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Chapter Text

"NO!!" Amity wailed, opening and closing the door frantically.  Each time she saw nothing but the inside of a run-down shack.  "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!"

Willow looked to her with pity, then to Gus, who was sobbing on his hands and knees.  Then she locked eyes with Hunter, whose face reflected much of the fear and uncertainty she felt, but also determination.  It's up to us, she realized.

She jerked her head towards Gus.  Hunter nodded in understanding, crouched down next to Gus, and began speaking softly to him.  Willow couldn't hear him over the sound of the cold human rain pouring down on them, but she assumed he was saying something comforting, or at least trying to.

Willow turned her attention back to Amity, who was still screaming.  "LUZ!!  OPEN THIS PORTAL BACK UP RIGHT THIS SECOND!!  I MEAN IT!!  LET US BACK IN RIGHT NOW, OR I'LL- I'LL- AAUGH!!"  She kicked the old wooden building they'd come out of.

Willow wrapped two strong arms around Amity's skinny middle and began pulling her away from the door gently but firmly.  "That's not going to work, Amity."

"Why?!" Amity cried, her voice full of despair.  "Why would she do that?!"

Willow sighed.  "I don't know.  But she did, and now we're stuck here in her world for the time being.  We need to find someplace safe to get patched up and regroup."

"Where?" Hunter asked.  He'd gotten a still-sniffling Gus to his feet and was allowing the smaller boy to lean on him.  "We don't know the lay of the land in this world, and neither of the two humans I've known are with us.  Where can we go?"

"Luz's mom," Willow replied.  "That's the one connection we have here.  We know Luz, and Luz has a mother who lives nearby.  We'll start by finding her and asking her for help.  Gus, do you remember her name?"

Gus sniffed again.  "Noceda," he answered.  "Her last name is Noceda.  I don't remember any more than that."

"Doctor Camila Noceda," Amity recited.  "The 'doctor' part is a title.  Her first name is Camila."  She still sounded rough and teary, but at least her head had cleared enough to contribute.  Willow let go of her.

"Will she help us?" Hunter asked.  "She doesn't know anything about us, and Luz isn't here to vouch for our characters.  She'll have no reason to trust us."

"If she's anything like Luz, she'll trust us anyway, and help us however she can," Willow responded.  "If not- well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.  Come on."

"Which way?" Hunter asked.

Willow shrugged.  "No idea.  Do you have a preference?"

Hunter nodded.  "I see some lights in that direction."  He pointed, and Willow squinted, shielding her eyes with her hand to peer through the pouring rain.  "They look like Will-O-the-Wisps, so I vote we head in the opposite direction."

Just then, there was a loud booming sound that made all four jump.  They looked around wildly, but saw nothing except trees.

"Opposite direction sounds good," Willow said.  "Amity, Gus, any objections?"  Amity and Gus shook their heads.  "Let's go."

Chapter Text

Hunter would probably spend the rest of his life sorting out which things Uncle Belos had told him were lies and which were truth and which were twisted mixtures of the two.

So far it looked like his account of the Human Realm had been the second.  The rain really didn't boil; in fact, it was cold enough that Gus had already started shivering.  The trees really were green, although it was becoming increasingly difficult to make out colors as the sky became darker (it must already be evening here).  The night really was quiet, and Hunter was finding the lack of cacophony from this world's night critters (were there even night critters here?) particularly unnerving.

Willow had instructed him to lead the way, since he was the most experienced pathfinder among them, while she brought up the rear to make sure that Gus and Amity didn't fall behind.

Not that Amity was currently at much risk of falling behind, marching right on Hunter's heels the way she was.  She had probably expended the least of her energy over the last two days' events out of anyone in the group, given that she'd been the last to join in the action.  Plus, Hunter knew from experience how tough she was.

(Gus seemed to be struggling a little, though.  Hunter took care to keep a steady, fairly-sedate pace so that he could keep up.  They were already lost in an alien world, it wouldn't do to lose track of each other as well.  They needed to stick together.)

"So, uh, Blight, can we talk?" Hunter spoke up.

"Amity," she snapped.  Her voice was somehow rough from yelling and shaky with emotion and dangerously low all at once.

"Huh?"

"My name is Amity.  Don't call me Blight.  Not after what happened with my mother yesterday."

Yeah, that was fair.  Hunter had been trying to distance himself from his genocidal relative guardian as well.  "Right, Amity, sorry.  Can we talk?"

"Why?" she asked, like the thought of conversing with Hunter annoyed her.  That was also fair, given what had happened the last time they'd spoken to each other directly, but Hunter forged ahead anyway; this discussion was needed.

"Luz's mom," he said.  "We're going to meet her, but I know nothing about her.  Is there anything you can tell me about her?  I just want to be prepared."

Amity shrugged.  "Like what?"

"Well, you said that 'Doctor' is a title she has, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, what kind of title is it?" Hunter asked, holding up a tree branch so the other three could duck under it more easily and then hopping up to take the lead again.  "Is she an important leader here?  Will she have bodyguards or bureaucrats obstructing us from meeting her?  Are there protocols we'll need to follow in her presence?  Is there any danger that we'll be imprisoned or worse if things go bad?"

Amity shook her head.  "No, nothing like that.  It's just an educational title.  It signifies that she's a certified expert in her field.  I never got the sense from Luz that she's particularly influential."

Hunter nodded.  That was good to know.  "Do you know what her field is?"

"Non-magical healing," Amity answered.  "She specializes in the treatment of animals."

"That's good," Willow said from behind Gus.  Hunter and Amity glanced back at her.  "I dunno about you guys, but I could really use some healing after the day I've had."

"Will she be able to treat our injuries?" Hunter fretted.  "We're not animals."

"She will," Amity said confidently.

"How can you be so sure?"

"You guys know how Luz is always get-" Amity stopped, choking on her words.  She swallowed and took a deep breath.  "Getting hurt.  You've all noticed that, right?"

"Right," Hunter, Willow, and Gus agreed in unison.

"Well, think about who would've been doing her first aid for the fourteen years she spent here before coming to our world," Amity concluded.

Hunter thought about that.  "The local human healers?" he tried.

"Her mom, Hunter," Willow corrected.  "When most kids get minor injuries, their parent or guardian is the one who tends to them.  For Luz, that would've been her mom."

"Oh," Hunter said.  He decided that it would be better to take the Captain at her word than to pursue this particular line of questioning further.  "Okay but, uh, what if she turns us away?  Shouldn't we have a strategy for that, just in case?  Do you guys know of any other connections Luz has in this world that we could try if need be?"

"No," Willow responded, shaking her head.  "According to Luz, she never managed to make any real human friends."

Amity stopped in her tracks, and Gus narrowly avoided bumping into her.  "Wait, none?  None at all?"

"Nope," Willow said grimly.

"How is that possible?" Hunter wondered.  "Luz is the friendliest person I've ever met."

"I have no idea," Willow confessed.  "She said that other humans found her weird, but she's weird in our world too and most people still like her."

Amity was tearing up again.  (Probably.  Between the rain and the darkness, it was kind of hard to tell.)  "She told me she didn't have many friends, and that her mom was the only person she really missed, but... she didn't say none.  Was, was she just sugarcoating it for me?"

"Yes," Willow replied immediately.

"Why?!" Amity cried.  By this point the entire group had halted.  "Why would she tell you how bad things were but not me?!"

"Well," Willow answered.  "Before you two got together it was because she, and I quote, 'didn't want you to know how much of a loser she really was.'"

Amity gasped in horror.

"Afterwards, I'm pretty sure it was just because she didn't want to make you sad.  She only told me and Gus because she wanted us to feel better about how low we were on the social totem pole at the time.   It was before you and I started to reconcile."

"That actually explains a lot," Hunter remarked, while Amity processed that.  "If Luz has no Human Realm friends, that would make her Demon Realm friends a lot more precious to her, because we're all she's got.  No wonder she went to such great lengths to keep us safe."

"Titan DAMN IT!!" Amity exploded, punching a nearby tree with enough force to make some of the bark come off.  The others jumped, caught more off-guard by the outburst than by the booming noise that followed it (probably a coincidence; hopefully just coincidence).  "How many fucking secrets does that girl have?!  She just keeps taking everyone else's burdens onto herself, making our business her business, but the minute I want to do the same for her it's always 'Oh no, Amity, I can't ask you to do that!'  She hides all of her problems and all of her pain away where she thinks I won't see them, and then has the AUDACITY to call herself my champion, as if being fucking girlfriends isn't supposed to be a fucking RECIPROCAL RELATIONSHIP!!  And then she just yeets me through a portal, no discussion, no asking permission, just 'I gotta protect Amity!' like my life is worth two wet shits without her!"

Hunter looked to Willow helplessly.  Willow sighed, stepped around Gus, and grabbed Amity's bloody left hand before she could punch the tree a second time.  "That's enough, Amity," she said firmly.  "You can be mad later.  Right now we need to keep moving."

Amity looked at Willow, choked back a sob, and nodded.  Willow released her and they marched on.

Chapter Text

The loud booming sound came again, but by this point the kids were learning to ignore it.  Whatever was making the racket, it didn't seem to be an immediate threat.

Of more concern was the terrain.  Cold rain apparently still softened the earth just as much as normal boiling rain, and the group's collective progress had slowed to a crawl as they trudged through ankle-deep mud and splashed through puddles that might as well have been invisible in this darkness.

Gus cried out in frustration and pain as he tripped over an unseen root and fell into one such puddle, in the process banging his elbow badly on a jagged piece of wood that was sticking out of a nearby tree.

"Gus!  Are you okay?!" Willow and Hunter reacted in synchronized concern, both rushing over to help him up.

"Why can't we just get on our staves and fly again?" Gus asked grumpily.  He wasn't used to being this cold and wet for long periods, and was not finding it a pleasurable experience.

"We can't afford to attract a lot of attention, Gus," Willow answered sympathetically.  "Remember, some humans hunt witches.  It's too risky."

Ah, yes.  The thing that Gus had been trying his best not to think about.  There it was again.

Barely more than an hour ago, he'd used his illusion powers to get inside Belos's head.  (Metaphorically, that is.  Not literally, like Luz and Hunter had done, because of course the only thing crazier than the adventures he had with Luz were the ones she had without him.)  He'd sifted through the memories of possibly the single worst person in the Boiling Isles' history.

Emperor Belos, aka Phillip Wittebane.  The most evil person that Gus had ever heard of wasn't a witch, but a human who'd infiltrated the Demon Realm with the specific goal of killing every living thing in it.  And wasn't that just a kick in the pants, learning just how close to the truth his least-favorite cousin had been when she'd claimed that humans were malicious creatures who didn't deserve his fascination?

Gus had seen Phillip stab his own brother in the back, and felt the sick sense of pride he'd felt at the action (is that why Hunter thought friends did that?).  He could say with a certain amount of authority that the man made Adrian Graye look like a saint.

Obviously not all humans were like him.  The Human Realm had also produced Luz Noceda, who was probably the best person Gus had ever known (aside from maybe Willow).  Realistically speaking, both were probably extreme outliers, with the vast majority of humans lying somewhere in-between.  The question was, where?  Gus knew more than a dozen witches and demons who, though nowhere near as bad as Belos, would still have happily killed Luz over very little provocation had they been given the opportunity.  How many humans were like that?  How many people in this world held lesser versions of Phillip's hatred for witches?  How many of those would see him and his friends dead if they were caught doing magic?  Was the number high enough to give more apathetic humans incentive to turn them in?

Gus was mercifully pulled from these thoughts as Amity cast a light spell, illuminating the space between them.  He turned so she could take a look at his elbow.

"I can't pull all of the splinters out right now," she said.  "We don't have time.  But I can stop the bleeding."  She summoned a small ball of abomination goop and made it form a purple patch over Gus's elbow, matching the makeshift bandage she'd put on her own knuckles.  Then she dismissed the light spell, and everything was swallowed up by the rain and shadows once again.

"Gus," Willow spoke up.  "I know you're really tired.  Do you want me or Hunter to carry you?"

"No," Gus replied, shaking his head.  "I can keep going a while longer."  He knew he was the weakest link right now, unless you counted Amity's sanity, but he refused to be that weak.

"I think I see something promising up ahead," Hunter said, having left Gus's side to return to his place at the front of the pack.  Spurred on by this news, Gus clutched his staff tightly, and he, Willow, and Amity followed Hunter onward.

Luz, I really hope you knew what you were doing when you sent us here.

-------------------------------------------------------------

The "something promising" turned out to be a peculiarly-shaped clearing with a similar-shaped flat-topped hill running through it, like a line drawn across the landscape.  Hunter led them up through the waterfall that had formed down the side of the hill to stand on the top, which was hard as rock and near-totally flat.

"I believe this to be some sort of artificially-created path," Hunter stated, stomping once to make his point.  "It clearly doesn't match the local geology, and its hardness and flatness make it easy to traverse.  Following it in either direction should take us to a human settlement."

"Couldn't it also be the residue from some sort of human-realm monster?" Willow asked.  "Like how flail snails in our world flatten the earth as they move and leave a trail of ooze behind them that hardens later?"

Hunter shook his head.  "Not unless the monster has the ability to make the earth rise up as well.  See how this path is elevated above the ground on either side?  That's something construction witches often do when making paths in our world, so that when it rains the water flows to the sides instead of leaving the path flooded for long periods."

"Hunter," Willow said.  "You're a genius."

Hunter blushed proudly, but thankfully no one could see it in the dark.

"What do you think is up with these yellow lines running down the middle?" Gus wondered.

Hunter shrugged.  "Maybe they make it more visible for humans or something, I dunno.  The real question is which direction we should go.  Captain?" he asked, turning to Willow.

Willow sighed.  "That way," she said, pointing at random.  Hunter nodded and began walking in the direction she indicated.  The others followed.

"This is a lot easier to walk on," Gus commented.

"Well, that is the point of paths," Amity replied.  Her voice sounded painfully hoarse from all the yelling she'd done earlier.  Also like she still had a lot of powerful feelings that she was barely holding back.

Gus moved to walk on the other side of Hunter from her.  He didn't want her suddenly remembering who had enabled Luz's switcheroo last night, and deciding that he was to blame for separating her from her girlfriend.

Chapter Text

They'd only been walking down the path for a few minutes when the problem with Hunter's plan made itself known.

As he peered ahead through the darkening night, two yellow lights appeared in the distance.

"What is that?" Hunter muttered to himself.  It was difficult to tell how far away the lights were, but they seemed to be getting closer rather quickly.  Very quickly.

"Get off the path!" he shouted, turning around towards the others and gesturing to the side with one arm.

"What?" Amity asked, as Willow grabbed Gus by the hand and pulled him off of the path and into the little river running parallel to it.

Hunter glanced over his shoulder.  The lights had gotten much bigger in the past three seconds, and a strange noise like nothing he'd heard before had become loud enough to be audible over the pounding rain and was growing louder still.

Hunter grabbed Amity with one arm while using the staff in his other hand to teleport them both to a safer position.  Barely more than a second later, a massive and very loud... something tore past them, traveling down the path they'd just been standing on at blazing speed.  An extra spray of cold water hit them in addition to the rain, propelled towards them by the sheer force exerted by the something.

For a moment the four kids just stood together in relative silence, frozen by the shock of their most recent near-death experience.

It was Willow who broke the silence.  "What was that?"

"I... I think it was a car," Gus said in awe.

"A what?" Hunter asked.

"A transportation machine made by humans," Gus elaborated.  "I've seen pictures of them in human magazines, and Luz assured me that they were real.  I had no idea they could get that big, or move that fast..."

"Are you alright, Gus?" Willow asked.  Gus nodded.

Amity seemed to notice then that Hunter still had an arm around her middle and pushed him off, muttering "I have a girlfriend."

Hunter stepped away from her, replying "Don't flatter yourself" more-or-less on autopilot.  He was then pulled into a firm hug by Willow.

"Thank you, Hunter," she said sincerely.  "You just saved all of our lives.  Again."

"Um..." Hunter trailed off, unsure of how to respond.  "Y-yeah."

Gus and Amity nodded their thanks as well, one with enthusiasm and one with reluctance.

Willow then stepped back out of the hug and looked up at Hunter.  "So, what now?"  She looked scared.  The near-miss they'd had with the "karr" had really shaken her.  Hunter needed to find a safe place for them to regroup, and soon.

"If... if that thing was made by humans, then that lends credence to my theory that the path it's traveling on was as well.  We'll stay off it, now that we know about the danger of getting hit by karrs, but we'll keep following the direction it leads.  Eventually we'll reach a human settlement, where we can hopefully find shelter and a human to ask for directions."

"Aren't we supposed to be avoiding being noticed by any humans?" Gus asked.

Hunter shook his head.  "We'll try not to stand out or raise suspicions, but I don't see any way we can find Luz's mom without asking a human for directions at some point."  He took a deep breath.  "Gus, do you think you have enough energy left to make it look like we all have round human ears?"

Gus nodded, and did so.  "It's a pretty easy illusion."

"Good," Hunter said.  "Hopefully that'll be enough."

"These look weir-" Amity broke off into a coughing fit.  She'd been coughing intermittently all evening, but this fit went on for an uncomfortably long time and sounded downright painful.

(Not for the first time today, Hunter wished that Viney had come with them.  Having a skilled magical healer would make their situation so much easier -- not to mention, it would be one fewer of Hunter's friends left behind in a dying world at the mercy of a crazy god-kid.)

"Are- are you okay?" Gus asked hesitantly.  Amity shook her head, still coughing.

"Oh!" Willow realized.  "She's probably dehydrated."  She crouched down over a not-totally-submerged patch of earth and drew a couple of spell circles.

"Or her throat is sore from all the shouting she did earlier," Hunter suggested.

"That too," Willow said.  "But none of us have had anything to drink for hours.  That's something I can fix."  As Gus and Hunter watched, and Amity struggled to stop coughing, a bush grew up beneath the plant witch's guiding hands.  The bush grew flowers which bloomed and turned into clusters of fat round berries.

"Hydratias," Hunter said in recognition.  "They'll keep us hydrated so we can push onward.  Brilliant, Captain."  Willow smiled at him.

Each of them ate a share of the bush's berries, with the largest share going to Amity to soothe her sore throat.  Once they'd finished, Willow mulched the bush to eliminate any evidence of magic, and then they pressed on.

Chapter Text

The human place they finally came to after what felt like hours of walking wasn't exactly a settlement.  But at this point, Willow wasn't feeling very picky.  There was a building with human activity going on inside and around it.  That was good enough.

(Admittedly, it was kind of suspicious how little this building seemed to care about being protected from enemies and monsters.  It projected enough light to be visible from a considerable distance, and the door was a window that the kids could easily see right through.  They might as well have put up a big glowing sign reading "COME ATTACK US!!"  But Willow and her friends didn't have the luxury of looking for someplace safer.)

Once they got close to the building, Willow took the lead, her friends close behind her as she knocked carefully on the see-through door.  A man standing near the door opened it wide with a dinging sound.  "What are you kids knocking on the door of a gas station for?" he asked gruffly.  "Just go in!"  He held the door open for them with one arm, his other arm full of colorful snacks.

"Sorry," Willow muttered, ducking past him.  "Thank you," Gus and Hunter said to the man, one after the other, as they and Amity followed her inside.  The door closed itself behind them once the man let go, but it didn't make a clicking sound or anything, so they probably weren't locked in.

Looking around, this "gas station" seemed to be a little shop that sold colorful snacks and drinks to travelers.

"Jeez," said a younger man who stood behind a counter next to the door, catching their attention.  "Were you guys out taking a nature hike or what?  You look like something the cat dragged in."

"Um, something like that," Willow answered.  "Do you have a bathroom we can use?"

The man nodded and pointed towards the corner of the room, past the shelves of snacks.  "We have two just over there."

Willow thanked him, and the young witches made their way through the shelves of snacks to the little hallway protruding from the corner, where they found two unoccupied unisex bathrooms.

Willow sent Amity and Gus into the bathrooms first, and then leaned against the wall to wait.  Hunter walked over to a nearby shelf of snacks and looked over the selection for a minute, then walked past Willow to the end of the little hallway, where he tried the door across from the bathrooms labeled "Employees Only."  It was locked.  Then he simply stood next to Willow.

"Do they not have the flavor you like?" Willow asked wryly.

"There aren't a lot of places for people to hide in this building," Hunter whispered back.  "The man who opened the door for us already left.  Aside from the guy working at the desk, I think we're the only ones here right now.  Once we've all relieved ourselves, I recommend that we gather in one of the bathrooms together to plan our next move."

Willow nodded.  "Sounds good."

They stood there in silence for a moment until Hunter broke it.  "Are you okay?"

Willow inhaled.  "Let's say yes for now.  Ask me again after we've found Luz's mom."

"It's okay if you're not.  I can-"

"No, Hunter.  I'm not going to put my feelings -- not that I have any, mind you -- onto you right now.  That's not fair to you or to the others.  Right now, Gus and Amity need us both to be strong.  Trust me, I have a lot of experience holding things in.  I'll manage."

Hunter nodded, a single quick Yes Captain nod, and his face betrayed not even the slightest hint of doubt in her.  Willow still wasn't clear on what she'd done to inspire an ex-Coven Head more than a year her senior to have THIS kind of faith in her, but she was extremely glad she'd done it.

Just then, Gus emerged from the bathroom, looking noticeably cleaner, dryer, and less miserable than when he'd entered.  Willow looked back to Hunter, but he shook his head and gestured for her to go ahead of him, so she did.

After closing and locking the door, and leaning her staff against the wall, the first thing she did was grab some toilet paper and try to wipe some of the water and mud off of her, not wanting to make more of a mess than necessary.  Unlike Gus and Amity, she didn't know any spells that were particularly useful for cleaning, so this would have to do.

While washing her hands after doing her business, she looked at herself in the mirror above the sink.  She could hear Amity crying again through the wall.  "Out of sight, out of mind," she said to herself, in the firmest Team Captain voice she could muster.  As long as she focused hard enough on what was right in front of her, she wouldn't have to think about any of the other things clawing at her brain (her dads' Coven Sigils gradually shutting down their bodies like had been happening to Hunter) (Luz and King being splatted against the wall by a mad god after sending her and the others away) (Viney and Skara and everyone else in her school prepping to defend Hexside from the Emperor's Coven only for the entire island to break into pieces beneath their feet) and she could be strong enough to lead her friends to safety.

Willow stepped out of the bathroom to find a visibly-anxious Hunter and a horrified-looking Gus.  "What, uh, what did I miss?"

Hunter swallowed.  "I was just, um... I asked Gus if we knew for sure that Luz's mom isn't a witch hunter."

Willow paled.  "Oh.  I see."

Seeing her reaction, Hunter tried to backpedal.  "I mean, she's probably not, right?  She raised Luz, and Luz loves witches so much she wants to be one!"

Willow took a deep breath and then slowly let it out, counting on her fingers just like her dads someone had taught her.  "I remember Luz implying that she didn't believe witches or demons were real before stumbling into our world.  We aren't common knowledge here.  I mean, the idea of us is, but the fact that we're real isn't.  So, it could be that the witch hunters are a secret society..."

"...in which case Luz might not know if her mother is one of them," Hunter finished.

There was an awkward moment of silence that was briefly interrupted when Hunter excused himself to use the now-available bathroom.

Eventually, Gus spoke up.  "Willow?"

"Yeah, Gus?"

"I overheard a song playing on the human radio while you were in the bathroom.  Parts of one, anyway.  It talked about a place called the Big Rock Candy Mountains, where there's no snow or rain or wind.  If asking Luz's mom for shelter doesn't work out, maybe we could try going there?"

That sounded highly dubious to Willow.  She'd never heard of a mountain range that never got any snow or rain or wind.  That wasn't quite how weather worked.  It sounded like something a bard would say about their favorite place to evoke an exaggerated feeling of its wonderfulness, rather than something they'd claim was literally true.

"That sounds lovely, Gus," she said.  "We'll keep that as a backup option."

Hunter exited the bathroom, and the three of them continued to wait for Amity.

Chapter Text

There were a lot of strange scents in the human realm.

"The human realm sounds... odd."

"Maybe it would be less odd if I showed you around someday."

Except now she's not here to show me around.  I have to figure out how to navigate this world without her.

The trees didn't smell quite like demon realm trees.

Is Dad okay?  Did he survive the Draining Spell?  Hunter did, but what if the spell affects adults and teens differently?  Will I ever see him again?  He was just starting to change, to try doing better, being better.  Will I ever get to know what having a decent father is like?

I hope I get to see him again.  Even if he goes back to the way he was before, I hope leaving him to die isn't the last thing I ever get to do with him.  I want to hug him.  Why didn't I hug him when I had the chance?

The rain here didn't bring with it the aroma of scalded flesh.

What did Mom (she's NOT my Mom, I HATE her, I hate her SO MUCH, she's a MONSTER, she's an evil fucking BITCH, she tried to kill everyone, she tried to kill DAD, she tried to kill ME and MY FRIENDS and LUZLUZLUZLUZ and WHY do I still care if she's alive?) do with Ed and Em?  She said they'd just be grounded, but where did she put them?  Where are they now?  Is she with them?  Are they okay?  Please, Titan, please let them be okay.

The bathrooms in this world apparently smelled atrocious.

The Collector is like nothing I've ever heard of, he killed Belos with one finger and then moved the moon with the same finger.  He may have already destroyed the Isles since we left.  And I left LuzLuzLuz and King behind to face him alone.

Luz could be a stain on the wall just like Belos RIGHT NOW.  She could be dead dead dead DEAD RIGHT NOW, she could be gone forever, she could be a plaything for that mad god, she could be suffering, she could be being tortured, she could be scared and alone, she could be DEAD and I might NEVER see her beautiful face again, never kiss her again, never talk about Azura with her again, never hear her laugh again, never smell her sweaty B.O. after a grudgby game again, never hold her hand again, never witness one of her amazing feats of heroism again, never tell her I love her or do any of the other things I've dreamed of doing with her but haven't been able to yet and it's all my fault because I LEFT her.

Maybe that wasn't fair.  Amity had grown up rich.  She'd gone to a decent school.  The bathrooms she'd used in the demon realm had always been ones belonging to people and institutions who'd had the resources to clean them thoroughly and often.  This "gas station," in contrast, seemed to be the kind of place that existed on the fringe of civilization and catered to a lower-class clientele, the kind of place whose bathrooms saw use only as a last resort.  There were spots on the walls where paint had worn away and not been replaced; high-end establishments didn't have those.  Perhaps the bathrooms of comparable places in the demon realm also smelled this bad -- apart from the Owl House, Amity had never been in one.

It's not my fault.  It's not my fault.  It's not my fault.

It's LuzLuzLuzLuz's fault.  (That's wrong, I can't think that, Luz is wonderful and beautiful and makes everything better, I should be blaming myself instead.)  I would've stayed with her, or I would've made her and King come with me, but she didn't give me the choice.  She TRICKED me into leaving her, SHE sent me away so that I couldn't help her, couldn't protect her, couldn't fight with her, couldn't die alongside her like in Romeo and Ghouliet, Luz didn't want that, she shut me out AGAIN, she sent me AWAY FROM HER.

WHY did she DO this to me, didn't she know it would break my heart?  Doesn't she know that the thought of her adorable smile is what gives me the strength to get up every morning?  Doesn't she know that I'd die for her a hundred thousand times over if she'd only just let me, because without her there's almost nothing in my life worth living for?

Maybe she doesn't.  Maybe she doesn't really believe I love her.  Maybe she doesn't understand even the slightest thing about my feelings for her.  Maybe she truly doesn't get it.  Maybe I should have explicitly told her "I love you."  Maybe even that wouldn't have been enough.

Maybe she thinks I'm still a cold-hearted bully deep down.  Maybe she doesn't trust me to stay with her unless she can be my Fearless Champion.  Maybe she thinks I'll be fine without her.  Maybe she really does still secretly think she's a loser, like Willow said.

WHY IS SHE SO FUCKING STUPID?  I've TOLD her and TOLD her and TOLD her that I want to be with her, that I enjoy her company, that I care about her well-being, that she makes my life better, that I want to protect her and provide for her and give her the world, just like she's done for me.  I've done EVERYTHING I could think of to make her understand, so HOW can she STILL NOT GET IT?

Amity removed the abomination-goop bandage from her hand and took a whiff of the torn and bloodied skin underneath.  Her blood still smelled the same as it always had.  I'm still me.  She'd hoped that that bit of familiarity would comfort her.  It didn't.

Please come back to me, Luz.  I'll do ANYTHING to see you again.  I miss you so much already.  Please.  I'm not sure I know how to live without you anymore.

Amity cried.

Chapter Text

It was more than half an hour later when the door to the other bathroom clicked open and Amity finally emerged.

"Sorry I took so long in there," she said sheepishly.  Her eyes were red and her voice was still hoarse, but she seemed calmer than she'd been since they'd come through the portal.

"It's alright, Amity," Willow replied.  "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay."

That answer raised a few eyebrows.  "Really?" Gus blurted out.

"Well, no," Amity admitted.  "Not okay exactly.  But I think I've gotten enough of the panic and anger out of my system that I can think rationally now."

"So, you don't want to kill me?" Gus asked hopefully.

Amity snorted the first genuine, non-terrifying laugh any of them had heard all day.  "No, of course I don't.  Why would I want to kill you?"

"Because I helped Luz switch places with Hunter."

Amity placed one hand gently on Gus's shoulder.  "It's fine, Gus.  You were just going along with Luz's plan.  I trust her to know what she's doing.  It's part of my job as her girlfriend."

"Even when she sends us into the Human Realm so she can fight a god by herself?" Hunter asked skeptically.

"Yes," Amity replied.  "I don't know what her plan was, but I believe that she had one.  If there's one thing I've learned these past few months, it's that Luz Noceda can do anything she puts her mind to.  It wouldn't surprise me if she's already stopped the Collector and reopened the portal and is waiting for us to come back through it right now."

Ah, Willow thought.  She's in denial.  That explained the sudden shift in attitude.

"I... really don't think that's the case," Hunter said cautiously.  "My experience with Luz is that she mostly does things on impulse."

"Even if it was an on-impulse decision," Amity asserted.  "I'm sure she had a good reason for it.  Don't you trust Luz's judgment?"

Apparently that was a difficult question for Hunter, because he spent almost thirty seconds thinking it over, and cycled through at least twelve different facial expressions while he did so.  "...I guess," he finally conceded.  "Still, I think we should move forward under the assumption that we're stuck here for the foreseeable future.  Better to prepare for the worst-case scenario, even while hoping for the best-case."

"Fair enough," Amity agreed.  "So, we look for Luz's mom?"

Willow looked over her shoulder.  Thankfully, it looked like the gas station was still pretty much empty aside from them.  "Hunter suggested that we gather in one of the bathrooms to discuss this," she said quietly.  "Come on."

She herded her friends into the bathroom that Amity had just come out of, closing and locking the door behind her.

"Okay," she said.  "Hunter, tell Amity about your concern."

Amity quirked an eyebrow.  Hunter took a deep breath before speaking.  "What if we approach Luz's mom only to find out that she herself is one of this world's dangers?"

"What do you mean?" Amity asked.

"I know from what I saw and heard in Belos's mind that there are witch hunters in the human realm," Hunter said.  "But I don't know what they're like, how many of them there are, where they might be, or anything like that.  What if Luz's mom is one of them?  And even if she isn't, what if she's still a threat to us in some other way?  Willow mentioned that when Luz faced Grometheus the Fear-Bringer, it ultimately took the form of her mother, which is what drove her to flee from it.  Why would her mom scare her so much if she's really just a kindly beast-healer?"

"We were hoping that Luz may have shared some information about her mom with you that she didn't share with the rest of us," Willow said to Amity.  "If you're really feeling better, then we need you to tell us everything you can."

Amity nodded.  "Okay.  I can assure you that there is absolutely no chance that Luz's mom is a witch hunter, or that she'll want to harm us immediately when we arrive on her doorstep."

"You're certain?" Hunter asked.

"Completely," Amity replied confidently.  "Willow, do you remember when Luz was close to building her own portal door, but she told us she hadn't used it yet and then it never came up again?"

"Yes," Willow said, furrowing her brow.  "And you came to me for advice because you thought she was lying."

"I was right," Amity said.  "She had gone through the portal.  Except it didn't take her to the human realm.  Instead it took her to some sort of in-between realm full of black cubes.  If she held one of the black cubes and said someone's name, she could appear in a reflection near them and talk to them that way.  She of course used it to see her mom, which is how she found out that someone had been impersonating her here."

Gus and Willow gasped.  Hunter said nothing.

"The impostor turned out to be a shape-shifting basilisk named Number Five, who called herself Vee.  She was a refugee from our world who just wanted to find a place where she could live safely without being experimented on."

Hunter winced, but nobody commented on it.

"She saw Luz come into our world, so she took the opportunity to go fill the spot she'd left behind.  She didn't mean any harm."

"Was Luz sure about that?" Gus asked tentatively.  "Basilisks are dangerous predators.  Remember the one who almost killed everyone in our school?"

Hunter put his hand on Gus's shoulder and shook his head.  "She was already in a world full of people that she could feed on and instead she chose to flee into a world full of people she couldn't.  That doesn't sound like harmful intent to me."

"Oh yeah," Gus realized.  "Good point."

"Vee needed to get more magic from somewhere in order to keep filling in for Luz," Amity continued.  "So Luz helped her find a place that had been collecting Hexas Hold'em cards from our world and giving them away.  But it turned out that the guy doing that was a witch hunter."

Gus and Willow gasped again.

"I'm not sure if that witch hunter was connected to Belos, though, because according to Luz he was an idiot who didn't actually know anything about witches or demons.  Anyway, he trapped Vee in a cage, so Luz used the cubes to see her mom again and tell her everything.  Her mom didn't believe it at first, but once she saw Vee's true form she caught on.  She beat up the witch hunter wannabe, left him locked in his own cage, and cleaned him out of the magic stuff he'd collected, which she gave to Vee so she could feed on them."

Hunter raised his eyebrows.  "She gave her magic supplies to a strange creature who'd been impersonating her only child?  Just like that?"

"Exactly," Amity said.  "And not only that, but she also promised to let her keep living in her home for the foreseeable future.  If she showed that much kindness to a basilisk who'd pulled the wool over her eyes for months, I'm sure she'll have some to spare for us, too.  At the very least, she'll look at our injuries and let us shelter under her roof for a couple of days."

"And if the portal hasn't reopened after a couple of days?" Hunter asked.

"Then even if she can't put us up in her house, she'll help us figure something out," Amity answered.

"We don't need to count solely on her charity," Willow put in.  "We have magic in a magicless world.  We can find ways to earn our keep.  As long as we can keep her goodwill."

Chapter Text

Just then, a thought seemed to strike Amity.  "Speaking of keeping her goodwill," she said.  "When we meet her, I need you guys not to let her know that Luz and I are together.  At least not right away."

"Huh?" Willow asked in confusion.  "Why not?"

"Because," Amity explained.  "Luz told me that some people in the Human Realm can be really weird about relationships between two girls or two boys."

"Wait, really?" Gus asked, intrigued despite himself.  "Weird how?"

"Weird like bullying them, harassing them, making it illegal for them to get married..." Amity answered.  "Some parents will even kick their children out of the house if they like someone who's the same gender as them."

"What?!" Willow gasped.  "That's horrible!"

Amity nodded seriously.  "Right, which is why I want to be careful.  We can't afford to make Dr. Noceda mad at us, especially if we really are stuck here."

"Do you think she's one of the humans who thinks like that?" Hunter asked.

"That's just it," Amity replied.  "I don't know.  Luz said that she doesn't even know what her mother thinks about that, because she hasn't worked up the courage to ask yet.  I'll try and drop hints to see if I can figure it out, but until we know for sure, better safe than sorry."

Willow nodded.  "Alright.  So we won't mention your relationship.  We'll just tell her that we're all friends of Luz."

"Will she believe us?" Hunter worried.  "What if she thinks we're enemy spies?"

Gus shook his head.  "I don't think she'd have any reason to doubt us.  Enemy spies aren't a normal part of most peoples' lives."

"Even if she does, I have proof," Amity said proudly.  She reached into her sleeve and pulled out a photograph which she showed to the others.  The photo featured Amity, Luz, Willow, and Gus smiling happily in formal dress.  Willow and Gus recognized it as the photo they'd taken together on Grom night.

"Why do you just have that on you?" Gus asked.

Amity shrugged.  "I always keep a copy of this photo with me.  That way, any time I feel lonely or scared or hopeless, I can look at it and remind myself that things are better now.  Or at least, they were."  She tucked the photo back in its place and looked down soberly.

"And I'm sure they will be again," Willow said quickly.  "Anyway, now that we've all agreed that our best bet is to get help from Luz's mom, that just leaves the business of finding her.  She can't be too far away.  If I remember Luz's story of how she came to our world right, she found the portal by following Owlbert on foot from her house after he stole her book.  So her house has to be within running distance of the portal."

"But that was the old portal," Gus pointed out.  "We came through the new one made by Belos.  What if it opened up in a different place?"

"It didn't," Hunter said, shaking his head, just in time to save Willow from a mini-heart attack.  "I overheard Belos talking about how convenient it was that the portal always opened up to the same spot in the Human Realm, even after he had to rebuild it from scratch.  I know he lied about a lot, but I can't think of a reason he'd have had to lie about that."

"Hunter, can you find the spot where the portal was again if need be?" Willow asked.

Hunter nodded without hesitation.  "Easily."

"Good," Willow said.  "That gives us an idea of where to search."

"I still think it's most likely that her house is part of a human town connected to the path we took here," Hunter said.  "But we've walked further from the portal than I think Luz could run in a short burst.  She's a pretty good runner, don't get me wrong, but it would take extreme circumstances for her to chase a flying palisman this far, and I don't think trying to retrieve a stolen book would cut it.  Even for her.  And we haven't hit a town yet."

"So what does that mean?" Willow asked.

"It means we probably came the wrong way," Hunter answered.  "It's not too surprising, considering we were basically guessing at random.  I suggest that we follow the path back the way we came, and hope we hit a town in that direction."

"I don't like how much guesswork is involved in this plan," Amity complained.  "We could be wandering around blindly all night."

"Until we find somebody who can give us directions, this is the best we've got," Hunter said.  "What alternative do we have?"

Amity opened her mouth to answer that, but Gus beat her to it.  "Hey!  We could ask the guy at the desk for directions.  Maybe he knows where- Amity, what's Luz's mom's name again?"

"Doctor Camila Noceda," Amity said, pronouncing each syllable clearly.

"Doctor Camila Noceda," Gus repeated.  "Maybe he knows where we can find her."

"Good idea, Gus," Willow commended.  "You go ask him."  Gus nodded and ducked out of the bathroom to do that.

Once the door closed again, Amity turned back to Hunter.  "I'll tell you what alternative we have," she said.  "We go straight back to the portal.  Luz has probably opened it back up by now.  Once we're reunited with her, she can lead us straight to her house.  Or we can go back through it to the Demon Realm and wait to meet her mom another time."

Willow and Hunter shared a meaningful look.  "Amity..." Willow began.

Amity narrowed her eyes.  "Don't say it," she said warningly.

Willow held up her hands placatingly.  "I'm not saying Luz is... hurt, or anything like that," she told her friend carefully.  "And I'm not saying she can't reopen the portal.  But I really don't think she'll be able to do it tonight."

Hunter nodded.  "Uh, yeah.  What she said."

Amity eyed them both sternly, then sighed.  "Fine.  We'll stick to your plan.  But tomorrow we check the portal, whether we've found Dr. Noceda by then or not.  I need to see Luz as soon as possible, so I can smack some sense into her to make sure she never pulls another stunt like this."

Willow nodded.  "I promise we'll check the portal tomorrow," she agreed soothingly.  "And when we see Luz again I'll be right behind you, telling her the same thing."  Then she smirked.  "Unless your version of smacking sense into her gets gross.  Then I'll leave you to it."

Amity couldn't help but laugh a bit at that, blushing brightly.  "C'mon, Willow, we just had our first kiss yesterday."

"Oh, is that why you were both glowing so brightly when Luz brought you down from your bedroom window to join our revolution?" Willow teased.  "Don't forget, Amity, I've read all the same romance novels you have.  I have some pretty good guesses of what your intentions with my best friend might be."

Just then the bathroom door opened once again, and Gus rejoined the group.  Amity and Willow agreed silently that the "dirty jokes" portion of the evening had come to an end.

"The guy at the desk doesn't know anyone called Doctor Camila Noceda," Gus informed them.

Willow nodded at him.  "Thanks for checking, Gus.  Okay, so now we look for a town.  Once we find one, we'll try and find a human who can give us directions.  Hopefully someone who lives in the same town as Luz's mom will know where the local beast-healer lives."

"What if they get suspicious about us asking?" Hunter put in.  "Why would four teens without pets urgently need to find a beast-healer in the middle of the night?  We don't want to give anyone we meet a reason to contact the authorities."

Amity snapped her fingers.  "I know just how we can get around that."  She summoned Ghost and coaxed her out of staff-form into cat-form.  "Behold, a pet," she said, holding her palisman up.  "Ghost, can you pretend to be ill?"  Ghost curled in on herself and meowed pitifully.

"I don't know if humans have chameleons, giant bees, or little red birds as pets," Amity said.  "But I know for a fact that they have cats.  Luz certainly talks about them enough.  Good job, Ghost," she said to the little white cat palisman.  "Just do that again if I summon you later, okay?"  She dismissed her.

Hunter nodded approvingly.  "Excellent.  That should do nicely."

"If we're going to go back out into the rain for another long hike," Gus piped up.  "I think we should maybe have something to eat first.  Do we try swiping something from the shelves out there?"

"No," Hunter and Willow said as one.

"It's way too risky," Hunter asserted.  "We have no idea what kind of security humans have.  The last thing we need right now is to get in trouble with the human law."

"Once we're outside, I'll grow us some nutritious fruits and vegetables," Willow said.  "They'll help us keep our strength up.  You can try human snacks another time, Gus.  I bet Luz's mom'll be willing to give you some."

Gus nodded understandingly, and then the four friends simply looked at each other.

"Anything else we need to think about before getting back on the path?" Willow asked.  Nobody said anything.  "Okay, it looks like we've got ourselves a plan.  Let's go, team.  We still have a long night ahead of us."

They filed out of the gas station and back into the rainy night.

Chapter Text

Once the group had passed out of sight of the gas station, they stopped to eat.  Willow grew some nutritious fruits and vegetables and passed them around.

"I'm not hungry," Amity objected when Willow offered her some.  Willow pressed the food into her hands anyway.  "If Luz was here, she'd want you to keep your strength up," she said firmly.  Amity wiped a bit of rainwater from her eyes and nodded, eating her food with no further complaints.

They ate quickly, disposed of the evidence, and then soldiered on.

---------------------------------------------

They walked.  And they walked.  And they walked.  And they walked.

And the rain kept coming down.

More karrs whizzed by, all sticking to the path while the kids followed it from a safe distance.

And they walked.  And they walked.  And they walked.  And they walked.

And the rain kept coming down.

At least the loud booming noise had stopped.

And they walked.  And they walked.  And they walked.  And they walked.

And the rain kept coming down.

Gus, who had always been built for speed more than stamina, was clearly running on empty at this point.  In other circumstances Willow would have suggested taking a break every so often, but right now they really couldn't afford to stop moving.  They needed to get to a place that would offer some semblance of safety before Amity and Willow gave out too, or else they might very well be dead.  They needed to find Luz's mom.

Gus still refused to accept Willow's offer of a piggyback ride, so instead she just kept a solid grip on his hand, pulling him along so he wouldn't lose his momentum and start lagging behind, and helping him up whenever he lost his footing.

And they walked.  And they walked.  And they walked.  And they walked.

And the rain kept coming down.

Willow's head was starting to pound.  She tried her best to ignore it.

And they walked.  And they walked.  And they walked.  And they walked.

And the rain kept coming down.

Hunter pointed out when they finally passed the place where they'd first come upon the path, though Willow didn't know how he could tell when there weren't any obvious distinctive landmarks around to mark the spot.

And they walked.  And they walked.  And they walked.  And they walked.

And the rain kept coming down.

----------------------------------------------

Eventually the cold water droplets pouring down on them seemed to slow down a bit.  Thank the Titan for small favors.  And it wasn't too much later than that when Hunter once again said the magic words:  "I think I see something up ahead."

As they got closer to the something and it came more into view, they began to see what it was -- a karr, much smaller than the first one they'd seen hours earlier, sitting motionless in the muddy ditch beside the path.  It differed noticeably from every other karr they'd seen tonight in that it wasn't emitting any light, which ironically made it easier to see clearly.

Then they got nearer still, and saw that there was a human leaning against the karr.  Willow's heartbeat sped up.  Maybe this person can help us find Luz's mom, she hoped.

They could pinpoint the exact moment when the human saw them, because he startled, hurriedly opened one of the karr's doors, reached in, pulled out a strange-looking object, and held it out towards them.  "Who's there?!" he barked.

Hunter, apparently suspecting danger from this individual, jumped to stand in front of the rest of the group, so Willow leaned to peer at the man over his shoulder.  "Hi," she said, waving awkwardly.  "We're just a perfectly normal group of travelers.  Could you maybe give us some directions?"

The man squinted at them suspiciously.  "What are you doing out in a rainstorm at this time of night?  You don't even have jackets."

"We're, um, we're traveling," Willow said.  "We've, well, we've been walking for kind of a long time.  It wasn't raining when we started out, so we figured we wouldn't need jackets."

Then Hunter spoke up.  "What about you?  What are you doing out?  And why do you have a weapon?"

The human was a bit taken aback by this, glancing down at the object in his hands and then back at the kids.  "Uh, I'm also traveling," he said.  "Or at least, I was until my car got stuck.  This gun is for self-defense, just in case.  You never know what kind of dangerous people you might meet on the road.  I have a permit for it," he added, somewhat unconvincingly.

Then his eyes narrowed again.  "Wait a minute, you're all just kids.  Where exactly are you traveling from?"

Shoot.  "We're from, um..." Willow trailed off as she racked her brain for any specific places in the Human Realm she'd heard Luz mention.  "...Australia."

"You're from Australia," the stranger repeated flatly.

"Yes," Willow confirmed.

"And you walked here," he pressed.

Crap.  Is Australia on the other side of the island or something?  Willow glanced over at Hunter, but he looked just as unsure as she felt.  "Yyyyes," she said hopefully.

"Okay, sure," the stranger said, and Willow sagged with relief.  "So what made you decide to travel here?"

Amity then stepped forward, holding a writhing Ghost in her arms.  "My cat is sick," she said.  "We need to get an animal doctor to help her.  So we're looking for Doctor Camila Noceda."

"So you walked all the way from Australia to Connecticut to find a specific veterinarian to tend to your sick cat," the human checked.

Amity nodded.  "Yes.  It's very urgent, which is why we're traveling through the night."

"Right, obviously.  And why do you want to see Doctor Noceda specifically?"

Willow took over again.  "She-she's the only v-veterrarian we know.  We're friends with her daughter, Luz."

The man now looked even more suspicious.  "And what's Luz like?"

Hunter jumped in.  "She's a weird kid, fourteen years old, about yea high, really skinny, short hair, loves animals, always jumps into things without thinking."

"Gorgeous brown eyes, wears a white-and-blue top with cat ears on the hood, constantly getting herself hurt," Amity added.

The stranger seemed to find that answer satisfactory, because he finally lowered his gunn.  "That's Luz alright."

"You know Luz?!" Amity, Willow, and Hunter all exclaimed in unison.

"Eh, kinda.  I live down the street from her and her mom.  Or, I used to.  You actually caught me in the process of moving away."

"Why are you moving away?" Willow asked.

"None of your business."

Okay, fair enough.  "So can you give us directions to Doctor Noceda's house?"

The human raised an eyebrow.  "You mean to the clinic where she works?"

"Um, no, we need to get to her house," Willow said.  "Like we said, it's urgent."

"And you couldn't get the address from Luz, even though you're such good friends with her?"

"There was a breakdown of communication," Hunter explained vaguely.

"And you couldn't look it up on your phones either?"

"We don't have any fohns," Amity said.

"So there's four of you, you all look to be in your teens, and you managed to befriend Luz from Australia, but none of you have phones or computers.  Did I get that right?"

Amity nodded.  "That's correct."

Willow shared a nervous look with Hunter.  I don't think he's buying it.

The man looked to be considering his next words carefully, but Hunter jumped ahead of him.  "Hey, you said you had a permit for your gunn, right?  Can we see it?  The permit?"

"Uh, no," he replied.  "I don't have it on me right now."

"So you left it behind in the place you're moving away from?" Hunter commented.  "That's a shame.  Say, if the authorities happened upon us right now, do you think they'd be understanding about your being in possession of a legally-restricted weapon but unable to present any documents proving that you're allowed to have it?"  He subtly took a fighting stance.

There was an awkward, lengthy silence.

"Tell you what," the stranger said.  "Let's keep this between us.  You didn't see me, and I didn't see you.  Deal?"

Willow nodded quickly.  "Deal.  But we still need directions."

"Help me get my car back onto the road, and I'll give you Doctor Noceda's address," the human offered.  "Alright?  Sound fair?"

Willow looked over at Hunter, then Amity.  Both nodded at her.  Finally, she looked back at Gus.  He could barely stand on his own at this point, but he gave her a shaky thumbs up.  "Agreed."

They all got behind the karr to push it up the muddy hill, but none of them were exactly in tip-top physical condition at the moment, so it was slow going.  After a few minutes of fruitless struggling, Amity sighed and summoned a fairly large abomination.

"Remember, you didn't see us," she said sternly to the stranger, who was gaping at the abomination in open-mouthed shock.  She pointed at the abomination.  "That includes not seeing this.  Got it?"

He nodded, clearly a bit afraid of her now.  "I never saw any goop monster.  Got it."

With the abomination's help, it was the work of less than two minutes to get the karr back on the path where it belonged.  As soon as they were done, Amity dismissed her "goop monster."

"Thanks kids," the man said.  "Now, do you at least know what town you're looking for?"

They all shook their heads.  "We know it has to be within walking distance of here," Hunter offered.

"You want the town of Gravesfield.  It's about a mile ahead.  Keep following this road.  One more mile shouldn't be too much for kids who have walked all the way from Australia.

"Once you hit Gravesfield, look at the street signs.  You want Kelly Road.  Dr. Noceda's house is number 346.  Each house should have the number visible out in front somewhere.  Can you remember that, or do I need to write it down?"

"I'll remember," Hunter stated confidently.

"Okay."  He turned to get back into his karr, then stopped and looked back at them.  "You should probably try to come up with a better cover story.  Just sayin'.  Good luck, kids!"  He got in his karr and drove away.  The lost witches resumed their walk.

Willow took a deep breath and let it out.  "That was super lucky."

"Yeah," Hunter agreed.  He took hold of Gus's other hand -- the one that wasn't holding Willow's -- to help him stay upright.  Willow was inadvertently reminded of going on walks as a little girl, when each of her dads would hold one of her hands and sometimes they'd work together to lift her off the ground and swing her back and forth as they walked-

She shook her head vigorously and shut that line of thought down.  Now was very much not the time to think about the past.  She needed to be firmly grounded in the here and now.  She had to get her friends to safety.

"Hunter?" she asked.  "How did you know the... the thing that guy had was a weapon?"

Hunter shrugged.  "His body language.  He was holding himself like a witch who knows a deadly spell and is ready to cast it the moment they're threatened.  But humans don't have magic.  I mean, other than Luz.  And-and Belos.  But normal humans don't have magic, so I figured the only way he could've had that specific kind of confidence is if he was holding a weapon -- probably one capable of delivering a fatal blow in two seconds or less."

Willow shuddered.  "I'm glad I didn't know that while we were still talking to him.  It would've been much harder to project strength and confidence."

"You did great at that, by the way," Hunter muttered.

Willow couldn't quite keep the rosiness out of her cheeks at hearing that.  "Oh no you don't," she teased.  "No shifting the responsibility on this one.  That was all you.  You're the one who made it possible for us to make that deal.  He had us over a barrel until your bluff about summoning the authorities."

"Well, uh-" Hunter began.

And that's when Gus passed out.

"GUS!!" Willow and Hunter cried together, when their friend went limp in their grips.

Hunter took charge.  "Okay, Captain, you take his legs while I carry his upper body.  Amity, get over here!  Can you make us a flat surface to lay him down on?"

"Uh, y-yeah," Amity stuttered, hurrying closer to where the others were standing.  She re-summoned her abomination goop and made it form a foot-high table above the soggy earth.

"Perfect," Hunter said, laying Gus down on the table.  Willow was about to do the same with her end, but Hunter held up a hand to stop her.  "Wait, Captain," he said.  "Can you keep his legs elevated?  They should be a bit higher than his head.  It'll help with the blood flow to his brain."

"Of, of course," Willow said, doing as directed.  "Hunter, what's wrong with him?"

"Alright, Amity, keep the rain off his face," Hunter ordered.  Then, in reply to Willow:  "He dropped from sheer exhaustion.  I've seen it happen to scouts under my command so many times.  Okay, he's still breathing normally, that's good."

"He- he didn't sleep last night," Willow remembered.  "None of us slept on the airship except King."

"He barely slept the night before that," Hunter said.  "I stayed over at his house, and he woke us both up twice with nightmares about stuff he'd seen in Adrian Graye's memories."

"So this was his third straight day of action with hardly any rest," Willow realized.  "And it's got to be past his usual bedtime by now... oh, Gus, no wonder he collapsed!"

"H-his illusion wore off," Amity noticed, as she hovered a little umbrella of abomination goop above Gus's head and shoulders.  "We all have pointy ears again."

"He's used so much magic in the past few days, I bet his bile sac is completely drained," Hunter said grimly.  "We'd better find Luz's house without anyone else seeing us."  He patted Gus's cheek gently.  "Gus?  Gus, wake up!  Can you hear me?"

Gus moaned, and Willow's breath caught in her throat.  "'m tired," he murmured.

"Yeah," Hunter said.  "Yeah, I bet you are, bud.  That might have been the longest you've ever maintained one illusion.  But you did it, Gus.  Thanks to you, we're almost to safety.  You're a champion.  Just stay awake a few minutes, okay?"  He turned to Willow.  "Captain, can you make him some more hydratias?  Feed them to him slowly.  You can put his legs down."

"Yeah," Willow said shakily, letting her friend's legs lie flat on the table with the rest of him.  "I got you, Gus."

They fed Gus hydratia berries -- and each of the other three had some too, because it's easier to prevent dehydration than to deal with it -- until he coughed and said "'nuff.  Wanna sleep."

"That's fine, Gus," Hunter said.  "You can sleep.  I'll carry you the rest of the way."

"No.  I will," Willow asserted.  Now that she was confident that her best friend wasn't about to die, she was ready to take charge again.  "We need you to navigate.  Find- what's the address again?"

"346 Kelly Road," Hunter answered.

"Right, lead us there.  I'll carry Gus."  She reached down to pick up her sleepy friend and hefted him over her shoulder.  He's always lighter than I expect.

"I can make the abomination do it," Amity offered, swirling her abomination goop into the air.

"Thank you, but no," Willow refused her.  "I don't want any more humans to see that we have magic.  We've taken enough risks as it is.  Hunter, lead the way."

Hunter nodded.  "Yes, Captain."  He turned, and they continued to follow the path.

Willow was determined.  No more risky encounters with humans.  No more stops that would delay their progress.

They were so close.  And failure wasn't an option.

They were going to find Luz's mom.

--------------------------------------------

As they were trekking through a neighborhood full of residential buildings in disturbingly neat rows, everything dead quiet, the paths all empty of karrs (or at least of moving ones), the rain having at last ceased, Hunter stopped, and suddenly broke into a fit of hysterical laughter.

"What is it?" Willow asked, worried.  "Hunter, what is it?!"

Hunter pointed towards a section of woods beyond the row of houses on their left, still laughing.  "See that?" he managed to gasp out.  "That's the forest we were in when we first stepped out of the portal."

"What?!" she and Amity cried incredulously.

Hunter nodded.  "N-nine, ha ha...  Nine hours of walking... and we could've, heh, we could've probably reached our destination in twenty minutes if we'd just gone toward the lights instead of away from them."  He shook his head.  "I'm such a fucking idiot."

"No you're not," Willow scolded, while Amity stayed meaningfully silent.  "You made the best guess you could with the information you had.  You couldn't have known that the lights were a town.  C'mon, just find the house we're looking for so we can finally rest."

Hunter nodded again and resumed walking.  "It'll be one of these," he said, gesturing towards the row of houses on the left.  "All the ones on the left are even-numbered, and all the ones on the right are odd-numbered."

Amity wrinkled her nose.  "That's weird."

Willow shrugged.  "Humans.  What're ya gonna do?"

They passed house after house, with Hunter counting the numbers, until at last he announced, "This is the one."

They walked up to the front door, and Willow gave a loud, solid knock -- it didn't seem like anyone was awake in this house, since all of the lights were off, and there wasn't a doorbell, so she'd have to hope someone awoke to the noise.

They waited there for several minutes, with Willow knocking again every so often, until finally a light came on and they began to hear noises from inside.

Hunter and Willow shifted the still-mostly-unconscious Gus into a position where each of them got under one of his arms to help support him, while Amity put on the friendliest face she could muster.

And then the door opened.

Chapter Text

Camila wasn't sure who or what she'd expected to see when she opened her door at three in the morning, but this... wasn't it.

Four weary-looking, dripping-wet adolescent children stood on her doorstep.  All of them had pointy ears.

Having just crawled out of bed, it took a few seconds for Camila to process the situation.  Before she could think to offer a "Hello," one of the children -- a thin, pale-skinned girl with light purple hair -- spoke up.  "Hola, Doctora Noceda," she said, in barely-passable Spanish.  "We're friends of Luz.  We, um, we need your help.  May we come in?"

Camila wordlessly stepped aside to allow them entry.

As they walked past her into the house, Camila suddenly registered that all four kids were covered in cuts and bruises -- and that one of them, a dark-skinned boy slightly smaller than the rest, was seemingly unconscious and being carried by two of the others.  Her mind snapped awake at once.  "You're hurt!" she gasped.

"Gus first," one of them (a girl with black hair and glasses) insisted, indicating the smaller boy.

"Lay him down on the couch!" Camila instructed, as she rushed to retrieve the first aid kit.  "I'll be right back!"

A voice in the back of Camila's mind noted that Luz's friends from the Demon Realm showing up at her house without her, all visibly injured, was likely a sign that something bad had happened.

She shook the thought off before it could take root.  Immediate crisis first.  These children need my help.  That's the priority right now.  Everything else can wait.

She returned to the living room to find the dark-skinned boy lying on the couch while the other three stood awkwardly around him.

"What happened?" she asked them.

The purple-haired girl gave a nervous laugh.  "That's a great question!  Because it's, well, it's really a lot.  A lot happened."

"I mean what happened to him," Camila clarified, gesturing to the boy.  "I want to look at your injuries before we talk about anything else."

"He collapsed from exhaustion," the other boy, a taller one with blonde hair, reported.  "About an hour ago."

Camila's breath caught in her throat.  "Has- has he been unconscious that whole time?!"

The blonde boy shook his head, and Camila sighed in relief.  "No, ma'am.  He regained consciousness after a little over thirty seconds.  We laid him down on a flat surface, elevated his legs, and checked that his breathing and heart rate were normal.  Then we made sure he was hydrated and let him sleep while we carried him the rest of the way here."

"Bueno.  That's good.  You did well.  That was the right thing."  Camila cleaned the cuts on the boy's face and upper right arm, then noticed some sort of purple goop covering his elbow.  "What's this?"

"Oh," the purple-haired girl said.  "I put that there as a makeshift bandage, after he hit his elbow on a sharp tree branch."  She drew a little circle in the air with her finger, and the goop came off, flew through the air towards her, and then disappeared into thin air.

Camila blinked in surprise, then looked at the boy's elbow again.  Where the goop had been, there was now torn sleeve, dried blood, and a lot of splinters.

Camila got a pair of tweezers out of the first aid kit and began carefully pulling out the splinters.  The boy didn't stir.  "You kids are from the Demon Realm, I take it?"

The kids all nodded.

"You're witches, then?"

More nodding.

"What are your names?"

"I am Amity Blight," the purple-haired girl said formally.

The girl with glasses spoke next.  "My name is Willow Park.  That's Gus Porter."  She indicated the younger boy.

Last was the taller boy, who simply said "I'm Hunter."  He didn't offer his surname.

Amity, Willow, Gus, Hunter.  "It's nice to meet you all," Camila told them earnestly, and it was.  Despite the circumstances, she was glad that Luz had finally met some kids her age who would call her a friend.  "You can call me Camila.  Any friend of Luz is welcome in my home."

She finished removing the last splinter from Gus's elbow, then cleaned the wound and rebandaged it.  Somehow, he'd slept through the whole process.  Then she eyed the bump she'd noticed on the boy's head, frowning.  "How did he get this?" she asked.  "Another tree branch?"

"No, ma'am," Hunter answered.  "He hit his head when we were in an airship crash this morning -- well, probably yesterday morning, from your perspective."

Camila really did not like the sound of that.  "Airship crash?!?  Did you check to see if he had a concussion?"

"There wasn't time, with everything going on," Hunter admitted.  "But he didn't have one.  He-"

"How can you be sure?" Camila interrupted, concerned.

"Because," Hunter explained patiently.  "Since that crash I've seen him perform delicate and highly advanced magic that requires a lot of mental focus.  Witches who attempt spells that complex while suffering from the effects of a concussion always make mistakes, usually extremely dangerous ones.  But Gus did everything we needed him to do, and he did it all perfectly."

Camila relaxed a bit.  Only a little bit.  "I see.  That's good.  You seem to know a lot about first aid for someone your age."

"Thank you, ma'am," Hunter nodded.  He didn't elaborate any further on why and how he'd accumulated said knowledge.

Camila coughed into her elbow awkwardly, then remembered that the children were all still wet.  "Oh!  Towels!"  She got up and hurried to the bathroom to fetch four clean bath towels to distribute among her guests.

"We're sorry we got water on your couch, Camila," Amity apologized, as she started to dry herself off.

Camila shook her head.  "Don't worry about it, niña," she insisted.  "It's only a couch.  Now, whose injuries should I look at next?"

There was a quarter-second pause before Willow answered "Amity next."

Amity removed more of the strange purple goop that had been on Gus's elbow from her own left hand before shyly offering it to Camila for inspection.

There was really only one way for a person to get bruises and torn skin like this on their knuckles.  "What did you punch?" Camila asked.

Amity ducked her head, flushing in embarrassment.  "A tree.  I was, um, very upset.  About something."  Camila observed that her voice was hoarse, as if she'd done a lot of screaming recently.

Amity's battered hand turned out to be the least worrying injury of the lot.  There were many reasons a girl her age might be upset enough to punch a tree.  However, the scratches on everyone's faces and limbs looked oddly like claw marks (though Camila couldn't possibly hazard a guess as to what creature the claws might have belonged to; the marks varied wildly in width, depth, and shape), and there were only so many explanations for that.  And then there were the slash marks in the front of Hunter's shirt and Amity's tunic...

Camila was just finishing up with Willow when she heard footsteps on the stairs.  Everyone turned to look as Vee entered the room, still in her Luz disguise.  "Mamá?" she asked, rubbing her eyes sleepily.  "What's going on?"

Before Camila could even start to think about how to tell Vee about their guests, Amity gasped, her eyes shining.  "Luz!  Oh muya eeschiya I knew you were okay!"  She leapt to her feet and rushed across the room towards Vee, then stopped just short of actually hugging or touching her when she registered Vee's startled and bewildered expression.  "Wait," Amity said, taking a step back.  Her face was rapidly turning red in embarrassment.  "No.  You must be Vee."

"Um, yeah," Vee replied awkwardly.  She still looked rather like a deer in the headlights.

"Luz told me about you," Amity mentioned, blinking back tears.  Her voice sounded a bit strained.  "Sorry about that."

"It, uh..." Vee coughed.  "It's fine."

"Your disguise is... excellent."

"...thanks..."

"Vee," Camila interjected.  "These are Luz's friends from the Demon Realm.  They've been through some sort of ordeal, and they need our help.  Can you get them some water please?  And put the kettle on?"

Vee nodded, looking relieved to have an excuse to leave the room.  "I'm on it."  She turned and left for the kitchen.

"Now," Camila addressed the young witches gently, as she took a seat in her armchair.  "Can you tell me what happened?"

Willow, who had been fairly composed up until now, broke very suddenly into violent sobbing.  Amity was at her side in an instant, her embarrassment forgotten.  "I've got you, I've got you," she said softly, embracing her.  Her eyes were also brimming with tears, but she seemed to still have them somewhat under control.

Hunter cleared his throat, catching Camila's attention.  "Has Vee told you about Emperor Belos?"

Emperor Belos.  The evil overlord of the Boiling Isles.  At least, that's what Camila had gathered from the horror stories Vee had shared about her past.  Good rulers didn't conduct unethical experiments on innocent creatures, especially not sapient ones.

"She's mentioned him," Camila answered.  "He sounds like a real piece of work."

Hunter nodded fervently.  "We discovered recently that he was plotting to kill everyone in the Boiling Isles."  What.  "So we, and Luz, and some others, undertook a mission to stop him.  It, well, it didn't go entirely according to plan."

Camila held up a hand.  "Hold on.  He was plotting to kill everyone?  Everyone everyone?"  She prayed internally that he was exaggerating.

Hunter hesitated.  "Well, there would've been some survivors.  Many demons.  Most children.  A handful of wild witches who've still managed to evade his grasp.  And of course there were limits to the scope of his influence, so people in other parts of the Demon Realm would've been largely unaffected.  But his Draining Spell would've killed everyone with a Coven sigil-" he showed her what looked like a tattoo on the inside of his right wrist.  "-which all adult witches and bipedal demons in the Boiling Isles are legally required to have."

Dios mio.  "But you stopped him?" she asked hopefully.

Hunter grimaced.  "Not really us.  There was some kind of... god-kid called the Collector.  The Emperor had used and betrayed him as part of his plan.  Apparently the Owl Lady's pet demon, King, made some sort of deal to free him.  He killed Belos, and then Luz and the others managed to convince him to stop the Draining Spell before it killed everyone.  I was too busy being drained at the time to be of much help."

"...And then?" Camila asked anxiously.

"And then the ground we were standing on started breaking into pieces," Hunter answered.  "As the Collector started reshaping the world in order to play a made-up game called Owl House.  Fortunately, the Emperor's portal was nearby, so we escaped through it to the relative safety of the Human Realm.  We thought Luz was with us, but I guess it was another one of her tricks.  In actuality, she stayed behind -- most likely with the intent of protecting King and stopping the Collector herself."

Hunter took a deep and solemn breath.  "The portal closed behind us.  It was likely destroyed in the chaos, and is almost certainly out of fuel anyway.  We currently have no means of returning, or of contacting anyone in the Demon Realm.  As such, we have no way to know whether those left behind are alive or not."  He met Camila's eyes.  "Our deepest apologies, ma'am, for failing to bring Luz back to you safely."

He spoke with such sincerity, like he really truly believed that that had been his responsibility, as a teenager whom Camila had never met before.

"I-" Camila choked, as the world went blurry.  "I don't blame you kids.  I'm sure you did your best."

So there it was.  Her baby was still trapped in the Demon Realm.  And she'd last been seen trying to fight a godlike being by herself.

Camila put her head in her hands and let herself cry.