Vee and Masha were true to their word as the moment they were finished with their breakfast, they immediately headed out and went back to the human realm. The number of police in the area was less than the previous night, but there was still a significant amount, and the couple had to be careful to make sure they weren't spotted exiting the portal door. The last thing they needed was for others to start growing suspicious of them. Once they made it through, it was simply a matter of walking down the street towards Gravesfield public library. Masha noticed that Vee was twiddling her thumbs as she normally did when she was nervous.

"You worried about Luz?" They asked.

The basilisk sighed. "Not just that, but I'm worried about the lycanthrope that bit her. It's still out there you know. What if it comes back looking for her?"

Her partner shook their head. "Nah, that thing is long gone now. Based on what you told me, it knew it had to draw as little attention from the authorities as possible. That's why it limited itself to hunting pets. But now that it's hurt a human, that genie's out of the bottle, and there will be a massive hunt for it. Trust me, it knows better than to stick around. It ain't coming back."

Vee nodded as she calmed down a little. "Yeah, that makes sense. They were banished from the Demon Realm after all, so they probably wouldn't want to be driven out of this one too."

"Definitely not, and the people here can be even worse than in the Demon Realm. It's really no surprise they've chosen to stay under the radar for all these years."

"It's also why Luz is staying with Eda right now. The last thing I want is my sister being taken away and experimented on like I was."

The basilisk started to choke up, remembering the horrible experiences she had when she was imprisoned by Belos. It was something that no one should ever have to go through.

Masha wrapped their arm around her. "I hear you. It's scary how far some people will go in pursuit of their own interests, but I promise you that won't happen to Luz. With Belos gone, the Boiling Isles had become a much more peaceful and safe place. It's exactly what Luz needs right now to compose herself and beat this curse, and I have no doubt she will. She's not the kind of person to let something like this keep her down. And even if it does, that's what we're here for."

Vee now smiled, thinking back to the time Luz got stuck in the human realm with her friends. Even though it wasn't her fault, the human witch still had a lot of guilt for accidentally helping Belos, and felt responsible for her friends getting stranded where they were. It weighed heavily on her shoulders, and there was a lot of sadness and depression involved with it.

But her friends never blamed her for what happened. Every time Luz cried, they would always be there for her and cheer her up, especially Amity. The purple haired witch refused to give up on her, and was always trying to make her smile. She even talked her into attending a Halloween festival, with both dressed as their favorite fictional characters. It definitely helped in boosting Luz's morale, and it was that support that gave her the motivation to keep going and eventually find a way back to the Boiling Isles and defeat Belos.

Her family is what truly gave her strength, the strength to overcome any challenge she faced.

Vee smiled and kissed her partner. "You're right. Maybe Luz is down in the dumps right now, but we can always help her back on her feet. She just needs to be reminded that the world isn't ending, and that she has what it takes to beat her curse. Once she knows that, she won't let anything stop her."

Masha smiled back. "That's more like it, and our first step to helping her is waiting a few blocks away at the library."

Vee stood up straighter, looking more determined. "Yeah. Let's go."

….

The rest of the trip to the library was mostly silent with only a few bits of small talk being exchanged between the couple as they walked hand in hand. This didn't escalate too much when they arrived. It was a library after all, and they needed to respect the silent rule. They needed to do this research and they didn't want to get kicked out.

"So where do we start?" Vee whispered.

"Well like I said, this medicine I heard about was in European folklore." Masha replied. "So we should probably start in the non fiction aisle."

"Wouldn't folklore be considered fiction?"

"You would think so, but no. Folklore is a part of cultures from various points in history. It would definitely be non fiction."

"Hmmm. Good point. Alright, lead the way."

The couple spent the next fifteen minutes scouring the non fiction aisle for any books that could possibly help them in their research, and it didn't take long for them to find some. Some books were about European folklore as they had hoped, while others were about supposed historical encounters with werewolves. They even grabbed books about folklore from other parts of the world just to be thorough. After all, there could be another culture that wrote about a potential medicine for a werewolf.

They made their way to one of the tables in the back for privacy (and also to avoid raising eyebrows), and began to flip through the pages of their books one by one. They made sure to write down notes on anything werewolf related they could find, but there were also a lot of werewolf-like creatures they had to filter out. For example, Vee came across a Native American legend of something called a skinwalker, but Masha told her that those were witch doctors who used evil magic to transform into all kinds of animals, not just wolves. A different beast to be sure, so it wasn't going to help them.

Finally, after an hour of digging, the couple struck gold.

"Hey, I think this is it." Vee whispered as she turned her book for Masha to see, and their smile confirmed the basilisk's hunch was right.

"Yes! That's definitely it!" They whispered back as they began reading the page and writing notes. "Let's see. Ah, so they used monkshood to make it. Looks like it's got other things in it as well, but they shouldn't be too hard to get a hold of. Nice work, babe!"

Vee blushed as Masha slid their own book towards her.

"Here's something I found. Apparently, stuff like crosses aren't just used against vampires. They're used to repel werewolves too. If we took a bunch of these and hung them around that chamber Amity wants to make, it might just keep Luz in there."

The basilisk frowned. "Wouldn't that hurt her?"

"Only if she touches them, which her beast form would obviously avoid doing."

"Okay. I'll text Amity about it. Is there anything else that could hurt her, like silver?"

Masha shook their head. "Nah, that's something Hollywood made up. A holy weapon can kill her though, and defiently light based magic from the Demon Realm. Raine did say the elder witches used specially forged swords to fight the werewolves."

"Okay, then we'll definitely need to make sure she doesn't come in contact with those."

"You got it." Masha said as they wrote down some last notes. "Alright, I think that just about covers it. Let's go back to the Demon Realm and report what we found."

…

The couple returned to the owl house at around the same time Gus and King returned from doing their own research, and their findings confirmed what Masha had suspected. Luz could indeed be hurt and even killed by light based magic, or weapons infused with light based magic. They also found that being hurt by such weaknesses while in human form would trigger a transformation, almost like a defense mechanism.

Camils, Eda, and Raine took careful notes of all of these and placed them into a pile for later.

"Alright, I think that just about covers it." Raine said. "Masha and Vee, I need you to collect the ingredients for this monkshood cure you found so I can make and test it to ensure it works."

"You got it!" Masha said, giving a thumbs up.

"I have a few crosses at home." Camila said. "I'll bring them over. They're just what Amity needs to make her chamber work."

"And I'll make sure to double my stock of elixirs just in case." Eda said.

Gus hummed as a thought entered his mind. "You think it's possible we can mix the best parts of the elixir and the monkshood together to create some kind of super potion for Luz?"

Raine scratched their chin as they pondered for a bit before nodding. "That's not a bad idea. I'll have to run tests on that too, but I think that could definetly work. If it does, we might have to administer it in small doses as higher ones might make Luz have a bad reaction."

"Yeah, we definitely don't want that." Vee said. "Where is she by the way?"

"Sleeping upstairs." Eda said. "Her body adjusting to its new traits is leaving her drained. It should stop after a few days though."

"Alright." Camila said. "Vee, Masha, we all have tasks to do and we will get started now. Luz needs us to get this medicine and I don't want to waste any time in doing so. ¡Vamos!"

"Yes, ma'am!" The couple both said before sprinting out.

Eda let out a snicker. "Okay Mama Bear, tone it down a little. This isn't boot camp."

Camila just shook her head. "How do you not see this as urgent? This medicine will really help Luz. And the sooner we make it, the better."

"Trust me, this is stressing me out too, but you're going a little overboard with it. You need to calm down. You know how Luz gets when people get stressed trying to help her."

Camila sighed. It was true. Whenever someone would cause physical or emotional distress trying to help the human witch, she would get upset and feel like she was bringing it onto her family and friends, even though they willingly put themselves into that situation for her. That was just the kind of person she was. She had a heart of gold, but she always beat herself up if she even remotely thought she was causing inconvenience to someone.

"I know. I'm just really scared." Camila finally said. "This is my baby, my flesh and blood, and now I have to deal with the fact she's cursed to be a lobizon for the rest of her life. For god's sake, she's only twenty years old, yet she's experienced more pain than most people would in their entire lives! She just…she just doesn't need any more of it! It's just not fair!"

She then buried her face in her hands and began sobbing. Eda couldn't help but shed some tears of her own as she wrapped her arm around her.

"I hear ya. That's exactly what I thought when Amity told me Luz was cursed. I went through so much to protect her from my own curse. So when I was told she had lycanthropy…it felt like I had failed her."

Camila shook her head as she wiped away tears. "You did protect her, and you didn't fail her. You said it yourself. Your curses may be similar, but they're not the same."

"Yeah, Raine reminded me of that too, but since when have logic and emotions ever seen eye to eye?"

"All too true. But regardless, even though I've said this to you countless times already, I am beyond grateful for you taking care of Luz and teaching her to accept herself. Not just before, but now as well. You're right about me too. Luz is already in a lot of distress as is, and the last thing I want is to make it worse. You just always seem to know what to do. I swear, sometimes I feel you're a better mother to her than me, Eda."

The owl lady snorted. "Ha! That's a load of bull and you know it. Titan knows I've made my fair share of mistakes over the years. Don't sell yourself short. You're going above and beyond for your daughter like any mother would. You just don't have as much knowledge and experience with the Demon Realm as I do. That's literally the only reason why you feel as anxious as you do. Trust me, you're doing good, and I know Luz is thankful for it too."

Camila smiled. "Thank you, Eda. That means a lot to hear you say that."

"Yeah, no problem. Now go out there and get those crosses, but don't push yourself too hard."

"Alright. What about you?"

Raine, who had been quiet to allow the two women to comfort each other, spoke. "We still have to wait for Amity to come back. Hopefully things are going just as well on her end as they are for us."

Camila nodded. "Alright, I better go then. I need to catch up to Vee and Masha before they do something stupid."

Eda laughed. "Yeah, good call."