Chapter Text
The warm air of a fading spring blew through the sky. Flowers had bloomed, the showers had come, the trees were green once again. The days became longer and the sounds of children laughing and playing can be heard throughout the peaceful town of Gravesfield, Connecticut, now that school had gone out once again. However, not everyone was excited about the change of seasons. Luz Noceda, a quirky 14 year old Afro-Dominican girl with golden brown skin, gorgeous big brown eyes and curly dark brown hair wearing a pair of black athletic shorts, and a shirt covered in crudely photoshopped images of kittens. She had just exited Gravesfield Middle School, sadly clutching a brochure as she walked down the sidewalk.
“Erm yes it’s a custom made Warlock figurine, I painted it myself!”
Luz’s ear twitched as she heard the nearby conversation, looking over at the bench to see two members of what she assumed to be the DnD club. The boy with round glasses proudly held up a small delicately made figure of a wizard.
“Yes, clearly you put a lot of effort into it, it’ll be perfect for our game tonight!” he said as he adjusted his square glasses to get a better look at it.
Luz, having realized that these classmates possibly shared a common interest of hers, immediately jumped into their discussion without a second thought.
“You guys like magic too?!” Luz interjected, causing both boys to look at her as if she grew a second head.
“I got my Good Witch Azura figure on me!” she said as she excitedly pulled out her figure from her backpack.
“Maybe I could join you guys for your game? I don’t know much about DnD, but I am a fantasy enthusiast. I’m sure I could learn!”.
Both boys stared at her in confusion before a look of disgust took over their faces.
“Uh… sorry, we have enough players” the first boy mumbled as he quickly put his figure in his bag.
“Yeah, we’re good, sorry” the second boy added, standing up with his friend following suit. They gave her quick glances as they scurried away, leaving Luz alone once again. She sighed sadly as she put Azura back in her pack and continued her walk to the parking lot, defeated once again.
“Hey Luzer!” shouted a voice coming from a picnic table. It was Laura, the head cheerleader. She was a blond haired latina with brown skin and a streak of pink hair. She and her friends had just concluded their end of the school year party when they went out to wait for their ride. “I heard they eat up freaks like you in high school! See you next year!” Laura taunted with a smug tone in her voice. Her friends giggled along with her. All Luz could do was clutch her brochure and try to look unbothered. Luz just walked faster, desperately trying to not hear her words.
The blacktop was hot and the lot was almost empty, a few cars were scattered here and there. Luz spotted where she needed to be, a beat up old red sedan, a dent in the right door and its windows tinted dark, rock music could be heard blaring from its modified speakers and there, sitting on the car’s hood was Lucia Noceda. Lucia was Luz’s 20 year old sister, a college dropout wearing a striped t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Her long black hair was cut in a messy side shaved hairstyle with Micro Braids. Her red beanie on top gave her a distinct look that one could easily not forget. Seeing Luz, Lucia jumped off the hood.
“Well well well, if it isn't a little miss “I got detention on the last day of school…”” Lucia laughed, ruffling Luz’s hair.
Luz looked up at Lucia solemnly. “Hey Lucy…”.
The sight of her sister's sadness made Lucia’s smirk soften a little, “Come on kid, don’t beat yourself up about it… let’s stop for Ice Cream, okay?'' Lucia said as she moved to the driver’s side door before opening it. Luz knew she couldn’t get ice-cream, she was lactose intolerant after all, but she loved dairy products and would get them anyways despite how they made her stomach feel later.
“I think you could use it before we have to confront mami about it.”
Luz smiled a little and got into the passenger’s side.
The car ride was silent, Lucia had turned down the volume of her music and was humming to the now soft song on the radio while Luz stared out the open window as they passed by houses and trees.
Luz’s phone vibrated and a text showed.
Lucia turned the music down even further.
“Is that Mami?”
Luz read the text sent to her. “No it’s Tamera”.
“Tamera? Why’s she texting you?” Lucia looked at Luz, confusion in her eyes.
“Well according to your friend, you won’t respond to her texts. She’s texting me because her and your other friends got invited to Siarra’s lake house and you aren’t replying to any of their messages. .”
Lucia paused and stared out the window.
“Are you not going with them? This isn’t the first time you’ve ignored them and they had to reach out through me.”
No response from Lucia once again. Luz sighed in defeat.
“So are you feeling Icequeen or Frulver’s for ice cream?” Lucia asked, trying to lighten the mood a little.
“I’d like Frulver’s please” she spoke softly, looking down at the brochure she had clutched in her hands.
Lucia took notice of the unfamiliar pamphlet. “What’s that?” she said with a glance before looking back at the road.
“It-it’s a brochure for the Reality Check Summer Camp… my principal wants mami to send me there…” Luz clutched it tightly before throwing it at the dashboard and crossing her arms.
“Reality Check Camp?” Lucia chuckled at the concept “Are you sure that’s not some kind of secret conversion camp or something?” She stopped at a red light, and grabbed the brochure off the dashboard, inspecting the cover before opening it up and reading a little bit through. Her hazel eyes roamed through a few paragraphs before the stoplight turned green. She tossed the brochure on the dashboard and began driving, “What a bunch of bullshit, they think they can send a sweet girl like you there? Pah!”
Lucia made a turn into the Frulver’s parking lot and got in the drive through line. She glared and clutched the steering wheel, her fingers dug into the leather. “It’s completely ridiculous! Are you kidding me? A reality check camp… out of all the awful things they could do to someone and they think they can just- just…”
Luz tensed up at Lucia’s anger, but her sister noticed and took a deep breath to calm herself down.
“Now what do you want?”
Luz calmed down a little.
“I’d like a large cookie dough bowl with chocolate syrup, sprinkles, caramel syrup, mini m&ms, chocolate chips, gummy worms, crushed cookies and…”
Luz then saw the incredulous look Lucia was giving her.
“J-just the caramel syrup then”.
The two sat in silence for a while as they slowly made their way through the line, the only words spoken up til they got to the first window was Lucia putting in Luz’s order.
“That’ll be $14.12” the employee at the window spoke in a chipper tone.
“Shit” Lucia mumbled digging into her wallet pulling out a few crumpled up dollars “Ah crap, Luz do you have a dollar I can borrow?” She sat the money down on the dashboard.
“I think I have a few quarters” Luz went and searched through her own wallet pulling out a few meager quarters handing them to her. Once they paid and got their ice cream Lucia pulled out of the parking lot while Luz dug into her after-school treat.
“I forgot how expensive fast-food is nowadays, 14 dollars for a single big bowl, they might as well take my arms and legs!” Her sister complained, but Luz didn’t pay any attention. Lucia just rambled about getting scammed.
Luz didn’t speak, she just kept eating her forbidden fruit even though she knew it was going to make her stomach hurt later. As they drove they passed a small forest.
“... you’d think fast food places would understand-”.
Just then, a woman ran into the street. But the two in the car couldn’t take in much of her appearance as Lucia almost ran right into her. She had dark skin, poofy gray and white hair held down by a hair scarf that covered her ears and shiny gold eyes. There was a jagged yellow tooth in her crooked mouth, a little orange charm on the front of her tattered red dress and a bag over her shoulder. The girls yelped in surprise as Lucia slammed on the breaks, inches away from hitting her.
“HEY!” She yelled, seemingly unaware that she was at fault, “Watch where you’re driving that thing!”
She kicked the front of the car before running away into the woods. “You maniac!!!” Lucia shouted out of the car window “Dammit Marilyn I’d outta”, she was seeing nothing but red as she opened the car door and grabbed a red bat from the side of a seat. She felt a hand on her shoulder.
“Lucy don’t, please” Her gorgeous big brown eyes were pleading with her to stop.
“Come on Luz…” she sighs “Oh you know I can’t deny you when you give me that look”. The older girl calmed down and shut the door and continued their drive home.
“You know that old woman?” The smaller girl had never seen the lady before but was curious why Lucia knew her by name.
“Yeah, Marilyn, she’s the old woman that made me lose my job.” Her voice was laced with annoyance.
“That’s the old woman?” Her big brown eyes widened in curiosity.
“Si” Lucia made a turn into their neighborhood.
“Why didn’t you tell us that! It took you three weeks to tell us you got fired and you’re now telling us the actual name of the woman!” But her words were only met with silences with only the sound of the car driving on the road as the answer.
“Come on Lucia, just talk to me, you don’t talk to either me or mami anymore” Still no response from and she just sighed and looked out the window.
The Noceda household was frozen in time, home improvement projects long since abandoned, a hallway had half of the wallpaper removed with the older faded paper still on the same wall, moving boxes still littered the basement. Luz sighed sadly once again kicking off her shoes onto the foyer floor and Lucia followed suit. The smell of frying plantain fruit emanated through the house. It was obvious Camila was making Mofongo.
Lucia turned to Luz, “Get to your room, I’ll distract mami” she whispers motioning to the stairs, The smaller girl nodded and began to tip toe up the stairs as Lucia walked into the kitchen, “Hola mamá, ¿cómo están?” louder than necessary.
Camila brought down a cleaver on a chicken breast and glared at Lucia, “Lucia, no trates de encubrir a tu hermana, ¡LUZ! ¡BAJA AHORA! ((Lucia, don't try to cover up for your sister, LUZ! GET DOWN HERE NOW))”. Luz sighed in defeat and turned back down the stairs.
“Hola mami” Luz answered meekly entering the kitchen, she looked at her mother. Camila Noceda was a bigger woman, with soft brown eyes, curly dark brown hair and red glasses. She had changed out of her veterinarian uniform and was in a pair of jean shorts and a t-shirt, her stretch marks visible on her arms and legs.
“¿Sabes lo vergonzoso que es recibir una llamada del director diciendome que castigaron a tu hija el último día de clases? Debemos hablar, ¡AHORA ((Do you know how embarrassing it is to receive a call from the principal telling me that your daughter was punished on the last day of school? We must talk, NOW))!?” She spoke sharply as she slashed up the chicken and put the pieces in a bowl.
Lucia silently shuffled to the corner of the kitchen as Luz started to pull her hair in stress. “Mami I’m sorry, I just wanted to show off my new griffin I made the other day, I thought that if they saw how creative I could be maybe-” She was cut off by Camila bringing down the cleaver on another chicken breast.
“Mija, I appreciate your creativity but we need to talk about this, you’ve been to the principal’s office too many times these past few years and I don’t want to go through this again when you start High School in the spring, you aren’t a little girl anymore!” her voice trailed off.
The smaller girl let out another sigh “I understand mami, but can we please talk about this later?”
“Fine we can talk about it during dinner but for now go upstairs and think about it okay?” Camila put down the cleaver and walked up to Luz, hugging her in a warm embrace. “Te amo Luz, solo quiero lo mejor para ti ¿vale ((I love you Luz, I only want the best for you, okay?))?” Her daughter hugged her mother back.
“Lo sé, lo siento” Luz pulled away and headed to the stairs as Camila went back to chopping in the kitchen. Lucia stood awkwardly and tried to tip-toe out but she was stopped by her mama who quit chopping and put down the knife and looked at her, “Rihanna texted me, she’s wondering if you’re going with her and your other friends to Siarra’s”
The mention of that name caused her to pause and cringe “Yeah?”
“Come on mija, it will be fun! It’s a two month trip, your old friends will be there” She tried her best to make it sound exciting but Lucia just sighed. “Look, all you do all day is sit in your room and play video games and watch YouTube, you haven’t been going out at all, you rarely even leave the house with us!” Lucia stood at the doorway of the kitchen, not looking back at Camila, not speaking. “Come on Lucia, your friends miss you, you never speak to them anymore.” Camila sighed “Like you never speak to us Lucy”.
Lucia just stood still. “S-sorry?” She had a strained look of frustration on her face “But I kind of- I kind of don’t want to go”.
Camila just went back to chopping up chicken, “Alright if that’s what you want… just know that I love you mija and you can talk to me about whatever's going on okay?”. With that Lucia sighed and walked away. Camila watched Lucia walk away and Camila muttered to herself “Vamos Lucía, ¿qué te pasó?”.
Luz slipped into her room. She tossed her backpack to the side and laid down on her bed, looking up at the bottom of the top bunk. She rolled over to look at her room, the Good Witch Azura posters and her other favorite interests lined the walls, some of her figures and plushies were on her desk scattered in a way only an autistic kid could find neat. Luz grabbed a nearby plushie of a strange blob creature from the Good Witch Azura series and hugged it to her chest as she began to tear up a little, the silence of the room was deafening. Dark thoughts began to creep into Luz’s head. “God, why can’t I just be normal? Why do I have to be this way?” Tears streamed down her cheeks. “I can’t even express my creativity in a way that people like or enjoy and-and when I try to speak to other, connect to them, they always make fun of me or belittle me and I just want it to stop, I just want to be normal, why can’t I be nor- before she could continue she heard a knock on the door. “Come in”.
Lucia stepped in, “Hey Luz, sorry I couldn’t cover for you”.
“It’s fine Lucy, it was bound to happen eventually today” she hugged her plushie tightly.
Lucia came into the room, her steps were light and deliberate. “You didn’t tell mom about the summer camp” she finally reached Luz’s bed and sat next to her. “But don’t worry Luz, I won’t tell her either, I don’t want you to be sent to some poorly disguised conversion camp!” Lucia ran a few soothing fingers through her little sister’s hair.
“Lucy, do you remember Noceda Land?” Luz looked at Lucia who in return gave Luz a bewildered look.
“Noceda land?” Nostalgia swelled inside Lucia’s stomach, remembering a better time, a happier time.
“Yeah back when we would pretend we had our own magical world and we’d go on wacky adventures, we even built it in Minecraft! It had that long roller coaster and those tacky buildings” Luz rambled nostalgically. “But now we don’t do things like that anymore, I mean you never talk to me, you don’t hang out with your friends like Siarra, I’d kill for a friend group like the one you had.”
Lucia was caught off guard and didn’t know what to say for a second. “Why don’t we play a game until dinner, maybe that’ll make you feel better”
“Maybe it will.” Luz sat down the plushie next to her and got up.
The two made their way to Lucia’s room, the room was a mess, clothes were scattered everywhere, thick blinds covered the windows blocking any light from getting in. The shelves were cluttered with trash and old baseball trophies. A dusty old guitar sat in the corner on a stand. Empty soda cans lined every bit of shelf and a trashcan was filled entirely. A thick stench filled the room. But Luz didn’t seem to mind, she sat down on Lucia’s bed as Lucia turned on an old CRT TV and tossed Luz an N64 controller. “I was playing Mario Kart 64 earlier, how about we go for a few rounds?”.
“I’m hyped up on that sugar from the ice-cream” Luz spoke in a determined voice, “You’re going down old lady” she chuckled.
“Oh you’re on little Lu.” Lucia smirked as she started the game.
Shells were thrown, bananas were slipped on and the sounds of frustrated grunts and excited cheers echoed out of Lucia’s room. The controllers were covered in sweat, “these damn slipper controls!” Luz complained.
Lucia snickered, “Don’t blame the controls all just because you suck at drifting!”
“Maybe it’s just my stomach hurting from the ice-cream”
“Should’ve thought of that before you at it”
“You're the one who offered it you dolt!”
The two girls giggled and laughed as they continued their fast paced and stressful game.
“GIRLS! DINNER!!!” Camila called from downstairs, both girls sat down their controllers and got up from the bed and went downstairs to the freshly made dinner. The two girls took their seats at the table. It was a quiet dinner at first. Neither girl dared to say a word while Camila stared at them, waiting for someone to speak.
“Necesitamos hablar ahora” Luz and Lucia gave each other sad looks and put down their forks. “Luz, I know about the summer camp, your principal told me about it while he called me.” A dreaded pit filled Luz’s stomach, she was scared of what was about to come. “And I think it’s in your best interest if you go.”
“¡Pero mama!” Luz shot out.
“¡Luz! Tu comportamiento ha estado fuera de control; ¡Te han llamado a la oficina seis veces este año! ((Luz! Your behavior has been out of control; You've been called into the office six times this year!))” Camila spoke sternly.
“Mami, I don't want to do anything at those camps!” Luz’s voice trembled; she felt like she was about to cry.
“Luz, we love your creativity but you clearly struggle to distinguish fact from fiction, you need to go to a place that can help you with this!”
“Mom! You can’t send her to that camp!” Lucia spoke, tension rising in her voice.
“You don’t make the decisions around here Lucia!” Camila glared back.
“Listen to me mami, those places will not do her any good!” Lucia threw her arms up in the air in an exaggerated pose
“Lucia!” Camila began to raise her voice “This is not your place to butt in, Luz needs help, her outbursts have gotten her in so much trouble, she got kicked out of the cheer squad because of it!”
“Mom she’s my sister, I know Luz has issues but trust me-” Luz just sat back in her seat, it’s the only thing she knew how to do when this was happening.
“Lucia you aren’t listening to me! Luz needs better role models in her life and this camp might be the-.”
“What do you mean by better role models?” Lucia’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Camila.
Camila sighed knowing what was coming “I’m trying to say is that me and the principal discussed that maybe Luz didn’t have the appropriate role models in her life so-”
Lucia slammed her fist on the table, “Oh so this is about me isn’t it? I’m sorry I couldn’t be the perfect role model for her!”
“Lucia, you know I don’t mean to attack you like this but what I’m trying to say is that you can’t hold down a job, you staggered through high school, you lost your music scholarship and you’ve been living in your room for the past two years!” Camila wasn’t quite yelling, but her voice was loud “Everytime I ask about your plans for the future, you always talk about some band when you don’t practice with your guitar or with your old band mates, hell you don’t even play baseball anymore!”
“Goddammit mami, you think I wanted this? You think I wanted to end up like this? I’m sorry I couldn’t be everything you wanted, but I don’t need you rubbing my failures into my face every time!” Lucia had tears forming in her eyes.
Camila’s face contorted into regret, “Lucia I-I’m sorry”
Lucia stood up, “No, don’t go there, I’m done with you” Lucia stormed out the kitchen and into the sun room Camila got up.
“Lucia stop!” She followed Lucia out on the back porch but stopped and sighed, Luz had followed too and was about to run after Lucia before Camila put a hand on her shoulder. “Luz just give her some space” The two watched Lucia disappear into the forest out back. “Come on Luz, we’re still not done”. Camila went back inside the house, Luz reluctantly followed behind.
Sitting back down at the table, there was an awkward silence. “Am I still going to the camp?” Luz broke the silence.
Camila looked at her daughter and frowned, not in disappointment or disdain for either daughter, but a frown of regret and self reflection. “Yes mija, I think it’s for the best, the bus leaves tomorrow morning” Camila spoke with an unsure voice. Luz’s heart sank at Camila’s words.
“Si mamá” She said in a defeated voice.
Camila sighed. “You and Lucia used to be so close, it was like you two could speak your own language with each other, now you two barely open up to each other.” Camila paused and went back to eating, leaving her words hanging in the air. It was a quiet dinner, and a very quiet evening.
The setting sun cast the world in orange. It was still bright out in the forest but the sound of a loud THWACKS broke through the silence. Lucia in the forest in an old makeshift baseball diamond, an old beat up shack was sitting ominously on one side, “borrowed” bases sat on the ground as the overgrowth had creeped over what would be the old dug out. There was an angry Lucia, who had an old wooden bat. She was grabbing old raggedy baseballs out of a disgusting bucket, she swung with vigor, hitting the ball at the old shack, they flew across the overgrowth, slamming into the old wood making the old shack creak and groan.
Lucia’s ears twitched as she heard crunching and she looked up, she clutched the bat tightly, scanning the foliage for wherever the newcomer was coming from.
A familiar yet infuriating voice rang through the brush. “Well well well, if it isn’t beanie again” The same old woman from before stepped out of the brush, the same mischievous glint in her golden eyes. Lucia grumbled and glared at her.
“¡Eres tu!” she growled, “I should beat you with this bat right here Marilyn” She stepped closer to the older lady who only looked at Lucia with mild amusement.
“Oh first you almost hit me with your machine and now you threaten me with your little stick? If I didn’t know any better I’d say someone has a grudge!” she laughed as she casually approached Lucia.
“Don’t act so smug! You got me fired! If it weren’t for you then I wouldn’t be in this mess right now!”
“What?” The old woman was incredulous and laughed playfully, reminiscing for a second. “You mean the little incident with the raccoons at that coffee shop got you fired?”
“They needed someone to blame and so it fell on me!” She stepped closer. “Now tell me, what do you want?”
The grayed woman looked Lucia up and down, “Well you look tough enough to handle a job for me”.
“A job?” Lucia paused and looked at the old woman with curiosity, “Like a paying job?”
“Of course it’s paying!” She flipped a small coin at Lucia and she caught it, inspecting it closely.
“Is this… gold?” It was a strange item, it was the size of a quarter, and had the engravings of a snail shell. “Where did you get this???”
“I’ll show you” The old woman said with a crooked smirk on her face.
Lucia looked at the coin and back at the old lady, “Why are you doing this? I just threatened you with my bat!”
“Well you see, I feel a little guilty about getting you fired, so… why don’t I make up for it by giving you a job!. The old lady laughed and turned to the old shack. “Come on kid there’s a lot more where that came from” She approached the door of the rotting house and pulled out a small brown key with a yellow eye, the old woman pressed the eye. Before Lucia’s very eyes the door opened and a bright light shines through, it was almost like some kind of portal.
“Wh-what on earth” Lucia stared amazed at what she was seeing, the woman walked up to the door.
“Come on, the quicker you can get started the quicker we can get the job done!” And the old woman stepped into the portal, disappearing into it. Lucia was flabbergasted she had never seen anything like this before, despite her better judgment she stepped closer and paused.
“I need more money…” She paused for a second and thought about her decision.
Camila heard the vibrations and looked at her phone after loading the dishwasher. “Went to Tamera’s am going on lake trip to Siarra’s”
Camila read the text and sighed, “Al menos ella está bien, pero no han hablado en años... tal vez volver a conectar con un viejo amigo te calme. Lucecita, es la mejor, por favor confía en mí.” Camila thought over this for a little. But she turned on the dishwasher and went over to the couch and turned on the television, she was very tired.
Luz was upstairs in her room, slipping through The Good Witch Azura 5, reading through the same pages she’s read a thousand times, she was crying softly. Luz was dreading what awaits her tomorrow away from her home for two months? She wouldn’t have many of her comfort items, and who knows what horrid bullies could await her. Her worst fears were what Lucia had told her, could this really be a conversion camp? Luz had only come out to Lucia about her bisexuality and was scared of what would happen if what Lucia said was true. It was a terrible night, Luz didn’t sleep a wink, she stayed up all night on her laptop, watching videos and playing games. She wanted to stall as much time as possible before morning came. And when that blasted sun rose that morning, Luz sighed and set down her headphones on her desk and got up, it was time. Luz went through her usual morning routine, she checked her social media sites and jumped into the shower. After getting dressed in her favorite attire, a short sleeved cat eared hoodie, a pair of leggings and jeans shorts. She packed her clothes, toiletries and a few comfort items into her backpack and duffle bag under the eyes of Camila.
“Lucecita, es lo mejor, por favor confía en mí.” She spoke unsure if she even believed herself.
“Lo sé mamá…pero nunca pensé que esto me pasaría.” Luz looked away, zipping up her backpack and standing back up. “R-right…”The silence was palpable between the two as they walked, Luz carrying her all the things she was allowed to bring. “Where’s Lucy?”
Camila sighed walking alongside her, “She’s staying with a friend, she just needs some time away from me to cool off.”
The two exited the house and down the front porch, but once she got on the sidewalk she stopped and sighed. “I just… I just don’t want to go okay?” She pulled out her Good Witch Azura book out of her backpack. “Look, I love fantasy! Anime, writing fanfictions, I don’t like anything they have to offer at that camp!”
“Luz” she tried to put on a stern voice but I was shaking with nervousness, “Do you have any friends? Real friends, not drawn, animated or reptilian?” She gently took the book out of Luz’s hand and sat it down on the duffle bag.
Luz looked down gloomily, and spoke shamefully “No mami…”.
Camila brushed some of her daughter's curls before she moved her hand down to take Luz’s cheek and looked her in the eyes, “This is your chance for a new start.” Luz leaned her cheek into Camila’s soft touch, the comforting hand spread love through Luz’s body. “A chance to make real friends so please, just try to have some fun.” Camila hugged Luz in a tight embrace “te amo Luz”.
“Yo también te amo mamá” there was a crack in her voice as she spoke, leaning into the warm embrace of her mother. The moment ended when they heard another vibration of a phone, it was Camila’s.
“Oh I have to go!” Camila secured her purse and gave Luz a soft kiss on her forehead. “Goodbye mija I’ll see you in two months” Camila spoke solemnly and gave her a look of regret before she walked down the sidewalk, leaving her alone to await the bus. Luz picked up her book and looked over it. The Good Witch Azura had always been there for her, but could the books still comfort her now? She pondered this for a few seconds before an owl, a little brown owl swooped by and grabbed her book right out of her hand. “Hey!” She cried out turning to where it had flown, the owl hovered above the woods, staring at her with its curious yellow eyes. “Stop you book thief!” Luz grabbed her duffle bag and secured her backpack and chased the little owl into the forest until she reached an old make-shift baseball field, the nostalgia would overwhelm her but she was so focused on getting the book back she chased it up to the old shack and stopped at the porch, panting heavily.
“Man… you’re fast…” The owl stood at the porch with her book, just staring at her. A voice made her jump.
“Hey little Lu” Lucia smirked, stepping out the door of the shack. “Thanks Owlbert” she took the book from the owl and held it to Luz. “You coming?
Luz just stared in confusion and shook her head snapping out of it. “Where?” She took the book from Lucia’s hand.
“Come on I’ll show you” Lucia smirked entering the house with the Owl. Luz took a look at her book and at Lucia who disappeared into the darkness, she took a deep breath and followed Lucia into the house, oblivious to the fact that once she walked through things would change forever.