BREAKING THE FANTASY
Written by Gwendolyn Frost.
"Luz…" Amity whispered as she woke up a few minutes later, she was laying on the grass with some minor bruises on her arms and legs. She realized later she was laying on large petals that Willow was able to cast a spell on the soil in order to soften the impact when they fell onto the ground. "Luz?!" She raised her voice a little more.
While the whole ordeal had wore them out, Amity was still strong enough to use some light spells to illuminate their surroundings.
She spotted Gus not far away before swiftly heading into his direction to help her friend back up to his feet. "Gus, are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm ok… what about you?" Gus asked as he examined his arms, noticing a few scratches from when he brushed some branches on his way down.
"Willow, have you seen Willow?"
"I'm over here!" The green-haired witch yelled from a few feet away. "You guys ok?" She asked as she headed towards them with her loyal palisman -Clover- following behind.
"Oh, I'm so glad that you're…" Amity gasped when she saw blood on Willow's face. "Hurt?! Willow you're hurt!"
"I'm ok, some branch scratched the side of my face on the way down." Willow explained, keeping her left eye shut as blood kept pouring down on it. "Have you guys seen my glasses?" She asked just before her friends were able to take notice that Willow looked different without her glasses.
Clover buzzed as they flew around Willow as if they were telling her the ill fate of her glasses which Willow later confirmed with a huge sigh.
"Ugh… guess I'll have to manage without them." Willow said in frustration as she turned to her side to look at Amity's direction. Even when she wasn't able to see the worried face on her pink-haired friend she was able to read her expression on the blurry mess standing before her. "Don't look at me like that! I'm fine, I promise."
"I'm sorry…" Amity said while sniffling. "I just feel so powerless, if only I had learned some healing spells from Emira before the day of Unity, I would be able to heal your wound."
"We don't need healing magic when we have this!" Gus exclaimed as he drew attention to the box he is holding.
"Gus, where did you got this?" Amity asked in confusion.
"What? What is it? What are you holding?" Willow asked, still unable to see or even deduce what the box is.
"Humans call this a First-Aid Kit!" Gus replied with a grin.
"Where did you get it?" Amity repeated her question.
"Oh, Camila has a bunch of these in the basement. She told me there was a nutjob laying traps on the outskirts of the forest for sometime. So, she piled these up while she was helping innocent animals that fell into them."
"Ok, so what're you planning to do with it?" Willow asked.
"I'm healing your wound!" Gus said proudly.
"W-w-wait, are you sure you know how use these things?" Amity asked with a skeptic look on her face.
"Of course I do! While we were all stuck in Luz's home for months, I did nothing but absorb as much knowledge that the Human Realm can offer through the neverending wisdom of cable television." Gus exclaimed.
"So, in a nutshell, you just watched a bunch of ER reality shows." Willow said with a sigh.
"Eeyup, pretty much. I've seen things I can no longer delete from my mind. Like the time that a roach got in someone's…" Before Gus was able to finish the sentence, Amity yelled at him.
"Stop! I don't want to hear where roaches get themselves into!"
"Wise decision. I respect that for sure." Gus said with a soft chuckle. "Ok, lemme get things ready."
"Ok…" Willow said with a sigh as she looked at her worried friend next to her, once more, while she wasn't able to see the look on her face, she could tell what was bothering her. "Hey Ams, why don't you go look around for the others while Gus patches me up?"
Amity tilted her head before nodding. "Ok, yeah…"
"You sure about this, Gus?" Willow asked as she took a seat on the floor while a bunch of light spells that Amity casted orbited around them.
"Don't worry about it, I know what I'm doing. It'll be over in no time. This might hurt, though." Gus warned his friend as he poured some alcohol on some tissues so that he would clean the wound on Willow's face.
"Wait, what?! You didn't said that there would be any pain?!" Willow exclaimed.
"Calm down, I bet you that this might not hurt that much." Gus said with a chuckle as he got the tissue soaked in alcohol so dangerously close to Willow's face before she pushed the hand away.
"H-hey w-wait!" Willow exclaimed as she asked with her cheeks burning lightly. "Would you give me just a moment?"
"Oh, sure…" Gus said with a raised eyebrow as he watched in confusion when Willow started to smack her face with her hands.
"Ok, Willow Park! It's your time to shine! This is just like Grudgby! There's going to be pain! It's inevitable, so brave yourself up! You can do it! YOU CAN DO IT! Do it now! I'm ready!" Willow screamed at Gus' face who was trying his best not to laugh on her face as he leaned in to start cleaning her wound with the tissue soaked in alcohol. But just as soon as it touched her face, the stinging pain began to quickly spread across her face. "Ahhhhhh!"
"Ahhhhh!" Gus screamed back as he pulled the tissue back before Willow yelled at him for doing so.
"What're you doing man?! There is still blood on my eye! Finish cleaning my face!"
"Sorry, sorry! It's that you started screaming so loud! Does it really hurt that bad?!"
"You're welcome to try!" Willow said as her voice cracked somewhat due to the pain she felt, as if hundreds of Clovers were stinging her on the face at the same time.
"Ok. Done… now…" Gus said as he brought a needle up close to Willow's face before her insane reflexes stopped Gus from attempting to stitch her wound.
"Whoa there… why is that you're holding pointy? Is that a needle?!" She asked her friend with a worried glare.
"Yeah… I… this is what ER shows do!"
"I know what you're trying to do. I'm not crazy enough to let you stitch my face with that! Just put a bandaid or some bandages on it, you goof!"
"Ok, ok, geez…" Gus said before he spent the next couple of minutes figuring out how to wrap those bandages around Willow's face. "There… I think."
"Thanks… I appreciate you took the time to help me but… once we get back, let's just ask Camila to teach us how to do all this properly?" Willow said with a soft sigh.
"Heh, agreed." Gus said with a soft chuckle before the both of them looked at Amity when she came back panting heavily from searching for their friends exhaustively.
"Guys… they're not here! Luz is not here… neither is Masha or Vee…"
"Ok, let's calm down and…" Willow was cut off when the three of them heard a bone-chilling scream coming from the deep forest.
"That…" Amity's eyes widened as she recognize the voice. "That was Luz!"
"Amity is that you?! Please come quickly! It's Vee… she's not moving! Hurry!"
"What?!" The trio exclaimed in unison as they all feared the worst.
"I'm coming Luz!" The pink-haired witch yelled back into the depths of the forest as she got her palisman Ghost to turn into a staff to ride it as fast as she could to reach for her girlfriend and friend in need.
But before Gus was able to follow her with his palisman Emmeline turning into a staff as well, he got stopped by a desperate-looking Willow who ask of him. "Wait! Don't leave me! I can't see and Clover cannot navigate herself through the woods… please take me with you!"
"Oh, right! I'm sorry, hop on!" Gus exclaimed as Willow did so before they tried to catch up to Amity who desperately flew through the dark forest.
"Can you see Amity?" Willow asked.
"Yeah… barely!" Gus replied.
They all flew as fast as they possibly could while leaves and branches nearly hit them if it wasn't for Amity who casted a shield spell on herself that pushed them aside on their way.
"Please, hurry!" Luz's desperate cries kept echoing through the woods as her worried girlfriend yelled back as loud as she could.
"Luz! I'm going as fast as I can, where are you?!" Amity yelled as tears were running down her cheeks, worried sick about the ill fate of her shapeshifting friend.
"I'm over here! Hurry! Vee… noooo! Please, wake up! Please!" Luz said, her voice seemed distant even when the trio of witches were swiftly moving through the dense forest… but soon… they seemed to notice there was something off about this voice…
"Why does it sound as if Luz is getting further and further away?" Gus pointed out.
"I've noticed too." Willow replied as she yelled at Amity. "Amity! STOP!" But the pink-haired witch did not heard Willow due to the large distance between them. "Gus, tell me… how much do you think that she's ahead of us?"
"I don't know… maybe some 30 to 50 feet?" Gus said before Willow began to cast a spell while considering the information that Gus just told her. Just as soon as she casted the circle, large roots began to emerge from the ground that enclosed Amity in a solid barrier of trees that forced her to stop.
"Willow! What're you doing?! Luz is in danger!" The pink-haired witch screamed furiously at her two friends before they both jumped off Gus' staff to reach her.
"Amity, think!" Willow yelled as she explained. "Hunter was lured into a trap by the Shapeless using Luz's voice and Luz herself told us it mimicked her own voice when it was in her backyard! That's not Luz, it's the Shapeless trying to split us apart!"
The pink-haired witch furious expression began to be washed up by Willow's words, but her cheeks kept being soaked by her tears until they all heard Luz's voice laughing in the distance.
"Kudos to you for figuring it out so quickly!" It said, making everyone to glare into the darkness in which the voice came through. "Unfortunately, I have no time to play with you…"
The voice of Luz became distorted once it began to laugh, slowly fading away in the distance as Amity screamed with all her strength.
"If you dare to lay one finger on my Luz, I will end you!"
THE LOOKING GLASS
Chapter 23: Split Apart.
The trio of witches were now flying above the trees, witnessing the destruction that the Shapeless caused by squeezing the lower section of the structure with a large amount of flesh roots that were still visibly attached to the Tower now laying on the ground.
The structure itself caused so much destruction when it landed on the ground, hundreds of trees were split apart, shattered, stomped on under it… multiple animals that just lost their home were fleeing away still from the area as the witches tried to look for their missing friends.
"What kind of magic was that?" Gus asked. "I mean… that short minute in which everything went black."
"I don't know… but I tried casting some light spells. Whatever it was… it was consuming the light." Amity explained.
"What can you see down there?" Willow asked her friends while still riding on Gus' staff, still unable to see without her glasses.
"It was definitely the Shapeless doing, it squeezed the Fire Lookout Tower with its Lich Spell. That's a whole impressive spell of it's own. How big it's mass is to be able to use that much flesh to destroy that Tower?" Gus asked.
"Well, one thing is for certain. Once we get back Luz, Vee and Masha we should take the L and head back home. I used two large spells now. I doubt I have much left for a lengthy fight now." Willow pointed out.
"I agree. But what about Hunter?" Amity asked before Willow gasped when reminded of their missing friend.
"Shoot! You're right! Hunter!" Willow yelled as she reached for the mirror shard on the pocket of her jacket to speak to their friend. "Hunter! Are you still there?!" She was able to see the In-Between through that shard, but there was no sight of Hunter. "Hunter, please. You've got answer, buddy. Are you ok?"
Both she and Gus awaited for their blonde friend with genuine dread on their faces before he finally showed up on the mirror.
"Huh?! I'm so sorry!" Hunter said as both sighed in relief. "I was distracted by those mirrors I told you about earlier. They started moving again."
"Wait, what mirrors?" Gus asked.
"The three mirrors, remember? Those that seem associated to the waitress from the restaurant? They started moving once more." Hunter explained.
"Wait, that's right!" Amity exclaimed as she asked Hunter. "Hunter, can you please check if you can get in touch with Luz or Vee? They still have a mirror shard of their own!"
"Ok, sure… wait." Hunter's eyes widened. "Why do you need to get in touch with them? Are they not there with you?"
"No…" Amity said in frustration.
"What? What happened?"
"It's a long story, buddy. Can you please see if you can get in touch with them?" Willow asked before Hunter nodded.
"Ok, give me a minute." Hunter moved away from the cube to try and find Luz. "Show me Luz…" For nearly half a minute, Hunter waited for a cube to show up but nothing happened. "Show me Luz!" He tried once more. "Ok… show me Vee?" But no cube showed up either.
Meanwhile, Amity took the time to address her two witch friends still following behind her on Gus' staff. "Hey, Willow… I'm so sorry for yelling at you."
"It's ok, Amity, I understand what you were going through." Willow said, trying to smile at her blurry friend before she heard a saddened reply.
"Not just for that… I owe you all a different kind of apology. I…" Amity tried to find the words for a short moment before blurting them out. "I'm sorry… for being so selfish. I know my relationship with Luz is making me do stupid things. When you guys reached for me instead of Luz in that pitch-black darkness… I felt so guilty for wishing it was Luz and not you guys. It was for a mere moment, but…"
"Hey, it's ok." Willow interrupted her.
"Yeah… she's your girlfriend. Of course you want her to be safe." Gus added before Amity shook her head in disagreement.
"No. That was wrong of me! You are my friends… there's a lot I have to work on about myself. I was selfish… but I was also terrified of something happening to Luz. Because…" Amity's eyes widened in fear. "What are we going to tell Camila if we come back without Luz?"
Both witches were hit with their own rush of dread and fear hearing those words. "You're right…" Willow whispered. "She has been so nice to us. I… can't imagine what'll happen if we come back without her."
"Guys…" Gus said as he got his two friends' attention. "We got to stop thinking about what'll happen and focus on getting her back."
"Right." They both said in unison before Hunter's voice brought them back into reality.
"Hey, guys. Bad news. I cannot reach them."
"Dammit." Amity whispered under her breath with tears about to run down her face as Willow sighed.
"Thanks, Hunter. We'll take it from here." Willow said before Hunter asked them.
"What happened? Are you guys ok?" He noticed their injuries, specially those bandages wrapped around Willow's head that were filling his eyes with worry.
"Yeah… we just… we'll explain to you everything that happened once we find a way to reach you. Ok? Just hold in there while we do so." Willow said as Hunter insisted.
But while Hunter and Willow discussed, Amity's attention were brought back to the spot in the woods where a large smoke emerged from the trees which she has seen earlier when the Lookout Tower was still standing.
"No, it did not took Luz." Willow said. "We got split apart."
"What did that thing do exactly?" Hunter asked.
"It lured us away using her voice." Gus answered the question.
"We must follow the smoke…" Amity whispered to herself but somehow her words rang in everyone's ears with a deja vu feeling in their chest.
"What did you just say?" Willow asked as Amity pointed at the smoke in the forest.
"We must follow the smoke! We need to follow that smoke to find Luz!"
Hunter raised his voice in order to reach Amity's ears. "This has something to do with the vision that strange TV offered you, right? What makes you certain that we'll find Luz there?"
"It's our only lead…" Amity said with hope in her voice that washed most of her fears away as they flew towards the ominous smoke emerging from the woods.
Earlier…
Somewhere in the woods, Vee woke up as Luz shook her by the shoulders. "Huh… wha?"
"Vee! You're ok!" Luz exclaimed with tears streaming down her cheeks before she reached to hug her shapeshifting sister tightly. "I was so worried! I was wandering the woods for minutes til' I found you!"
"What?" Vee groaned a bit in pain, having some scratches just like the witches have after falling down the trees when the Lookout Tower collapsed.
"Vee? Luz…? Are you two there?" Masha's voice brought the two to break their embrace as they looked towards the direction in which they heard their voice.
"Masha?! Where are you?!" Luz exclaimed as she reached for her phone before she gasped in pain when she cut herself by touching some fragments of the shattered mirror shard that she hid in her pocket. "Oww, oww! Wrong pocket!"
Soon, she picked out her phone to use the flashlight to find Masha sitting against a tree holding their left arm. "Masha!" Vee exclaimed as she rushed up to them. "What happened to you?!" The worried Basilisk asked as she was able to tell that Masha was in pain.
"I think that I dislocated my left arm again." Masha replied with a soft chuckle that pain seeped through.
"What?!" Vee and Luz exclaimed as they both knelt down next to their injured friend.
Vee was on the verge of tears when Masha swiftly reassured her with a smile. "It's ok, Vee. This happened before. Luz… I need to ask you a favor."
"Of course! Whatever you need!" Luz exclaimed before her eyes widened when hearing the request.
"Please, help me put my arm back into place."
"Huh?! What?! I don't know if I can do such a thing!"
"Please, Luz. I cannot carry my arm the whole way back home. Besides, I cannot ask Vee to do this for me. It has to be you…" Masha pleaded before they heard Vee protesting.
"What?! Why not me?! I'm not a coward!" Vee exclaimed with tears starting to stream down her face as she frowned down upon the goth.
"Vee, it's not because I think you're a coward that I'm not asking you this. You're not a coward to me. The reason is because you're not someone who wishes to harm others. I heard what you've lived through, and while I cannot grasp the thought of being in your place I do understand that you do not wish pain upon anyone. And in order to help me… you have to cause me pain."
"What?!" Vee's frustration turned into genuine fear and worry for her friend.
"Look, Masha. I'm not sure I'm someone that could inflict you pain either. I'm not sure I'm brave enough to do what you ask of me…" Luz explained as Masha shook their head.
"I know how daunting it might feel… but I saw the fire in your eyes lightning your determination to help others back in the Tower when you spoke to that thing…" The goth said as they looked up at Luz who pondered upon the thought one more time before her eyes filled with that same determination Masha just described.
"Ok… I'll do it. It's just like healing magic… except human style!" Luz tried to lighten up the mood as she reached to hold Masha's left arm.
"Heh, that sounds about right…" Masha said with a soft laugh before they groaned from the pain a little bit. "Now… you ready?"
Luz nodded.
"Ok… in 3, 2… 1!"
Luz pulled Masha's left arm with all her strength which brought the goth into an immense pain that filled both the fellow human and Basilisk's ears with a high-pitched scream that made Vee cover her ears as she cried harder than before.
"I'm so sorry…" Luz whispered as Masha panted heavily.
"It's ok… it had to be done." Masha whispered back, exhausted.
"I'm sorry I put all of you in this situation…" Luz said as her own tears began to soak down on her cheeks. "I do wish to help others but in doing so I make things worse…"
"Nonsense…" Masha whispered. "I've wandered these woods for five years looking for answers as to the whereabouts of my father and you got me a lead at last. No one said that the path to help others was pretty." The goth said as Luz's tears stopped flowing hearing those words.
"Heh…" Luz felt her spirit uplifted as a huge smile drew itself on her face. "Where did you got that quote from?"
"I don't know…" Masha laughed softly. "Anime probably."
They both laughed hard before their laughter died a short minute after when Luz took her shirt off and tore it apart in order to help Masha's arm remain still in place. "Lemme help you with that…"
Vee stood there watching them, still somewhat scared. Soon, the two of them joined her and started to discuss their next plan of action. "So, what do we do now? More like… where do we go now?" Masha asked before Luz sighed.
"I wish to find my friends. But I think it's best to try and bring you to a hospital." Luz suggested before Masha shook their head in response.
"Look, I know my way around these woods, but with this low visibility, I cannot see where I'm going. We might have to set camp for the night. So, we need to find some shelter." They asked as they used their right hand to reach for their phone and light their surroundings, identifying the large Lookout Tower structure collapsed to their right. "How about we follow this thing til' we reach what was once the top side? Perhaps the others have the same idea and we meet them there."
"Yeah, sure. That sounds like a good idea…"Luz said somewhat distracted, which both Vee and Masha caught up to when they watched Luz examining the same hand that got a few cuts from touching the fragments of mirror that shattered on her back pocket.
"Hey, you ok?" Masha asked Luz as the fellow human tilted her head in confusion before blushing slightly.
"Sorry, yeah. I cut my hand. It's nothing serious. But I had a mirror shard in my pocket and it must have broke down when I fell on the ground. Which reminds me, Vee? Do you still have your own shard?" Luz asked her little Basilisk sister who's eyes widened when she realized her own mirror was missing too.
"No… I must have dropped it earlier when I showed Masha my true form."
"Why are those shards so important?" Masha asked out of curiosity.
"It's the only way we can communicate with Hunter in the In-Between." Luz pointed out.
"Ohh, right!" The goth exclaimed.
"I'm sorry…" Vee said as Luz shook her head.
"That's fine, Vee, don't worry." Luz said as she reached for Vee to give her a warm hug before she looked up at the ruins of the Lookout Fire Tower. "We better get going."
"If it's ok with you both. I have an idea…" Vee said as the two humans blinked in confusion.
"Idea? For what?" Luz asked.
"If we walk all the way to the other end of the Tower, we might take an hour or so. So… I've been thinking I could… shapeshift so that I can bring you there faster." Vee said with a huge blush on her face.
"I'm mildly concerned… are you implying that you could shapeshift into something we can ride?" Masha asked as Vee nodded.
"Vee… you don't have to do this." Luz said with a nervous smile. "We can walk."
"I want to do it. You're both hurt. I don't want to be a pushover…" Vee said as she raised her voice with a determined look on her face.
"You're not a pushover, Vee. We both want the best for you and…" Without wasting another second, Vee focused before her entire body began to shapeshift into a grand mass that was at least 11 feet tall and 20 feet long. What Masha and Luz now had before them was the form of a Grand Basilisk. Which is a large lizard-like creature that still retained some of Vee's features, such as: a large blue mane that covered her head and nearly half of her long neck, now she had four limbs instead of just her two arms, her scales glistened like sharp diamonds in the pale moon light, but most important of all was Vee's sweet face that even when she was this large there was no doubt this was the exact same good willed Basilisk that they knew and loved.
"Yowza Wowza! Vee… you're huge!" Luz exclaimed as she had to take a few steps back to fully bask Vee's new magnificent form.
"Y-yeah…" Vee said, her huge face blushing as she leaned down to address her human friends. "I require a lot of magic to be able to warp my body into something this big… hence why I don't tried doing this before."
"Well… I still think you didn't have to do this but… let's not waste anymore of your magic. Are you sure… that… we can ride you?" Luz asked as she nervously walked around the large Basilisk.
"Of course! Hop on!" Vee said with genuine enthusiasm as she lowered herself for Luz to climb onto her back but when she did, her head became dangerously close to her goth friend who gasped softly when their eyes locked. "Uh…! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!"
"No, no! You're not scaring me…" Masha replied with a soft laugh before they smiled sweetly at their friend. "I just think… you look very cool."
The large Basilisk blushed but smiled back at her friend as Luz giggled to herself on top of her. "I do not wish to ruin your moment but… Vee keeps burning magic with this transformation so we better make the most out of it."
"Oh, right!" Masha exclaimed, moving around towards Luz as she helped them climb up.
When the two humans were safely riding on top of Vee, the Grand Basilisk began to climb up the ruins of the old structure that collapsed earlier in the night. That large mass allowed Vee to move faster, her large hands squeezed the Tower's beams as she tried to reach for the top end of the Lookout's ruins where they had confronted the Shapeless not long ago. As they did, Luz and Masha held tightly onto Vee's scaly back while enjoying the beautiful landscapes of Herlock Woods which had been an ominous sight for most of the night, but strangely became less frightening under the sea of stars above them.
A walk that would have lasted at least close to an hour was fully reduced to a third of the time. The three of them were able to see the top side of the Lookout Tower closer and closer until they reached it, however, there was no sight of their friends… but as they stared down onto the dark void of the top side's interiors, they felt the same dread that haunted them before. That pitch-black darkness in which that unnerving entity that swallowed the light felt rather eerily inviting but they knew better than to go down to use it as a shelter for the night.
"I don't think we should go down there." Vee said as Masha replied with a sigh.
"Yeah… I agree, besides… this place is probably get crowded in the morning when the townsfolk realize the Tower collapsed."
"Guys…" Luz's voice brought the other two to tilt their heads towards her. "Do you see that?"
"What?" Masha asked as they all looked into what Luz was pointing at.
There in between a line of trees in which the Tower was pointing was a wooden structure somewhat hidden that the full moon's light glimmered towards as if the moon itself was making sure that the lost trio knew of its existence.
"Is that…?" Masha whispered with widened eyes as Luz finished their thought.
"Flor's shack…"
"No way." Masha said before Luz replied with conviction.
"It has to be…"
"I've been in this area for years… how did I missed it?" Masha said, bewildered still.
"Not sure… but… we must go there. Vee, would you help us?"
"Of course!" Vee exclaimed as she swiftly moved past the Lookout Tower's top side before gently descending it to reach the line trees that lead straight into the Shack.
"Stop…" Luz said as Vee nervously stopped to look back at her.
"What's going on?"
"You should save the rest of your magic for now. Besides… we don't know if there's people inside this Shack."
"Oh, right…"
Once Masha and Luz had hopped off Vee, the Basilisk transformed back into her human self and walked next to her friends towards the ominous Shack sitting in the middle of the woods that they've been searching for in the first place before all of this long night began.
Luz pulled out her baseball bat and looked back at her two friends with a serious look on her face. "Stay behind me."
"Ok…" The two of them replied.
They carefully approached the cabin, Luz reached for the knob on the long decayed door which as soon as she pulled it loudly screeched as she opened it up. Vee and Masha had to use their phones to light Luz's way as they made their way inside to which to their surprise… there was something familiar awaiting for them on the wall sitting across the room.
Just like the Morton Ranch, there was a mirror that did not served its purpose: showing your reflection.
The floors crunched under their feet as they walked up to it.
"This is it! We've found it!" Luz exclaimed as she reached to touch the mirror but just like before… it simply felt like a regular dusty piece of glass that showed everything in the room but them.
"Wow… this is freaky." Masha said as they were about to touch it before Vee yelled on their ear.
"Noo! Masha, what're you doing?! Don't touch it, it's cursed!"
"Ahhh!" Masha let out a high-pitch scream before they noticed the glare on Vee's eyes as she said with a smirk.
"That's for what you did last week."
"You jerk!" Masha laughed out loud. "You really scared me!"
Luz giggled as the two of them turned to look back at her. "I like what you two have going on."
"Uh, ok." Masha said in confusion while Vee was blushing, gesturing to her sister to 'cut it out' with her hand. "So, what's up with this mirror? I don't care what you say, I'm going to touch it." They said as their hand brushed on the dusty exterior. "Boom. Done."
"Hehe…" Luz chuckled softly as she talked with Masha as Vee stepped in between them, looking directly at the mirror in front of the trio. "Well, I believe that this is the key to get our friend Hunter back. Remember what you said about the open window?"
"Oh… so this is what a mirror the Shapeless has gone through looks like?" The goth asked as Luz nodded at them.
"Precisely. I don't know how we can make it to work… but somehow… it can go through the mirror into the In-Between and viceversa.
"I see…"
While the two humans discussed ideas with one another, Vee kept staring at the mirror as her curiosity grew until she was brave enough to touch it herself. While Luz and Masha's hands did not go through… this time… Vee's hand did and they all went silent as they stared at Vee's hand on the other end…
Vee's hand was peeled off her transformation, on the end of the Human Realm she was still fully transformed into a human while the hand going through into the In-Between was scaly… her true form.
"Wow…" Luz cut through the tense silence before exclaiming. "You did it!"
Vee pulled her hand back and nervously tried to excuse herself. "I don't know what happened, I didn't meant to…"
"I think I do…" Masha whispered as the other two looked back at them. "Guys… what if the mirror has some sort of spell that only works for shapeshifters?"
"Masha, you are a genius!" Luz exclaimed with excitement as the goth further explained.
"So, we know the Shapeless can't shapeshift the same way that Vee does. But she's still technically a shapeshifter so then the reason why it takes off her transformation it's because it's some sort of payment?"
"Yeah, like the mirror requires her to leave her shape behind in order to pass through." Luz said while Vee was looking at the both of them with a terrified look on her face.
"Wait! Hold on! What are you two thinking?" Vee exclaimed as she nervously looked at Luz as she held her by the shoulders.
"Vee, I got a huge favor to ask of you."
Vee bit on her lower lip as she heard Luz asking what she feared for.
"Would you go look for Hunter?"
"I… don't know… I…" Vee said, scared before she heard Masha behind her.
"Remember when I turned you down because I thought you were not the right person to help me with my dislocated arm? This is yours… it has to be you."
The scared Basilisk kept looking at the two humans who were pleading her with their eyes to embolden herself to save their friend. Then, slowly but surely, just like Luz earlier. Her eyes filled with determination as she nodded in agreement.
"I'll do it."
End of the chapter.