BREAKING THE FANTASY
Written by Gwendolyn Frost.
Later that day, Luz and Amity were heading towards the Museum where they will meet with Vee and Masha. By then, Luz had told Amity everything she learned about The Unknown creature guarding Herlock Woods, and the now defunct enigmatic group known as The Onlookers who seem to know about the existence of other doors connecting to other Realms, such as The Boiling Isles.
"So, you're thinking that this lost girl rescued in Herlock Woods years ago is the same person that Masha is talking about?" Amity asked her girlfriend.
"Well, according to the newspaper, she is the only one left of The Onlookers. So it has to be. The people of Gravesfield labeled this group as a bunch of crazies, but they specifically wrote they were looking for a door in Herlock Woods… it has to be the same door in which things from The Human Realm are seeping into The Boiling Isles." Luz explained. "Her name is Flor del Bosque, is all I know."
"Flor del Bosque?" Amity asked. "I know Flor means flower… bosque means forest and del in this context means 'belongs to', but since this is a place and not a person then the correct translation will be… A Flower From the Forest?"
"Oh, hey! Someone's been making serious progress with her Duolingo lessons." Luz said with a grin.
"Ha ha! Well, I'm not top of the class yet, but close enough?" Amity said while laughing softly with her cheeks burning a little bit. She then reminded Luz with a serious face. "Masha advised you against talking to her."
"I know… but it's our only lead. We have to talk to her. Maybe she remembers something about that day… maybe they found that door." Luz said with hope shining in her eyes.
"But if these people have gone through this door… where in the Boiling Isles could they have gone? You're the only human we've ever seen for centuries." Amity raised a good point, which made Luz stop in her tracks - which in turn made Amity to stop as well.
"Amity, there's plenty of places in the Boiling Isles they must have gone to. Remember the Titan Hunters? Maybe… there's some other isles out there where those humans could have turned up to. We have to hope, Amity. Please… you have to trust me." Luz said with pleading eyes.
The pink haired girl looked at her girlfriend with her worried expression. "I do have hope, Luz. I hope to one day find my way back to my family. But right now… I fear for us."
"What do you mean?" Luz asked.
"I cannot do Abomination Magic without ingredients. If we were to search for this door, we would have to face this thing I saw in my dream… I want to protect you more than anything. Especially now that you can't do Glyph Magic."
Luz smiled and reached for Amity's cheeks with her hands. "We've faced worse things before. You don't have to worry about protecting me. We'll protect each other. Plus, we got Willow. She's practically the muscle of our team."
Amity laughed softly and sighed. "Yeah, I guess so… and Hunter seems to know how to track monsters."
"There it is." Luz giggled.
"What?" Amity asked while tilting her head with a soft chuckle.
"Hope." Luz smiled and placed a small kiss on Amity's lips.
Amity smiled and nodded after their lips parted. "Well… let's go see Masha."
"Way ahead of you!" Luz said while taking off while Amity tried to catch up to her.
"Oh, you think you can outrun me?!" Amity laughed, the both of them running through the streets of Gravesfield straight towards the Museum on the horizon.
THE LOOKING GLASS
Chapter 5: A Flower from the Forest.
Waiting for them outside of the Museum was Vee, who watched them rush up to her at equal footing while panting heavily from exhaustion. "I won!" Luz said with a grin.
"What? No, I did!" Amity said.
"Vee, who won?" Luz asked the Basilisk in Human Form.
"What?" Vee asked while raising her eyebrow. "I wasn't looking…"
"Never mind that." Luz said with a soft laugh. "So… are they in there?"
"Yeah, I texted them a few minutes ago. I haven't gone in. I didn't want to ruin things, so I was waiting for you guys to come by. All I told them is we were hoping to meet with them and that's it." Vee explained.
"Do they suspect anything?" Amity asked.
"Masha is not dumb, I feel they do know something's up because they did ask if this was still about Herlock Woods."
Luz sighed and nodded. "Let us hope that Masha knows where to find this person we got to talk to." She said as she walked into the Museum with Vee and Amity following right behind her.
Once inside, they were greeted to an empty lobby where the only person in the room was Masha sitting behind their desk where there was a non-binary pride flag sitting on their left and pamphlets of the Museum on their right.
"Hey, I was wondering when you guys would show up. Are you here for that tour?" Masha asked with that tooth-gaped smile of theirs.
"Oh…" Luz smiled nervously. "Maybe some other time? We wanted to ask you something…"
Before Luz was able to finish the sentence, Masha cut her off. "About Herlock Woods, of course?" They sighed.
Luz bit down on her lower lip before sighing with a nod. "That's right."
Masha sighed before asking with a calm but frustrated tone in their voice. "Why are you so obsessed with this place, Luz?"
Luz took her sweet time coming up with an answer this time around while buying some time smiling nervously at her and joking about being 'obsessed' with this place. "You see, I was thinking about doing a report. Summer homework, you know how it is… and initially I thought about making this essay about my friends visiting, but then I thought it was really boring… so…"
"Stop." Masha said while raising their voice. "Look, Luz. I've got to tell you two things…"
"Oh, ok. But…" Luz was about to go rambling once more but Masha stopped them once more.
"Stop, Luz. Just stop. And listen." Masha said before they leaned forward on their desk and tried to shift their tone into a less aggressive tone as they explained. "I believe that people are entitled to their secrets. I got secrets. Hence why I try to be respectful of other people's privacy. Cause I value my own. You got secrets. And that is fine. But I would rather you trusting me than to lie to my face. You must have your reasons and that is fine. But don't take me for a fool." Masha said as they sighed once more and crossed their arms.
"You're right." Luz said as she rubbed her arm. Both Amity and Vee behind her were just as nervous as she was. The both of them wondered if Luz would come up clean with the human goth. "I got secrets. But these secrets are not entirely mine to share. The safety of some people would be at risk if I would go around sharing these secrets."
When Masha looked at Luz, she seemed different. Her body language changed from scared when to a confident and more sincere posture. But when they looked at the two girls behind Luz, they understood what Luz was talking about. While Amity kept her composure -albeit a little nervous still- Vee was so nervous, she couldn't look at them in the eyes.
"Look, Masha. You, of all people in Gravesfield, you seem like the kind of person that I would trust with my secrets." Luz continued. "You're pretty cool and the fact you confronted me like this speaks volumes about your trustworthiness. If it was up to me, I would tell you right here and right now what's going on. But you have to trust me and I'm not lying to you when I ask you that I need your help."
Masha sighed in defeat before leaning forward on the desk. "Ok, but before I do. There's that second thing I wanted to talk you about. This person you're looking for, the reason why I'm advising you not to talk to her it's because she has gone through a lot, Luz."
"Yeah, I… went to the library. I read about her. Flor del Bosque. She is the last remaining member of the Onlookers." Luz said.
When Masha listened to Luz revealing to them that she had looked for information about that person elsewhere, they rubbed their eyes in frustration but didn't confront her about it.
"Ok, so you do understand that talking to this person about a life-changing experience is a bad idea?" Masha asked as they crossed their arms once more. "She was in a cult, Luz. Whatever happened to these people was left a mystery, they either abandoned her or something messed up happened to them. But what we do know is that she wandered those woods for literal days."
"I get it…" Luz said while biting on her lower lip. "But I still need to talk to her. You got to trust me. Someday, I believe that you'll understand why I'm doing this but for now, Masha… please, help me find her."
Masha shook their head. "Ok." They cleared their throat before they texted an address on Vee's phone, the Basilisk was caught off-guard and jumped slightly when the phone beeped out of nowhere on her back pocket. "There's the address. She volunteers at a shelter that is managed by the Greene Family. You might even still catch her right now."
"Thank you!" Luz exclaimed.
"Before you go." Masha said while no longer showing frustration in her eyes, but rather a more expressive form of concern. "Whatever you're doing. Be careful. While I've not had any paranormal experiences in my life, there are a few things that give me goosebumps. One is at the zoo when I see a giraffe for some reason, two is whenever I run into that pale lady across my street that is the nicest person on Earth but her presence exudes authority and that makes me nervous, and three… is thinking about what happened to Flor. When you talk to her, you'll think she is the sweetest person you'll ever meet. I know we've not heard the full story of what happened that day with the Onlookers. Maybe she remembers the whole thing. And we're just not ready to hear that story."
"We'll be careful. I promise." Luz said with a smile before gulping when she realized she used the word 'we'll' instead of 'I'll' which already confirmed what Masha suspected - but they didn't confront her about it, they just nodded with a smile.
When the trio started making their way out of the Museum, a text message popped up in Vee's phone which made the Basilisk in Human Form stop in front of the door as she browsed to see it was another message from Masha who was sitting on the desk behind her.
Masha: hey, i'm sorry sad emoji the least i want is to make things awkward between us, i got your back, you know it. if you ever feel like talking about… anything, you can trust me. friends?
Vee smiled before looking over her shoulder at the goth smiling back at her. She texted back:
Vee: friends!
Masha grinned and waved back at Vee as the door closed behind her.
The trio followed the address through the GPS app on Vee's phone; they found themselves in the exact same street that Masha led them through the day before. On their left they saw that enigmatic medical clinic that seemed to be much more crowded than yesterday. A block after, the abandoned Theatre was still as sinister-looking as ever. Finally a few blocks after they reached their destination; The Greene Foundation Shelter. Just like the clinic a few meters away, there was a crowd of people gathered on the outside. Most of them were people unloading boxes from a large truck parked a few feet away from the entrance, these were a mix of people wearing uniforms with the Greene Foundation logo on the left sides of their shirts. The other half were younger people wearing casual clothing, they seemed to be a few years older than Luz, Amity and Vee. So most likely these were volunteers. Finally, every so often they would see people walking down the street from the left, right and across the street that seemed to be the exact people this shelter was built for.
As the trio moved slowly around this crowd, Luz was eyeing up every worker and volunteer - looking for any face that would look like it would belong to someone named Flor del Bosque.
Eventually, Luz spotted a young girl, perhaps a couple of years older than her, that seemed to be doing inventory of a few boxes gathered around her. The girl had a beanie like Luz's, except darker and with a pin of the Ace Pride Flag on the center. The beanie covered her forehead and ears. She had long purple hair and wore a denim jacket and pants.
"Excuse me!" Luz nervously approached the girl from her left, making the teen look back at her.
"Hm?" The volunteer tilted her head. "Do you need any help?"
"Yeah, I'm looking for someone. My friend told me she'll be here, her name is Flor del Bosque." Luz said as she tried to keep calm, she realized earlier that she was bad at lying so she was anxious about having to lie again if she would be questioned by the volunteer.
"Oh, Flor." The volunteer said as she eyed around the crowd trying to spot the woman in question. "She was here a minute ago, I lost sight of her…" Luz watched as the purple haired teen turned to face her as if she was about to ask her something, which made her sweat and gulp knowing what sort of thing she was about to ask - only to be saved by the loud obnoxious shouts of a young man coming out of the back of the truck holding a large box.
This man looked like a fresh out of college jock with short dark blue hair, tanned and wearing a tight-looking version of the Greene Foundation uniform that many others there wore, except his looked so comically tight that if he were to flex his large muscles - it would definitely shred into pieces.
"Heeey! It's your boy, Bret Blanche and we're here live at the Greene Foundation Shelter bringing in all the donations that you, my beautiful fans have all contributed for the less fortunate citizens of Gravesfield." The man had a camera crew filming him as he walked down the ramp of the truck, at some point he sneaked in a shot where he moved his head backwards in order to make his hair wave slightly - everything seemed rehearsed, and in case anyone around would think this was spontaneous or sincere, there was a guy holding some cards behind the camera in case the man forgot his lines. "From the bottom of my heart, I thank you all for staying all late with me last weekend's stream. We will be hosting another one soon, so I hope that you help us make this town a place that we can be proud of. Follow me on Z dot com, on Utube, and my other social media in the description. Have a good day!" Bret winked at the camera and then told the people behind the camera: "Be sure to make that shot, y'know the one, in slow motion. Ok? Yeah, beautiful. Perfect."
Most of the volunteers, workers and civilians in the crowd outside were trying to ignore the guy's presence. Some even seemed either happy to see him or bothered by his obnoxious personality. Amity was indifferent to him, while Vee was tilting her head in confusion as to what was going on there. The purple haired volunteer had a raised eyebrow and rolled her eyes while shaking her head.
"Ugh, sorry about that. Do not mind him, he is not going to be here all day. He normally just lifts a box or two for his streams, then goes away. Now… about Flor. She might be on the back of the building." The volunteer said as she faced the trio once more before she tilted her head when she realized that Luz was still staring at the young man holding the box.
Luz's jaw was on the floor with her eyes open wide when she realized that this guy, Bret Blanche, was an exact replica of one of Adegast's puppets -Nevareth Bladestrife- that one petty wizard that used to be Eda's competitor selling potions.
"Hey, are you ok?" The volunteer asked, which made Amity look at her girlfriend.
"Luz?" Amity asked, rather concerned.
"Yeah…" Luz snapped out of it. "It's just that, that guy looks kinda familiar. Haha! Sorry about that."
"What?" Amity asked, a bit upset.
"Oh, no no! It's nothing like that, Amity!" Luz exclaimed as she tried explaining without being conscious that she was saying all of this out loud in public. "There was this wizard called Adegast that had a bunch of puppets…"
Hearing the outlandish explanation, the purple haired volunteer couldn't help but chuckle softly. "Wait, a wizard?"
Luz blushed heavily, while Amity completely forgot she was upset when Luz almost screwed things up in front of other humans. But Luz came up with a lie right away.
"Uh… this was a Con, a Good Witch Azura Con…" Luz said, forcing a smile on her face while her eyes gave away how nervous she was. Fortunately, the volunteer chuckled some more and bought the lie.
"Oh, alright. Well, that's a funny coincidence, cause this guy is also a Puppet. Whaddya Know." The volunteer laughed a little bit.
"What do you mean by that?" Luz asked out of curiosity.
"You really don't know who that is?" The volunteer asked.
"Should I?" Luz chuckled softly.
"Not really." The volunteer laughed. "But that is Bret Blanche, Gravesfield's Golden Boy making his triumphant return after graduating from college as if everyone just forgot his little scandal years ago. He is endorsed by the Greenes; they left him in charge of this shelter - although he only shows up when he feels like it. All of this nonsense is for clout and to gather votes for the next DA campaign. He is literally the Greenes' puppet. Don't buy into his nice guy persona, he is an ace in the hole."
"Hey Wendy!" Bret screamed from a few feet away towards the purple haired volunteer that the trio had been talking to who froze in place when hearing her name being called out by the guy she just insulted. "Come give us a hand here!"
Once Bret confirmed he was oblivious to what Wendy just said about him, she relaxed. "Coming!" She looked back at Luz. "Hope you find Flor." She said while excusing herself and heading towards Bret who gave her a little warning.
"Watch out for the labels on these boxes, they smeared ink all over me."
"So…" Amity said as she brought Luz back into their earliest conversation. "About this Adegast?" She crossed her arms.
Luz chuckled softly. "Ok, so there was this wizard that lured me into a quest where they made me believe I was special. He had a bunch of puppets and one of them looked like this guy Bret, but his name was Nevareth Bladestrife. He literally looks like that except he was missing an eye. But none of it was real, it was all a facade to lure me in and kidnap me to get back at Eda for stealing his clients."
"Oh." Amity said. "I'm sorry that happened to you."
"That's ok." Luz said with a soft chuckle. "I was just surprised at how much the two look-alike. It's uncanny."
"Shouldn't we be looking for this Flor person on the back of the building?" Vee asked, making the two nod.
"Right! I completely forgot. Let's just hope we can find her." Luz said as she led the other two around the truck and spotted a hall in which they could head to the back of the Greene Foundation Shelter building. Once they were there, they spotted a bunch of people out there sitting on tables eating food that the workers and volunteers were serving.
Once again, Luz was looking around for someone that would look like they were named Flor del Bosque , she was about to ask a worker walking by - until she spotted a peculiar lady handing out clean bowls and plastic spoons to the people forming a line.
This woman looked a bit older than Bret, perhaps in her late twenties. She has long pink hair, her hair had a crown of flowers of different types. She didn't wear a uniform, therefore they could tell she was a volunteer and not a worker. She wore a white blouse with white bell-bottomed pants and red flip flops.
The article that Luz read in the library did not feature a picture of Flor when she was younger, she didn't know what she looked like - yet, she made the wild assumption that this has to be Flor.
Luz walked up to her and asked. "Flor? Are you Flor del Bosque?"
The pink haired woman posed her green eyes on Luz and gave her a bright smile. "Certainly. Can I help you?" She asked, her voice seemed friendly and relaxed. Before Luz was even able to reply to Flor, the tall woman leaned down to look at Luz's face closely. "Goodness, I can't help but be drawn towards you, like a light in the dark."
"Excuse me?" Luz asked nervously, Flor's face was inches from hers which made her feel uncomfortable.
"I see what this is about." The eccentric woman said with a smile. "You are on a quest, you've come to me for advice. I sense your strong determination to be reunited with someone important."
"How do you know that?!" Luz exclaimed with a large smile and a bright look in her eyes that showed amazement and disbelief. However, Amity and Vee were looking at each other with uncertainty and skepticism about this strange woman.
Flor chuckled softly at Luz's reaction. "Where I come from, emotions are an essential part of existence. We all exude and leave behind our strongest emotions in our wake."
"Really?" Amity said as she crossed her arms. "And where is this place you come from?"
Flor couldn't help but smile at Amity's skepticism. "I come from a place called Tellus. A beautiful place filled with large wooden areas and wondrous creatures."
A worker that was passing by overheard the pink haired woman and said with an almost sarcastic tone in their voice. "Sure you do, Flor."
"Hm…" Luz bit on her lower lip. "In which part of the Earth is this place?"
"Oh, you won't find it here." Flor said while she handed over some clean plates and spoons to some vagrants that formed a small line in front of her. "It exists somewhere else in the cosmos."
"Ok. Hehe…" Luz said while smiling nervously, at this point she understood why Masha advised her against talking to this peculiar individual.
"Hey Luz, can we talk?" Amity whispered as she held onto Luz's hand to drive her a bit further away so that Flor wouldn't listen into their conversation. "I don't know if this is a good idea anymore."
"Ok, ok. I know that she is…" Luz gave the pink haired gal with the crown of flowers over her head giving them a friendly wave before she continued handing over plates to the people in the shelter. "A little weird… but something happened to her in Herlock Woods. She told the people that rescued her that the people who she was with, the Onlookers, were looking for a door…"
"Luz…" Amity sighed and gently held Luz by the shoulders. "What if those people were just… like her? She seems off to me."
"Amity… I've been in the Human Realm for a long time." Luz said as she reached for Amity's hands on her shoulders and held onto them with her own. "I struggled making friends because all people thought of me was that I was weird, like her. I know how she sounds, and you may be right - maybe she needs help. But just like Masha told us, this person suffered from a life-changing experience. I want to give her a chance, I need to listen to what she has to say."
Amity took a deep breath and smiled in defeat as she squeezed Luz's hands. "Yeah… ok."
Luz grinned and leaned in to peck her cheek. "Thank you!"
Just as soon as they were over with that conversation, Luz and Amity walked back to Vee who was left all alone with the strange pink haired woman. "What?" Vee asked nervously as she looked at the strange pink haired woman staring at her intently as if she was trying to get in her head.
"Nothing." Flor chuckled softly before leaning forward. "I think you made the right decision staying here. You found the light in the vast darkness that shrouded you for so long… now you are free to be yourself."
Vee couldn't help but feel intimidated by Flor's accurate perception of character. It was uncanny how well she was able to read her without even having to say much. "Uh… I don't know what you're talking about." Vee said.
Flor gave a soft giggle. "It's ok, we're not so different, you and I. Staring into the void sure makes you long for the bright sun. You are safe here, I promise you." Flor said as she offered Vee a flower from her crown.
While Vee was still rather scared that this woman might tell she is not… human, she reached for the flower and didn't say a thing.
When Luz and Amity returned, Luz walked up to Flor and whispered "Would it be ok for you if we talk in private?"
"Does this have to do with your quest?" Flor asked while handing out bowls to the small crowd of people that formed a line in front of her.
"Yeah… I got to ask you a few questions about… Herlock Woods." Luz dropped the needle right then and there in the form of a whisper, which caused Flor to drop one of the bowls. It was evident that Flor was perceptive of things but that display confirmed she is not a mind reader.
Luz was caught off-guard when the hard metallic bowl bounced off the ground, Vee and Amity were not far away so their gazes instantly moved back to the scene before them as Flor apologized while picking the bowl and placing it aside.
"Terribly sorry… I'm so sorry about that." Flor said while forcing a smile on her face before handing a clean bowl to the person in front of her before looking back at Luz. "Give me a moment… five minutes top. Ok?" She said, while her eyes still try to exhibit that happy-go-lucky attitude she had shown before, her smile was clearly wiped off when she learned what Luz and her friends were here for.
"Sure." Luz said while worried about what just happened. The young human moved to her girlfriend and adopted little sister and led them aside towards a lone table on the back as they waited for Flor to finish what she's doing.
Nearly 15 minutes later, Flor spotted the trio still sitting on that same table. Luz kept herself and the other two entertained while waiting watching videos on her phone. All of them heard Flor coming their way before the long pink haired floral themed woman took a seat in front of them.
Luz gulped. "Hey, I'm aware that I crossed a line and I want you to know… that I do not mean to upset you. But I do need…" She sighed before continuing. "To ask you about that place… if that is alright with you? It's rather important, I swear."
Flor listened to Luz's apology and explanation, her smile was still there, but only half of it and all three of them could tell this was a sensitive topic for her.
"Do you know…" Flor said after breaking the uncomfortable silence Luz left behind. "How many people have asked me about this place? Every now and then, there would be people who want to make fun of me because they think I'm crazy…" This last part made Luz interrupt by raising her voice.
"No, no! You're getting it all wrong. I… well I'm not trying to m-make fun of you! I promise…" Luz said, a worried look quickly drawing itself on her face which made Flor smile fully once more.
"I know." Flor chuckled softly. "You didn't let me finish. There are people who come to me to make fun of me, yes. But there are others, like you, who wish to embark themselves in dangerous territory. I know… that there are people who think I'm strange." Flor said, briefly glancing at Amity who looked away when she felt her eyes on her. "But it is true that I have… talents. You're not the type that would make a joke out of me. I can sense it, even if you won't believe it."
"I believe you." Luz said, offering a smile back to Flor as she leaned in to whisper. "And I believe that what you and the Onlookers have sought for is true. There are doors connecting to other worlds…"
"Luz…" Amity blurted out in a whisper. "What're you doing?"
"Trust me." Luz whispered back before looking back at Flor who eyed the two of them when they pulled away from her for a brief moment.
"You do?" Flor asked.
Luz nodded. "That's why it's important for me to find… that door your group looked for before… that happened."
Flor looked down on the wooden table as she processed what Luz just said. "It's dangerous…" She said which was met with Luz's immediate answer.
"I know."
"No, you don't." Flor said almost ominously. "If I ever saw the door, then it must be buried deep in my mind. But I doubt I can help you find what you're after. I've been going to therapy for… a decade now. My last doctor, Doctor Craig, helped me induce me through hypnosis once and it didn't go well. I didn't see that door in those sessions. But I saw something else."
"I think we have an idea of what you saw…" Luz said, while Amity and Vee looked at her hoping she wouldn't reveal more than she already had.
Flor pulled a sunflower off the crown of flowers posed over her head and smiled as she looked down on it. "I spent several days wandering the woods. All I remember was… danger. The same way you emit all those powerful emotions to me." Flor said as she moved her eyes away from the flower and back to Luz. "That strong determination, the sincere and brave curiosity that allows me to understand that you won't stop looking for answers even when warned about the horrid cruelty of this world… that same way I can feel all those things about you, I felt danger that day. The euphoric emotions of something that wanted to do me harm…"
Luz felt a chill down her spine when picturing this strange woman at a young age being chased by something in the woods. "You… felt that thing's emotions too?"
"It left me a scar too." Flor said, her smile fading away as she fought her watery eyes from raining down on her cheeks. "Of course, I can't show you. You're still rather young and I don't wish you to see the proof that this thing exists. Several so-called 'experts' have looked into my experience and have come up with the theory that I was attacked by a bear or a mountain lion… but it isn't the case. That thing came to me… in the form of a person." Flor wiped the water built under her eyes quickly before looking back at Luz and her two companions.
"You saw it?" Amity asked, showing a curious side to her that only Luz has shown up to this point. After all, she had a vision of it and she never got to see it with her own eyes.
"Yes. It looked like a person I used to know… that also disappeared." Flor munched on her lower lip nervously, telling how difficult it was for her to talk about this experience. "But it wasn't him… I knew when I saw that pale looking face that this person I knew was no longer alive. It chased me for days. It talked to me. And while I felt that strong curiosity it had about me, I was tormented by the idea that it wanted to kill me too. But why didn't it… it had so many chances. And it even let me escape far enough so that I was found by Professor Phillips. The scar it left me gives me an idea… but the why still haunts me."
"I'm sorry…" Luz said, a bit horrified.
Flor looked back at Luz and leaned in to hold the younger girl's hand before offering her the sunflower she had taken off the crown of flowers she wore. "I can sense… that this person you want to be reunited with is special. I cannot force you to seize this quest of yours… but at least I can try. Don't… don't do it."
Luz stared into Flor's eyes, but the pink haired woman knew the answer she was about to get. "I can't… there are people counting on me to continue the search for this door."
"Very well…" Flor chuckled. "I'm sorry that I cannot further help you. All of which I know from that day, is what I've shared with you already."
"It's fine." Luz smiled as she pulled her hand away from Flor's while holding the sunflower in that very hand. "Thank you for meeting with us, anyway. By the way… I do have another question to ask and it's not about Herlock Woods. Are you really from another world?" Luz asked while chuckling softly.
Flor grinned and laughed softly. "Are you? Is this why you're so eager to find this place?"
"I'm not." Luz confessed with a sigh. "But I've been to one." She said.
Flor nods and asks. "I think I have a question for you too… what's your name? I think you've not offered me one."
"It's Luz." She said with a hint of blushing on her cheeks.
"Isn't that just wonderful?" Flor said with a wider grin.
Luz couldn't help but laugh softly. "Yeah… because it means light. I get it."
"See you around, Luz." Flor said before moving up to her feet and waved at the trio before she returned back to her post in the shelter.
"Well, I guess that's that…" Luz said to Amity.
"Strange girl…" Amity said.
"Yeah." Luz stared into the sunflower before offering it to Amity. "Well, we might not have any more leads about this door but we've got more information about this Unknown."
"Surely we'll find some." Amity said with a soft chuckle before reaching for the sunflower, once her fingers wrapped around it, she felt a rush of emotions flowing all over her body. Fear, despair, dread - all of the emotions that Flor felt when she ran through the dense forest of Herlock Woods in the vision she saw for a split second before it vanished just as quickly as it materialized itself in her mind.
"Amity?" Luz asked Amity. It felt like it had been just a brief moment but for Vee and Luz it lasted for a little over half a minute with blank eyes.
"W-what?" Amity asked.
"Are you ok?"
Amity panted heavily as if she had been the one running for days through that forest before she answered Luz with a serious look on her face. "Maybe… there's a way to find those clues." She said as she stared into that sunflower she held with her right hand.
End of the chapter.