look at the outside of the house, but there's no way inside. I tried. And well… it's private property, so I wouldn't recommend you sneak in by yourself."
"Private property, huh? Let me guess. Green House?" Luz asked with a soft chuckle.
"You guessed it." Masha winked. "They're the richest family in Gravesfield. It's an unrivaled Real Estate Agency. They own a large portion of Gravesfield."
"I see."
"The closest thing to ever seeing the inside of the house was early this year when a popular urban exploring channel in Connecticut asked for permission to the Greene Family to make a video on the property. Ever since then, this channel called Haunting Grounds started an ARG that stands for 'Augmented Reality Game' on their social media that involves this house. It's pretty cool. Literally." Masha giggled. "I won't spoil anything, but you should check it out."
"Will do." Luz chuckled softly before she felt a little breeze on this summer day that made her uneasy. "Is it me… or does it feel chilly out here?"
"Huh, funny. As a matter of fact, I can feel chilly too." Masha said, looking around alongside the rest until they saw an ice cream van unloading boxes from the freezer on the back.
Everyone stared at the van and laughed out loud once they realized there was a logical explanation to the sudden breeze they felt.
"Well, for a moment I really thought that was my one paranormal moment." Masha joked. "Shall we move onto the main event?" They asked as they took a few steps back towards the forest past the Ledger Manor.
"Let's go!" Luz exclaimed excitedly, making her girlfriend laugh softly next to her.
The group lost themselves in the vast woods down south of Gravesfield. Luz was able to recognize the trail that leads to the little shack in which she first followed Owlbert the year before. However, they were moving in a different direction that she was not familiar with. The more they walked, the more dense the ambient felt. As a matter of fact, the surroundings felt so strange that Masha had to stop and point it out.
"You hear that?" Masha asked the group.
Luz, Amity and Vee tried to listen to what Masha was talking about, but none of them were able to hear anything… nothing at all. No animals, no breeze, no voices, literally nothing. It's as if they walked into a place in which sound died.
"No." Amity said.
"I can't hear… anything." Luz said.
"That is it. There's no sound." Masha said with a grin. "I don't want to freak you guys out, but this is literally how the most unsettling Missing 411 stories start. This is the first time I ever experienced this myself." Masha said with a glee sneaking in their tone, almost happy about it.
"What do you mean by that?" Vee asked.
"Missing 411 are real life unsolved missing people cases. There's been a few people that were able to be found safe and sound, and a handful of them all experiencing these sorts of phenomena where sound just stops. This is starting off as a promising start, but I will understand if you guys want to go back?" Masha asked, they were a bit concerned - as they felt responsible for the group.
"No, let's keep going." Luz blurted out before she looked at Amity. "Unless you want to go back?"
"I'm fine. Don't worry." Amity said with a smile. "Vee?"
Vee gulped but she wasn't feeling like chickening out on Masha this time. "I'm staying if you all are." Suddenly, she was startled by the sound of her phone ringing in her back pocket which made the others laugh softly. Vee blushed at her moment of weakness and handed the phone to Luz. "It's the guys checking in on us…"
Luz took the phone and hugged her little sister. "Don't you worry, we'll be fine. Ok?"
Vee hugged Luz back tightly and nodded, trying to stay brave. "Ok."
Masha chuckled softly at the endearing scene before proceeding to lead them further in. "Follow me."
They didn't walk too much until they reached a spot in which you could see the property perfectly. Whatever was left of the fence was mostly laying down on the ground. The house seemed even more in disrepair than the theater back in town. There was no graffiti or any form of vandalism on the outside, which could be a sign of the place's reputation among the community showing some respect to the property by staying away.
"This spot here, if the Spook Tour is approved by the Museum for Halloween, this is where I want to show people the place if the Greene's allow it. See where the fence is? That's where the private property begins, so if we step further in, we'll be trespassing." Masha said before they jumped over the fence lying on the floor to step on the Morton Ranch. "I'm now committing a felony." She laughed softly.
Luz chuckled softly. "Aren't you scared someone is patrolling this place?" Still not daring to cross the fence.
"Trust me, no one wants that job. The Greenes have basically given up on hiring someone to even rebuild this fence. This was one of their biggest failures. No one has really wanted to buy the property back from them ever since they acquired it." Masha said. "I've gone to the inside of the house, but if you guys would rather stay and look around on the outside, that's fine."
Luz turned to look at Amity, whom just smiled and nodded. "I'm checking the place out if you are." Amity said.
"Oh, is that a challenge?" Luz asked with a grin, almost like a rerun of the day before at the french fries food truck.
Amity let go of Luz's hand and made that jump to join Masha on the other side, who was grinning from ear to ear. "It is a challenge.~" Amity said, crossing her arms.
"Oh, this is getting good." Masha said.
This time around, it wasn't Luz that took the next leap forward. It was Vee, whom was more than determined to show her bravery to Masha.
"Nice, let's go!" Masha exclaimed with a soft laugh as they watched Vee jump over the fence and held their hand for Vee to high five. "Don't leave me hanging."
Vee stared at the hand for a bit before she smiled and gave them a solid high five that echoed through the dead-silent forest before crossing her own arms like Amity as the 3 of them looked at Luz on the other side.
"Are you coming or what?" Masha asked.
Luz gave a soft laugh and nodded, giving a defying look on her face for Amity to see as she jumped the fence and joined her girlfriend on the other side. "I'm not letting you have all the fun." She said before smooching Amity's cheek and walking past her.
Amity blushed but laughed softly as she moved forward and caught up with Luz, holding onto her hand once more as they followed Masha's lead around the house until they reached… the entrance. The stairs leading up to the door in which Masha had told them the day before was the place where they found Thomas Morton's body -the Morton's patriarch- sitting on the top of those steps.
Masha was the one with the biggest guts of them all, but even they were respectful when treading their way into the Morton Ranch as they avoided stepping on the center of the steps.
The others followed suit, walking step by step on either the left or right side of the stairs until they reached the entrance. The door… was no longer there. As a matter of fact there were no signs of where the door was around the front of the house. Masha walked in and the others joined them soon enough. Inside, the lobby seemed to be rather normal, in disrepair, but normal nonetheless. Once they moved further inside the home is where they found the more… unsettling vibe that the place was famous for. The living room was loaded with writing, not done by vandals - but by the remaining Morton member who was found dead on the stairs at the entrance.
The walls were covered with messages like: It keeps coming! It talks! It speaks our language! It is not human! It keeps asking me questions! What does it wants?! If I'm found dead... its because it finally caught me.
"This…" Luz said as she looked around. "This is something alright."
Masha nodded as they moved from the living room, to one of the bedrooms on the right side of the house. "Yeah, I know - right? Oh…"
"What?" Luz asked as they heard the surprise tone in Masha's voice, making everyone follow Masha into the bedroom where they were greeted by… a strange drawing on the wall.
"This was not here last month when I last visited." Masha said as they all stared at… a literal cartoon drawn on the wall. It was like the drawing of a newspaper comic book character, the outlines were thick while the inside lines had a smooth brush-like pattern to them. It was the drawing of a woman? With long blonde hair and big round eyes with big black pupils, their head was oval shaped - almost like a football. They had the biggest smile they've ever seen, almost comically large. A smile that looks innocent-looking but the more you stared at it, the more uncomfortable you felt. They wore a suit of sorts and looked as if she was greeting them with her hand… smiling at them as their big eyes stared at them, motionless.
Luz stared at the cartoon and for a moment she panicked. "Is that…?!"
"What?" Masha asked.
"Is that a cockroach?!" Luz exclaimed while a cockroach was moving around the wall over that drawing which suddenly began to fly around, making Luz gasp and hide behind Amity before it flew off across the room and left the house through the smashed window.
"Seriously?" Amity asked while looking over her shoulder at Luz behind her back. "You faced Grom, a creature that's literally made out of fear and you're scared of a bug?"
"Didn't you just see that it can fly?!" Luz defended herself before she realized what Amity just said… in front of a staring Masha. "The Grom thing, that was from a DnD session."
"Ok." Masha said, which made Luz and Amity relax when they thought they bought the lie. "Well, I have no idea who made this. So, we should be treading carefully for any other trespassers." Masha said as she looked down under the drawing's feet where there was a different message written in black ink that she read out loud. "Phobos is real…?"
The message didn't look to be written by the same person that wrote all the unsettling messages in the living room's walls. It had a different hand-writting and seemed to be fresh in comparison.
"Do you know what that means?" Luz asked as she moved away from hiding behind Amity.
"Well, if I'm not mistaken - Phobos means fear, that's the one thing I know." Masha said as they looked up at the strange cartoon. "Are you Phobos?" They grinned.
"Huh…" Luz said as she moved next to Masha while Vee and Amity looked at each other behind the two in confusion. "Do you think this is like one of those games where you say their name three times and the monster appears?" She grinned.
"Oh, oh! Like a slumber party game, yeah!" Masha said with an excited glee before changing their tone to a sinister one. "You do so and Phobos comes out of their wall and snatch you into their world of fear and misery… oOoOoOo.~"
"What?!" Vee exclaimed, a little scared.
"So, are you Phob-" Masha said before she was cut off by Vee.
"Stop saying their name!"
Both Luz and Masha turned to look at Vee who seemed upset. "Calm down, Vee. It's just a drawing on the wall, it can't hurt you." Masha said before they looked at Luz with that expression on their faces as if they were thinking the same thing.
Suddenly, Luz and Masha turned to face the drawing on the wall and began to chant their name in unison three times in a row. "Phobos is real! Phobos is real! Phobos is real!"
"Nooooo!" Vee said as she was the one now hiding behind Amity but… nothing happened.
"And… nothing. Folks, that's my life. Always the one telling the spooky stories, never the one experiencing them." Masha said before they moved away from the wall with Luz following behind. "Shall we keep looking around?"
"You didn't have to do that, you know." Amity told Luz as soon as they started moving away from the bedroom.
"It's just a game, Amity. It isn't real. Are you coming, Vee?" Luz asked as she looked at Vee still staring at the cartoon on the wall. "It's not real, Vee. I promise you." She chuckled nervously, looking at Amity who was giving her a disappointed look for scaring Vee.
"Not real, not real, not real." Vee mumbled to herself before she started to move away from the wall, allowing Luz and Amity to start moving past the doorway and into the large living room. Vee gave the wall one more look, the drawing still in the same position as it was before - it was then that Vee stuck her tongue out at 'Phobos' and hurried up to catch the others.
The rest of the tour went just as uneventful. They checked the kitchen and other bedrooms, some of them just as full of nonsensical warnings about things out in the woods. There was but one place left to look at, but Masha stopped Luz before she even tried to get near those stairs leading to the basement. "I really advised you not to go in there."
"Are you scared, Masha?" Luz said almost with a daring tone in her voice.
"Yeah, scared of dying. The place is rather unstable, Luz." Masha said, lightly pressing down on the wood under her goth boot that made it creak horribly. "I'm responsible for you guys, I want to keep you in one piece."
"Ok, ok. You have a point." Luz said. "Well, I guess that's it. Not a lot to see, I'll have to admit."
"Who says this is the end of the tour?" Masha grinned. "There's one more thing that I think you'll like to see outside."
"Oh, really?" Luz asked and began to follow Masha's lead, with Amity and Vee following behind.
They all began to head through the living room and then moved past the door frame with the missing door back at the entrance of the property. Masha moved down the stairs the same way they did before, doing so by stepping onto the left side and avoiding the center of the stairs before reaching the ground. Luz and Vee followed suit by moving through the left and right respectively. And last but not least, Amity - who forgot all about not stepping into the center of those stairs.
Once her foot set down on the very same place where allegedly they found the body of Thomas Morton, she felt a sudden rush of emotions. Sadness, despair, fear and desperation. It's almost as if all those emotions had a strange flavor that was numbing her mouth, making her swallow spit - trying her best to wash it off with no luck. But once she jumped down to the ground, all those emotions vanished in an instant. She stared back at the steps for a brief second before Luz's voice brought her back to reality.
"Amity, are you ok?" Luz asked.
Amity turned to face her girlfriend and gave her a forced smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's nothing. I forgot about the steps…"
"Hey, are you coming?" Masha asked before the both of them started to walk away from the house, but Amity give the steps one more glance as if she was trying to convince herself that whatever blur she thought she saw on the corner of her eye was just her imagination… which seemed to be the case because there was nothing there.
Once they joined Masha and Vee into the forest, they walked a few feet north until they reached a trail. But this trail… had mirrors attached to the trees, it was like a hall of mirrors out there in nature. Most seemed to be in good conditions, maybe a little dirty - but some were smashed.
"Who put these here?" Luz asked as they all admired those mirrors.
"Nobody knows. They said the Greenes have removed a bunch of them, but they keep coming back." Masha said. "Maybe these are here for a reason. A superstitious one, maybe. But maybe they're meant to keep something at bay." They say with a soft chuckle, watching Vee reach down for a shard lying on the ground before they stop her with a panicked scream. "NO! Vee, don't touch them! They're cursed, what're you thinking?!"
Vee screamed out loud and removed her hand from the shard. "I'm not touching them!" She exclaimed before she realized that Masha was laughing out loud.
"Your face…!" They said before Vee pushed them slightly.
"Don't do that! Ow, my chest!" Vee said as she tried to calm down.
"Ok, can we all please stop scaring Vee?" Amity felt the need to say it.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist." Masha said.
Luz brought one of those shards up with her hand and stared into her reflection on it with a bit of disappointment. "Maybe these are the portals that people talked about. Just a bunch of mirrors showing their reflections in the dark."
"Maybe." Masha sighed. "But I do know of someone that claims the portals are real. She lives in Gravesfield, but she's often camping out here. But I wouldn't recommend you to talk to her."
"Huh, why?" Luz asked as she dropped the shard where she found it.
"Because… well, it's complicated." Masha tried explaining. "I don't think she's dangerous, I think she's a really cool person. I feel a bit sorry about her, she… well, she was in a cult. The kind of cult that believes that a big disc will tear a hole in the sky and the aliens will bring them to a whole new plane of existence. Hence why I think it's a bad idea that you go and bury yourself in that rabbit hole."
"Oh, alright." Luz said, intrigued - but understanding about Masha's feelings towards the situation.
"Maybe, I'll tell you more about the situation, one of these days. But, if it's ok with you, maybe we should go back now. It's getting late." Masha said, and everyone agreed.
Soon, they were all ready to leave the woods and rejoin society in Gravesfield. None of them daring to look back as the sun sets and darkness begins to swallow the forest behind them.
End of the chapter.
