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Chapter Text

Luz Noceda turned fourteen years old on a warm day in April. It was as good as anyone in foster care could ever hope for. She turned fourteen with a cake, and presents, and good people around her. Mary and George Darling were as nice for foster parents as she could ever hope, and her siblings were very open to having a sister. 

Her last family had been the Blights, a mother and father with twins two years older than she. Her siblings, Edric and Emira, had been nice enough, and Mr. Blight had been fine, but Mrs. Blight was cruel and controlling. Luz was glad to be taken out of that house.

Before them had been Mr. Bump. He had been a nice man, but he changed his mind about fostering. That was alright with her, she had never understood why he chose it in the first place. Usually when foster parents didn’t seem to want kids, or sometimes Luz specifically, they wanted the money instead. But Mr. Bump had been just fine on money, as the principal for a private boarding school. She wondered if fostering had been some sort of midlife crisis.

Before him had been the worst of them all, Terra Snapdragon. Mrs. Blight had been like a high school mean girl compared to her. She put Luz through all sorts of twisted trials, almost like a combination of militant and apocalyptic. Unfortunately, Luz spent quite a bit of time with her.

So, Mr. and Mrs. Darling were great parents. Luz could count on one hand how many birthday celebrations shed had, and this was by far the best one. 

She even had her own room. It was painted a deep shade of pink that she had chosen for herself, and had her own bed with a green bedspread with snakes on it. It was the softest bed she’s ever had.

Luz sighed happily as she flopped down on it. She flipped over onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. It was purple, complimentary to the pink walls. There was a ceiling mobile hanging down, the only sign that it used to be baby’s room besides for the size of it. Michael Darling, at four years old, was deemed old enough to share a room with nine year old John Darling. The room had been remodeled for her, much more than foster parents usually did for her. Luz was used to counting all her possessions, but Mary and George had bought her more things than she had ever dared dream of from a family. 

She had her very own drawers, with her very own clothes in them. She had her very own bedside table, with her very own books. Closest to her, she kept her Azura book. It was her oldest possession, bought for her by her other favorite foster family, the Clawthorne’s. 

They had been an older couple, Dell and Gwendolyn, and they had been more like grandparents than parents. Unfortunately, that was the problem. Despite all their good intentions, they just weren’t physically capable of taking care of a young child. Maybe if Luz had ended up with them when she was just a little older, and more capable of taking care of herself, they could’ve been a family. She thought about them more often than she wished, and when she had been stuck with Terra Snapdragon, she had fallen asleep to memories of Dell lying in bed with her and reading The Good Pirate Azura, showing her the drawings and never getting impatient with her when she interrupted or asked questions.

The book was tattered and beaten from moving from house to house, but she would never replace it because it reminded her of feeling young and loved. She kept it propped up against the lamp so she could see it whenever she turned out the light.

She had a few other books there that the Darling’s had bought for her. They’d taken her to a real bookstore and everything. Still, her Azura book was the one she read the most. 

The Darling boys were very loud. The house was only quiet when they had gone to sleep. It was nearly eleven, and the house was quiet. Luz’s birthday was almost over.

She was supposed to make a wish when she blew out the candles on her cake. She never knew what to say. So she just smiled and said wishes don’t come true if you say them out loud. She’s heard that before, so they all accepted it. 

As she looked back to the ceiling, Luz thought about what her wish would be. 

Usually she wished for nice parents, but George and Mary were very nice. Her next wish would be her own room, but she had that, too. Luz wasn’t use to actually wanting real things for herself. She usually just focused on basic necessities. She had everything she could wish for, but still, deep down inside, a shameful part of her still wanted more. 

She stroked the cover page of The Good Pirate Azura, wistfully thinking about all the adventures her comfort character got to go on. She sailed the seas, searching for treasure and love. She battled other pirates, ones who didn’t have her strong moral code. She romanced lovely maidens and charmed rugged sailors. She led a life full of adventure, thrill, romance, and lively music. The Good Pirate Azura had no family, but she made up for it with her crew of loyal pirates. Like Luz, she didn’t know who her parents were, or what happened to them. But where Luz got bounced around in foster care, Azura left her the town she grew up in to turn her fantasies into reality.

For just a moment, she wished with all her heart that she could live that kind of life. 

Luz got up and opened the window, letting the night breeze ground her in her reality. She was not a pirate. She did not sail seas and fight for her beliefs. She was just a girl in Connecticut, who needed to grow up.

Chapter Text

Eda had ditched the evidence and was on her way home with King. She checked once more than she had wiped her hands clean, and determined that she had gotten rid of any red streaks. She tried not to do this often. Her kids didn’t know how frequently she went into the Human Realm, and she didn’t want to explain herself to them. She tried to keep the cravings at bay, she really did.

But dammit, Eda really loved her Takis. She just couldn’t let her kids find out, because inevitably they would all start arguing that they deserved to have their favorite snacks, too, and Eda did not want to deal with a hungry horde of teenagers pleading for chips and drinks and candies.

The food in Neverland was great. She got a variety of fruits, vegetables, meats, and the closest thing Neverland had to milk. She taught the kids how to cook and bake, and they all enjoyed the food from the island. They didn’t get Takis, though. Eda was a born and bred snack monster, so every now and then, she took King back to Connecticut and raided a gas station or a convenience store or a Walgreens. She had no money, but that was never a problem. If her hair was big enough to hold King himself, it was big enough to stuff a few snacks into. It was more her staff that she struggled to conceal.

Most of her lost kids came from snack runs. There were few times that she’d really just gone and dropped one kid off only to bring another right back, but usually, it was on a snack run. Eda told her kids that she would specifically go out to get them because she felt the pull. It wasn’t fully a lie, Eda did really feel a pull. She didn’t just see random kids and decide to take them.

As dumb as it sounded, Eda did feel a connection to each kid she brought back. Sometimes, when she was out for snacks, she felt this wrench in her heart, a kind of longing ache. It was the need to break free. She would know she was close to them when the desire got stronger and stronger. Eda liked to believe she found them when they needed it most. That she found them when they were suffocating in their real life, that she was offering them an escape that they were starting to lose hope of.

Still, as much as she saw them as her kids, Eda knew they didn’t belong to her. She wasn’t there to permanently whisk them away. You couldn’t run from your problems forever. No, Eda wasn’t a magic solution. Neverland wasn’t supposed to be forever. She wasn’t offering them a permanent exit from the real world. Neverland was there when they needed it most, and Eda brought them back once they were ready. She felt it the same way she felt their initial desperation. Sometimes it was a snuffed out spark reigniting. Sometimes it was a broken spirit standing proud again. Sometimes it was hopelessness turning into determination. When she brought them home, she gave them a single kiss on the forehead and told them Neverland would always be a part of them.

It was heartbreaking to return them, but the alternative was worse. Eda had saved dozens of kids, but she’d lost some, too. No one was supposed to grow up in Neverland. Once you grew up, you couldn’t go home. Eda was painfully aware of that.

You weren’t supposed to age at all. As soon as you began to age, your connection to the real world faded more and more. Eda instinctively touched her ears. Pointed. She didn’t know when they had changed, but her transformation was permanent. There was no going back for her.

Eda sighed, and sucked her finger free from any residual yummy dust, and suddenly felt a searing pain. “Shit,” she gasped, and King poked his head out.

“Eda? Are you okay?” King asked, concerned.

Eda tried to smile reassuringly, but the pain turned it into a grimace. “Someone’s calling me,” she said. “I don’t think it’s ever been this strong, King.”

“Woah.” His eyes widened. “Well, let’s find them!”

Yes. They’d better find this kid before her heart exploded. 

“What do you feel?” He crawled on top of her head, and looked upside down at her. Eda smiled, for real that time.

“This one is just so…” Eda closed her eyes, feeling it. “Desperate desire for something more. Lost. Conflicted. Lonely. Wanting turning into needing. Mm, turn there.”

King crawled down her back, kicking the wooden staff to the left, steering them. “No offense, Eda, but how is this different from a lot of the others?”

“It’s not just the kid, I don’t know how to describe it. I’m not just feeling bonded to their feelings. I’ve never felt it this strongly. I’m not just tapping into it, it’s pulling me in. Down.”

He pushed hard on the staff, and they glided down. The warm air rushed against her, and she aimed for a nearby roof. She let the staff clatter to the shingles, and creeped down to the gutter. “There!” She pointed.

A teenage girl was leaning out the window of the house across from them. Eda felt like the girl’s sorrow was almost consuming her. She studied the girl, trying to tune into exactly what the kid was trying to tell her. “Okay. I’m ready. C’mere, you.” Eda grabbed King, giving him a good thorough scratch from his head to his butt, until his golden dandruff was covering her hand. She sprinkled it over herself and flew to the door. Time to meet her new kid.

Chapter Text

Luz was having her first lucid dream. It was so strange, she didn’t even remember falling asleep. It was so vivid, too. The thin wooden branch she was straddling was solid in her hands as she gripped it tightly. The wind blew through her hair gently. And of course, there was the strange woman and her pet of indeterminate species sitting in front of her.

Luz wasn’t quite sure what one was supposed to do in a lucid dream. Could you control the plot? If she tried, would she wake up? Even if it was all a dream, she wanted to know what would happen.

The woman turned back to face her. Luz studied her, trying to commit her to memory. She wanted every moment of this dream to last. She was surprisingly foxy for her age, which Luz estimated to be around mid forties. Her voluminous silver hair seemed to defy gravity, and her eyes had an almost non-human quality. She had a single gold fanged tooth. She wore a long sleeved red dress with a glowing amulet. She was beautiful. You can’t create a person in your dreams, Luz knew that. As amazing as the human brain was, it lacked the capacity to imagine a fully new face. Often, it was a face as fleeting as someone you had passed on the street that your brain decided to showcase. Or a mashup of features you had seen before, but never something fully new. By all likelihood, this woman’s face was a combination of features Luz had gathered through the years. But something about her felt too real, too authentic to just be a random product of Luz’s mind. It was just so detailed, so distinct. 

“You’ve been staring at me for a while, kid.” The sound of her voice startled Luz, and she let go of the stick. “Careful!” 

She grabbed Luz’s hands, placing them firmly on the wood. She felt so real. Did all dreams feel this real?

“You’re not dreaming,” the woman said, as if she was reading her thoughts. “Everyone always thinks that. I thought so, too, at first. But this is all real.”

Luz looked up at her. She didn’t know what to say. The woman raised an eyebrow. “You’re quiet. I don’t usually take quiet ones.”

“No, take me,” she burst out. “I’m not quiet.”

“You seem quiet. I don’t think you’ve even told me your name.”

“Luz. Luz Noceda.” It was absolutely a dream.

“Well, Luz, I’m Eda. Eda Clawthorne.”

Luz raised her eyebrows. Yes, this was definitely a dream. She had been thinking about Gwendolyn and Dell before bed, so that must’ve infiltrated her dreams. “And what’s that?” She pointed to the strange animal nestled in Eda’s hair.

“That?” She laughed. “That’s King. He’s my… well, he’s mine.”

“What is he?”

“I have absolutely no idea.” Eda smiled at her. “But, as you see, he’s got some magic to him.”

To prove her point, she plucked him out of her hair and gave him a good scratch, like he was a dog. Weird dandruff came off onto her fingers, which she held up to show Luz, stabilizing herself on the branch with her other hand. It was gold and dusty, unlike any dog dander she’s ever seen.

“What are you?” 

Eda paused, like she had to think about it. “I am, ah, a teacher of sorts, I suppose.”

“Are you a pirate?” Luz asked eagerly.

“Pirates rob ships and fight at sea. We just live peacefully with the island.” Eda paused. “Mostly.”

“Mostly?” Luz reached out to scratch King. He let out a weird noise and climbed back into Eda’s hair.

“We don’t fight. We defend. Oh, King is sleepy. You won’t see him for a while.”

“From what?” Luz had no idea her dreams were so intricate. 

“Pirates.”

Luz’s eyes widened, and she leaned forward. “What are they like? Do they go on adventures? Do they kiss pretty women and handsome men? Do they have a strong moral code that they defend with their lives?”

Eda squinted at her, and Luz shrunk back. “No, what? Luz, do you know what a pirate is?”

“Yes!” Luz knew what a pirate was. A pirate went on adventures in the sea, and led lives of aventure and action.

“Good. Then you know that pirates have no moral code. That pirates will hurt anyone to get what they want. You must know that they’re dangerous and cruel. Right, Luz?”

No. No, that wasn’t right. That wasn’t what Azura was. That wasn’t what a pirate was. She shifted. Maybe this dream wasn’t so perfect after all.

Eda touched her shoulder. “Luz. We’re almost there. Tell me you understand. I can’t in good conscience bring you if I think you’re going to seek out danger.”

Luz swallowed, and looked down. This was her dream. Why couldn’t she change it? Why couldn’t she control it? “Yes. I understand.”

“Good. I really think you’ll like it.”

~~~

“Aha,” Eda said triumphantly. “The door moves around, but I always find it.” 

She brought them down in the middle of a forest, parked in front of a tree.

“It moves?” Luz hopped off the broom that Eda insisted wasn’t a broom, and her jaw dropped as Eda traced a circle in the air, and a door appeared. “How did you do that?”

“The door only shows itself to certain people,” Eda said proudly. “You ready, kid?”

Why not? None of it was real. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

Eda opened the door, and a gust of salty air filled her nostrils. Eda grabbed her hand and pulled her through.

Luz knocked her head on the ground, and grunted. She must’ve fallen out of bed. But when she rubbed the bump and opened her eyes, she was not in her room. 

“Woah! Are you okay? You took quite a tumble.” Eda reached her hand out again. Her fang shined with the bright rays of the sun. Luz looked up, and squinted immediately from the intensity of it. 

“Why haven’t I woken up?”

Eda rolled her eyes. “You’re not dreaming. Are we still not past that?”

“This is really real?” Luz stared up at her with wide eyes.

“Yes! How many times do I have to say it?”

“Where are we?” Luz pushed herself upright, and took in her surroundings. She was on a beach. But… it was unlike any beach she had ever seen. The sand was the color of gold, and the water was so blue it didn’t look real. Patches of red grass sprouted the prettiest flowers she had ever seen, and the sound of the waves crashing against the sand was like the most perfect seashell ever. The sky was a gorgeous baby blue, and the clouds looked like a painting. The air smelled like sea salt, and created a refreshing breeze against the pleasant heat. It was all too good to be true.

“Welcome to Neverland.”

~~

Luz couldn’t resist the urge to skip as she followed Eda. “So, where are we going?”

“Home base. Ah, King’s waking up.” The little creature crawled out of her hair and stretched. Luz examined him. His movements were like the mix of a toddler and a puppy. His head looked like a skeletal head of a small predatory animal, and the fanged bones of his two front teeth were also on top of his head, except twice the size, and with one broken in half. His eyes were yellow and purple, and best of all, he wore a collar like a puppy. He was adorable.

“Weh? Are we home?” He rubbed his eyes with his three-fingered paws and collapsed on her shoulder. With her hand not carrying her stick, she gave him a scratch, and he made a noise like a purr.

“Almost. You have a good snooze?”

“Yeah! Oh, you brought home another?” He crawled down her shoulder to her arm, staring at Luz. She backed away instinctively. Wait. Another?

“What do you mean, another?”

“You’re her newest recruit. Eda, you didn’t tell her about the others?” He gave her a pointed look, and she gave him one right back.

“I forgot! Jeez. Luz, I have other kids. I’m taking you to them.”

“What?” She yelled, stopping in place, standing in the red grass. “Do you just take kids from their homes? That’s kind of cool, actually.”

“They’re her Lost Kids,” King said excitedly. “It’s about time you brought another one home.”

“King, they aren’t like dolls I need to restock. I don’t just go out looking for them.”

The two of them bickered like she wasn’t there, and ordinarily she would’ve loved to see a weird old lady talking to her strange and adorable pet, but she really needed to be clued in. “Will one of you tell me what’s going on? What is a lost kid? What do you mean, about time? Why are you talking about restocking?”

Eda started walking again, and Luz instinctively walked after her. “I bring back kids who seem like they need to escape. When you seem ready, I bring you home. Usually we have more kids at once, but again, I don’t just go looking for kids to take. I only go to you if I can tell you need it.”

“Oh. What makes you think I need this?”
Eda raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “Was I wrong?”

Luz opened her mouth for a good retort, but came up blank. Eda smiled. Then she tilted her head, looking around. “We’re almost there.”

“Where is ‘there’?”

“You’ll see.”

Ugh. That was the absolute worst response from grown ups. Well, one of them. She didn’t want to wait for answers, she wanted them right then and there. She pouted, but it was hard to keep it up as they passed through such gorgeous scenery. The wild red grass got even more wild and taller when they had entered the forest, and the trees grew tall and proud, with pretty leaves and strange fruits. Different animals filled the air with noise, and she just wanted to dance and dance.

Then the path became more and more worn, clearly one that had been walked more times than anyone could count. They were close.

Eda hummed as they crossed a path, and then, like Rapunzel pulling away the leaves to reveal her tower, Eda parted the shrubbery to reveal… a tree house?

“Welcome to… the Lost Kids Tree House!” She cried out triumphantly.

To be fair, it was the most impressive tree house she had ever seen. It was built onto a strong, tall tree, and looked far too complex to be just a tree house. It had to be some sort of magic. Not that she had thought magic was real, but at this point Luz had stopped questioning what was real and what wasn’t.

From in the house (?) Luz heard chatter, and then an excited voice yelling, “Eda’s back!”

Luz turned to the lady, and saw an affectionate blush on her beautiful face. Luz grinned and Eda glared at her, turning away. Aww. She was a big softie on the inside. 

Two kids burst through the door, and then, in perfect unison, stopped and stared at her. One of them was a pretty girl with turquoise hair and thick gold glasses. She had a bob, and a woven dress. She looked to be about 14, just like Luz. The other was a boy, shorter and younger, with curly black hair and a singular earring. He had a ripped shirt and loose pants.

“You brought back a new one!” The girl spoke first, and luckily, she seemed excited.

Newly confident from a positive reaction, Luz stepped forward, and stood in front of the house, looking up at them. She hoped they would come down, because she wasn’t exactly sure how to get up. “Yup! I’m Luz Noceda, newest addition to the team!” She bowed dramatically.

The girl beamed, and grabbed the boy’s hand, pulled him down stairs that Luz hadn’t even noticed. “I’m Willow! This is Agustus. We’re veterans here.”

Willow’s smile was radiant, and Luz knew immediately that they would be the best of friends. Augustus waved.

“Agustus. I knew someone with that name. We called him Gus.”

His eyes lit up. “Gus! I like that.” He turned to Willow. “Willow, from now on, I am Gus!”

Eda snorted, and they all turned back to look at her. She was watching them fondly. Eda nodded towards the tree house. “Where’s Amity?”

A look Luz couldn’t decipher flashed across Willow’s face. “She’s in her room.”

Ooh. They had their own rooms. But who was this mysterious Amity? 

“Well, go get her. Or, actually, Luz, we’ll take you up, give you a real tour.”

Willow and Gus showed her the stairs, but Eda gave King a scratch and flew herself up. The inside of the house was much bigger than she had expected. Gus swung the door open and waved his hand inwards. She walked through, to what seemed to be the living room. It open to face a couch, with a huge map above it. Luz darted towards it. It was a huge map of Neverland itself. She didn’t have time to memorize every detail, though, because a girl her age with green hair walked out.

“Who is making so much-” she started, stopping when she saw Luz. That must be Amity! Luz eagerly walked up to introduce herself, but Amity gave her a dirty look that made her shrink away. “Are you Eda’s new reject?”

Woah. Okay. That was not at all what she was expecting. Also, if she was Eda’s newest reject, wouldn’t that imply that Amity herself was once a reject? 

“Lay off, Amity.” Willow said, but there wasn’t much confidence or conviction. “She just got here.”

“Amity.” Eda joined them, giving the girl a stern look. “Cut it out, kid.”

She rolled her eyes, but she didn’t say anything else. 

“We’re all going to have a nice family dinner tonight,” she told all of them. “Emphasis on nice, Amity.”

Amity rolled her eyes again, and walked away.

“What’s her problem?” Luz whispered.

Eda put her hand on Luz’s shoulder. “We’ve all got some baggage here, kiddo. No one with a great, idyllic life would leave everything behind to come here. She can be a jerk sometimes, but she needs this just as much as any of you. I’m not giving up on her.”

The three of them nodded bashfully.

~~

Their nice family dinner was very different from any other nice family dinner she had attended. For one thing, they sat on the floor. On the ground, outside.

King was curled up into a little ball, snoozing again. Cutie.

Family dinners with the Darlings were very orderly. Mary and Wendy made dinner, John and Michael set the table, and Luz would clear it, and the five of them would clean up after dinner. George didn’t seem to be very helpful, but Luz had learned not to make trouble.

Here, there was no table to be set or cleared, and the food was prepared in the most interesting way. 

Luz watched, amazed, as Eda drew circles and symbols on the ground with a stick the length of her hand, and tapped them. The dirt under the grass seemed to absorb the indentations where Eda traced, and in its place, a plant with a peel resembling a corn husk materialized. Eda unpeeled it to reveal actual food. Food, made from lines in the dirt! It was unbelievable.

Luz looked to the others, expecting so see a similar state of wonder, but they acted as if it was a completely normal thing to happen. 

Eda set the food down on the thick red grass, and Luz cleared her throat. “Um, Eda?”

Eda looked up, concentration broken, but she wasn’t upset. “Yes?”

“Are there, uh, plates, or something?”

Eda looked confused. “No, why?”

“New kid!” Amity groaned. “She’s in the middle of making dinner! Can whatever this is wait?”

“You could try waiting for once,” Gus shot back.

“Hey, you can duel it out tonight if you need to, but right now we are having a nice welcome dinner, got it?”

“Is that a joke or something?” Luz whispered to Willow.

Willow whispered back, “No, she actually means it. Eda is a big believer in ‘tactile kinesthetic conflict resolution’, or in normal words, fighting it out.”

Luz widened her eyes, and Eda whistled at her, getting her attention. “What was your question?”

“Do we have plates? We don’t eat off the dirt, right?”

“Of course we do,” Eda scoffed. “Welcome to Neverland. We eat off the dirt.”

Luz gulped and nodded. Eda asked the others what they wanted, and she got requests for vegetables, meat, and breads. Luz waited for Eda to ask for clarification, what kind of meat, which vegetables, but she just drew more circles and lines in the grass, tapping actual real food out of it. Then, unceremoniously, she told them to dig in. King seemed to be activated by that, and Eda rolled her eyes, creating some lump of meat that he savagely tore into.

Luz was taken aback by how they ate. Eda wolfed down her food like she was some sort of predatory animal, eating with her hands, and occasionally, bending her head down to the grass and eating like King.

Willow was less savage with it, but she still ate with a freedom Luz had never had. She scooped smaller bites into her hands, but she still sucked them clean. Gus tore off tiny pieces and tossed them in the air, catching them in his mouth.

Amity was the most dignified in her eating. She plucked the food from the buffet, eating as politely as one could with their hands. But Luz still saw a primal hunger in her, maybe even stronger than in the rest of them.

And, of course, none of them wiped dirt off of the food. Luz was uncertain, for several reasons. One thing was just the hygiene aspect. This food seemed to be made from dirt and grass, and it was up for grabs in the dirt and grass. However, if no one else was bothered by it, maybe that was another thing that was different there? Normal hygiene practices didn’t apply? Other than that, Luz just felt so hesitant to eat like them. She had so many rules drilled into her, it was difficult to even imagine letting go.

Eda noticed her hesitation. “What’s the matter? You don’t like what I made?”

She didn’t sound mad, but Luz didn’t want to upset her or seem ungrateful. “No! It all looks amazing!” She smiled brightly and reached for a piece of meat of indeterminate origin, bringing it to her lips cautiously. Everyone was staring at her, so she took a bite, and suddenly, Luz understood the expression ‘eyes rolling back in your head’. It was maybe the best thing she had ever tasted. She grabbed a big chunk and, feeling bold, tore some off with her teeth.

“Welcome home,” Eda said, and for the first time, Luz believed she really was home.

~~

All in all, it had been a great first day in Neverland. Luz had two new friends, a foxy old lady for a teacher/mother figure, and a complete fresh start. It was literally everything she had ever wanted. But something Eda had said kept bothering her. “No one with a great, idyllic life would leave everything behind to come here.” 

Without a second thought, Luz had left everything behind. She hadn’t even thought about how this would affect the Darling family when she took Eda’s hand and flew out the window. 

For one thing, there was the practical aspect. She was a foster kid. Foster kids had routine welfare checks. What would happen to them when the next one happened? She didn’t want anything bad to happen to them, they didn’t deserve that. And what if they actually would miss her?

Luz suddenly felt incredibly guilty. She didn’t really miss them. Not that much. She had learned to not really form attachments to foster families. But they had been different. They had actually cared about her, and they even made sure to show it. Maybe they really had wanted her. Maybe they missed her a great deal.

She didn’t want to hurt them. But was that enough to make her return?

Chapter Text

Luz woke up to the sound of birds chirping and people talking. Had she overslept? Had she missed her alarm? She never did that. Luz tried to throw her covers off, but the woven blanket that covered her was nothing like her green snakeskin. She felt her blood rush through her head as she panicked, until she remembered the events of the previous day. Wow. She really had expected it all to just be a really long dream. But no, this was actually happening. Luz had left Connecticut to go live in Neverland. 

With a bunch of kids who had also left their homes, and a foxy old lady who could do magic, to live in a super cool tree house. Unreal.

Luz seemed to be the last one up, which made her a little upset. She had it drilled in her to never be the last one up, but she tried to remind herself that her rules of the past didn’t apply anymore. She was home.

“Good morning,” she sang as she walked towards the noise. “Um, did I miss breakfast?”

“Yes,” Amity said, right as Gus said, “We don’t really have a specific time.” as Eda’s voice overlapped as she asked, “Is there something you’re in the mood for?”

“Eggs?” Luz suggested. “Do you have those?”

They did. Eda drew up some symbols on a table, and Luz watched in amazement as a fire appeared on it, but not burning it down. She scarfed down the eggs as she listened to them all talk.

When she finished, Eda clapped her hands together and addressed the group. “Okay! I’ve planned out today’s lesson. Luz, are you ready for your first one?”

Luz could literally feel her pupils dilating into stars. “A magic lesson?” She had to contain a scream. This was the coolest thing to ever happen to her. “Yes, Eda. Yes, I am ready. I have never been more ready for anything in my life.”

Eda grinned. “That’s the spirit.”

~~

Luz’s first ever magic (!!) lesson took place outside the Tree House. She copied the other three, grabbing some paper and a stick which seemed to function as a pencil. She was rocking back and forth on her heels in the grass, and Amity rolled her eyes and snapped at her to keep still. She tried! But after, like, a minute, she was too excited and had to move.

Eda stood in front of them all. “Do you three remember your five main glyphs?”

They all nodded, and Luz tapped her fingers. She wanted to learn!

Eda pointed at Amity. “Amity, go.” She tossed a big piece of paper her way. “Draw me the Big Five and label them. You’re going to explain them to Luz.”

Amity beamed, clearly proud to have been chosen as the example. She was surprisingly nice and patient as she drew out the symbols and explained their meanings to Luz.

It was fascinating. The symbols were called ‘glyphs’, and they went down to five main categories. The first one was a Light Glyph, and as the name suggested, it harnessed light. It was drawn as a combination of circles and lines, and reminded her of a little person stick figure.

The second one was an Earth Glyph, and it harnessed different earthy qualities, such as dirt, rocks, animals, and more. That one was just drawn as two mountains.

The third one was a Water Glyph, and it harnessed water, ice, and mist. This was drawn as a droplet of water maybe in a lake, or a pond.

The fourth one was a Plant Glyph, and it harnessed any kind of plant. Grass, trees, flowers, and any other type of plant on the Island. It looked like a sapling sprouting from the ground.

The last one was a Fire Glyph, and Luz recognized that as what Eda used for her breakfast. The fire glyph harnessed fire, obviously, but it also commanded smoke, and heat. That one looked like a flame with a line and a semi circle.

Amity explained that while the each did their own thing, combining them was what gave them the ability to do all sorts of things, even things that Luz wouldn’t have thought would give that result. Combining things with the earth glyph could make food, and depending on how many earth glyphs or plant glyphs or fire or anything else, you could make different types of food. 

It was all so awesome! Eda praised Amity for her explanation, and Luz noticed the way Amity flushed with pride. She was really receptive to compliments. 

“Alright, Amity, I’ll do you first. You’re making a lot of progress with your combinations, I want you to choose something specific you want to do, and then I want you to fuck around until you make it. Really focus on your intentions, okay? I want you to work on really getting in touch with what the glyphs can do, and try to conceptualize how you can bring them together.

“Willow, everything you do with plants is amazing, and you’ve gotten incredibly strong with them. Now I want you to choose a different element and try to connect with it just as you’ve connected with plants. No combinations, though. I don’t want you trying to mix things, I just want you to get yourself, in every sense of the word, familiar with whichever glyph you choose.

“Gus, do you remember how you made that illusion? No? Okay, then your task is to do whatever you need to in order to do that again. If you do, study it, and build from there.”

“What about me?” Luz asked, eagerly. That all sounded so fun and awesome! She wanted her task, like, ten minutes ago.

“Your task today is to watch, and ask lots of questions. Get a feel for the magic through them.”

Luz frowned. “I want to actually do something. You said I was going to learn magic, not watch it.”

Eda gave her a look. “You’ll learn how I tell you to. I’m not just giving them random assignment, Luz. Magic is beautiful, but it can also be dangerous. If you go off trying to do it on your own, you could get yourself into real trouble. I need to know more about your connection to magic before I start teaching you.”

Luz tried to argue, but Amity cut her off. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to go off and deal with my own things. Don’t bother me. Have fun, if you need to fight, do it properly.” Eda whistled and King scampered down. Before Luz could say anything else, Eda had coated herself with the golden dander, and headed off.

“You can watch me,” Willow offered.

“Great idea!” Amity said, and they all turned to her, surprised. “I thought it would be funny enough to watch you fuck this up on your own, but it’ll be even better if Lucy learns from that.”

“My name is Luz,” she said, “and Willow is not going to fuck this up. She’s going to be amazing.”

“Let’s go,” Gus said. “Eda never said we have to be around her.”

~~

Eda had made it very clear that Luz was not to any circumstances try magic yet. She had given Luz a whole lecture about all the dangers that could happen if Luz tried to do anything. Luz had zoned out for most of it, like she did with any lecture, but she got the overall message. She hadn’t had any practice, yadda yadda, she didn’t know the right way to use glyphs, yadda yadda, she was to go at Eda’s pace and Eda’s pace alone.

But the house had drawings of the five basic glyphs on the walls, and she had studied them very closely. She was basically good to go. Besides, experiential learning was a highly approved learning tactic. She wasn’t planning on anything crazy, either. She only wanted to try a simple light spell.

If Luz showed Eda how naturally talented she was, Eda would be so impressed that she would have to agree to teach her more. It was a perfect plan. She just wasn’t going to tell Eda yet, because Eda would try to stop her and then she wouldn’t be able to show her how good she was.

Luz pulled a piece of paper out of her backpack and studied it again, tracing her finger over the lines. How could such a simple drawing hold so much power? It was incredible.

There was no supervision in Neverland, something Luz had never experienced before. She was free to come and go as she pleased, as long as Eda was able to find her when she needed her. Luz took advantage of that as she walked away from the house.

She didn’t quite know what she was looking for. She was mainly trying to find an open space where she could practice a glyph. It didn’t take long for her to find exactly what she was looking for. The island was full of lush green forests, and that seemed like a perfect place to experiment. 

Luz set down the little backpack she had brought against a tree, and took it all in. She slumped down against a tree herself, trying to recall everything she had seen. When she watched the others practice magic, they often drew the glyphs in the air or on the ground. Luz envisioned the light spell, and what she had seen it do. It was incredibly basic, it just created light. She stood up and grabbed a stick, walking to an open patch of land. Luz pulled the slip of paper out again, setting it on the ground. Switching her attention back and forth between the paper and the ground, Luz drew a circle, and then a tiny triangle at the top. She connected that triangle to a tiny circle directly below it. Checking her reference to make sure she was doing it correctly, she drew a line from the tiny circle down to the outlining circle. She drew a triangle in the middle, and finally, taking a deep breath, Luz crossed the center line with two dashes. She jumped back, but nothing happened. 

Luz’s eyebrows bunched up, and she frowned. She drew it right, why wasn’t it doing anything? She tapped her foot, trying to remember exactly what the others did. Then her eyes widened as she realized her mistake. Taking another deep breath, she slowly walked over to the circle, and tapped it. 

Luz gasped as the lines were absorbed by the dirt, and a ball of light appeared in front of her. 

“I did it,” she said quietly. Then she squealed. “I did it! I did it, I did it! I did magic!” 

She jumped around, then approached the ball of light cautiously. Luz cupped her hands out, and gently took the ball of light into her hands. It hovered about an inch above her palms, but she could feel the energy radiating off of it. She lifted her hands to the skies, sending the ball of light up. 

She panted slightly, energy running through her. She just did magic. Luz just did magic. Eda acted like the whole island would fall apart if she tried anything, but Luz just did magic on her own and the island was exactly the same. 

Luz bent down to the ground, touching the dirt where she had drawn her glyph. It was warm, but normal.

Feeling more confident, Luz drew another, a bigger one. The size of the light increased too, and Luz danced around it, giddy. She had promised herself she would stick to simple spells, but that was when she thought she might do something if she tried it. But clearly, Eda was just being overly dramatic. 

She drew a few more, three at once right next to each other to see what would happen. She tapped the three in quick succession, and three balls of light were pulled from the ground. In her excitement, Luz didn’t even notice the grass around her shriveling and browning. Deep underground, roots withered and broke connections.

Luz suddenly remembered what Amity had told her. Each glyph had power, but combining them was what made them stronger and capable of more things.

Still, she hadn’t brought any other references with her, so she would have to just use the light glyph. She didn’t want to risk drawing one wrong. Luz drew the light glyph, confident enough to not even look at the paper anymore. Around it, she drew two more circles. She initially only drew one glyph on each ring, but when she stepped back to look at it, she bit her lip. It was just light, what was the worst that could happen? Worst case scenario, it probably got too bright. But then she could just send them up to the sky and it would be fine. 

So she drew a few more. Tiny ones, dotting the rings of her superglyph. Not quite sure how it was supposed to work, she drew connecting lines from each glyph to another, making a series of overlapping lines. That was probably the right way to do it.

Luz bent down again, feeling connected to the island and all its magic. She may not have been going on epic pirate adventures like Azura, but she was having magic adventures. This was what she was made for. She slapped the circle.

Luz waited for the lines to be absorbed and convert to balls of light like all the other ones had. Instead, the ground started shaking, and Luz fell on a tree, reaching for something to stabilize her. Then she jumped back. A sinking feeling filled her gut. Light couldn’t cause too much damage, right?

She breathed a sigh of relief when balls of light seeped out of the ground, until she took a closer look. The light was unstable, vibrating with what seemed to be electricity. And the balls of light weren’t separate, and they didn’t create a huge ball, and they didn’t make something awesome. They were all connected by lightning currents that resembled the messy lines she drew. It was like a field of unstable energy. Luz was in too deep.

~~

Back at the Lost Kids Tree House, Amity, Gus, and Willow were all in the main room practicing different glyphs while Eda was out doing whatever she did when she wasn’t with them. Willow and Gus were sitting together on the ground, strategically sitting to avoid splinters or loose nails. All the kids had loose pieces of paper scattered around them.

Willow drew a small plant glyph, and grabbed Gus’s hand.

“Close your eyes,” she said. He closed them eagerly, curious to see what she was practicing. “Okay. I’m going to try to connect to you.”

“What do you mean?” He kept his eyes closed.

“Well, I’ve gotten much better at making things. I want to see if I can make something through you.”

Gus was about to ask more clarification when he was cut off by a laugh. 

“Oh, Willow, it’s adorable that you think you’re strong enough for that. Keep it up, superstar!” Amity’s voice oozed syrupy sweet mock kindness, not even bothering to lift her head up and look at them. She was focused on drawing a sigil for nail polish, a combination of plants and water that she had been messing around with all day.

Gus narrowed his eyebrows. “At least she’s doing something cool instead of trying to paint her nails.”

Amity looked up that time. “Right, Willow’s plant failures are so much more productive than me making an effort on my appearance. I’ll stick with this.”

Willow blushed, looking down. She was actually doing really well, Eda even said so.

“Ignore her,” Gus said loudly. “All this time on the island, and she’s still a snob. Clearly the connection with the island hasn’t worked on her.”

Oh, boy. That would really make Amity mad.

“You’re-” Amity started to say, pointing a threatening finger at them, when the door was thrown open.

“I have a problem,” Luz announced, looking slightly panicked, although she was trying hard to look calm.

The conflict between the three of them was briefly forgotten.

~~

Luz paused. Despite her anxiety levels, she could still feel the tension in the air. “Um, is everything okay between you all?”

“We’re fine,” Willow said quickly. “Luz, what happened?”

Luz took a deep breath, and started speaking as fast as she could, like that would make it any better. “OkaysoImighthavetriedmagiceventhoughEdatoldmenottoandnowtheworldisfallingapartbecauseImadeittoobig.”

The three of them stared at her, and she sighed and shrunk in on herself. “Eda told me not to do any magic because I won’t know what to do, but I thought I could do it. And I was fine! At first. Then I tried to do something cool, and now, well, I don’t even know how to describe it. Will you help me?”

“We should get Eda,” Gus said authoritatively.

“No.” Amity and Luz both said immediately.

“She can’t know,” Luz pleaded, as Amity said, “We can fix it ourselves.”

“We should really get Eda,” Willow said, not looking at Amity.

“No,” Amity said, more forcefully. “I am not going to get in trouble for her mistakes. We will fix this and she won’t know what happened.”

Gus groaned. “Amity, let it go. She doesn’t ‘get people in trouble’. She never has, and she never will. You’re so obsessed with the thought of being punished.”

Something about Amity’s weird behavior and distress at the thought of being in trouble felt strangely familiar to Luz, like she was having deja vu. She could almost certainly say she’d heard people swear to fix things before someone out in her past life. But she didn’t have time to try and figure out why Amity’s behavior reminded her of home. “Um, we need to go. Like, now. Can we do this later?”

Amity put her hands on her hips. “What did you do, Luz?”

“I don’t know! But we need to fix it!”

“Hey. It’s gonna be okay, Luz. We’re going to help you.” Willow put her hand on Luz’s shoulder and smiled warmly, a sharp contrast to Amity’s behavior.

Gus reached for some paper, and the group headed out, leaving the tree house empty besides for scattered papers. 

Gus and Willow walked alongside her, making small talk to try to calm her nerves. Amity walked a few paces behind them, acting uninterested in everything about them. Luz couldn’t figure out what Amity’s problem was. Luz was used to people not liking her for a variety of reasons: she couldn’t help interrupting people, she was constantly bouncing around, she had too much energy, she always said weird things. Basically, she just didn’t fit in. But Luz had thought it would be different in Neverland. Eda made it seem like everyone would be an outcast like she was. Gus and Willow were about what she had been expecting, but Amity just didn’t fit in anywhere in her expectations. 

She turned her head back to look at the other girl. Amity glared at her. “What do you want?”

Luz turned back around without answering. Talking softly to her new friends, Luz asked, “So what’s Amity’s deal? Why is she so mean?”

“She doesn’t talk about her life before Neverland,” Gus whispered back. “But it seems like she wasn’t very happy. And her parents weren’t very nice. She can’t seem to get over it.”

Luz frowned. That was sad. 

“Is it getting hotter?” Willow asked in a normal voice. “I feel hotter.”

“Willow’s right,” Amity said, and looked down in embarrassment when everyone gave her a surprised look. “What? She made one correct observation. It’s relevant to the situation.”

“We’re getting closer,” Luz said nervously. That couldn’t be good. They closer they got, the hotter it got, and they all started to hear a faint staticky noise.

They all stared in shocked silence when they got to the light field. In the time she had been gone, the grass had turned stiff and wheat colored, the soil has become crumbly, and the colors of the leaves had drained away. But worst of all, the light had grown bigger, and expanded further.

“What did you do?” Amity yelled. “Oh my god, we should’ve gotten Eda. Oh, shit!” 

Luz bit her lip and cringed back at the criticism. “I know, I messed up really bad. Can you help?”

“Tell us exactly what you did.” Amity walked closer to her, and Willow stepped in front of her protectively. 

“I drew my light glyphs. Then, um, more light glyphs. Then a really big one? With rings and more glyphs on those rings?”

“Oh, Luz, you tried a combo?” Willow’s eyebrows shot up, and Luz let out a low ‘mmmmmmmm’.

“How could you be so-” Amity stopped and rubbed her forehead. “Ugh. I’ll call you an idiot later. We need to figure this out. All of us.” She looked directly at Willow, with an expression of truce for the moment. Aw. Luz was bringing them together. 

“Eda always says magic is about intention,” Willow offered. “We need to really intend to fix this.”

“Yeah, why don’t we draw a cute little smiley face and really hope all of this is fixed?” Amity tilted her head sarcastically.

“Hey, at least she’s trying to find a solution! And you said you’d be mean later.” Luz pointed at Amity, drawing herself up into a wide, confident stance.

“Willow is right. Magic is about intention. We need to intend to fix this.” Gus tapped his chin. “What intention are we focusing on?”

“Make the light go away,” Luz suggested.

As if straight out of a storybook, Eda flew down to land right in front of them. She ran her fingers through her hair, staring at the mess of magic in front of them. “Wow, looks like someone used magic improperly. Almost as if someone went behind my back and did magic after I told her not to. Wonder who that was.”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry,” Luz wailed. “Please just fix it and I’ll never do magic again!”

“What? No, Luz, of course you’re going to do magic again. Come here.”

Luz looked to the others, trying to figure out if this was some sort of trick. Eda cleared her throat, and Luz trudged up to her, crumbling dry dirt under her shoes.

Eda softened her body language. “Magic is all about intention. Tell me what you did.”

Luz relayed her story again, miserably. Eda nodded as she listened. Then she asked, “What did you want?”

“What?”

“What did you want it to do?” Eda gestured around them. “When you drew the glyph, and you clearly did it correctly, so good job with that, what did you want? What intention did you put into the magic?”

“I… I didn’t.” Luz tilted her head in thought. “I guess I just wanted to do magic.”

Eda nodded again. “Magic is a gift from the island, kid. When we draw glyphs, we draw energy from the island. That energy has to go somewhere. You could draw a water glyph, and focus on sending that energy into the creation of ice. We also give back to the island. We live in balance with what we use and what we return. You just summoned a fuck ton of energy without having any intention for it. Now this part of the island is depleted of a huge amount of energy.”

Eda gestured to the light field, vibrating and coursing. “You did cast a pretty powerful spell, I’ll give you that. But all this energy has no intention, so it’s just trapped here. It also really messed up our balance of magic, which is why it’s so unstable. And the reason it’s spreading is because the island is trying to draw energy from other parts of the forest to recover.”

“So what do we do?” Luz felt desperate. Eda gently took her hand.

“We rebalance. We give back. We make intentions.” Eda nodded her head at the three kids watching and waiting. “Get over here. We’re going to need everyone. Alright. Now follow my directions exactly.”

They all gathered around her, ready to fix Luz’s creation. Despite how stressed Luz was, Eda was grinning. She almost seemed proud.

“Willow?”

Willow snapped her head up, looking alarmed. “Yes?”

“Wanna show off your plant magic?”

Willow looked confused, and Amity looked jealous. “What, right now? Shouldn’t we be fixing this?”

“We are. I need all of you. You in?” Willow nodded, and Eda turned to Amity. “You ready to try something new?”
For the first time, Luz saw Amity look nervous. “I think so?”

“Gus. You okay with doing something you’re used to?”

He nodded, looking eager.

“Luz.”

She looked up at Eda, feeling bad. “I’m sorry, Eda.” She repeated.

“Are you ready for your first real lesson? I’m getting a good sense of your magic style.” She winked, and Luz was truly amazed by how Eda wasn’t punishing her, or making her regret her mistake.

“Yes, yes, I am!”

Eda gestured toward the light. “We need to put the magic back into the Island. We’re going to make a flower field. Willow, I need you to use all that strength you’ve demonstrated. But I need you to be confident in yourself. There is so much energy around just waiting for you to use it. Focus everything on using it to make flowers.”

Willow nodded, and started drawing glyphs, in the air this time.

“Amity, there’s a ton of heat in the air right now. That’s because of all the light drawn out. Using Earth Glyphs and Fire Glyphs, I want you to draw that heat out and balance it back into the Island. Get rid of this dry heat.”

“But I haven’t mastered combinations. What if I make it worse?” Amity looked frantic.

Eda reached out and touched the girl’s shoulder. Luz thought Amity would flinch away, but to her surprise, she leaned into the touch. “No one masters glyphs, Amity. You are so strong willed, and you don’t need to be perfect. What’s inside you is stronger than any self doubt anyone has instilled in you. You can do this.”

Amity sucked in a deep breath and nodded. With a determined look, she joined Willow, even giving the other girl a cautious smile.

“Gus, Amity is going to try to take out some of this heat. I’m gonna need you to be there with the water. I know you two have your issues, but for now, I need you to work together with her. As she draws excess heat out of the air, you’re going to replace it with water to rebalance the climate.”

He nodded and Luz watched him walk toward Amity. They exchanged words she couldn’t hear, but they joined forces. Amity seemed much nicer since she had gotten that praise from Eda. 

“Is there, um, anything you want me to do?” Luz asked shyly.

“As they draw from the energy of your light field, the balls of light will become dimmer and dimmer. We’re going to put the rest of it back.”

The heat was already starting to go down. Eda led her to the center of the field, and it felt hotter again. They went to the center, where the biggest light glyph had been. Eda smiled. “Look.” She gestured toward the others. “They’re all working together.”

She resembled a proud mom, and Luz couldn’t help but feel the warmth of the scene, aside from the cooling warmth of the air. Willow’s plants were beautiful. Roses, ferns, and other plants she didn’t know the names of rose from the ground, glowing. Literally glowing. The soil beneath them seemed richer, and healthier, as Amity focused and moved her hands. And Luz saw flecks of rainbow as Gus worked with the water. For how scary everything had seemed, it was turning into a gorgeous scene of nature, and camaraderie. Eda showed Luz how to connect to the light, and move the energy from the air into the plants and the dirt. 

As they did, she taught Luz a little more. Since magic was so focused on intention, drawing very similar glyphs could yield very different results. That was why she had told Amity to choose something specific. She had wanted Amity to try to connect with her intention and use intuition to figure out how to integrate what she wanted with how to make it. Or why she had just told Willow to become more familiar with a certain glyph, or how Gus would use those same principles to recreate his illusion. 

She also explained that once a spell was completed, such as eating food from a glyph combination, the magic recirculated through the island and that was how they kept it in balance.

Slowly, the Island was rebalanced. The five of them stood back and stared at their work.

 “That was actually kind of fun,” Willow said after plopping down on the ground.

“Yeah,” Gus agreed, dropping to his knees.

“It was, wasn’t it?” Amity bit her lip and looked away when Luz smirked at her. “Don’t make this a big deal.”

“I’m proud of all of you,” Eda declared. “This could have been a total disaster, but you all worked together and were incredibly powerful. But Luz, you’re on magic restrictions for a week.”

Yeah, that was fair. 

Chapter Text

One week of magic restrictions. Seven days. Probably, like, a hundred thousand minutes. Definitely a million seconds. That was her consequence. Eda had made it very clear it was a consequence for her actions, not a punishment for her behavior. Which maybe seemed like a small difference, but after a lifetime of being punished for things she didn’t even mean to do, Luz really did appreciate someone focusing on actions having outcomes instead of punishments.

Still, those seven days were agonizingly slow. After a week of basically being either Gus’ or Willow’s shadow, Luz was off magic restrictions. She had been almost too excited to sleep the night before. Almost. Even if she wasn’t doing magic, Neverland days were full of exciting adventures that had her snoozing after only like thirty minutes. Record times.

She was also getting used to sleeping in. That was a privilege Luz hadn’t ever really had, and it was a super nice change. She couldn’t actually sleep in that long with her weird Circadian rhythm, but knowing she had the option was special on its own.

That day, though, she was up, up, up! Big day!

She couldn’t wait to go outside and make her own unique connection with magic, and the island, and nature, and… apparently, the rain. It was really coming down when she pressed her nose up against the window, hot morning breath in her face. Yuck.

It was her first rain in Neverland. Luz was a big fan of the rain. It had so many possibilities. Was it a cold rain? A hot rain? Would the air get all muggy, or humid, or watery fresh? Was it a trickle or a pour? Would the rain be fat droplets of water that splash against her face, big enough to catch on her tongue, or would it be fast, thin streaks of water? 

Luz couldn’t wait to find out. Making a hand-hat to keep water out of her eyes, Luz bound through the door into the rain.

Fat droplets of water poured from the sky, fast and heavy, warm and humid. The air had a smell she couldn’t describe, but it was pleasant. What an exciting day to have her first magic lesson! 

“Ugh, what idiot left the door open?” Amity, a delight as always. 

“This idiot!” She poked her head back through the door, pointing two wet thumbs toward her chest.

“I should’ve guessed.” Amity walked over and slammed it shut, leaving Luz out there. Whatever. She didn’t care. She liked the rain! Eventually, however, she did want to go in, because she was getting kind of cold, and really soaked, and rain was only fun for so long. But when she pulled on the door, it didn’t move. It was locked.

“Amity! Hey, Amity!” Luz knocked on the door. “I think you accidentally locked it!”

Amity turned her head, looked at Luz, and just smirked. Oh. What a witch! Luz banged on the door. “Let me in!”

The door opened, but it wasn’t Amity. Willow was awakened by the noise, and quickly came to Luz’s aid. 

“You locked her out?” Willow scowled at her. “That’s low, even for you.”

Willow often backed down when it came to defending herself against Amity, but her fierce side came out whenever it was regarding Luz. Luz just hoped one day Willow would defend herself with the same fearlessness.

“Why are you all up so early?” Eda groaned, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her palms. She took a look at Luz and did a double take. “Why are you all wet?”

“It’s my first rain!” Luz said happily.

“You’ve never seen rain?” A groggy voice said as Gus walked into the main room. Aww, he had cute little pajamas.

“I’ve seen rain, this is my first rain here in Neverland,” Luz clarified. 

“You woke me up,” Amity grumbled.

“Sorry,” Luz said, not really meaning it, “but now I can start my first magic lesson!”

“Mmm, no.” Eda yawned and Luz jerked towards her in disbelief.

“What? Eda, you said a week! It’s been a week! I waited!” That was not fair! Eda said a week! You don’t get to change your mind when the week is just over!

“It’s not that.” Eda waved her off dismissively. “It’s pouring out there. Lessons do not happen while it’s pouring.”

“Why not?” She knew she was whining, but she didn’t care.

“It washes away our glyphs.” Gus explained to her, opening a cabinet. The food situation here was a little confusing to her; dinner usually happened outside and was made from glyphs, but there were also cabinet inside that had some food stocked in them. She didn’t have time to ponder it, because there were much more pressing matters. Like her hard earned magic lesson.

“That’s okay,” she reassured Eda, “I don’t mind if we have to do it inside.”

“It’s not all about you.” Amity grabbed a slice of what seemed to be the Neverland equivalent of bread. “You don’t get princess treatment here.”

Luz did not like her tone, with the insinuation that Luz had ever gotten princess treatment in her life, because she certainly had not.

“Is your blood sugar low?” Willow asked her. “You seem a little dysregulated.” 

Luz saw the hint of a smirk on Willow’s face, that dissolved as Amity’s face twisted in anger. “Yeah, you’d know ab-”

“Amity.” Eda’s voice had an edge to it. “Back down. Willow, don’t purposely upset her.”

Whatever bite Willow had had when she was talking on Luz’s behalf was long gone as soon as Amity turned on her. What was Amity’s problem? Luz knew Eda said that Amity had been just as lost and trapped as the rest of them, but did she really have to choose someone so mean? 

“I know this is disappointing, kiddo. But magic shouldn’t be contained into a space like this. It needs to be wild and free.” Eda put a hand on Luz’s soaked shoulder. “Go to your room and change, okay? This can’t be comfortable.”

Luz nodded sadly. Eda gave her a squeeze. “Okay, all of you. King needs a bath and this is going to take a while. Any noises of distress are just our little drama baby acting up. Don’t bother me.”

The kids nodded, and Eda headed off. Her room was the only one on the left side of the Tree House. Luz had never been in there, despite how badly she wanted to. But it was made clear she was not allowed in there, and Luz wasn’t about to ignore rules anymore. At least for the foreseeable future. Things could always change.

She trudged down the left side of the Tree House, past Amity’s room -shut, as always-, past the room Willow and Gus shared -bunk beds like hers-, into her room, the second to last one down the hallway. Considering she, Gus, Willow, and the empty room all had bunk beds, it seemed like a pretty safe assumption to believe Amity’s was the same. She wondered if Amity had ever had a roommate.

Luz would like a roommate. Her life has been pretty lonely, and she wouldn’t mind another person living with her, someone to whisper with at night, someone’s breathing to listen to at night when her thoughts felt too loud. But the only other person to share with was Amity, and she didn’t want to share with her. So, no roommate for Luz. 

Sometimes she heard Gus and Willow talking or giggling in their room together, and she felt an ache deep inside her. There were a few nights were she had asked if she could stay in there before bed with them. One night she even fell asleep in there, squished in the top bunk with Willow. Maybe one day she would ask Eda if she could move in there.

For the time being, she hung out in the main room or in their room, avoiding solitude for the most part. It wasn’t a bad room! It had a really earthy vibe to it, and Luz really liked that. She switched between the top and bottom bunk bed, and her bedspread made from plants and some sort of cotton was surprisingly warm and comfortable. 

Luz also wasn’t quite sure where the clothes came from, but they seemed like normal clothes. She selected a purple shirt with a black skirt, peeling off her wet pajamas. She should really ask Willow to make plants for her room. She wanted it to feel more alive. The rain outside did not lighten at all, but it made a nice sound coming down.

Combing her fingers through her hair, Luz walked back down the hallway, stopping at her friends’ room. She started to ask if she could go in, a habit born of politeness and past punishments. But they had made it very clear she could go in whenever she wanted. If one of them was waiting outside the door, that meant the other was changing and neither of them should go in. Besides for that, she was free to share the space.

Gus was combing Willow’s hair. She sat in front of the bottom bunk bed, Gus cross legged holding a comb made from sticks.

“Luz!” Willow smiled. Then she made a sympathetic face. “I’m sorry about the rain. I know how excited you were for your first lesson.”

“You seem really strong, though,” Gus said. “I bet you’ll make a lot of progress really fast.”

“Thanks, you two,” Luz said. “I hope so. How fast did you learn?”

Willow blushed and looked away. Luz cocked her head, and Gus explained, “Willow is really good, she just learns at her own pace.”

“I’m bad,” Willow said flatly. “I learn slow and I’m bad at it.”

“You are not,” Gus said crossly, and Luz got the feeling they’d had this conversation many times. “That’s just what Amity says. Your plant glyphs are so much better than hers ever could be, and you have a super strong connection with the island.”

“I can’t do any other glyph, that’s what he’s leaving out,” Willow explained, crossing her arms. “Gus comes up with cool combinations, and Amity is amazing at everything the first time she tries.”

“Amity is good at the glyphs Eda gives us,” Gus retorted. “She’s can barely come up with her own. You also make cool combinations, you just keep discrediting yourself.”

“I think you’re really good,” Luz said, and Willow smiled softly. “Why is Amity so mean to you in particular?”

“Because I learn slow,” Willow said, but Gus interrupted her, saying, “Because Willow is nice and cool and everyone likes her, and Amity doesn’t know how to engage with civilization.”

That didn’t make Luz feel better, if she was being honest. It was one thing for someone to just mean, because then you can just dislike them. But if someone’s mean and they have sad reasons for it, Luz always felt bad for them and wanted them to feel better. She had known many mean people who were just sad. A lot of times, when people were nicer to them, they stopped being so mean. 

Luz heard a scream, and jumped, but her friends didn’t flinch. “Um, did you not hear that?”

“That’s the noise King makes when Eda actually gets him in the bathtub. Then he’ll scream over the water, then the soap, then the water, you know? He really hates baths.” Gus finished Willow’s braids, and she nodded approvingly of his work. Dang, he was really good at that.

As predicted, the screaming continued, and Willow giggled. “I bet at this point he looks like a wet rat.”

Gus snickered. “I used to have a rat, actually.” He smiled, lost in memory, before it slowly faded away. Luz was starting to think they all had really complicated relationships with the life they left behind.

However, a scream or two later, the pitch changed from a scream of distaste to a darker scream. Fear? Luz thought maybe she was just imagining things, but Willow and Gus looked at each other, and they both wordlessly jumped up and ran toward the noise. Ugh. Weren’t you never supposed to go toward the scream? That was, like, the number one rule of horror movies. But life wasn’t a horror movie, and if Gus and Willow were running, Luz was going to follow.

It must have been pretty important, actually, because Amity was already in the main room. King met them there, water dripping from his fur. “Eda’s out of elixir,” he said breathlessly.

“What?” The three senior Lost Kids said together.

“Yeah, I don’t know how! But when I went to get her daily dose, her back-up supply was almost completely water!”

Uh oh. Okay, so Luz hadn’t gone in Eda’s room. Not technically. But she miiight have gone and used Eda’s bathroom. Hers was being occupied! And she really had to pee! And if she had seen an interesting large vial of a shiny purple substance, she miiight have tried to drink a little, and there was the slightest chance it was slippery and she dropped it and a lot of it spilled out and she replaced it with water.

The right thing to do would be to confess and take the consequences. But she had just messed up and she really didn’t want to be on restrictions again. So if she didn’t say anything, it probably wouldn’t be too big of a deal.

“Uh, what does this mean?” She cut in.

“Eda is cursed,” King explained. “She needs to take an elixir every day so that she doesn’t turn into a beast. If she doesn’t get it, she’ll transform into the Owl Beast. We don’t have much time before her curse takes over, but for now she still has some of yesterday’s in her system. I’ve strapped her down, but that won’t hold her for long.”

“What do we do?” Luz asked frantically. This was actually a very big deal, as it turned out.

“We need to make more. But that will take some time, and someone will need to contain Eda while we do that.”

“Gus and I can take King and gather the ingredients,” Willow offered, linking arms with Gus, who nodded in agreement.

“I’m the strongest,” Amity declared. “I should be the one to deal with Eda.”

They all agreed on that. But what about Luz? King seemed to have the same thought. 

“Luz shouldn’t go out with us,” he said, and Luz felt slightly rejected. “She shouldn’t try to navigate an island she doesn’t know in the rain under pressure.”

Okay, that was fair. But that meant… she looked at Amity, who groaned. “Just stay out of the way.”

“Amity, even you can’t handle the Owl Beast fully on your own,” Gus pointed out. “Stick to your pride or whatever, but you’ll get hurt trying to prove yourself, Luz will get hurt when Eda overpowers you, and Eda will get from being the Owl Beast for so long.”

Amity bit her lip, but Gus made a good point. Even she couldn’t do this alone. “Fine,” she said, “but you are going to do everything I say.” She pointed at Luz, who shrunk away from her.

“Okay, I will.” She meant it. This was for Eda.

“Let’s go.” Willow picked King up, setting him on her shoulder. “Luz, good luck.”

~~

Eda strained against the vines holding her down. Dang it, what happened to her stupid elixir? She hated this so much. And this meant that Luz would now know about her curse. She tried to keep it hidden for as long as she could, but clearly she couldn’t anymore.

The Owl Beast was always a part of her. Even when Eda drank the elixir, she felt her trying to break free. She was strong, but Eda was stronger. All these years of fighting against her had given Eda a strength and willpower she hadn’t known she had.

Eda pushed her away, and away, and away, but the Owl Beast always caught up to her. 

Eda whimpered when she felt feathers sprouting on her legs and shoulders. She didn’t have long.

~~

Willow trudged forward. Her bare feet were thick with mud, and her shoulder ached slightly from King constantly turning in circles. The rain had not let up at all, but, thank god, the water wasn’t cold. Gus held the glass vial, keep it upside down so that it wouldn’t overflow with rain water.

She had never actually made the elixir before, neither had Gus. It was usually a pretty personal interaction between Eda and King, and Willow kind of felt like she was intruding on something intimate. But Eda needed to be cured. 

“King, what are we looking for?” Willow asked, lifting a braid covering his little face.

“Weh?” He rubbed his eyes. “Well, the elixir is made from different things. But what we need out here is all from Mermaid Cove.”

Gus’ eyes widened. “Mermaid Cove? That’s pretty far, King.”

“Yes, that is why Eda and I make it only once a week,” King grumbled. “I’d fly us there, but my fur is wet and the dust won’t work if it’s wet globs.”

“It’s not too far,” Willow said. “It’ll just be a pain to do in the rain. But we’ve got this! We’re a super trio!”

Gus smiled. “Yeah, we are. I hope Luz is doing okay alone with Amity.”

~~

Amity was pacing back and forth in front of Eda’s door. She didn’t actually know what to do. Whenever Eda changed, there had always been enough elixir around to deal with it pretty quickly. Amity was very strong, and she made sure everyone knew it, but this was a really big task. Eda was stronger than any of them.

And even if she would never say it out loud, she didn’t want to hurt Eda. Eda was the closest thing she had to a mother like figure. That woman back home didn’t count as a mother. She might have given birth to Amity, but that was the extent of her competency as a mother. Screaming and degrading and criticizing and humiliating and belittling people stripped you of your right to call yourself a mother. Her past dad wasn’t actually bad, but he didn’t really protect her or her past siblings from the rages of their mother.

Eda didn’t scream at her, even when she deserved it. Even when she was a bitch, and she tested the patience of everyone around her, and she pushed everyone away, and even when she acted like her birth giver had, Eda never reciprocated. Sometimes she made Amity sleep outside, or had her fight it out, but had never once threatened to send Amity back. Even when she deserved it.

Even when Eda turned into this beast, she cared for Amity more than her birth giver had. Amity didn’t want to hurt her, but Eda was so much stronger, and Amity didn’t know if she could help Eda without hurting her in the process. She was already deep in mental turmoil, and the new kid didn’t help. She kept bugging Amity while she was trying to think and figure out what to do. She just would not stop talking.

Ugh, what was she saying now? She was just blabbering.

“Luz, shut up!”

Luz stopped and looked like a hurt puppy. Ughhh. She was acting like her mother. She was just so stressed.

“Do you want to help?” Amity snapped.

Luz nodded so hard Amity thought she would hurt her neck. 

“Then stay behind me and don’t move unless I say to. I don’t know when Eda is going to fully turn, and I’m trying to stand guard here.”

“What do we do when she fully turns?”

“We just need to keep her in her room. She’s strapped down for now, but the Owl Beast can easily break out of that. We just need to keep it strapped down.”

“How do we do that?”

She didn’t know. Dammit, she didn’t know. “I’ll give you directions as we go. Stop bothering me. I’m concentrating.”

~~

The Owl Beast was trying to talk to her. It felt as if someone was speaking directly into her brain. Eda had nothing to say to her.

“Go away,” she said hoarsely.

The Owl Beast growled in response, trying to communicate with her. Eda wasn’t going to listen. She wanted nothing to do with this. She just wanted to stay herself until King made the elixir. Feathers had covered her legs and arms completely, and soon, Eda would be pushed to the back of her consciousness, watching as someone else took the reins. Her size would double, her weight would redistribute, her eyes would narrow and dilate, her hands would morph into claws. She would become a beast, and she would be just conscious enough to know what she was doing and be helpless to stop it.

~~

Gus and Willow had made it to Mermaid Cove quickly. Apparently a combination of wanting to escape the rain and wanting to create a healing elixir made people walk faster. At some point he tried to take King from Willow to give her shoulder a rest, but his hair was long enough for King’s comfort, who repositioned himself on Willow’s other shoulder.

She set him down gently and they all moved to the cave, seeking a cover from the rain, which was finally starting to ease. 

The first thing they had to get was the sand, which was easy. Gus used his fingers to scoop some into the big glass container, wiping them off on his knees. 

Then they needed some mud. Gus and Willow had both accumulated a lot of that as they walked barefoot, so that was also easy to get.

King said they needed water, and Willow tried to just hold it in the rain, but King said it had to be from the lake alone. That proved to be a challenge. Gus plugged the vial with his finger and carried it upside down to the lake, filling it with about an inch of water, like King instructed, tightly covering it as he walked it back to the cave. How were they supposed to keep the water pure? 

“Do you have a cork, or something, buddy?” Gus asked as he set it down on a rock.

“Weh!” King scrunched his face up in irritation. “I knew I forgot something.”

It was okay, they would find a way to keep it as clean and fresh as they could.

Willow gathered the leaves and twigs he said they needed, and Gus drew the fire glyph that they held the almost completed elixir over. King said the fire put it through some elemental change.

But the most important thing was King himself. A plucked hair of his fur, a drop of blood from a cut that King gave to himself because both Gus and Willow refused to, and his golden dust. He had to be completely dry for it. 

Willow held him over a fire glyph combo, trying to speed up the process. But King had warned them that Eda had probably already changed.

~~

Until the door broke down, Luz didn’t know what to expect from the form that everyone kept calling a beast. Surely, it wasn’t an actual beast, right?

Wrong. This was a whole, entire beast. Luz didn’t get a long look before Eda burst through the door, but a giant, gray, feathered and winged creature broke the barrier down, and bolted.

Amity, who had been pacing in front of the door, was knocked over, and Luz ran to her side.

“Are you okay?” She grabbed Amity’s arm, concerned.

Amity shrugged her off. “I’m fine. Remember, you’re listening to me.”

Sheesh. She got it already. Then Amity’s face softened slightly, and she said, “Luz, the Owl Beast is dangerous. I don’t know if you fully understand that. That is not Eda, that is a wild animal who will not take mercy on you. I… don’t want you getting hurt.” Amity looked away at that last part.

Luz was taken aback by this unusually compassionate gesture. But just as quickly as it came, it passed, and Amity started ordering her around again.

Amity stalked through the house, trying to follow the beast, Luz closely behind her. She tried to ask a question at one point, but Amity gave her such a dirty look that she fell completely silent. The beast went through, destroying everything in its path. Luz watched Amity swallow a cry when the beast tore her door down. She acted like she was hiding a dang body in there.

They pressed their backs up against the wall as they followed the creature, and Luz got the briefest of glances into Amity’s room. It seemed pretty ordinary besides for… what were those? Were they.. Photos? Luz instinctively leaned forward for a better look, and Amity slammed her against the wall, pinning her. “Do not look at my things,” she hissed.

The noise disturbed the Owl Beast, and Amity clapped a hand over her mouth, swearing quietly. She was still pressed up against Luz, who could feel the girl’s heart pounding. 

“Run,” Amity said in a low voice. Luz didn’t question her as she took off. But when Amity didn’t follow her, she groaned, and turned back. She wasn’t going to leave her.

“What are you doing? I told you to go!” 

“You don’t have a plan!” Luz didn’t actually know if that was true, but from the way Amity stiffened, Luz realized with horror that it was. Oh, dang it. “Amity, do you have a plan?” Luz asked with urgency.

Amity hung her head. “No. I don’t. You got me. Now run, because that thing is coming straight at us.”

Before she could think through her decision, Luz grabbed Amity’s hand, and pulled her along. Amity might have been ready to sacrifice herself or something, but Luz wasn’t going to let her do that. If she didn’t have a plan, they would come up with one. Together.

~~

King, toasty and warm, offered his body to the two kids for a good scratch. They collected it in the elixir, and it turned purple as a week’s worth of potion came together. 

“We did it!” He beamed and the kids fist bumped. “But now we need to go.”

At Gus’ insistence, King sat on his shoulder, and Willow sighed in relief. He wasn’t that heavy, was he?

King was anxious as they raced back. He had seen Eda like this more times than any of them could imagine. He had spent weeks with her fading in and out of consciousness, slipping in and out of her beast form as they desperately tried to find a cure.

King knew the toll it took on her, mentally and physically. Eda was the most important person in his life, and he hated knowing she was suffering without him.

He was the only creature that the Owl Beast wouldn’t hurt, and that also concerned him. He had left two kids alone with a beast. He didn’t have a choice, but still. They needed to get back.

~~

“She’s an owl right now, right?” Luz asked.

“Yes! How have you not gotten that yet?” 

“Owls are sensitive to light!” Luz fought to contain her irritation when Amity gave her a blank look. “If we use light glyphs, we can get her back into her room!”

Amity considered the idea. “That’s… actually smart.”

Luz beamed, and Amity rolled her eyes. They quickly came up with a plan, hidden in Luz’s room. Luz’s light glyphs were almost completely untested, but they had a strong raw power, and were probably volatile enough to upset an owl. Amity would use various other glyphs to block its path, and together they would get it back in Eda’s room.

Amity gave her a rare, but objectively beautiful, smile. With clear difficulty, Amity said, “I wouldn’t have been able to do this on my own.”

Well, she didn’t thank Luz for helping, and she didn’t specify that she couldn’t have done it without Luz, but she was, like, half way there. It was good enough. Luz gave her a warm smile.

Together, as a team, armed with paper and pencils, they prepared to face the beast.

It was tearing up the main room. Luz let out a wild cry and drew a light glyph. She was pleasantly surprised to find that it was not volatile or unstable, but still upset the owl. She was not prepared for it to come straight at her, though. 

Amity jumped and covered Luz. Luz almost blushed. She watched, slightly in awe, as Amity used a water glyph to spray the beast akin to how one would spray a misbehaving dog. It shrieked and backed away. It was working!

Luz cradled her light creation in her hands, holding it up and forcing the beast backwards. Amity darted to block off different exits with plants. They weren’t as strong or intricate as Willow’s, but they were perfect for the task at hand.

They forced it into Eda’s room, situation under control. Until the door burst open, and Gus, Willow, and King broke the girls’ concentration.

The beast screeched, and Luz cried out as they lost their grip on it. King ran in to the eye of the hurricane, and Luz was running to scoop him up as he got right in the Owl Beast’s face. To her shock, the beast purred and nuzzled him. The other kids looked equally surprised at the display in front of them. The Owl Beast, the one that had been trying to attack Luz and Amity, wrapped its body protectively around King, like a mama protecting her baby.

“Willow, elixir!” He called out from her embrace.

Luz watched as he caught the large glass container, and forced it to her lips. Feathers molted and limbs shrunk down and a spine straightened out, and a very disoriented Eda rubbed her eyes. She was fully clothed, which didn’t really make sense, but nothing about magic did.

“King? How long was I out?” Her voice was a little scratchy.

“Not long,” he reassured her. King climbed into her lap, turning circles before nestling in.

Luz started to cry, and everyone looked at her. “It’s my fault,” she blubbered. “I used your bathroom and I drank some of your potion, and I spilled some, so I replaced it with water! I’m sorry!”
It was just like being back in Connecticut. Luz did stupid things, made things worse for everyone, and just kept apologizing. She would understand if Eda sent her back.

Eda stood up. “Luz. You invaded my privacy, touched my things, didn’t own up to it, and I turned into the Owl Beast because of it. None of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t touched things that weren’t yours.”

Luz’s tears turned to sobs. “I’ll go back. I understand.”

“But this also wouldn’t have happened if I told you about my curse. So, Luz. I am cursed, and I turn into the Owl Beast if I don’t drink my elixir.”

“What’s my consequence this time?” She hiccuped through her tears.

“You’re going to help me clean up the mess.”

“Am I banned from magic?”

“No. You all were incredibly resourceful and smart with this. I’m proud of all of you.” 

Willow and Gus fist bumped again, Amity blushed crimson, and Luz wiped tears away.

~~

Eda sure had gathered herself a group of kids. A kid whose guardian died and was always isolated due to his smarts, a girl who couldn’t stand up for herself or recognize her strengths, a girl hated herself and took it out on those around her, and a girl whos brilliance was matched only by her impulsiveness. All a little bit of her, all very lost. 

None of them were perfect. They all made mistakes, and one of them seemed to be masterful at creating catastrophe. But Eda herself was always punished for those same traits she sees in the new girl. No, she wasn’t going to make the mistakes of the teachers before her. 

~~

Alone in her room, the only sound was her own breath. But that night, it didn’t seem to bother her. It had been a long, chaotic day. Maybe silence didn’t have to be a bad thing.

Chapter Text

Luz had thought that after defeating the Owl Beast with Amity, things had changed between them. And they had, for a little while. For a few days, Amity seemed a little more humble, sometimes even bordering on nice. Then she just seemed to revert back to her normal self.

Ugh! How hard was it to just be nice? Luz was trying so hard to treat Amity with kindness and hope she would eventually start to reciprocate, but it wasn’t working.

Well, Luz had learned many things from being a foster kid. One of them was that if people weren’t listening to you, you had to make yourself heard. She had tried being nice, it was time to try something new. Luz was going to make herself heard.

The words left her mouth without thinking, and the sounds of breakfast came to a stop. 

“What did you say,” Amity said slowly, turning to face her.

“Luz, what are you doing?” Willow asked quietly, nudging Luz’s arm.

“I challenge you to a duel,” Luz repeated, louder and clearer. She felt kind of silly saying that, but Eda had mentioned duels a few times before, so she was pretty confident this was an actual thing people did here.

“You?” Amity snorted, taking another bite of her breakfast. How did she manage to make eating look condescending?

“Luz, you’ve only just started learning magic,” Eda reminded her. “Amity has been learning for months.”

She ignored the unhelpful words from her mentor. “Do not underestimate me, Amity. Don’t forget who came up with a plan for the Owl Beast when you couldn’t.”

A dangerous look flashed across Amity’s face, and Luz wondered if maybe she shouldn’t have gone there. “Okay, Luz.” Amity stood up, brushing dirt off of her bare knees. “I accept your duel.”

Eda nodded and turned to Amity. “What are the terms?”

“Wait, what do you mean?” Luz cut in.

“Did you challenge me without knowing how a duel works?” Amity asked incredulously.

Whoops. Sort of. Luz pursed her lips, saying nothing. Amity laughed. “I almost feel sorry for you.”

“The person challenged gets to decide what the goal is,” Eda explained to her. “Amity gets to decide what your objective is, and what decides the winner. I’ll make sure it’s nothing crazy, but the person challenged is entitled to choose virtually anything they want to be the terms of the duel. Amity only gets five minutes to choose, though, so that she can’t spend time preparing without giving you fair warning.”

“Oh, I don’t need time.” Amity looked her up and down, slow smile creeping across her face. “You seem to think you’re so much better than me. Why don’t you put your skills where your mouth is?”

Okay, Amity was completely missing the point! This wasn’t about who was better, this was about Amity being mean! Luz tried to explain herself, but Amity spoke over her, addressing Eda as if she wasn’t even there. 

“Luz can cast whatever spells she wants, as long as she uses a combination with at least three glyphs. Six sheets of paper for both of us. All I have to do is neutralize whatever she creates. I won’t even try to attack, that just seems too cruel.” Amity smirked.

“Luz, don’t do this,” Willow said, grabbing her arm. “You don’t have to prove anything.”

“Amity’s just a jerk,” Gus said loudly. “Don’t waste time on her.”

Nope. Luz was physically incapable of stepping away from a challenge. “I’ll do it,” she declared, walking to meet Amity’s eye. “When do we start?”

“Amity gets to decide how long you have to practice. You have up to-”

“Now,” Amity interrupted Eda, waving her off in a dismissive manner that Luz found very rude. “No practice time. I wanna see what you can do, Luz.”

“Now?” She squeaked. She had to cast super strong spells against Amity, without any time to practice or even think of anything? “Can’t we have a little time?” She turned to Eda, giving her best puppy dog eyes.

“Sorry, kid. These are the rules. You probably should’ve asked someone what a duel is before challenging someone to one,” Eda suggested. Well, too late for that. “Your boundaries are within our regular forest area. No time limit, just as long as it takes the two of you to get this over with. Stay here, I’ll get the paper. Oh, wait, you need to shake on it.”

Amity held her hand out confidently, and Luz slowly stuck hers out, almost expecting Amity to scratch her or pull her over. But her grip was strong and her hand was soft, weirdly cold, but not sweaty. As they shook on it, Luz felt energy pulsing through her hand and Amity’s, and she had the feeling that whatever had just happened was binding them together. She and Amity were now connected by magic. The duel had officially begun.

~~

In the end, it was the expectations that pushed Gus over. First it was just from being a Black boy in a gifted class. Then it was from his parents for him to take advantage of his opportunities. Then it was his mother’s death, from an allergy of all things, that led him to feeling obligated to succeed over everything else. The pressure, from himself, from his teachers, from his father, from his grief, it was all too much. 

On the outside, he held it all together. On the inside, he could only cope by receding into a world of his imagination. He fantasized about a world where no one expected anything from him. A world where he wasn’t clouded by grief for his mother. A world where he could feel like a child again, carefree and unburdened.

Then Eda came, and Gus left home to go to Neverland. Colors were brighter, food bursted with flavor, days were filled with fun and sunshine.

It was paradise then, and it was paradise now. 

Even as he sat with his best friend while they waited for their new friend to finish dueling another girl, it was paradise.

Amity was very different when he first met her. That was months ago, but it felt like a whole lifetime. When Gus arrived, Amity was actually Willow’s best friend. There were four kids already living there: Willow and Amity, of course, but also a girl who called herself Viney and a boy who insisted his name was Mattholomule. They all seemed very close, but Amity and Willow were closer with each other than the others. They even shared a room. They practiced their magic together, they had inside jokes. 

Gus’s roommate was Mattholomule, who he insisted on calling Matt, because he wasn’t calling him that. This was still when everyone called him Agustus, so Matt would try to, in retaliation, lengthen Gus’s name wherever he could. Viney used to be roommates with a girl named Skara, but she had already left when Gus got there. She didn’t seem to mind not having a roommate. 

Gus was initially very quiet, just assessing all of their personalities and trying to figure out where he would fit in. It was a long developed social survival skill. 

Viney was sweet and bubbly. She shared Willow’s love of plant magic, but she seemed to love animals even more. She loved King and spent as much time with him as possible. Viney had asked Eda several times for more animal magic lessons, but Eda always refused. Gus thought she was a little dramatic over it until he saw the Owl Beast for the first time. Viney spoke fondly of Skara and seemed healthy and confident when she told Eda she was ready to go home. Gus hadn’t know her for long, but she was always nice to him.

Matt was overconfident and loud. Despite having much more experience with magic than Gus, he seemed determined to best him whenever possible. Gus could not figure him out, but eventually, the rivalry became a source of fun and even confidence for him. Having someone to constantly challenge him without any real stakes or pressure helped him become more sure in himself, and brought some joy back to learning. Spirited debates kept them up at night, and to his great surprise, Gus missed him when he left.

Willow and Amity existed as a single unit in his head. They pushed each other further and further, finding endless fun in each other’s company. They were the epitome of children who ran away to a world of dreams. Sometimes Gus even wondered the nature of their relationship.

Viney left first, and then Matt. Having lost his closest companion, Gus breached their little world and added himself in. At first it was all great. Two became three, and they were the best of friends. The days were full of magic and joy and devoid of the loneliness he knew at home. But as Willow warmed up to him further, Amity changed. She got insecure, jealous, and eventually, mean. She acted like he was her competition instead of an addition. As her behavior changed, Willow pulled away more and more, which made Amity worse and worse.

Willow eventually moved out of her room with Amity, and into a room with Gus. The past few months had been a mix of that familiar magic and wonder Neverland possessed, and thick tension between the former best friends. For reasons Gus couldn’t understand, Willow couldn’t see the truth of what had happened. She was convinced that Amity’s personality shift was because of her and her magic. He tried over and over to get her to see that none of it was about her, but Willow took it all to heart.

Then Luz came along, and shook everything up. She saw Amity’s bullshit for what it was, and the three of them allied together. Luz was their ally, through and through.

~~

Luz ran through the forest, clutching her papers and a pencil. Amity ran after her. “Luz, this isn’t the Hunger Games! You aren’t supposed to hide from me!”

“You’re gonna kill me!” Luz shouted back.

“No I’m not! That isn’t how this works! Slow down, we can’t do this if you’re trying to avoid me.”

Luz scowled, but stopped running. She fell to her knees, running her hands through the red grass. She really wasn’t a runner, and that had taken a great deal of effort. She inhaled the fresh air, letting it fill her lungs and recenter her breathing. Amity caught up to her, not out of breath at all. Annoying.

“Are you ready to do this right?” Amity put her hands on her hips, holding the pencil and paper in one hand loosely. 

“Yes,” Luz said, mirroring her opponent’s body language.

Amity gestured toward Luz’s papers. “Show me what you got, new girl,” she said tauntingly.

“Talk to the glyph,” Luz shot back, scribbling the first thing she could think of: a simple plant glyph. She used the back of her hand as a surface to draw on, and then slapped it. A huge vine sprouted from the ground.

“I said at least three glyphs,” Amity said, casually drawing a fire glyph that sucked the oxygen out of her plant, shriveling it up with ease. “Do that again, and you lose by default.”

Well, that absolutely wasn’t going to happen. Luz racked her brain for everything she had gathered about glyphs. Okay, hmm. Glyphs could do pretty much anything you wanted as long as the combination made sense and you channeled your intention correctly. So, a water glyph and a plant glyph could make some gnarly plants, but it couldn’t get mist. And you needed at least one base glyph. That held the most power, and the others just built off of it. Also-

“Stop stalling,” Amity barked out at her. 

Luz really wished she had a clipboard or something. Okay, she had to think fast, clearly. Her goal was to create something Amity couldn’t undo. Crikey, that was, like, impossible! Anything she knew, Amity knew better! But Amity was looking at her expectantly, so she bent over to make her knee a flat surface, and used the next piece of paper to draw another big plant glyph, this time connecting it with two smaller fire glyphs. “Venus Firetrap,” she cried out, slapping the paper. It crumpled in on itself and a beautiful plant rose from the ground. It was spiky and red, and was in flames. The plant snapped at Amity, and Luz smiled proudly.

It only took Amity a few seconds to draw a glyph combination Luz couldn’t make out, one that doused her lovely creation in water, and smothered it with dirt. Gahhh.

Okay, okay, she could still do this. Oh! Her light field! The one that had gotten her a magical time out! Luz was too scared to make a really big one again, so she only used a few of the light glyphs. Even if Amity wasn’t saying her intentions out loud, Luz found it helped her focus and channel the right energy into it. “Epic light field!”

Balls of pure light seeped from the ground to come together similar to how they originally had. Amity squinted instinctively as Luz’s creation radiated bright rays, illuminating the gorgeous forest around them.

“It was a lot more impressive last time,” Amity said, drawing something that raised plants from the ground that seemed to suck the light back in, and watered it. Rats. She forgot that they had also all undone that exact thing together. On the bright (ha) side, Amity thought it was impressive.

Crap, she needed to up her game.

~~

Willow sat on a tree branch, wondering what was going on between her new friend and her ex friend. Gus was playing with King, and Eda was off doing whatever she did. Willow didn’t talk about this with Gus, because he didn’t get it, but she really missed Amity. Boscha was never really nice to her, and she still felt a little lonely when she left. Then Amity came, and they clicked instantly.

Willow smiled to herself remembering the first time they tried to dye Amity’s hair. They just could not figure out which glyphs to use, and at one point they just tried rubbing plants in her hair. 

When they shared a room, Amity would braid Willow’s hair every night, and she would have the pretties curls in the morning. When they were together, Willow felt like the world was hers to conquer. When they fought the pirates, she had Amity’s back and Amity had hers. If it turned nasty, like it sometimes did, they were the first to care for each other’s wounds. 

Amity wasn’t just her best friend, she was a part of Willow’s soul. She loved her so much, and loved the way Amity’s hand fit inside hers. 

Willow barely acknowledged Gus when he first came. He was younger, and he was a boy, and he had Mattholoumule, she focused on him a little less. When Mattholomule left, she could tell he was lonely, so she invited him to hang out with her and Amity.

It was all so perfect until they started learning magic together. Gus was so good, and he learned so quickly. Then Amity changed. She saw how talented Gus was, and how much Willow couldn’t live up. She became mean, and Willow eventually had to move out of the room they once shared so happily. It was just too hard.

Willow sighed, and traced something on the grass with her index finger. A small purple flower formed. Amity’s favorite.

~~

Amity was easily undoing anything Luz sent her way. She had to think harder! Fire. She had been using light, and plants, and water. She needed to try fire.

She drew a huge fire glyph in the center of the paper, making sure she didn’t break the wood in half, and surrounded it with earth glyphs. She was going off of the assumption that she wouldn’t actually hurt her opponent when she raised flames from the ground, creating a fiery dirt wall around Amity. 

Rocks rumbled through the island, creating a clay like appearance to the tall slabs of earth that Luz had pulled from the island up. Flames licked the air around them, somehow not setting everything else on fire, too. Hoo, that was hot. Luz fanned herself with her remaining papers as she looked at her creation. How was that for someone who apparently knew no magic, huh? She was doing quite fine. 

“Are you trying to actually injure me?” Amity called out from inside, sounding not at all distressed. 

“No!” Luz yelled back, suddenly wondering if she had taken it too far. 

A cracking sound of dirt preceded a mountain of dirt raising Amity out of the trap Luz had created. Her glyph lifted her out of the flames and recycled the energy into a patch of flowers, including on of the very same types of Venus Firetrap she had cast earlier. Well, that was just mockery.

Amity gracefully stepped off her platform, and Luz widened her eyes as she watched the girl pluck a flaming rose and tuck it behind her ear.

“Amity, no!” Luz raced over to try to prevent her from getting burned. She reached toward Amity’s hair, but the flames didn’t swallow her fingers, or the hair. Amity laughed at her, which was also insulting. Excuse her for trying to be a kind and thoughtful person.

“I used a light glyph, calm down. The flames are harmless.” Amity picked a second flower, and tucked it into Luz’s thick black hair. 

Luz shivered despite the heat of the clearly magicked flames. “What was that for?”

Amity paused, and furrowed her eyebrows in thought. “I… I don’t know,” she said, more to herself than Luz.

Luz didn’t have time to think it over, or even to take the flower out of her hair. She had two papers left. Swallowing her fear, Luz started running again.

“Ugh. Luz, this still isn’t how this works,” Amity yelled, leaving the rest of the flowers behind to chase after her.

~~

Eda moved through the forest unseen, King in her hair. Usually she just let the kids duel it out completely on their own, but this was Luz’s first time, and it was against Amity of all people. Well, hopefully this would do the kid some good. Both of them.

Luz needed to learn a little humility in her magic. Going around challenging people and lighting up forests wasn’t what Neverland was for. 

Amity needed to get over herself. Eda had watched her grow cruel when Willow made another friend. Eda kept trying to get Amity there, but she remembered being fourteen and being insecure. No matter how much you look up to someone, teenagers aren’t going to change their entire social behavior just because an older person told them to. 

Sometimes Eda felt as if Amity was testing her, almost daring her to do something. Like Amity was just trying to get Eda to punish her. She wasn’t going to. Personal growth didn’t come from punishment.

“Oh! I see them!” King said, poking out of her hair to point at the girls. “Luz has Amity in a flamey thing.”

Interesting. Eda crouched near a tree, close enough to see them and watch over, but not be seen or heard herself. She was unsurprised to see Luz running to Amity’s aid as soon as she thought she was in trouble. To her great surprise, however, she watched Amity tuck a flower behind Luz’s ear. Well, well, well, now. That was quite the interesting development.

~~

Two pieces of paper left. Two spells. All she had to do was create a spell so powerful that Amity couldn’t undo it. She’s tried making complicated, flashy things. It was time to try to just make something really big. She scribbled out an earth glyph, and then just surrounded it with water glyphs. She badly wanted to yell what she was making, but she also wondered if that was part of the advantage Amity seemed to have over her. She always knew what Luz was planning. So this time, she screamed it in her head as she triumphantly slapped her paper, feeling proud of her creativity. Below the dirt, away from Amity’s detection, Luz had summoned pockets of water to fill up, invisible to anyone above ground.

“Strike two,” Amity said, flashing up her index and middle fingers. 

“Not quite,” Luz said back, smiling. 

Amity frowned. “What are you-” she said, stepping forward. Before she could finish her sentence, she stepped on the wrong (or right, depending on who was speaking) area. Water exploded in her face, extinguishing the flame from the flower in her hair.

“What the hell?” She screeched.

“Show me what you got, Amity.” Luz mimicked, subconsciously touching her own fire flower.

Amity was fuming, it was clear. This was starting to feel a little fun. Now that she was pretty sure Amity wasn’t going to try to kill her, she enjoyed watching her opponent feel the sting of Luz Noceda. She was not one to be underestimated, after all.

“Cute trick,” Amity said, wiping water out of her eyes. “But a stupid prank isn’t-”

Amity was still walking toward her, and set off another explosion. Luz had basically created a water minefield, and Amity didn’t even know it. Her eyes widened with realization, and Luz couldn’t help but beam as she watched Amity realize what was going on.

“Okay. Not bad, new girl.” Amity got down on her knees, hands hovering over the grass like she was feeling for explosives. She grabbed her paper, which somehow wasn’t wet. That literally did not make sense at all, but okay. Neverland rules defied all logic.

Luz could sort of make out what she was doing this time, and she watched Amity conjure up a huge fire glyph, and a huge plant glyph. 

Under the soil, thick roots full of flames grew and spread, poking into every ball of water Luz had so cleverly placed, and pumping them full of fire. All around them, each little water bomb went off, reduced to just gusts of steam. Dang it! That was the best thing she had!

And now she only had one piece of paper left. Amity was walking closer and closer, with a look that could only be described as predatory. She was cornering her like a wild animal that had been declawed and rendered defenseless. Oh, crickets. She was going to lose. Everyone was right. This had been a really bad idea. She never should have challenged Amity of all people. Forget going on the attack, Luz just needed a cover at this point.

Using a simple three glyph ring, Luz used light, water, and plants to create a swirling tornado of defense around her, vines twisting and curling to shelter her.

~~

Gaps in the vines allowed Luz to see Amity calmly write down her final spell, walking directly up to Luz’s tornado of protection, with no fear or self doubt.

Amity placed her final piece of paper on the ground gently, a sharp contrast to how she had been slapping them down. She made eye contact with Luz through the plants, pressing her palm flat against her closing spell.

“I win.” 

Luz yelped as flames swallowed her plants, burning them down to nothing before water neutralized the sparks. Luz stepped away.

Amity walked farther toward Luz, who backed up more. Amity closed the distance between them, and Luz’s ankle stubbed a broken off tree branch, a casualty of their duel. She instinctively reached out for leverage as she fell backward, and ended up pulling Amity with her. Luz hit the forest floor with a hard thud, and Amity landed directly on top of her. 

Instead of pushing herself off, or rolling away, Amity propped herself up so that she was on her hands and knees straddling her opponent. “I win,” she repeated as she pinned Luz down, slightly breathless from the air knocked out of her. 

Her ponytail had come undone, Luz realized. She had never actually seen Amity look any less than perfectly composed. Her eyes were like liquid gold, she had never noticed that. She had such an intense gaze, but Luz didn’t want to look away. Her green hair looked like it came right out of a conditioner commercial, and she would swear it smelled like coconut and lime. Luz blinked and shook her head as if it was an etch-a-sketch to be cleared. This was Amity, for crying out loud. What was she thinking?

“You win,” Luz said back, hyper aware of Amity’s knees around her hips. “Now what?”

Amity paused. “Oh, um, usually duels are just a way to get your aggression out, or just your anger with another person. There isn’t really a next step.”

Why didn’t anyone ever explain these things beforehand? The only point was to fight? Actually, that didn’t sound so bad, on second thought. People really needed to do that more back home.

“Well, even though I lost, will stop being such a jerk?” Luz said, lifting her head up to glare at Amity.

They were so close their foreheads were basically touching. For reasons Luz couldn’t understand, Amity’s face flushed bright red, and she turned her head away slightly. To Luz’s greater surprise, she mumbled, “Fine, whatever. You aren’t worth all this drama.”

Amity pushed herself up using Luz’s shoulder as leverage, and, as an afterthought, held her hand out for Luz to take. Cautiously, she took it, and Amity pulled her to her feet. For the briefest of moments, Luz missed the weight of the other girl on top of her. But that was stupid. She was thinking about Amity, after all.

“You did better than I expected.” It was so quiet that Luz thought she’d misheard, or made it up.

“Huh?”

“You did better than I expected,” Amity repeated curtly. “I won’t say it again.”

They walked back to the Lost Kids Tree House in silence as Luz tried to process what the heck had happened in those final moments of their duel.

~~

Eda used King’s dander to get them back to home base before the girls could realize they had been watched. Eda had been keeping a good distance from them to preserve their privacy, but what had just happened didn’t need words. Eda smirked to herself. Ah, teenagers.

~~

“So, who won?” Gus asked immediately, jumping toward Luz. 

“Amity, why are you all wet?” Willow asked, concern in her voice. She wrote up an air spell, light and earth combination, offering it to Amity to dry herself.

The girl took it without saying anything, and Luz scowled at her. What happened to not being a jerk?

“I won,” Amity said, responding to Gus. “Did you ever doubt it?”

“Yes,” he snarked back.

“Hey, we have a strict ‘one duel per day’ policy.” Eda said, pointing fingers at Gus and Amity. Then she turned to the girls. “So? Did you get out your teen angst? Or do I need to send you to sleep out in the woods together for a few night?”

“We’re good,” Luz said immediately. “I think we’re going to be okay.”

She dared a smile in Amity’s direction, who blushed and turned away. Jeez, she won, why was she acting so weird? Exhausted from the day, Luz let herself collapse into the red grass she had come to love so dearly. 

~~

The sun went down late that night. It had been a nice one, one of those domestic nights where they played games together and made food. Those were Amity’s favorite nights. They didn’t do family game nights back home. Or family dinners. Or, well, family. 

Games had always been her favorite. Boscha had been the first one to play a game with her on the island, and she had fallen in love with the island that day. 

For as much as she fought with Gus and Willow, they were still her family. Even if the past few months had been wrought with more bickering and rudeness (usually from her, to be objective), they never lost their status as a family. Even when she pushed Willow away, emotionally and physically, they were a family. Amity really didn’t know why she was like this. She didn’t know why she panicked so much when Willow made another friend. She didn’t know why she lashed out at her. She didn’t know why she pushed back at Eda, who had only ever rescued her. 

Sometimes she felt like she just did everything on some instinct she couldn’t tap into, but something that screamed at her to survive above all else. No matter the cost. She heard her mother’s voice a lot.

Amity changed into her pajamas, and realized she still had the flower from the duel. She held it in her hands delicately. It was crumpled and had dried weirdly. Definitely time to throw it out. But for some reason, instead of throwing it out, she reached for a piece of paper and sketched out a glyph combination, imagining the flower in its original beauty, the heat it had emanated, the soil it had grown from, and without meaning to, Luz. 

An unfamiliar rush of magical energy pulsed through her so strongly that she didn’t even need to touch the paper. As soon as Luz crossed her mind, the flower was rejuvenated, perhaps even prettier than before.

Chapter Text

Luz woke up to the sound of people talking. This happened more frequently now. But it no longer bothered her. Luz no longer felt a surge of panic at sleeping in. No longer did she associate letting herself rest with the threat of punishment. She even let herself linger a little longer stretching out the pleasant feeling of drifting between sleep states and being awake.

Pulling on her clothes, Luz stuck her head out her window, never getting sick of the fresh air waking her up.

As she walked down the hall, she noticed something very curious. Amity’s door, usually tightly shut, was cracked open. Not on display, but still, more open than usual. She also didn’t ask permission to eat anymore. When she was hungry, she simply searched for something she wanted to eat. The food here was so sweet, which she both loved and hated. She was more fond of sour, firm fruit, but something about Neverland food overruled her normal preferences.

Eda was humming as she moved about the kitchen, combining food made from glyphs with food found on the island to make something that reminded Luz of a fruit salad.

Gus and Willow were working on a puzzle, sitting on the ground. Their heads were touching as they experimented with different pieces. They were so focused that they didn’t even acknowledge that she had joined them. Amity was on the couch, reading a book. Eda somehow had her own mini library, even though Luz didn’t see any authors around. There were many things that didn’t make sense to her that no one else seemed to question. Luz walked up to Amity. “Whatcha reading?”

She batted her eyes. Ever since their duel, Luz had been talking to Amity more and more, testing the waters of their relationship. She had found that Amity no longer initiated interactions by making a rude comment, but if she felt like Luz was bugging her, she might say something mean. But she no longer picked on Willow the same way either, so Luz felt pretty accomplished.

“A book.” Amity didn’t look up or acknowledge Luz in any way.

“What’s it about?”

Amity sighed and set it down, holding her page with her thumb. “Luz, I’m reading. Please leave me alone.”

Luz pouted, but left her to be. Amity stretched out on the purple couch, letting her feet hang off the arm rest.

“You can look at the books, if you want,” Eda offered. She plucked pieces of fruit from the bowl with her fingers, occasionally stabbing a piece with her long nails. Instead of using the stools in front of the counter, Eda rested her body against the wooden table top, tapping her toes against the wooden floor mindlessly.

Being able to stand while eating was another thing that was astounding to Luz. After so many years of being told to sit in her chair, or keep still, that was a freedom that she did not take for granted. “Maybe at some point. I’m really picky about books.”

She missed her Azura books. Well, Amity was not being engaging company, so she moved to Gus and Willow.

“Whatcha working on?” She bent down, poking her head between them.

“Luz! Good morning,” Willow said cheerfully, scooching aside so that Luz could join them. The rug they sat on was plants and moss, but somehow always stayed fresh. She thought maybe they used glyphs to restore it every now and then. The floor of the treehouse wasn’t ideal for puzzles, so it seemed they had made some sort of clay tablet to rest it on.

“We made a puzzle! Wanna help?” Gus gestured in front of them, sitting cross legged.

“Ooh, you made it?” That was so cool, of course she wanted to help!

“We messed around with enough earth glyphs and plant glyphs and figured out how to make puzzles.” Willow looked especially proud of herself. “We found this out a while ago, we redo them every now and then so that we don’t get bored of them.”

“What’s this one of?” She picked up an edge piece and squinted at the formed pieces, trying to figure out where it went. It was definitely harder without a picture to compare it to.

“King,” Eda answered, swiping her finger through the fruit juice in her bowl. “He made them make one of him.”

“Where is King?” To her surprise, Amity was the one who cut in and asked that. Actually, that wasn’t too surprising. Everyone loved King.

“Scavenging,” she responded. “He saw some animal and he’s determined to catch it.”

Aww, he was like a puppy. Poor little creature, though.

Amity set her book down, using a flake of tree bark to mark her spot. “Actually, Eda, can we go out? I finally figured out the nail polish, and I think some stormberries would make a nice color. I think the rain we had last night was strong enough to grow some.”

“If we’re getting things, I’d like some firehoney,” Willow added.

“I think there are some grassblenders that live in that area, too,” Gus said.

Every time Luz thought she understood the island, they would say things like that and she would realize just how little she knew.

Eda grinned. “Sounds like an adventure. I’ll find King.”

~~

Shoes were optional in Neverland. People rarely wore them, so we Luz saw the others finding things to cover their feet with, she took it as a sign that this would be terrain unlike what she was used to. She still had her shoes from home, but her socks were really dirty. She copied the others and used glyphs to create secure covers for her feet.

“Why aren’t we going barefoot?” She asked as she stomped on the grass, testing her homemade shoes.

“Rocks, firehoney, bugs,” Eda listed off. “Okay, are we going a la King, or are we walking?”

They all responded with walking, and she was glad for that. She wanted to explore every inch of the island, she didn’t want to waste an opportunity by flying past all of it.

Eda took the lead, and Luz bumped her shoulder into Amity’s. “So what are stormberries?”

“It might be a little complicated for you,” Amity said, “but they are berries that grow from storms. Tell me when you get it.”

Luz didn’t let Amity’s attitude get to her anymore. Amity didn’t have the same power over her that she used to. “Where do they grow? How far is it?”

“Parts of the island are broken up by water,” Amity explained, without being snotty for once. “The weather here is kind of crazy, and it affects different parts of the island in different ways. There’s a piece of land that’s broken off from where we are, but it’s easy to cross when we have King to fly us over the water. You could even swim for it, but then you’d get all wet, and so would everything you have with you.”

“Cool,” Luz breathed, taking it all in. “Hey, this is where we dueled!”

“Hmm. Yeah, it is.” Maybe it was her imagination, but Luz would swear she saw a hint of a smile.

Satisfied with their conversation, she fell back and aligned her pace with her other friends.

“Is she actually talking with you?” Gus asked incredulously.

“Oh, come on, Gus, she’s not all bad,” Luz defended. “Even you know that. You two have good moments together. Don’t forget dinners and games.”

“Gus and Amity used to actually like each other,” Willow said in a stage whisper. “We were all great friends. He likes to pretend that never happened.”

“What?!” Luz yelped, and everyone stared at her. She pursed her lips and flashed Eda an innocent smile.

“Yes, we were all friends,” Gus affirmed. “Then she changed as soon as she wasn’t Willow’s favorite anymore.”

“No, she just realized I’m not very good at this,” Willow countered. “It had nothing to do with me being her favorite. She just… saw me for what I really am.” At that, she looked away.

Luz reached for her hand and gave it a friendly squeeze. “Willow, you are so awesome. Don’t think like that.”

It was true that Willow seemed to be a little slower with her magic, but to think that she wasn’t good at it was just craziness. Luz spent her whole life being told the way she was learning was wrong, that didn’t make it true. Learning slower had nothing to do with how well you performed or how good you were or how smart you were.

Willow smiled and squeezed her hand back. “Thanks, you two. You’re the best.”

They chattered away as the walked through the forest, eventually coming across the river that Amity had told her about.

“Everyone, hold together,” Eda commanded them as she gathered golden dust. Willow and Gus held each other as Willow made contact with Eda. Amity was on her own side, and before she could think more of it, Luz quickly moved over and threaded her fingers through Amity’s. It seemed wrong for her to be completely alone, even for something small like this.

The water was impossibly blue as they crossed it, and fascinatingly, the further across they got, it went from gentle to crashing waves. The island really did have crazy weather.

“We’re here,” Eda announced, and Luz gasped with wonder.

The plants were as tall as she was, and the trees seemed to be endless. She understood the need to foot protection as she stepped around rocks and twigs, and other things she couldn’t identify.

“Stormberries should be that way,” Eda said, pointing deeper into the island. Luz bounded after the others, noting everything around her. The air smelled different, and it was thicker somehow. There was fruit all around them, ones she hadn’t even seen before. There was absolutely no space for a treehouse here, it was completely wild and free. She wanted to dance around.

Amity let out a happy noise when she saw a branch that looked like raspberries to Luz. Normal raspberries, if you ignored the crackling electricity it gave off, and the teensie tiny storm cloud above each bundle of fruit. But they were a gorgeous color, and definitely would make amazing nail polish. Amity had really good taste. Oh, taste! Luz wanted to taste them!

She ran up and grabbed one, but Amity flicked it out of her hand as she brought it to her lips. “Do you want mini electric burns?” She asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Maybe I do.” Luz shot back. Ugh, they looked so tasty.

Amity rolled her eyes as she picked a few branches, tucking them away into a cute leather bag she had brought. Everything that girl did, she did with style, clearly.

“Now what’s firehoney?” She asked eagerly, grabbing onto Amity’s arm.

Amity stared at the hand until Luz dropped it, looking at Amity expectantly. “Go ask Willow. She’s right over there.” Amity waved her hand in the girl’s direction. Gus and Willow were crouched by a bank of water in one of the swampier areas of the land.

Luz skipped off to where Willow and Gus were creeping towards a beehive, squishing in the mud. “Is this the firehoney?” She whispered, making them jump.

“Yes, be careful,” Gus whispered back. “The firebees are not something you want to mess with.”

Eugh. Luz wasn’t a fan of regular bees. The bees and Luz were enemies. Firebees sounded even worse. “So how do you get firehoney?”

Willow held up a handful of sweet berries from their kitchen. “We set these on fire to lead them out. When the snapberries burn, they make a popping noise that calls them over, and produce a sweet smell similar to firehoney.”

Luz nodded. She didn’t like snapberries, they had a weird texture and were just too sweet. Willow held the purple plump berries gently, and Gus sketched out a glyph combination made from a large fire glyph, and two small earth glyphs connected on outer rings.

He carefully set it down on the swampy red grass, right in front of the water. Willow placed the snapberries on the paper, and Gus tapped it. As described, the berries crackled and popped as they went up in flames, producing a scent so sweet it almost made her gag. “Is firehoney this sweet?” She choked out, holding her nose.

“No,” Gus reassured her. “It’s a pretty strong smell either way, but mix it up with some powders and leave it out for a little while and it’ll be fine. But if you don’t like this, I’d suggest plugging your nose.”

She nodded. Willow pulled them to the side as the firebees swarmed over to it. She wanted to watch to see what they did to it, but she was dragged away to snack the honey before they came back.

It wasn’t actually on fire. Luz didn’t know if that surprised her or not anymore. It looked like the glass in glass blowing videos she had watched, where it was so hot it was golden brown. It had the same heated look to it, and did give off a strong smell. Willow collected it on a stick, letting it drip into a glass jar. As it spent more time out of the hive, it cooled down, hardening and crystalizing on the stick.

“Why is that happening?” Luz whispered.

“The hive is fiery on the inside,” Willow whispered back. “It stays melty because it’s at a really high temperature. When you take it out, it hardens like that. That’s why we have to move quickly. It’s hardening in the jar, too, see?”

Sure enough, it was solidifying quickly. “But, wait, how do you get it out now?”

“Fire glyph,” Gus whispered as they quickly walked away, returning to a normal volume when he spoke again. “That’s why we use a glass jar, it can withstand the fire.”

They walked to Eda, who was at the very center of the island. As they walked further in, the leaves appeared burnt, the grass was shriveled, and the trees looked like they were rotting from the inside out.

“What happened here?” Luz cried out.

Amity was standing next to Eda, looking distraught.

“Pirates,” Eda snarled. “Belos.”

She said the name like a slur.

“Who’s that?” She asked breathlessly. Surely this wasn’t done on purpose, right? No one would do something like that. And what did Eda mean by pirates? She had mentioned them only once, when Luz had excitedly talked about wanting to be one. Eda had been so disgusted by the idea. Was… was this why?

“The pirate captain.” Disdain coated Eda’s words. Luz had never seen her like this before.

“We aren’t the only ones who live on this island.” Willow said sadly. She held her jar low, all excitement forgotten. Gus held a solemn look.

“No, this… this is awful.” Luz protested. “No one would do this.”

“Yes, they would.” Eda said darkly. “The pirates are bad people, Luz. I’ve told you this.”

Once, she thought to herself. With little to no detail, she might add. But being right or snarky didn’t matter at all at that moment. All that mattered was that her beautiful island had been hurt. “But we can do something about it, right?” She asked desperately. They couldn’t just sit there!

Eda took a deep breath and gave Luz a reassuring smile. “Yes, we can. And we will.”

~~

For the first time, Luz was going to be practicing magic without using any paper.

“The island is damaged here,” Eda had explained. “We can’t access it in the same way. We have to connect to it directly by drawing our glyphs in the island itself.”

The damage was contained. That’s what they told her, at least. She thought it seemed vast and uncontrolled. It was very clear where the problem was. The water was thick as sludge, and bubbles up air moved through the brown surface. She pressed her palm to a tree, and recoiled in disgust immediately. It was squishy in the worst way, like molded fruit. Gus was stationed at the water. Willow was sent to care to the plants. Amity was delegated to the soil, and Eda was leading her around as backup for the rest of the ruin.

One by one, Eda guided each child through the task, somehow staying patient to answer Luz’s frantic questions. She squatted down with Gus first. “This might be the hardest one,” she warned him. “Do you feel up to it?”

“Yes.” He said immediately, nodding with determination. “I can do it.”

“Take this stick. Draw a water glyph. Yes, directly on the surface.” She instructed as Gus stirred his stick through the filthy goop that was once gentle blue water. “It’s time to give back. Think of the island as it really is. Think about dipping your feet in the water on a hot day. Think of sipping ice cold water when your throat is dry. Think of swimming, how your arms easily glide through the water, how it gives and makes way, the thinness of it when you move through it. Think of cupping it in your hands and splashing it on your face, how it drips through your fingers and rolls off your skin. Think about what the island means to you.”

Gus closed his eyes, and Luz watched his face change from distress and determination to a look of dreamy remembrance. He nodded, letting his grip on his stick go from tense to steady. “I see it.”

“Focus all of that. They tried to drain the magic from the island, but it’s still in there. They tried to take the essence, but the island survives. Even when you can’t see it, it’s still there. Connect to it. Find it.”

Luz crouched with them as Gus dipped his stick deeper and deeper, building a physical connection with they all loved so much. “I feel it.”

“Draw your glyphs. Feel the magic. Turn this rot into beauty.” She put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, and he nodded.

Silently, he tapped the glyph, and Eda led her away. Luz turned back, craning her head to see what was happening. “Nothing is changing,” she whispered to Eda. “We need to go back.”

“Change isn’t instantaneous, Luz. You can’t always see it, even if it’s happening.” Eda didn’t look back, not a shred of doubt detected in her.

“How did it happen, Eda?” She felt like a little kid.

“The pirates can’t use magic like us. You know magic is about intention,” she said, and Luz nodded. She did know that. “Our intentions are to share the magic with the island. We live in harmony with it and we honor what it gives us. When the pirates try to use glyphs, instead of drawing energy out that can be used to make new things, the energy is drawn out and corroded. The island is then drained of its natural magic, and it rots wherever the energy was stolen. Once the pirates draw it out, it can’t be put back.”

“Then how can it heal?” Luz asked, more distressed. How can you heal something if you can’t put it back together?

“You can’t undo change, Luz. Nothing can be put back the way it was. The land here was hurt. We can’t change that. We can’t draw glyphs and immediately undo any damage that was done. But they also can’t destroy the island, no matter how badly they want to. As long as we can hold the beauty and wonder of it in our hearts, we can nurture it through the rot. We can change things to be better. It takes time for things to heal, but they can. Again, even if you can’t see change, even if you can’t see the island healing, change is happening.”

Luz nodded. She didn’t know how to respond. What Eda was saying made sense, but what a scary thought. Being told that she had to believe things would get better even if she couldn’t see it? The uncertainty seemed terrifying, but Eda’s confidence made her feel better.

She followed Eda over to Willow, who looked as defeated as Luz felt.

“What’s wrong?” Eda asked gently.

“I can’t do it,” Willow burst out. “I’m not strong enough. I can’t fix this, I can’t do anything.”

Eda offered an arm, and Willow ran in. Luz hadn’t really thought of Eda as a hugger, but it seemed obvious that Willow needed it.

“I know you don’t feel strong. I know what you see in front of you is scary. I know it’s scary to see something that was beautiful be stripped away like this.”

That didn’t seem like the world’s best pep talk, but Eda wasn’t finished. “But if we only left things to the people who felt strong enough, nothing would ever happen. Bravery doesn’t come from unwavering confidence. Bravery comes from persistence, and fighting back even when it seems impossible. You are so much stronger than you think. And if you don’t believe it yet, we’ll believe it twice as much for you until you’re ready. But we can’t let doubt get in the way of what needs to be done. You can always do something, Willow.”

Okay, that was actually a very good pep talk. Willow wiped her eyes with her sleeve and took a deep breath. “What can I do?”

Eda smiled. “Your plant magic is so strong, so much stronger than you give yourself credit for. This is your element, kid. This is who you are. I see the most of you when you’re working with your plants. This is what brings you joy. Tell me about that.”

Willow sniffed. “I love the red grass,” she said tentatively, and Eda nodded in encouragement. She continued, a little louder. “I love that it doesn’t feel itchy when I’m lying down in it. I love making new plants. I love making plants I never could’ve seen back home. I love coming up with new ideas and new combinations. I love decorating my room with plants. I love the way they feel and the way they smell. I love how I feel when I’m with them, or when I make them. I love taking care of them and making them bigger and better.”

“Yes! Exactly! That is your strength, Willow. These plants, they need that strength. They need your passion and your love. The pirates want to strip that away from us. But they underestimate you, Willow. They think they can take that away from you? Ha! No one could take that away from you. They might be rotted plants, but these are still plants. So do what you do best. Make these bigger and better.”

Willow smiled, and ran her finger down a vine. Luz cringed on her behalf, remembering the squishy tree. But Willow didn’t seem fazed at all. Luz wished she had a camera, just to capture the look on Willow’s face right then. She would try to describe it, but the people who created the words had never seen Willow at that moment.

As soon as she started drawing her glyphs, Eda led them along again to finally get to Amity.

“Why are the pirates doing this?” Luz asked, trying to match Eda’s stride. “I don’t understand.”

“Sometimes, Luz, people who are lost, and I mean truly lost, end up doing bad things to try and find their place.” Something akin to sadness flashed across Eda’s face.

“Who are they?” What kind of monsters would do this?

“Lost Kids.” Eda said, and Luz halted.

“What?!” No way! No, that made even less sense!

“Belos was the first pirate. He’s a manipulative bastard who takes good people and twists them into something as rotten as this.” She kicked a rock in reference. “Some people aren’t satisfied by all of this. They get sucked into his lies and tricks, and they join him.”

“So they’re kids?!” She screeched. Other kids were doing this?

“No.” Eda shook her head. “I honestly don’t fully understand it myself, but people age weirdly here. My kids don’t age. The time passes in the real world, but you could stay here for years and never age. But something changes in the ones who leave me. Symbolic, isn’t it? They were all just kids once. Now I think they’ve forgotten that.”

“Do you age?” Luz looked up at her with big eyes, trying to understand everything she was being told.

“I do.” Eda looked away. Luz had a feeling she didn’t want to answer any more questions, but there was still so much she needed to know.

“Why? Did you change?”

“I did. But for different reasons.”

Luz was going to ask more questions, but they reached Amity, who was dutifully waiting for instructions.

“What are we going to do this time?”

“This time?” Luz interrupted. “You’ve done this before?”

“Yes,” Eda said, as Amity said, “Obviously.”

Fun. Snarky Amity was back. Why not.

“Ready to get earthy?” Eda grinned. Compared to how she approached Willow, she was taking a wildly different route.

“Yes,” Amity said with a mischievous look.

“Are you having fun?” Luz asked in disbelief.

“I’m not obligated to be miserable,” Amity shot back. “Choosing to be all upset isn’t going to make me any more productive. I’d rather have fun with this than think I need to suffer for glory or something.”

Luz wanted to say something back, but Eda shushed her. Also, to her annoyance, she couldn’t think of a rebuttal. As annoying as Amity’s attitude seemed to her, it was true. She supposed that being upset or scared wasn’t a requirement for change. Maybe she just didn’t understand how Amity could feel this way when she felt so scared and outraged. But maybe they didn’t have to see it the exact same way. Or Amity was just a jerk. Both possibilities.

“What’s standing out to you?” Eda asked, ignoring their conversation.

“When I was six, I wanted to dig up worms at the playground. My mom screamed at me in front of everyone about being a good girl.”

What did that have to do with anything? This was serious, not a time to talk about childhood memories! Eda was treating this completely seriously though, so Luz kept her mouth shut.

“Good. Look at it, Amity. Look at those rocks. People always forget the importance of rocks in an ecosystem. What’s coming up?”

“When I was ten a boy threw rocks at me on the school grounds and my teacher told me it was because he had a crush on me and I should’ve been flattered.”

“Those kind of people are the worst,” Luz said without thinking, and they both nodded vehemently.

“Exactly. Those people are sexist idiots who romanticize violence against girls. Get angry, Amity.”

Get angry? Amity was always angry all the time. That was not something Eda needed to encourage, or something Luz thought they needed more of from her. Amity’s face twisted as she focused on those memories, and Luz took a step back from her. Her fists tightened around her stick, and her stance stiffened. It was the exact opposite of what Eda had been doing for Gus and Willow. What was the point of working her up?!

“I’m angry,” Amity snarled. “I’m ready.”

Ready for what? Eda grinned. “That’s it. Remember, anger is just another form of passion. You can let it destroy you, or you can let it fuel you to get done. Get loud, get angry, do something. Anger is passion, and passion is the enemy of complacency. Feel it! Pirates are trying to destroy our island. You have every right to be angry. Let that anger fuel you, connect you to the energy of the island, and show you your strength. This is your home, and no one gets to take that away from you.”

Luz could see the flames in Amity’s eyes. Then, to her amazement, she saw that dangerous anger shaping into burning passion. Amity’s snarl morphed into fiery smile, and her eyes lit up with determination. Her grip went from tense and unsteady to firm and controlled. She really was amazed. No one had ever talked to her about anger that way. She had never heard anyone talk about anger as resistance, and she had never seen anyone use their anger to fuel their strength. She had absolutely doubted Eda when she first got Amity worked up, but now it seemed like a brilliant way to reach her individually. Eda saw the rage in her, and instead of shaming it, she nurtured it into something productive instead of destructive.

Luz was suddenly hit by just how much Eda truly saw them. To be known and understood so deeply the way Eda clearly did. It was… beautiful.

She stayed to watch this one. She watched Amity draw her glyphs, digging her heels into the rot, slamming her hand to the ground, panting from the energy her anger exerted. Rocks rumbled and rolled, soil split and cracked.

“What is it doing?” Luz asked, watching with wonder.

“Separating,” Amity answered, wiping sweat from her forehead. “The soil crumbles as it tries to filter out the rotted parts and the healthy parts. I don’t actually know what’s happening with the rocks,” she admitted.

“What happens to the rot that separates? Do we have to come and collect it?”

Amity laughed and Luz frowned at her. She cleared her throat. “I’m laughing because it’s actually a really good question. You know how obsidian is formed from hardened lava? It’s kind of like that, except if instead of being terrifying sharp it makes you really sick. I’ll point it out next time we see on so you don’t get hurt.”

“Thanks.” She smiled. “I’m gonna find Eda.”

“I’m gonna go around and find more places to heal.”

They split apart, and Luz chased after her mentor. Eda raised an eyebrow. “You two getting along now?”

“I think so.” Luz blushed. “She’s really not that when you get to know her.”

Eda bumped her should affectionately. “I agree. That’s why I keep her around.”

They walked together in silence, before Eda said, “Or if King needs a snack.”

“Eda!”

~~

It had been a long exhausting day. Luz was uncharacteristically quiet at dinner, but it wasn’t just from being tired. She kept it to herself, but as the night progressed, she had time to process what had happened, and it was honestly a lot. This was the land of her dreams, but what she had seen felt a little bit like a nightmare. Eda’s little motivational speeches had definitely helped, but she couldn’t deny that this experience would change her. Now she knew the other side of the island. Of the people.

The others seemed to notice something was wrong, but in the end, it was the last person she expected who checked in on her in the end. Someone knocked on her closed door, and Luz opened it expecting to see Gus or Willow.

"Amity!" She instinctively stepped aside to let the other girl in.

"Hey." She stood there awkwardly, like she knew she didn't belong.

"Um." Luz waited for Amity to say something, assuming she wasn't just there to look around.

"You seemed upset." Amity said finally, kicking her foot mindlessly as she stood in place. "At dinner."

"Oh. I guess I kind of was." She didn't offer up any other information, still unsure of what Amity was doing or what her intentions were. She kept herself guarded.

They stood there together in silence, a stand off between them. Amity broke it, clearly uncomfortable. "Is it because of what happened today? With the rot?"

So that was what they officially called it. The Rot. It was very fitting. "Yes."

Amity rolled her eyes and slid down the wall, abstaining from taking a seat on the bed or even the desk chair. "Luz, you don't need to act like I'm trying to sell your secrets to the devil. I'm just trying to be friendly, okay?"

'Amity' and 'friendly' didn't really go hand in hand in her mind, but whatever. She was becoming nicer, and she was trying. That counted. "I thought everything here was perfect, but it's not. I didn't realize that no matter where you go, some people still want to destroy."

"Does Neverland look destroyed to you?" Amity asked, and Luz gave her a look. "No, seriously. Some people are shitty, sure, but it's not like we're living in ruins here. Whatever power you think they have, they really don't."

She stood up to leave, and Luz sat on her bed, turning her face so Amity wouldn't see the singular tear welling up in her eye.

“Don’t let this ruin the magic of Neverland,” Amity said gently. “You can’t really escape the dark side of humanity, but you can create beautiful spaces that give you the strength to fight back. Don’t lose sight of the beauty here, okay?”

Luz looked up to say something, but Amity was already out the door.

Chapter Text

Eda always thought she would be married to Raine by now. She never really had many plans for her life, but she had thought they would be married by now. 

Eda had always thought of herself as lost. Not just geographically, although she was often lost in that sense too. No, she was just lost. Her favorite word was “anachronism” and she first heard it sometime in elementary school. 

a•nach•ro•nism

/əˈnækrəˌnɪzəm/

noun

a thing belonging to or appropriate to a time period other than that in which it exists, especially a thing that is conspicuously old fashioned

Eda often felt like she existed outside of what she should have. It wasn’t that she felt like she belonged to past centuries, or major historical events, she just felt permanently out of place. Like wherever she was, it wasn’t where she was supposed to be. She felt visibly out of place, too, like everyone could see that she simply did not belong. They treated her accordingly.

Her parents did their very best to held her assimilate into the world, both in the sense of accommodating her to the world, and attempting to accommodate the world to her. But in that sense, they were also behaving anachronistically. People didn’t seem to be ready to try to change the world for people who didn’t fit in.

She stuck out wherever she went. Something in her was intrinsically incorrect. As long as she existed as herself, she was doing it wrong. She was scolded and punished in school, she was ostracized by her classmates. Everything that everyone else insisted was common sense made none to her, and it felt like everyone was reading from some instruction book she hadn’t received. 

Not to mention how people were constantly telling Eda to act her age. That when she interrupted people she was acting childish, even though it was because she had so much to say that she couldn’t hold it in, or that she had thought of something related and had spoken without thinking.

That her constant fidgeting, or leg bouncing, or swaying a habit one was supposed to grow out of, even thought to her that was basically the equivalent of being perfectly still. Eda style, as she called it.

Or how she was called immature and irresponsible for how she constantly lost things, and couldn’t keep track of her schoolwork, and forgot about deadlines, and could never be aware of the time. 

She felt like a lost object in space, hurtling through on an unstable path. She was a girl out of time.

Then she met Raine Whispers, and her whole life changed. A person equally out of time and out of place. They fell hard and fast. Two kindred spirits, both anachronistic in their nature. And so was their love. 

She had read all the history books, and knew that there was a time when they could’ve just been together, and been happy. But they were born in the wrong time, and their love was discouraged and hidden. Maybe in the past, or maybe in the future, Eda and Raine could have openly been together, but for the time being, they were out of place and out of time. 

~~

The first time Eda found the door, she was nineteen years old and in a shit position. She had just dropped out of college at the same time that Lilith got an internship for her dream job. It wasn’t that she hadn’t been trying, she really had. Eda didn’t know what was wrong with her.

She was late to almost every class, even when she set her alarm early. She either had forgotten something and had to run back, or she got lost, or went to the wrong classroom. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t fully focus on work because her thoughts would hook onto something else and she would have to pursue that thought. Or even when she did listen, directions didn’t make sense. 

Eda loved learning. But she seemed to always do it wrong. She didn’t want to drop out of college, but it seemed like her only option at that point.

When she found the door, she was walking around the woods behind her house, reaping the benefits of the fresh air that made her feel just the slightest bit better. It stuck out because it was odd. For one thing, it was floating. There wasn’t an entire frame that went with it, it wasn’t connected to a tree. It was just a floating door. Second, Eda had been in those woods more times than she could count. She had never seen that door, so it had to be knew.

Naturally, she beelined to it. Eda gripped the handle, and remarked on how firm and sturdy it was. Some part of her expected it would be some sort of illusion, but it was real as she was when she pulled it open. 

She was hit with a blast of fresh air, salty yet still sweet. Her jaw dropped as she looked through it to see a beach with white sand and clear blue water. Without any hesitation, she climbed through, thinking for a moment to prop the door open with her shoe. Satisfied with her door stopper, Eda bounded off, shrieking with delight as she splashed into the water, squishy sand between her newly bare feet. Her wet shorts stuck to her body like cling wrap, and her wild mane of hair plastered over her eyes when she swooped in all the way. Impulsively, she open her eyes to see beneath the surface, and found that the water didn’t even burn despite her lack of goggles. The sand beneath her was the color of gold and spurs of red grass tickled her feet when she stepped in the bushy patches. Little fish swam between her legs, and she accidentally swallowed a gulp of water when she opened her mouth to let out a happy noise.

It tasted like her favorite brand of tea. It was too good to be true. She shook herself out like a dog when she finally emerged, collapsing to her ass on the warm sand. Grains of it latched onto her wet hands and stuck to the hairs on her legs. 

It was that moment when regret sunk in. Outside was cold, and she was soaking wet without any sort of towel. Not to mention how she cringed at the thought of her sandy soggy feet shoved into socks and shoes. This was the kind of thing that she kept doing. She did things that seemed like perfect ideas in the moment, only to realize afterward that she hadn’t thought out the consequences. She moaned and moped as she walked to the door, opting to walk barefoot through the forrest over enduring the sensory hell the alternative offered.

She dusted herself off the best she could, but the crisp air outside still blasted her wet body and made her feel like she was in an icebox. The hairs on her arms and legs stood out from the goosebumps that covered her skin, and the soft sand and red grass between her toes were replaced with rocks, green grass, and mud.

She looked and felt like a swamp monster when she got home, and her parents responded appropriately. Eda kind of worried she actually would give her parents actual real life heart attacks from raising her. She held her tears in when they lectured her, but let loose in the shower. Despite the above average water pressure, when she slumped to the tiles of the shower, she could only dream of the clear but flavored water behind the door.

~~

It was just over a month before Eda found the door again, in a different place this time. She must have been going crazy when it appeared right behind her car in the near abandoned Insomnia Cookies parking lot. That was one of the only places open in the middle of the night, and it catered specifically to insomniacs, as the name would suggest. With no other customers around to consult with, Eda had no way of knowing it this was real or not. The door handle felt just as cool and sturdy when she finished off her cookie and pulled it open. Using the box as a door stopper, she walked into forrest with a stream of water running down a creek. Having learned from her mistakes, she didn’t dive in, but she did cup her hands in the water and drinking the pure liquid. Animals she couldn’t identify made noises around her, and she hopped from rock to rock, singing to herself.

~~

The next time she saw the door, she was with Raine. She was dreamily telling them about her favorite fantasy: they run away together and get married for real and live freely. 

They were lying across her bed, and she had her head in their lap as they stroked her hair.

“Imagine me in a dress and suit coat,” they replied, closing their eyes.

“I can’t, I’d have to jump you immediately and we don’t have the house to ourselves.”

They swatted her playfully, and sighed. “That would be nice, wouldn’t it? A world where we could just be ourselves, and no one would bother us about it.”

“How mad was your mom about your hair?” She asked, reaching up to touch the choppy ends of their hair she cut herself.

They puffed out a big breath, and shook their head. “Very.” 

When they didn’t offer more details, she didn’t ask. They didn’t like talking about it. Eda placed her hand on the flattened plane of their chest, finally bound by something actually designed for that and not dangerously tightened with bandage tape. They didn’t wear it around their parents, but she took polaroids to commemorate the first time they wore it with her. 

“I wish I could live on some gorgeous island with you and no one else,” she said, turning to look up at them. “You’re all I need, Rainestorm. As long as we’re together, I don’t need anyone else.”

They bent down and kissed her. “I’d give anything for that, my Calamity.”

She laced her fingers through theirs as they pictured a world of freedom. She opened her eyes when she heard them gasp. “What? What’s wrong?”

Eda sat up immediately, assessing them for anything that could be wrong. Speechless, they pointed behind her. To the door. In her room. …In her room?

“That’s so weird,” she said, squinting. “I’ve never seen it indoors.”

Raine gaped at her. “Have you seen this before?”

“Yeah, a few times,” she said casually, compared to their shock and disbelief.

“Why are you acting like this is so normal?” They asked, rubbing their eyes and taking their glasses off. Raine pushed her off their lap -quite rudely- and walked up to it. Oh, well. She was pretty shocked her first time, so she could excuse it.

“It’s not my first time with it,” she confessed.

“What? Eda, you never told me about this!” Raine looked hurt, and Eda felt bad. They turned away from her.

“No, don’t go,” she pleaded.

“Eda, of course I’m not going. I just wish you would’ve told me.” They sat back on the bed and she flopped back into their arms where she belonged. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

They seemed to be handling the magical floating door very well, she noted. “You’re doing so well.” 

They looked confused by that. She sighed and kept going. “You’re doing well, Raine. I mean, I know that shit is still hard for you, but you’re doing it. I’m not. I dropped out of college, I’m a failure, you’re going to be someone. I don’t know. I’m not going to be the distraction that makes you lose everything.”

“Eda, that would never happen.” They gave her the most caring look. Eda felt pitied, even if it was irrational. 

“And maybe I didn’t want to share it with you,” she snapped. “Maybe I deserve something for me, okay?”

It should’ve ended there. But she just kept pushing, trying to get them to snap. She didn’t know why she was like that. Raine left without saying goodbye.

~~

When Eda said goodbye to the real world forever, she did it with her fingers interlaced with Raine’s. They had gone together a few times, and the real world just kept getting more and more overwhelming. Eda couldn’t hold down a job, Raine was sick of pretending to be a girl, and they just wanted each other. 

So that was what they decided to have.

~~

The first time Eda saw the door open from within Neverland, she didn’t actually see it. She had been living in Neverland for a long time by that point. She hadn’t seen the door in years and she never wanted to again. She also hadn’t seen Raine in a year

She was alone and perfectly happy. No, not alone: she had King. Her pet. Because that was all he was to her at the time, her pet. She didn’t appreciate just how much more he would grow to be. They had a nice life together. Until the door was opened and someone disrupted everything. It should’ve just been a normal day. Instead, it ended up being the day that changed everything. She just didn’t know it yet.

Eda would never be fully certain if it was destiny or design that Lilith ended up in her area. The island was pretty big, so it would be a hell of a coincidence that the door her sister stumbled upon led her right to Eda.

She knew something was off when she went out for shifting wood and saw footprints. Shifter wood was becoming more and more rare, and she was trying to snag some before it seemed to go fully extinct. King wanted new furniture, so she brought along an entire wagon (ironically made of shifter wood) to gather more. She hit the jackpot that day: not only was there a healthy shifter tree, it was young enough that acorns were still falling. The acorns that she could use to plant her very own tree. Shifter wood was the most useful, it seemed to have a unique quality she couldn’t quite pinpoint that made it the perfect material for any sort of construction. As she bent down to pick up as many acorns as she could see, King scampered away. 

“Shit,” Eda swore, scooping the jewels up quickly into her clothing, abandoning the wagon to run after her critter. Dang, she really thought he was past this. “King! Come back!”

“I see something!” He called back, dropping to his hands and knees to track whatever caught his eye. 

Something stabbed her bare foot, but she ignored it. There were more important matters. King might’ve been a weirdo, but he was a weirdo with some animal instincts she lacked. Hopping on one foot to pull pine needles out of her big toe, she caught up to him. Eda let go of her foot as her eyes widened in surprise.

Footprints. Someone else was there.

That didn’t make sense. Raine didn’t come to see her It was just her and King on the island, no way in and no way out. How could someone have gotten in? And where were they?

“Okay, buddy, follow the trail,” she said to him, lowering her voice. King huffed the scent and led the way. As they walked, Eda realized she had no weapons or anything to defend herself. Not that she was really worried, Eda could and would fuck someone up if she needed to. Still, it would be nice to feel prepared. Over five minutes in, Eda started to wonder if they should just turn back and whatever would happen would happen. Then she shook her head. That wasn’t her. She wasn’t a passive observer, she was a doer. She was about to ask King if he had any sense of how much further the track went on before he spoke first.

“Weh!” He pointed to a large sheet of bark that was acting as a door. Bingo.

“Good job, bud.” She scratched his head, slightly tempted to kiss his nose like a puppy. That weird golden dust of his coated her fingers and she almost wiped it on her dress before remembering its weird qualities and wiping it on some grass. The dust pulled the grass right out of the ground, floating. Actually, that could be useful for once. She scratched him again, really raking her nails through the fur.

“Eda! That hurts.” He shimmied away from her. “Cut your nails, sheesh.”

She placated him with a promise to clip them -which she never would, she loved her talons, she would just be more careful in the future- and wiped the dander on herself, grabbing King.

“Weh?” 

“Shh,” she hushed, putting a beautifully sharp red nail over his mouth. “We’re taking the high ground.”

It took her a minute to get used to flying, which she had never done before, but Eda was a quick student. She floated through with ease, looking down on the intruder.

Eda gasped loudly, and fell.

“Lilith?”

~~

Eda immediately flew her sister back to the little tree house she had built for herself and was living in. “How did you get here?”

“Eda, is this where you’ve been all these years?” Lilith asked in disbelief. 

“All this time?” She repeated, wrinkling her brow. “How long have I been gone?”

“It’s been six years, Edalyn!” 

Eda almost fell again from that revelation. “What?”

“You’ve been gone for years! I thought I’d never see you again!” Lilith said, anger coming out.

“How did you find me?” 

“That’s your response?” Lilith was aghast. “I wasn’t even looking for you, actually. I saw a weird door in your room and I-”

“Why were you in my room?” Eda demanded. “We’re here, by the way.”

She landed them gracelessly, a combination of complex emotions throwing her off and being new at the whole flying thing. 

“You have no rights to the room anymore.” Lilith snapped. “This is very cool. I assume Raine lives with you?”

Eda turned away from her sister’s harsh gaze. “No. They… left.”

“They found a way home?”

“No. They left me.” She clarified quietly.

“You broke up? When?” Despite her anger, Lilith seemed genuinely concerned for her sister. Concern Eda probably didn’t deserve.

“That doesn’t matter. How did you get here?” Eda wordlessly gestured for her sister to remove her shoes. Even after all those years, she understood her without a second’s hesitation. She sunk into her bean bag, shaking the shifter seeds out of her pocket. 

“Eda, are you ever going to tell me who this is?” King had been working very hard to keep quiet, but his curiosity got the better of him. He was being uncharacteristically good, too.

Lilith jumped. “What is that?”

“He’s my…” Eda paused. “He’s mine. His name is King. And that, King, is my sister.”

“What’s a sister?” He crawled up onto her, nestling into her thick orange hair.

“You’ve never mentioned me?” Lilith asked angrily. “Also, Edalyn, that thing is getting mud all over your hair.”

“He has a name. King. He’s not a thing. And, no, I haven’t mentioned you.” Eda looked up to address him. “It means she’s family, bud.”

“Like Raine?” He rolled over in her hair, falling out and letting out a “Weh!” before she caught him.

“Not quite.” Eda didn’t offer any more explanation.

Her sister watched them curiously, clearly unused to seeing Eda display any sort of nurturing behavior that she had for King. Then she sighed. “I thought you were dead, Edalyn.”

Eda really hated how her sister used her full name. It felt confrontational.

“Lily…” she trailed off, unsure what to say.

“I still go into your room,” Lilith said, fluidly dropping down to sit criss crossed. “Mom and Dad haven’t changed it all all. They haven’t given up hope that you’ll come home.”

A pit formed in her stomach. She had never truly considered how her parents would feel. Did that make her a bad person? Eda had only ever thought about how suffocated she felt. 

“You should go back.” Eda said, turning away again. Losing one daughter was bad enough, at least she was the problem child. Everyone loved Lilith. It would actually matter if she never went home.

“Edalyn!” Lilith cried out, upset and hurt. “You’re already trying to send me away? Again?”

“Don’t call me that,” she snapped. “Chrissake, just call me Eda. And yes, I’m sending you away. Mom and Dad deserve one good child.”

“Do you even know how much they’ve missed you?” Lilith demanded. “Do you know what you’ve done to our family?”

“What do you care?” Eda yelled, feeling much younger than she was. “I know you all hate me!”

“I never hated you!” Lilith yelled back, and Eda tilted her head back, trying to swallow the lump in her throat.

“Don’t drag yourself down to my level,” Eda said softly. “Come on.”

She stood up and offered her sister her hand before her eyes blew wide and she froze. “Lilith. You still have a door, right?”

“What?” Lilith rubbed her eyes, confused and overwhelmed from their reunion. “What do you mean?”

“The door,” Eda repeated frantically. “The one you came through. Did you keep it open?”

“Edalyn, slow down. I don’t understand.” Lilith rose, putting her hands on her sister’s shoulders to steady her.

“You can’t get home without the door, Lily. Please tell me you thought to prop it open before it closed.”

Panic crossed Lilith’s face and Eda felt her heart sink. “No, I… I didn’t know.”

“Shit!”

“Edalyn… am I stuck here?”

~~

Lilith had lost track of the days. Every time she tried to keep tally marks, Edalyn would erase them, for reasons she could not fathom. It couldn’t have been more than a week. She missed brushing her teeth. She had difficulty adjusting to all of her sister’s strange practices. 

It was still better than what she had on her own. Without Edalyn’s help, she would still have been plugging her nose and eating whatever she could find that looked edible. 

King had tried to climb into her hair once, and she immediately shut that down. Edalyn might have been fond of that creature, but she was not looking for any attachments. She hadn’t even meant to end up there in the first place.

Lilith dug the heels of her palms into her eyes, wiping away stray tears. She had just secured a fellowship. Her life was starting to go places. All her hard work had paid off.

She had only gone into Edalyn’s room to tell her. It was stupid, but sometimes she would go into her younger sister’s room and pretend she was there. Lilith still lived at home. She just couldn’t leave her parents behind. They were finally starting to move on from the trauma of losing one daughter. She felt horrible about making them lose another.

Lilith always missed Edalyn when she entered the room, but that day, her longing for her sister felt so enormous it could’ve been its own entity. All she wanted to do was see her again. That’s when the door suddenly appeared. It made no sense, but something about it just called her. She had to go. If only she had known what would happen.

A tear slipped through her hands, and Lilith sniffed, shaking her head out. There was no point crying. She was going to find a way home.

As the days had passed, Edalyn showed her that the island was magical. The scientist in her could not fathom or accept it, but the literalist in her couldn’t deny what was in front of her. She still missed her toothbrush as she unsuccessfully tried to draw the right glyphs to treat her morning breath.

~~

“So what do you think?” Eda whispered to him, styling her hair in her makeshift mirror of water and light glyphs. “Should we eat her?”

King’s eyes blew wide open. “Is that an option?”

She rolled her eyes and gave him a playful shove. “No. We aren’t actually eating her.”

King scowled and mumbled something about mean tricks. Eda laughed and tucked the last strand of hair into place. “You would think she’d learn faster.”

She turned to him and smacked his leg when she saw him slurping at it. Gross. “I think you should duel it out until she learns. I can moderate!”

Eda laughed again. “Not this time. Maybe someday, buddy. Someday we can have all the duels you like.”

~~

Lilith picked and pried and picked and pried and stored away each morsel of information she got out of her sister. 

Raine was still on the island.

Edalyn said there wasn’t a break up, but they didn’t live together or talk to each other anymore, which meant they broke up and Edalyn just wouldn’t admit it to herself.

King knew Raine.

There was a reason they broke up, and it was big, but she didn’t know what it was.

King was the only one of his kind.

The two of them were keeping secrets from her.

That last one kept bugging her. There were things about Edalyn’s story that just didn’t make sense. Little details that didn’t fit together, that she brushed aside when asked. Or bigger things, like the little trip she and King took together and deliberately excluded her from, or the potion Edalyn drank that she clearly thought she was hiding well.

Were there others like them? And why did her sister seem so desperate to get her off the island? What was she hiding? As much as Lilith wanted to get back home, she wanted to take her sister with her, and she needed to know the truth about what was going on. 

Lilith was a planner. Edalyn liked to just do things without thinking and without considering the consequences, but Lilith was careful and deliberate. If she wanted something done, it would happen the right way. So she made a plan.

Her goal? Figure out what her sister’s big secret was. And she was going to start with that potion her sister kept trying to hide from her.

~~

Eda was very careful with her elixir. She and King made it once a week, and if she ignored what it was for, she could almost pretend it was a fun trip with a pet. Mermaid Cove held plenty of pleasant memories, and it was a nice enough journey. It was often peaceful. Or it was supposed to be. She had forgot about Lily’s tendency to stick her nose where it didn’t belong.

For example, following her to Mermaid Cove and giving herself away by swearing after something stabbed her foot. She just wasn’t used to it yet. Eda groaned and turned around just in time to see her sister dart behind a conveniently placed bush. “I see you, Lily.”

Lilith audibly pouted. She must have seen it as losing a game, if Eda still knew her at all. “What are you doing? What are you hiding?”

If she wanted to sound at all intimidating, she was failing miserably. She just sounded whiny. 

“None of your business.” Just to be petty, she stuck her tongue out at her. King copied her.

“I will not fall prey to your childish games,” Lilith said, holding her head high. Not even a few seconds later, she was pulling an even more immature face and making noises.

Eda flipped her eyelids inside out; Lilith crossed hers. King couldn’t reach his eyes.

Eda bared her teeth; Lilith did the same. King snapped and snarled eagerly.

Taking one look at her sister, Eda giggled. The two women suddenly dissolved into laughter. Lilith walked up to her and touched her hand. “Edalyn, what aren’t you telling me?”

“Not everything is about you, okay? Let me have some privacy.” Eda batted her hand away, frustrated again. “Let’s go, King.”

“Don’t do this again,” she ordered, blocking Eda’s way, “don’t run off to do things in secret. Last time you ‘had your privacy’, you ended up here!”

Eda felt herself going from frustration to anger. “I’m not a little girl, Lilith. I’m a grown woman, I can make my own decisions and I deserve privacy.”

Lilith snorted, throwing her hands in the air. “You’re grown? By whose standards? What rituals of growing up have you completed? Did you graduate college? No. Did you get a job? No. Have you bought a house? N-”

“I’ve built a house,” Eda said, cutting her off. “I’ve built a house, and I’ve taught myself an entire magic system, and I grow and gather and hunt my own food, and I even take care of King.”

“Yeah! Eda is the best! Except for me. I’m better. And I’m bored. Eda, can we go?” King started walking off without waiting for an answer, Eda instinctively trailing after him.

“No! I’m not letting you-” Lilith started to say.

“Not letting me what?” Eda whirled around. She needed to calm down. She felt like she was starting to lose control. Damn it, this was why she needed her elixir! She felt unsteady. No. The intense emotions were always the biggest trigger.

“Eda? I think we should go. Now.” King said, attuned to all her cues.

“Edalyn? Are you okay?” Lilith asked. Her concern might have been comforting at a different time, but at that moment all it did was amp her up more.

King grabbed her arm and tried to drag her away, attempting to do damage control before things got worse. But it was too late. Eda tilted her head back and stiffened.

“Get out of here!” King yelled, waving at Lilith.

“Edalyn?”

“Stop calling me by my full name!” She roared, and feathers poked out from her skin.

“What’s happening? King?” Lilith turned to him, taking a step back.

“Get out of here!” He repeated, visibly frustrated by her disregard for his warnings. “You need to go!”

“But something’s wrong with her!” She protested, gesturing toward her sister, who was panting as her body was overcome with feathers. 

She grew and grew, hulking into a winged owl-like beast. Her nails shot into talons, and her eyes turned fully black. No, no, please, she thought desperately to herself, but it was too late. 

~

When Lilith stumbled away, she didn’t know where to go. She had a slight limp, and her arm was bleeding. King managed to protect her, mostly, and he told her that they had been off to get her elixir, and she should’ve just stayed out of it.

The image of Edalyn as that awful beast felt seared into her mind’s eye. Somehow, that thing was part of her now. It horrified and disgusted her to think about. Maybe King was right. Maybe she should’ve just stayed out of it. Maybe she could’ve gone without ever learning about this horrible thing.

But that wouldn’t make it go away, would it? Lilith rubbed her sore leg as she walked further away from Edalyn’s home, trudging through the island.

Even in her worn down state, she could appreciate just how beautiful it was. She ended up trying to retrace her steps: going all the way back to wear she was before her sister found her. Maybe then she could find a door and find a way out of this nightmare. The door had come to her when she was desperately hoping to see her sister, so maybe desperately hoping to go home could have the opposite effect. 

She knew she was close when she reached a patch of cut down trees. This was shifter wood, the kind that Edalyn had been gathering seeds for. She claimed that it was becoming more and more rare, and Lilith had noticed that it seemed like someone was intentionally chopping it down. But she had never seen anyone else on the island, not even Raine. Which also didn’t make sense. Edalyn had said they hadn’t found a way home, so where were they? 

That bugged her and bugged her. She walked deeper into the woods, and an uneasy feeling set over her, one she hadn’t felt there before. Something felt wrong. Lilith had the feeling that she wasn’t alone. But that was just nerves. She brushed it off. 

Chapter Text

King was having a good dream. He was dreaming of inventing a superglyph that no one else had ever thought of, and then using it for-

“Weh?” Suddenly King was in the air, not dreaming. Eda held him by the scruff of his neck, grinning.

“Guess what.”

“Weh. Too tired. Gotta sleep.” He tried to turn in circles before he remembered he was being lifted.

“You’ve slept for hours. We’re going to look for snow crystals.”

He rubbed and eye and looked through the window. “Eda, the sun hasn’t even come up!”

“No one can predict when the sun comes up. Means nothing. Come on, we’re gonna have fun.”

“Yes you can! You can predict when the sun will come up!”

~~

It was a lazy day. Luz hadn’t seen Eda since she woke up, and that was saying something. Well, maybe not. Eda liked to disappear off on little adventures. The four kids were sitting in the living room, bored out of their minds.

“You know, Eda doesn’t have any lessons for us today,” Willow said. “We could go out and do something fun. All four of us.”

Willow gave Amity a smile, making it very clear she was being invited to join. Ever since she won the duel, Amity had been acting a little nicer, and they had been much more willing to include her in their activities. Amity smiled back a little.

“We could go to Mermaid Cove,” Gus suggested. “Luz has never been.”

“Mermaid Cove?” Luz yelped. Mermaids? There were freaking mermaids on the island? Why had no one ever told her about that??

“There aren’t actual mermaids. Sorry to burst your bubble.” Amity said, not being condescending. “That’s just something Eda made up.”

“Maybe there once were,” Willow countered. “Eda has been here way longer than any of us. Maybe there really were mermaids when she first got here.”

“Then what happened to them?” Amity raised an eyebrow.

“I think you need to have a little more faith in the mystical, Amity.” Luz said, grinning. “I mean, we’re living on a magic island. Mermaids aren’t that unbelievable.”

Maybe Luz just imagined it, but she could’ve sworn she saw Amity blush.

“We could debate the existence of mermaids, or we could actually take her there.” Gus stated.

“Luz doesn’t have a swimsuit,” Willow realized. “You’ll have to swim in your clothes.”

Luz sat on the ground and waited as the rest of them changed. She tapped her toes and wiggled her fingers to evade boredom. Willow changed the fastest, into a green one piece with straps cut off at her shoulders, plant patterns wrapping around it. Luz whistled in approval, and Willow blushed shyly, but didn’t shrink away from her respectful gaze. 

Gus was second, in his own one piece. His looked a little bit like something Luz had seen in tv shows, a wet suit. It was blue with a thick black outline, and it fit him very well.

They all waited for Amity, who came out a few minutes later. Oh, crikey. Amity in a swimsuit. Luz thought her pupils were dilating.

“Is something wrong with my swimsuit?” Amity asked, and Luz snapped her head up.

“What?”

“You’re staring. Is something wrong with my suit?” 

“N-no. Nothing is wrong,” Luz said quickly. “You look good. Really good. I mean, the normal amount of good.”

She cringed and turned away. Willow arched her eyebrow in Gus’s direction, and Amity pretended she hadn’t seen it. “Thanks. You also… look the normal amount of good.”

~~

Eda whistled happily as she walked through the mountains. It wasn’t very often anymore that she went places with just King. While she kept her strides long and steady, he paused to build little snowmen to kick over, yelling, “Fear me! I am your God and Master!”

Every now and then she swirled her finger, drawing glyphs to pelt him with tiny snowballs when he isn’t expecting it. Eda chuckled at his little yelps of surprise, easily dodging his hand made snow bullets. 

It was always perfect snow, good for packing when you wanted to make something, fluffy and powdery otherwise. The mountains were a place of potential and adventure. Sure, for now they were just up there for more snow crystals, but who knew what could happen. It could end up being the adventure of their lives. Or it could be just another day. 

King seemed to be done with his snowmen, and he joined her walk. “Do you even need more snow crystals?”

“Obviously. If my room isn’t covered in rainbows, people might forget I’m gay.”

“No one goes in our room, Eda.” He emphasized the ‘our’.

“I might forget.”

“You could never.”

“Probably not,” she agreed, “but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”

King laughed, then pointed eagerly. “Look! Snow caves! Those should have your crystals!”

“Hot dog! It’s the treasure of the mountains!” Eda clapped and walked faster, furry boots sinking into the snow. That was one of the beauties of the island. Each section of the island had its very own ecosystem. Not only did the mountains have their own climate, they had their own plants and animals, they even had their own types of soil. Although there was very little soil in the mountains, just the snow. 

“Shanalets are the treasure of the mountains,” King corrected her.

Eda snorted. “You have never caught one and you never will.”

“Yes I will! I basically have already!”

“No, you haven’t.” Eda laughed at him, getting him a gentle shove as they walked. A gentle shove was all he needed to be toppled over again. 

“Weh!” King bounded back up, trying to toss a snowball at her. Unfortunately, his paws did not have the opposable thumbs needed to pack or throw said snowball, and it ended up being a handful of powdery snow that he launched at her. Eda snorted again.

When they reached the entrance of the snow cave, Eda teasingly asked if he was going to be scared of the dark.

“If I could draw glyphs I would be blinding you right now,” he threatened her. It lacked any weight considering that he, in fact, could not draw glyphs and blind her.

“Oh, right, you can’t draw glyphs!” Eda swished her finger through the air, drawing light energy into the shape of a candelabra, waving it at him mockingly. 

“Weh!” He lept at it, snuffing the flame out with his bark. “I will bite your fingers.”

~~

The inside of the cave was just as beautiful each time. Eda slid in like an ice skater, spinning with a flourish at the end. The white snowy exterior was misleading for the treasures inside. As she and King walked further in, little drips of water from the stalactites above plinked down to sound like wind chimes. These caves always made Eda wonder how old Neverland truly was. She knew that in the human realm, it took about one hundred years for stalactites or stalagmites to grow just one inch. The deepest parts of the cave were at least twenty feet, and the stalactites hung down at least two feet. That would indicate thousands of years of growth.

Eda had only been in caves a few times before leaving home, but each time she did, it was like a religious experience. Something about being in there, about the deep connection to nature she felt, about the pure beauty and wonder of the whole experience always stuck with her. And back there, the stalactites and stalagmites were just gray and brown.

Here, in the mountains, the minerals shined and reflected, giving the rocky formations a look of the rock candy she sometimes got as a child. It had a strange yet ethereal mixed look of sugary food coloring crystals and dirt rock.

Even King was quiet as they walked. This truly was a religious experience, unlike anything past Eda could’ve ever imagined. They both stopped when they got to the reflection pond. Pools of melted ice collected deep inside, trapped between the icy climate of the mountains and the pockets of warmth in the caves. The water was pure and clear, and gave view to the crystals it protected. 

“Gotcha,” Eda said. She took off her snow boots, shivering when her bare feet touched the smooth rocks that made up the ground. It always surprised her how King wasn’t affected by temperature in the way she was.

“Can I join?” He asked, walking to meet her.

“You’ll have to be careful,” she told him. “You can’t disrupt anything.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You brought a knife to cut crystals.”

She made a face at him. “I’m doing it carefully, though. I’m not going to disrupt the entire place. Do you want to join?”

He nodded. Eda slipped the switch blade out of her coat, and took a deep breath. She forced herself to strip down to her bra and underwear to swim. The hairs on her arms and legs stood up as she dipped her index finger into the icy water, gliding across the surface to draw a fire glyph. She had to be incredibly mindful of how powerful she made this spell. She just wanted to heat the water enough for her to swim in, not enough to mess with the natural climate or anything. She held her finger there for just a moment until she felt it begin to heat up.

Satisfied, Eda put on toe in the water. Still very cold, but doable. She tried not to go too slowly as she walked in. King splashed in happily, but Eda took deep breaths to steady herself as the water rose to her hips. It was nice, in its own way. It felt cleansing, if she was being honest. It made her think of the Mikvah, the holy water for ritual cleansing in Judaism. She wasn’t raised heavily religious, and Eda never believed in a God. But sometimes things in Neverland felt so holy or spiritual that it reminded her of the rare times she actually paid attention in Hebrew School.

When the water reached her neck, she started treading water to avoid touching any of the crystals. King was dunking under, absolutely indifferent to the temperature. Well, she had to dunk at some point or another, so she synced up her movements with his and sunk fully under the next time he did. 

She swore as soon as the water washed over her neck. Oh, that was another wonderful thing about Neverland. She had this weird ability to breathe underwater, one that no one else around her seemed to have. Eda inhaled deeply. There really was no water like that in the human realm. Nothing so refreshing or tasting so good. She did have to make sure not to breathe through her nose, though, that was something she had experimented with once and immediately decided to never try again. Her nose still burned at the memory.

While King enjoyed himself at the surface, Eda dove deeper into the water, thumbing the blade tucked into her bra. So far she hadn’t actually found any use for the crystals other than decoration, but she had a feeling that they were capable of more than just looking pretty.

She was also able to keep her eyes open, which she greatly appreciated. The crystals weren’t too far down, and she reached them quickly. Carefully, she dislodged three of them and tucked them with her knife into her bra. Boobs proved yet again to be used things to have.

~~

Mermaid Cove was just as magical as the name would suggest. The sun sparkled and the sand was as gold as the beach Luz first saw in Neverland. The sand faced a lagoon with a waterfall coming from several large rocky formations. 

“Welcome to Mermaid Cove,” Gus said with a flourish.

Luz clapped both hands to her cheeks in awe. “This is the coolest thing ever!” She was one octave away from screeching.

“We need to come here more,” Willow said absentmindedly.

“That’s a great idea, Willow.” Amity smiled at her, but it fell when Willow looked away. Just because she was making an effort to include Amity didn’t mean she was over what had happened between them. Amity didn’t just get a free pass because she and Luz were really getting along. But Amity would keep trying.

Luz, completely oblivious to the attempted reconciliation happening next to her, was headed straight for the main attraction. She was about twenty feet from the lagoon, and the waterfall was maybe sixty feet in? Luz wasn’t very good at abstract math.

Without thinking twice about it (because most of the things she did around Amity seemed to happen without much thought anymore), Luz grabbed Amity’s hand, threading their fingers together. Letting out a shriek of delight, she ran toward the waterfall, dragging Amity with her. As she got closer, she could feel mist spraying her. She felt Amity’s fingers curl tightly around hers, and warmth spread through her.

Warmth that was quickly met with a blast of cold water as they crossed from warm sand to cold water. Amity yelped at the sharp change in temperature, squeezing Luz’s hand even tighter. It reminded her of running through sprinklers when she was a little kid. Instead of wet muddy grass, however, her bare feet glided over loose rocks and soft sand. She slipped on one of the smoother rocks, falling face first into the water, taking Amity down with her. Opening her mouth in surprise, she accidentally swallowed a mouthful of water. The freshest, clearest water she had ever tasted. Lifting her head up and gasping for air, she looked for Amity, who was sitting up wiping water out of her eyes. 

“Sorry!” Luz reached out toward her, instinctively brushing Amity’s hair out of her eyes. At the contact, both girls blushed and looked away. 

“I’m okay,” Amity reassured her, raking her hand through a mop of wet green hair. “This water is so much nicer than I remember. Better than falling in a swamp, right?” She joked.

“Yes, absolutely.” Luz agreed. “Swamp water wouldn’t taste this good.”

“Oh my god, Luz, are you drinking this?”

“It’s refreshing!” Luz said, cupping a handful of that wonderful wonderful waterfall water and drinking from her palm. “Mm, mm, mmm.”

Amity laughed, and a mischievous look flashed across her face. “Race you to the waterfall.”

Amity pushed Luz back under playfully, and took off running. Luz gargled in surprise, leaping up. She was never one to turn down a competition. She took off, catching up to Amity, bumping shoulders with her. They ran together, Luz pushing her down at the very end, whooping and raising her hands in victory. As Amity went down, she grabbed Luz’s hand, pulling her into the water as she cheered herself on.

They both sat up, laughing together. Luz gasped in wonder and reached her hand out behind her, letting the waterfall wash over her hand.

“You having fun?” Gus called out to them. Luz had basically forgotten that anyone else existed, and both girls seemed a little surprised to hear him speak.

“Yeah, we are! Come join us!” Luz called back.

As they waited for the other two to traverse the water, Luz lifted her leg, watching water bead in her leg hairs and drip off. “I could stay here forever,” she said dreamily.

Willow reached them first. “Luz, you know how to swim, right?”

She did. Dell and Gwendolyn had graciously paid for lessons for her, and Luz was determined to make them proud. She learned fast. 

Luz nodded happily. They were standing on a sand bar, a point in the water where the sand was abnormally high and allowed them to sit on their butts and keep their heads above water. But that was only one part of the lagoon, and Luz stood up, wading off to the side until the water got deeper and deeper. The waterfall stretched far and long, and she was able to find a deep point and still be close to it. 

Once the water reached her waist, she dove head first into the water, streamlining back around to swim back to her friends. When she finished her strokes and got back to her starting point, Gus was waiting for her.

“I’m actually a great swimmer,” He said proudly. “I was on a swim team for years, and I was one of the best.”

“That’s awesome!” Luz said eagerly, giving him a big smile. “I didn’t get to go to the beach a lot, because it was paywalled, so this is really nice.”

“You didn’t get to go to the beach?” Gus was astounded and scandalized.

“Well, now you’re here.” Willow said definitively. “And you can make up for all that lost time.”

~~

Eda gasped when she came up finally. Just because she could breathe underwater didn’t mean they were satisfactory breaths. Breathing above water was inarguably better. King was out of her sight. She drew up a quick fire air glyph combination to dry herself off and warm up enough to redress. Once she was comfortable again and had secured her catch, Eda walked toward the exit of the cave, calling his name.

She found him at the very exit, or entrance depending on where you were coming from, staring at something. Eda walked up to him. “Whatcha got there?”

He pointed wordlessly and Eda’s mouth dropped slightly. Lying in the snow peacefully sleeping in front of them was an actual shanalet. Eda had only seen them a few times. They were like a combination of a bunny and a deer. It was a baby, it had to be, because it was the size of a baby bunny. Full grown shanalets were about the size of an average deer. Eda would’ve made a joke about King finally catching one, but she was focused on the unnatural angle of its hind legs. The animal didn’t seem to be in any pain, but something looked clearly wrong with it.

“What happened?” She asked him. “Did you see anything?”

“No,” he responded. “I just came out here because I got bored, but then I found it.”

Eda bent down, cautiously reaching a hand out. The baby woke up from the movements by its face, and she offered the back of her hand for it to sniff. The little animal nuzzled her, and Eda melted. She scooped it up, cradling it in her arms. “I’m calling you Poppy,” she cooed.

“Poppy?” King repeated, scrunching up his nose. “Why would you name it Poppy?”

“Because it’s adorable,” she said, petting it. Poppy was eager to return her affections. “We have to return her to her family.”

“Eda, they’re impossible to find,” he pointed out. “We’ll never catch one.”

“We aren’t catching them, we’re just returning a baby.”

“Yeah, I’m sure they know the difference,” he snarked. Eda kicked snow his way and he jumped. “Okay, whatever! We’ll try to return the baby.”

Satisfied, Eda started walking. She had no idea where she was going, she just went forward. Poppy was so tiny that Eda could carry her with ease. She shifted positions so the shanalet could rest on her shoulder. Eda studied her legs as they walked, trying to figure out the cause for the unnatural position of her legs.

Poppy was soft and let out content sighs whenever Eda stroked her fur. The mountains were big, though, it really would be difficult to find where Poppy came from. The snow wasn’t helpful either, it had tracks from almost a dozen different animals that would be impossible to distinguish.

“Where are we going?” King asked, having gone without complaining for a record five minutes.

“I have no idea.”

“Eda! We came for crystals, not a rescue mission!”

She stopped and gave him a very pointed look. “I don’t think you have any place criticizing rescue missions, King.”

He fell silent. They walked more, and Poppy started to feel heavy. “Okay. Let’s think. Shanalets are big, but no one sees them. The mountains are very populated. They’re predatory animals, which makes no sense because neither deers or bunnies are predators, but that means they have to go out to hunt. They need somewhere to store food.”

“Maybe they live in tunnels underground,” King said sarcastically.

Eda widened her eyes. “King. There’s an underground ecosystem here.”

“What?”

She turned to face him, setting Poppy down. She waved her hands excitedly. “King, I think you’ve figured out why no one can find them! The caves are a part of an underground ecosystem in the mountains! If we go back in there, we could go through the tunnels! Maybe Poppy was trying to find her way back this whole time.”

~~

“Do you remember when we used to come here all the time?” Willow asked Amity, treading water.

“Yeah, back when Viney tried to get all our lessons to happen here.” Amity laughed in remembrance of past times. “Eda either had a soft spot for her or loves it here, because didn’t it usually work?”

“Yeah, it did!” Willow turned to Luz. “Viney was wonderful. She was one of the oldest Lost Kids I’ve ever seen her. Besides the pirates, but they don’t count.”

“What happened to her?”

“She went home.” Amity said, floating on her back. 

“Why?”

“Everyone does, eventually.” Gus swam in small circles with a perfect freestyle kick.

“I won’t,” she said decisively. “I’m staying here forever.”

“The only people who stay forever are the ones who turn into pirates, and I won’t let you do that.” Everyone looked at Amity when she said that, and she blushed. “I mean we. We won’t let that happen to you.”

Luz pursed her lips, holding back a smile at Amity’s sudden possessiveness over her character. Ordinarily she would hate people telling her that they would or wouldn’t let her do things, but something about that felt different. It wasn’t a big deal.

She changed the subject to avoid thinking about the weird feelings she got around Amity. “Can you use glyphs in the water? Cause we aren’t supposed to directly source magic, right?”

“Normally you’d be right, but areas with powerful concentrations of resources are different. Like here at Mermaid Cove, or up in the mountains. You can do glyphs directly on water.” Gus answered.

“Here. I’ll show you.” Amity dipped her finger into the clear water, tracing out a glyph of plants and water. She pressed her palm flat against it, and Luz watched the plants on the floor of the sand rise and grow into a tiara of intertwined gold vines, with an ice crystal in the front outlined by two petals on each side. It was absolutely beautiful.

But instead of looking proud, Amity flushed red. “That wasn’t what I meant to make.”

“You must have been distracted then,” Gus offered. “If you were concentrating on something else that would have screwed it up. Especially here where the elements are so potent, wandering thoughts or powerful emotions would interfere with your spell.”

That was strange. Amity had gotten much better with intentions and connecting to magic since Luz had got there. That was the main thing she had been working on, so it was out of character for her to mess up a spell. Luz, attempting to spare Amity from embarrassment, took it gratefully.

“I love it.” She put it on, pleasantly surprised to see it fit perfectly. “Is there some spell to make sure the ice crystal won’t melt?”

“I’ve got you.” Willow swept her finger through the surface of the water, ending her glyph by flicking it toward Luz.

Luz raised an eyebrow. “A fire glyph?”

Willow smiled. “What, are you still expecting magic to make sense all the time?”

Fair point. 

“Willow, that was amazing!” Gus exclaimed. “Did you see that? You heard Luz asking for a spell and you just whipped one out like that! It wasn’t even a plant glyph, either! You didn’t even think about it or give yourself time for self doubt. Look at how good you are at this.”

Willow looked away. “Aw, that was nothing, really.”

“No, he’s right.” It was Amity, not Luz, who immediately challenged Willow’s minimizing. “I never would have thought to use a fire glyph. That was really smart, too.”

Willow gave her a small smile. “Thanks, Amity.”

Hope soared in Luz’s chest. She so badly wanted for everyone to get along, and it seemed like it was finally happening. She didn’t know what set it in motion, but something was making them treat each other better and open up. One of her biggest dreams was to have a real family, full of siblings and good parents. Eda could deny it all she wanted, but she was probably the best and most capable parental figure Luz had ever had. And now that interpersonal dynamics were shifting, it seemed like Luz was closer than ever to having the family she always wanted.

Luz, overfilled with sudden joy, spun around with glee, sticking her hands out to splash the water and make waves. Willow was the first to join, and Gus quickly followed. Amity just watched until she folded and let herself go for the second time that day. Luz closed her eyes and spun faster. Somehow her tiara did not fly off, even when she accidentally collided with Amity.

“Oof!” She grunted, and then opened her eyes. “Amity! I am so sorry!”

Amity rubbed her forehead. “It’s okay. I’m fine. Having fun?”

“Yes.” For Luz’s second time that day, she found herself grabbing Amity’s hands and swinging her around. The water, clear as it was, was still water, and its thickness prevented her from fluidly going through. It was definitely not how it seemed in the movies, and Amity ended up being more dragged than swung. 

“Oops,” she said, wiping hair out of her eyes. “I thought that would go more smoothly.”

“It’s okay. I enjoyed it.” Amity blushed for the thousandth time that day. It was cute. Luz blinked. Where did that come from?

“Luz, do you want to see the cave?” Gus called to her.

“There’s a freaking cave?” This time Luz did scream.

~~

King’s sarcastic suggestion and Eda’s revelation led to one of their biggest discoveries in Neverland. Eda knew about the tunnels from her years of exploration, but she had never once thought to really go deeper. The passageways got narrower and narrower as they kept going, but Eda was determined to bring the shanalet back where it belonged. 

“Eda. It’s really dark.” King said.

He was scared of the dark. He would never admit it, but Eda knew him. She felt a little bad, so she set Poppy down and drew up a light glyph. She hooked his leg with her foot and dragged it over to the barely visible scratches on the ground. Excited to be a part of the process, King bent both knees and sprung on it to activate it. She smiled instinctively, enamored by his childlike behavior.

When light filled the tunnels, they both gasped. Eda suddenly noted the way Poppy was scent marking and sniffing the ground. Animal tracks layered on top of each other on the ground, from the size of Poppy’s paws to the size of King’s. Eda watched as Poppy skittered away, following her lead to return her to where she belonged. She limped slightly from the awkward position of her legs, but she was surprisingly quick. Maybe she just needed a little help to get where she needed to be. They followed her as she sped up, and nosed through a trick wall. Fascinating. 

“Holy Gods,” King said. Eda shook her head fondly, she made the mistakes of telling him some human myths and he never let it go. But, actually, yeah. Holy Gods. There were so many of them. Eda bent to her knees, sticking her hand out again to the first shanalet that sniffed her out.

“Edaaa.” King wailed, and she turned to see several of them nuzzling him like he was one of their babies. She snorted and fell backwards.

“Ha!” She hooted. “What happened to you insisting you would catch one?”

~~

It was a dream. Had to be. Couldn’t be real as Luz swam further behind the waterfall like a curtain, into an actual cave. Willow was kneeling on a rock, bending over the edge to draw glyphs in the water. Weeds rose up and and embedded themselves in cracks of the rock walls to create a sturdy hammock. Gus busied himself with trying to create illusions with mist. It had been weeks and he was still working on it. She admired his dedication, and the facts that he was slowly improving, too. 

She gravitated toward Willow. “Can you make a ropes course?” She asked excitedly, pointing to the vines.

Willow stood up and assessed her hammock. “Yeah! I bet I could!”

As the girls played around with various plants sprouting out of the walls, Amity walked over to Gus, right where the bank met the water. He was tracing his glyphs onto the sand beneath him, dipping his finger in the water like a feather quill in ink. “Can I help?”

He looked at her skeptically, but she maintained an earnest, genuine look. He softened and inched over, a non verbal invitation to join him. “What are you thinking?”

“Well, illusions, you make them from light reflecting off of the water, right?”
He nodded, and she continued, emboldened. “What if we change up the glyph? Here’s my idea. Clearly you’ve got the intentions down because you’re making progress. You know what you want it to do and you’re incredibly focused. But the glyph itself can change the spell based on how it’s drawn. You want light to reflect? Let’s actually represent that.”

Amity stopped to breathe. Gus was still listening, so she continued. “Instead of drawing layers of glyphs that are connected by rings, try three separate glyphs.”

She dipped her finger in the water, and drew a light glyph, then a water glyph, then water and light connected by a single ring. “They’re arranged in this shape on purpose. There’s a certain chain of events that we want to happen, not an endless circle. Light,” she touched her finger to the edge of the glyph, dragging it to the water, “shines on the water and is reflected off of it,” she turned her finger around without lifting it up and connected it to the combo glyph, “and finally hits the mist to create your illusion.”

His eyes widened. “Amity, that’s… brilliant, actually.”

She smiled instinctively, then flattened her face out. “Thank you. Do you want to try it?”

He gave her an impressed look and paused, most likely to cement what he wanted the illusion to look like. When he activated it, his first real illusion projected across the cave.

~~

Eda flew back with King, but paused before walking into the house. She opted out of the stairs as usual, but this time hovered outside of their sanctuary. Looking through the windows, none of the kids even noticed her. They were too immersed in each other. All of them. Talking. Laughing. Luz was standing up, pantomiming what must have been a new inside joke between all of them. Her heart felt full. It looked like bringing that girl back was the best thing she could have done for their little family.

Chapter Text

Luz took a long swig of her apple blood. Eda had brought in for about twenty minutes and asked to come in and talk, but she wasn’t ready. She needed to process the events of the day on her own before she would let anyone try to speak with her. She sprawled out on her mattress and wished she had some sort of stuffed animal with her. She craved comfort, but not the kind anyone could offer her.

Sitting up to down more apple blood, Luz screwed her eyes shut and mentally went over the day, trying to understand where it all went wrong.

~~

It had started off like any other day in Neverland. Luz knew it was going to be eventful as soon as she entered the main room. They had settled into a waking order. Amity was always up first. Luz or Willow got up after her, usually within fifteen minutes of each other. Gus slept in the longest. She was up before Willow that day, and just in time to see Eda putting a backpack on Amity like a mother on her child’s first day of kindergarten.

“Woah. What’s with the kiddy pack?” She asked, teasing.

Amity furrowed her brow. “It’s not a kiddy pack.”

“It’s apple blood season!” Eda exclaimed happily.

“Apple whaaa?” Luz cocked her head to the side.

“The closest thing to alcohol I get here,” Eda informed her. “There’s kiddy versions that I make for all of you, but mama needs her apple blood strong.”

~~

Luz swirled her cup around. Eda had given her the strong stuff. She appreciated it.

~~

It must’ve been one tasty drink, because everyone was very excited to go. It was a full group outing. Full group except Luz, apparently, who figured that out when Eda didn’t offer her a backpack.

“Ahem,” she said. “What about Luz? Where’s my backpack?”

Eda paused. “I was thinking you could sit this one out,” she said slowly, gently. “The apples grow closer to pirate territory than you’ve ever bee. You’ve been really lucky so far and haven’t had any real encounters with them. Let’s keep it that way, okay?”

Luz frowned. No, that wasn’t fair. 

She started to argue, but she was interrupted by Willow, surprisingly. “She’s right, Luz. Besides, it’s super rare to have time to yourself here. Enjoy it.”

She offered a bright smile that ordinarily would’ve persuaded her, but not today.

“No,” she said firmly. “I’m not a little kid. I’m just as capable as any of you!”

She was trying to sound mature, but her voice got higher at the end, making her sound more like she was complaining than anything else.

Eda stared at her for a moment, and then, also to Luz’s surprise, Eda nodded. “You’re right. If you really want to come, you can come.”

~~

At first, it had all been fun. She had only ever gone apple picking one other time in her life, and it wasn’t nearly as exciting as this. In the real world, she got sweaty and bored and wanted to leave. In Neverland, the trees were perfect for climbing and Luz got to monkey around to her heart’s content. The apples were thick and heavy, and she copied the others using King’s special skin dust to make hers float so she wouldn’t have to carry them. Neverland was just the best. 

The orchard was lush and the grass was red and no one was telling her she wasn’t allowed to be barefoot. The real kicker was when she tentatively unbuttoned the front of her shirt when she felt like no one was looking. Then Willow commented that she was free to run around in just her bra or binder if she wanted to.

That was the true meaning of freedom, Luz thought. Being outdoors, climbing trees, being shirtless and completely open, physically and otherwise. No one told her to calm down. No one told her to cover up. No one tried to police what she was doing or get her to ‘dial it back’. 

 She felt like she could do anything at that moment. Luz felt like she was just one with nature, like she was just a cycle of energy moving between her and the island and she could strip herself down to nothing but grass and wind and trees. 

~~

Luz picked at a small scab on her hand. She had gotten scraped somewhere along the way, maybe from a branch, maybe she brushed against a rock. Things had been so beautiful that morning. When, she racked her brain, did that change?

Obviously the pirates didn’t just show up out of nowhere. Something led to it. There was something they missed, some danger cue they overlooked. But memory was fallible and emotional and often more perceptive than objective. It felt like that had been ambushed out of nowhere, so Luz’s memory had edited itself to fit her narrative.

~~

One second everything was okay, the next second they were completely surrounded by grown ups. The only adult she knew on the island was Eda, so she felt it was safe to assume they were the pirates. It was so sudden in her mind. She was still holding an apple when Eda started preparing for a fight.

~~ 

For the first time, Luz wondered if she should go home. At least the dangers back there didn’t usually threaten her life.

~~

“Run,” Eda hissed, addressing her children and waving her hand. “Go. Get out of here. Now!” 

It was like her brain shut off. Luz ran faster than she ever had in her life. She just took off, she bolted. Then something pushed her back. The very gound beneath her ruptured, breaking up and sending her right back to Eda. The trail behind her looked exactly like it had when they went looking for fire honey. Oh, no.

She yelped as the grass thickened and grew to twist around her ankles, locking her in place. Luz looked back and forth. Amity, Gus, and Willow were all in the same trap, clearly having been dragged back like she was. The shortest person smirked at her, at her powerlessness, and she saw that they were the one who had commanded the earth. They had a wild mane of hair that was tied up in a huge ponytail, and the most body hair she had even seen on a person. Their eyes were small, but predatory, and seemed to follow her everywhere. 

The woman controlling the plants was tall and had long graying locks. She had the look of someone who was young but had aged poorly. How old she actually was, Luz had no idea, but she looked shriveled and ancient. Late thirties at most. She had a beautiful dress that would’ve looked much better on Willow, and long thin fingers that commanded the dying gray that held her in place.

“Going somewhere?” A soft, admittedly soothing voice came from the scariest looking one. He was white, with long tan but graying hair, and lips that looked thin and chapped. He had several distinctive features: the black eye patch over his right eye, the thick scar across his face that left him with skin the texture of wood, and a shimmering silver hook where his right hand should have been. Belos. She knew in her gut who he was.

“Ah, you must be her newest recruit. What is your name, young one?” His voice was still calm and soothing, but the way he addressed her made her feel sick to her stomach.

Eda answered for her. “Fuck off, you miserable creep. Let them go, you coward.”

Something dark and dangerous flashed across his face, passing quickly to return to a pleasant expression. Luz knew that look. That was the look of a man who believed he was entitled to whatever he wanted, a man who thought himself superior to others, especially women, and a man who believed he was always in control or at least should be. The worst kind of man.

He ignored Eda and spoke directly to her. “How old are you? Fourteen?”

Luz stiffened, unsure where this was going. Belos smiled. “Yes, I assumed. That seems to be Edalyn’s preferred age.”

“Don’t call me that, you sick fuck,” Eda hissed. Her anger seemed to only encourage him.

“I understand completely, of course. Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen. Wonderful ages. If only children could stay that way forever.” His wistful tone was nauseating. “But, you must know by now, as long as you are with her, you can be. I’d love to know how she’s figured that one out.”

Luz despised the attention he was giving her. She felt exposed, vulnerable. She needed to get away, but the more she struggled, the tighter her restraints were.

All of it just seemed so wrong. She was incredibly unsettled by the way the other pirates just stood there, like sleeper agents waiting for their code word. One of them looked vaguely like Eda, but they couldn’t have been related, because she was silently standing next to him with her hands folded in front of her chest. She wore all black to match her long black hair. She had the same elfish features as Luz’s beloved teacher, but her face lacked any of the passion or emotion Luz knew from Eda. She looked washed out, not physically, but emotionally. 

One of them had the audacity to look almost uninterested. His hair was a deep purple done in a top knot, and he wore a matching purple half robe over a black and gold silk button up, with long white skirt that should’ve been filthy but somehow wasn’t. He didn’t look like a pirate, he looked like he should’ve been someone’s favorite flamboyant English teacher.

The last person Luz saw had a far off look. Not distracted or unfocused, but a sort of deliberate detachment from their surroundings. They had a mint green mullet that reached their shoulders. Not many people could pull off a mullet, but they certainly could. Eda was staring at them intently, but breaking her gaze over and over. Like she was desperate to meet their eye but couldn’t bear it.

Luz turned to her friends. Willow was straining to use a glyph to get herself out, but the aged lady had quickly caught on and restrained Willow further. Gus was standing uncharacteristically still. Amity was still too, but visible fuming. Luz couldn’t understand why they weren’t fighting. 

It felt like an eternity since Belos had spoken to her and she had looked away, but it must have only been a few seconds. Time felt infinitely slower when she was unable to move or get away.

“Let the kids go,” Eda repeated angrily. “They don’t have anything you want. This has always been between you and me.”

“Of course,” he agreed smoothly. “Until you brought these poor, innocent children here.”

Then Eda was fuming. Luz flapped her hand at her, trying to get her to calm down. She knew what happened when men like him got riled up. Please, she mouthed at Eda, don’t. 

Eda softened and took a deep breath, recomposing herself. Luz nodded a thank you.

Belos clicked his tongue. “She must be fond of you. Edalyn doesn’t like to control her temper around me.”

He was really good at getting Eda incredibly angry, and she could see all the effort it took her not to fight back. “Let. Them. Go.” She said through gritted teeth.

“Are you ready to cooperate?” 

Ugh. Disgusting. Cooperate, as if she was a disobedient child. Luz wanted to hit him herself. In a heartbeat, Eda doubled over, drawing the fastest glyph Luz had ever seen. She slapped it viciously, and a sheet of ice shot across the ground. The frozen roots were severed and the kids were all suddenly released from their restraints. “Run,” Eda screamed. “Find King.”

Luz took off, feet hitting the ground with violent intensity. She ran and ran and felt nothing, all her adrenaline blocking out any tired feeling that might slow her down.

King. Eda told her to find King.

~~

Luz wished she had more apple blood. It made her feel good in a weird way, and it helped dull the aches all over her body. Without adrenaline to suppress it, Luz was aware of the cuts on the soles of her feet, and the marks on her ankles, and her aching muscles. 

She had never been a runner, so the day had also taken a real physical toll on her. She had tried to find King, but they had all scattered like mice in different directions. Somehow the pirates cornered them again. For the first time since arriving, Luz was uncomfortably aware that when you strip away all the magic and the glyphs, she was nothing more than a fourteen year old girl up against six adults who were trying to hurt her.

Magic made her feel invincible, but she was learning that she was just as helpless with magic as she was without it.

~~

“What do they want?” Luz asked, hiding behind a tree with Amity.

“Eda,” she said lowly, “and keep your voice down. Luz, look at me.”

The intensity of her voice was scary, and Luz could barely make eye contact with her.

“These are not the villains you grew up with on TV,” Amity said, grabbing her arm. “They do not care that we are children, and they will not hesitate to hurt us if they get the chance. Do not give them that chance. Forget everything you’ve been taught and every warning you’ve gotten. Your magic is naturally explosive. Use that. Explosive magic is harder to counter. Do whatever you can to get to where we arrived. King is waiting there to get us out of here.”

“But doesn’t that hurt the island?” 

“That does not matter right now.” Amity said, firmly, letting go of her arm. “Now, get out there, and fight like hell.”

Luz nodded and they both darted out. She quickly tried to analyze in her mind how far away she was from their starting point, how close to her the pirates were, and how many. However, she found that she didn’t have time to try to logically think anything through. It was her reflexes from foster care that warned her mere seconds before a thorned vine sliced her face open. The plant was nothing like any of the beautiful things she had learned to create. The color was off, and it smelled like something dying. She ducked out of its path, diving into a tucked roll. She tried to take off, but a patch of red grass hardened and spread, tripping her. She fell hard, and cried out in pain. Luz scrawled a fire and earth glyph, and frantically imagined a fiery shield to trail behind her. She had no idea if she could actually do that, but everyone was telling her to do just do whatever she could. A big plane of dirt beneath her separated itself from the ground, pushing her to her feet, and bursting into flames.

The area was tree-heavy, but fortunately, there weren’t great swampy marshes or tall grasses for her to make her way through. It was a relatively straight shot, and while that made it easier for her to run to her destination, it also made it easier for the woman to track her. 

Her fire shield was not as effective as she had thought it would be. At one point, Luz darted toward a tree to be her barrier between danger so she could have a moment to catch her breath. She hadn’t been expecting a branch of the tree to shoot out and hit her in the face. She yelled from shock and pain, and felt blood dripping down her nose. It hurt so bad, and tears welled up in her eyes. Luz stumbled backwards, guard let down as another branch extended to punch her in the gut. She doubled over, and the tree collapsed as something ate away at it from the inside. The bark corroded and knotted, the leaves shriveled and turned brown, the tree trunk split in half to expose spongy chipped wood. 

The split tree made an awful, unnatural noise as the wood struggled to follow whatever magical command the plant lady had cast. Luz heard her groan, and tried to push herself up as the woman appeared in a flash to rip off a chunk of wood and wield it like a bat.

The grass wrapped around her again, tying her down, helpless as someone came at her with a baseball bat. “What do you want?” She whimpered.

“Technically? To send a message. But personally, I just think it’s fun.” She smirked, revealing chipped green teeth. Her statement was absolutely terrifying, and Luz saw no way out. Then the strangest thing happened.

The grass became thick and waterlogged, soggy enough that she was able to break out of it and run again. In fact, everything around them became thick and waterlogged, to the point that using a plant glyph on it would’ve been incredibly difficult. She had no idea how it happened, but she wasn’t going to question a good thing. 

Luz was so close to King, to getting away, before an unmistakable fire glyph drained the moisture from the plants below. Ordinarily that would’ve made the plants usable again, but every spell from the pirates seemed to make things worse, so now everything was burnt.

“Thanks a lot, Darius.” The woman snarked

“Anytime, Terra,” the man, Darius, said dryly.

She stored their names away as she finally got to King. “Where are the others?” She asked frantically.

“Willow and Amity made it back,” he said, throwing a handful of dust at her. “Don’t worry about anyone else. Go!”

“But, wait!” Luz cried as she started floating away against her will. She couldn’t leave, not if Gus and Eda were still there!

“Go, Luz!” King had never yelled at her, but he sounded desperate. She was slightly shocked by it, but it seemed circumstantially appropriate. She fell silent, and there was no sound as she cried.

~~

Being punched in the stomach and the head really took its toll on a person. She peered at her exposed belly, wondering what sort of bruise would form there. Her nose still hurt, but it didn’t hurt like crazy anymore. Eda’s strong version of the apple blood must have had some healing quality in it. Maybe this was why adults drank? 

She had heard of people drinking to self medicate, and people drinking to forget. She understood it then. She wanted to forget. She wanted to forget that ever happened. She wanted to forget that Neverland could be anything other than a mythical land of her dreams where everything was beautiful and nothing hurt. This was supposed to be Luz’s escape from the weight of reality, a place where things could be just a perfect utopia.

But this wasn’t a utopia. Utopias don’t leave people with broken noses and broken spirits.

~~

She had been alone all night since they got back. No one besides Eda had disrupted her. Maybe they thought she was too fragile. Maybe they thought she needed space. Who even knew anymore. She had given up on anyone coming to see her ever again right when Amity knocked on the door. “Can I come in?”

Luz rubbed her eye with the heel of her palm. “Um, yeah, okay.”

“I know today was a lot. How are you holding up?” Amity stood by the bed, and Luz instinctively scooted over to give her room to sit down. Cautiously, Amity took a seat next to her, turning to look at her with an unfamiliar compassionate look.

“Amity, how can a place this beautiful also have such awful things?” When Luz looked up at her, tears had filled her eyes again.

“Oh, Luz. That’s just life. I don’t know why.” Amity sighed and leaned back to rest against the wall, sinking into the mattress. “I thought when I came here I wouldn’t have to deal with that. I thought if I ran away from my old life I could run away from all the things about it I didn’t like. But I guess as long as you have humanity, you have the full spectrum of it.”

“Now I don’t even have Azura to help me.” Luz said sadly.

“Oh, I have my copy here. You can borrow it,” Amity offered.

“That’s not what I mean. Now that I know what real pirates are like, Azura is ruined.”

To Luz’s surprise, and slight outrage, Amity scoffed. “No, it’s not.”

“Yes it is!” She protested. “You saw exactly what I did! You know it!”

“Yeah, obviously.” Amity said. “But I also know that ‘The Good Pirate Azura’ was really important to you growing up, and I know it still is now. Today doesn’t get to change that.”

“How could it not?” Luz raked her hands through her hair, sinking back against the wall with Amity.

“Because we choose our safe spaces, Luz. What’s your favorite part of the book? Or the series, either one works.”

Luz crumpled her face in distress and refused to answer. 

“My favorite part was in the third book, when she finds an ancient gemstone and turns it into a necklace. I always loved that part for the whole action scene and the mystery, but I was fascinated by the gem. I would draw it an everything. So, my big sister,” Amity smiled as she told the memory, “she used allowance money to buy me a rock from Dave’s Rock Shop and made me the necklace. It was actually my allowance money that she stole, but it was a better use for it than I could’ve come up with.”

Amity let out a hearty laugh, and Luz couldn’t help but smile along. “She just stole your money?”

“Yes!” Amity snorted. “Oh, she was the worst sometimes, but she loved me. I miss my siblings.”

“Why did you leave?” Luz asked, then bit her lip. “Sorry, you don’t have to answer that.”

“My mom.” Amity said simply, not offering any more. 

“My favorite part is when Azura dances with Lisbet,” Luz said. “It’s in the second book. Azura has rescued Lady Lisbet from Captain Redwind, and they battled his crew of pirates together. Afterward, that night, as Azura sails to bring her home, they dance in the moonlight on the deck, toasting her first night of freedom.”

“I loved that scene too,” Amity said dreamily. Then she stood up, and Luz wondered if she was about to go. She wished she wouldn’t. But then Amity stuck her hand out. “Lady Lisbet, may I have this dance?”

Luz blushed and took it, Amity pulling her to her feet. “Oh, I’d be Azura and we both know it. You can be my Lady.”

As soon as she said that, they both turned bright red. Amity pulled her to the center of the room. Through the curtains, moonlight illuminated the space. Light shined through the cracks in the floorboards. The wooden boards were hard under her feet as she stood up, and a cool night breeze made the leaves sway on the tree. Amity’s hand was soft and her grip was firm. Luz took Amity in, all of her, from the anklet on her left foot Luz had never noticed, to the way her loose pink skirt fell on her hips, to the way her brown skirt appeared gold against her pale skin, to the star stud earrings, to the way her rubberband was slowly sliding off the tight ponytail of her green topknot. She looked angelic in the moonlight.

“Oh, Good Pirate Luzura,” Amity began, making Luz blush and giggle, “may I have this dance?”

“Lady Lisbet, I would be honored.” Luz lifted her hand up high, and Amity twirled into it. 

They waltzed around the room, stepping from corner to corner, marking the entire space as their own. In that moment, everything else dissolved away. It was just her and Amity, Azura and Lisbet, a pirate and her maiden. Neverland was like a fantasy in a dream. 

Amity twirled toward Luz’s bed and Luz spun after her, keeping her hand in hers and jumping around with her, moving to her tiptoes to step around gracefully.

Amity’s skirt billowed out as she spun. Luz took the lead and Amity followed her movements, allowing herself to let go of some of that control she fought so hard for.

The space was quiet aside from feet moving on wooden panels, or other natural noises of movement, but both girls danced to music in their minds. 

Dancing back and forth, Luz moved her hands to Amity’s waist and spun her around, dipping her down and staring into her eyes. Her ponytail had come undone. Her arms felt strained but she held Amity there, suspended in the air, holding on to Luz.

“Luz.” Amity whispered.

“Yes?” She whispered back.

“I can feel all the blood in my body rushing to my head.”

“Oh! Sorry.” Luz gently lifted her back up, bringing to her feet. Amity’s eyes still reminded her of liquid gold. She stepped away, giving Amity permission to go back to whatever she was doing before checking on Luz. “Thank you. For this. I’m okay now. You can go if you want.”

“Do you want me to go?”

“No.” Luz admitted. “I don’t want to keep you here, though, I’m sure there were other things you wanted to do.”

“I know what I want.” Amity said softly. She held her hand out, illuminated in the moonlight, dancing to music only they could hear.

Chapter Text

“So, where are we?” Luz asked again, brushing gold dust off herself with her left hand. Her right hand was tightly wrapped around several papers of emergency glyph combinations in case they were ambushed again.

“Welcome to skull rock.” Eda said with a flourish.

It had an appropriate name. They had gotten there by flying, and it was about halfway across the island from where the tree house was. The rocky formation in front of her was twice the size of their house, and three times as wide.

It was shaped, as the name would suggest, like a giant skull. They entered through the mouth, and Luz traced her hand across the rock as she climbed through. Luz had gone through a rock phase once, so she could identify what it was made of. This was howlite, a type of smooth white rock with gray crack marks through it. The ground was cold on her bare feet. She had decided to go completely barefoot since it was easier to take off all of a sudden without shoes.

Moss grew on the inside of the skull, and she felt almost like she was in some sort of nature preserve. It was peaceful, and beautiful. The indentations from the nose and eyes of the rock made it seem like there were different floors or levels to it, which was interesting.

“And what are we doing?” She asked.

“Well, Luz, now that you’ve had the displeasure of meeting Belos, it’s time you learn-” Eda began before Gus cut her off.

“Have you ever seen the Pixar movie Brave?” He asked, and Eda scowled. Luz nodded. “Well, this is her version of Mor'du.”

“There is no shame in wanting to relive your gory days,” Eda said, defending herself with a wave of her arms.

“Uh, Eda, isn’t the phrase ‘glory days’?” Luz asked.

“If you’re doing it right, they’re the same thing.” She said upbeat, and then cleared her throat loudly. “ *Anyway, before I was so rudely interrupted. How would you like to hear the story of how Belos lost his hand?”

~~

“When I first met him,” Eda began again, “he told me he was a friend of a friend.”

“But you knew that was a lie because you didn’t know anyone else on the island.” Luz added in.

“Actually…” Eda looked away, almost sadly before resetting herself. “I did. I knew some people here.”

“Were they the lost kids who turned evil?” She asked with rapt attention.

“No one is evil, Luz.” Eda said, almost snapping, and she shrunk away from her. Guilt immediately flashed across her face as Willow put a comforting hand on Luz’s knee, and she gave her an apologetic look. “What I meant is that people will call things evil to detach ourselves from the humanity in it. Bad things don’t happen because people are evil, they happen because people are cruel, or selfish, or any other human trait that we can find in ourselves and want to distance from. No one wants to think we are also capable of doing ‘evil’ things by recognizing the ordinary cruelty in them.”

That was a lot for Luz to try to take in, and Eda seemed to appreciate that, because she moved on. “They weren’t lost kids. They were people who were very important to me.”

“So then you did believe him.” Luz said.

Eda raised an eyebrow. “Stories are best told when the storyteller is actually allowed to tell them.”

~~

When she first met him, he was gentle and friendly. He told her he was a friend of a friend, and had sought her out. Eda was immediately suspicious of him. With his long light brown hair, and slightly wrinkled face, he looked like he could be someone’s old uncle, or a new grandpa. His voice was smooth, and he spoke formally. But despite everything, there was something beneath it all that she couldn’t quite put her finger on, but she could feel it. There was something he was trying to hide, something dark, and maybe even dangerous.

“I have no friends here.” She told him flatly, even though it hurt to deny her relationship to people she had once held so close to her heart. “And I don’t know you. I don’t know how you found me, but I want nothing to do with you.”

He sucked in a breath, and she could see that her response displeased him. She studied him to see how he would react to her firm rejection, preparing herself to fight back. He smiled again, something that was clearly supposed to be disarming. She didn’t fall for it.

“Your pet is fascinating. Where did you get him?” He asked warmly.

Eda tensed up immediately. A seemingly innocent question, but she could tell he knew exactly what he was doing. That was a calculated remark, communicating to her exactly what he knew. 

“I found him,” she said tersely. “And I think he’s getting tired. We were just about to leave.”

“Oh? So soon?”

“Yes. We are leaving now.” Eda snatched him up. He was still just a baby at that point, she had no idea what he was capable of. She walked off as calmly as she could, breaking into a run as soon as she was out of his line of sight.

~~

“What did he want with King?” Luz was petting her as they spoke, and he was rolling on his back to give her a better angle. “What do you mean he knew something?”

Eda opened her mouth and then closed it again. “He knew… things.”

Luz looked to Willow or Gus or Amity to clue her in, but they all shrugged. How intriguing. A mystery none of them knew!

~~

The next time she met him she was at the apple orchard, butchering apples for the weird blood like substance it had. It had been quite an interesting discovery when she instinctively licked her hand to clean it off from the streak from a broken apple and found it tasted delicious. Because of the odd consistency and dark red color, she affectionately nicknamed it apple blood, and was even more pleased to find that the one time she accidentally left it out too long it developed a strong quality that was almost intoxicating. Literally.

Unfortunately it didn’t seem to be a year round thing, so it was she had learned to track changing seasons. Weirdly enough, apple blood trees blooming seemed to have nothing with her charting seasons. But there was one strange tell that the apples were blooming; she saw more of these specific red and yellow birds that made loud noises. 

She was using a sharp stick to stab through the center and drain it into a bucket while King scampered through the trees stabbing apples with his claws to bring back to her. It was endearing watching him make little noises when apples got really stuck and he had to roll around pushing with his feet to free up his front claws. 

The mood was kind of killed when she saw that same man approaching her again. She realized that she didn’t even know his name, and she didn’t care to.

She quickly told him to get lost, but he didn’t listen. He was less patient the second time around, and Eda felt like her bad feeling about him was warranted. He told her his name was Philip and he had been stuck on the island for a very long time.

Eda felt on edge from that. She had been living on the island for several years and had never seen him before. That felt wrong and off that two people could live on a relatively small island for years and never interact with each other. Not to mention his age. How long? How old was he when he got there? She also got a bad feeling about how he referred to himself as being stuck on the island. Something felt wrong about the negative way he spoke about living there.

He said that he had been made aware of her situation from mutual friends, and he wanted to help her out. As long as in return, she helped him get home. He said that he knew she had found a portal between worlds, and he wanted it.

And, well, she didn’t. Eda didn’t know where he got that idea, but he seemed convinced she had cracked the secret of traveling worlds. She had no idea how to get back, and she wasn’t interested in trying. It wasn’t that she was fully satisfied with her life–she would’ve liked company again, Eda was never good as a solitary unit–but she didn’t want to go back. Not that she even could, because, again, she didn’t know how. 

As far as Eda was aware, the door only appeared when she had a desperate need to escape. Something she never felt here. She told him she had no idea how to do that and she didn’t want his help.

~~

“And the third time I met him,” Eda said, “was right here.”

“Now you get the tour,” Willow giggled. “Eda has to fully set the scene.”

“Quiet!” Eda points a playful finger at Willow. “Or I turn you into a toad.”

“Can you actually do that? Can she actually do that?” Luz asked excitedly. That would be so cool to see!

“No,” the three of them told her definitively. 

Eda swirled her finger and smirked as a blob of moss shot at Willow. She dodged it, laughing, but Luz instinctively tightened her grip on her glyph papers, ready to snap into action. It’s just Eda, she reminded herself. Amity gave her a concerned look.

Eda’s magic was interesting. Luz had noticed that unlike everyone else, Eda didn’t always need to draw glyphs to do magic. She could just wave her finger and summon magic directly. It was usually for small spells, but it was still magic that other people couldn’t seem to do. Maybe it was from her years on the island?

“But, yes, you do get the grand tour now.” Eda admitted. “It’ll be fun.” She cast a glance at Luz’s hand and gently asked, “Do you want to take that with you?”
Luz appreciated the way it was a genuine question and not a passive aggressive hint she was supposed to follow. “Yes.” She said definitely and Eda nodded. It was foreign and nice to have her wishes completely respected the way Eda did.

“Then let’s go.”

~~

With King’s dust, Luz flew around the skull. For the first time in a while, she let out a whoop of delight. Flying was so amazing. Following Gus’s lead, she was literally bouncing off the walls. Take that, everyone who criticized her back in the human world. 

She dropped one of her glyph papers, and fear seized her heart. She went to dive for it, but Willow grabbed her arm and said, “You know we’re here for you, right? We’ll protect you if anything happens. You don’t have to always be prepared.”

Luz felt her eyes water. She did have to always be prepared, though. She needed to be ready. That was how it had always been.

But… looking into Willow’s kind eyes, seeing Gus bouncing around in her peripheral vision, hearing Amity behind her, she wondered if maybe it didn’t have to be that way.

“Okay,” she said softly, nodding. “But I’m keeping the others.”

“It’s a start.” Willow smiled, offering her hand out.

Luz smiled back.

~~

“The third time we met,” Eda said, slashing her hand through the air, “I cut off his hand.”

~~

The third time she met him, she and King were playing around in Skull Rock. It wasn’t a creative title, but she named it for the startling accuracy. Eda had been experimenting with all the ways to enter the magnificent landmark, and she and King were both delightfully charmed by crawling up the nasal canal. Since rescuing her sister, she was a little aware of King’s abilities, but she had only scratched the surface with the whole flying thing.

So she used the weird dusty layer of skin of his to fly them up to the opening on the nose, and from then they went at it caveman style. The rocky formation was incredibly smooth, which meant she fell quite a few times in the process. Luckily, she kept the flakes on her fully knowing she would fall. King scrambled around, still uncertain of how to utilize his own abilities. It was a whole learning process for the two of them. 

Oh, not to mention Eda had a dagger with her and was trying not to get cut. She had found something a few days ago that reminded her of obsidian, and she need a relatively safe space to test out something suspected to be so sharp. Primitive style, she had used ropes and plants to secure the blade around a wooden handle, a smooth polished chunk of shifter wood from one of the trees she had planted.

It was a delicate process, and she had gotten quite a few cuts. Luckily, from her years of exploration on the island, she had come to find that the island itself had its own magical properties, not just the glyphs that she had discovered. She had documented plants with healing properties, along with several other crazy thing she found in dirt, or rock, or tree bark. Things like that. So she had been able to fix herself up. 

Eda had it capped away in her bra, safe from King and only slightly hazardous to her physical safety. Good enough.

Speaking of King, where was he? 

“King,” Eda called out, patting her boob protectively for her weapon. “What did you get into now, buddy?”

She wasn’t concerned until she heard his little “Weh” noise. Eda had learned his cues and his intonations, and that was a sound of distress. And it was slightly muffled. Bad sign. Had he gotten himself caught in something?

“King,” she said a little more urgently, “I’ve got you, tell me where you are.”

“He’s safe,” a sinister familiar voice said. Eda’s blood ran cold, and she-

~~

“No!” Luz cried out. “King!” 

She scooped him up and rocked him in her arms like a baby. “Oh, poor little guy! Was he okay?”

Eda stared at her. “Luz. He’s right there. In your arms. Clearly he’s okay.”

~~

Eda’s blood ran cold, and she darted over. “Give him to me. Now.”

“He’s fine,” Philip repeated. “And you will be too, if you just come with me.”

“Never,” she snarled. “Give me my… King.” She stumbled as she tried to define their relationship.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Philip had the audacity to gently stroke King’s fur, as if he didn’t look absolutely terrified. “Not now. If you come with me, I’d be happy to give him back.”

“Fuck, and I mean this with all my heart, you.” She sneered.

Belos took a step back. Coward. “All I want is to get home, Edalyn.”

“Don’t call me that.” With that final burst of anger pushing adrenaline through her system, Eda lunged at him, grabbing her blade. She had something better to test it out on now.

Surprise caught him off guard, and he dropped King. She swiftly caught him before he hit the ground. In that moment, Eda had to make a choice.

Flee, or fight. And she chose to fight.

~~

Philip didn’t seem like the type of man to easily take rejection. She could run, but it was obvious he would just come back. He would follow her, and follow her, and try to break her down. She could tell. So just running? That wouldn’t do anything.

No. She was not going run.

Philip invaded her space, refused to take no for an answer, followed her, and threatened King. She was going to return the favor.

Eda was not afraid of him, and he needed to know that.

But she did need a minute. She swept King away like they were going to run, to let his defenses down, to get King out of harm’s way, and to douse herself in flying dust. 

“Hey buddy.” She said gently.

“Weh? Eda, what’s happening?” 

“You’re gonna run. Okay? Use that nose of yours and run as fast as you can until you’re back home. I will be back, I promise.”

He protested, but she gave him a stern look, filling up two sacks of dust. He scampered away, and Eda watched him for a second before swapping the dust for the dagger, and charging at him.

“Leave me and King the fuck alone,” she yelled, holding the dagger high in the air.

The flash of fear on his face was incredibly gratifying. Unfortunately, it was short lasting. She shouldn’t have made it such a far distance to cross to get to him, because it gave him more time to catch his senses and fight back.

“Now this is an interesting development.” He said. He was quick for someone who she perceived as so old, making her reevaluate either his age or his magical abilities, possibly something to do with aging? She didn’t have time to ponder it, because Philip was angered by her actions, despite the calm voice he was using. 

He dodged her as she ran at him. Eda hadn’t initially really planned on fighting him, but she had poked a beast and he was ready to fight. With a chill, she realized he would have no problem seriously hurting her given his behavior.

Switching tactics, she kept running, until she hit the other side of the skull. He snorted, obviously assuming it was unintentional until she quite literally bounced off the wall, flinging herself at him with the kind of strength only accessible during times of the highest adrenaline. 

Eda thudded into him heavily, knocking him over. “Don’t come back,” she spat.

She turned away. Too soon. He launched himself up as she tried to put her blade away, and she cried out in pain from the impact of his body forcing the blade into her flesh.

“Bad choice,” he said. No, he didn’t say it, he breathed it out in an eerie, uncomfortable way that made the hair on her arms and legs stand up. “Very bad choice, indeed.”

He tried to rip the blade from her, but he misjudged how sharp it was. It sliced into the meat of his palm, beginning to bleed profusely. Hand wounds were often grossly misrepresented in media, and the blood gushing from his hand proved it. He grunted, sucking in a sharp breath.

“No, Philip. You made the bad choice. Consider this a fucking warning.”

Her blade wound was painful and bloody, but nothing compared to his, given the force he tried to take it with. He would surely be more incapacitated than she was, meaning she would be able to get away.

Wrong. He was irritatingly determined, quickly ripping off part of his pant leg as a makeshift tourniquet. Philip roared in pain as he stupidly used his right hand as leverage to stand up, also alerting Eda that he wasn’t done. Shit.

Time for her secret advantage. She dusted herself and jumped into the air, flying away.

“What the-” he said, staring at her with both amazed and furious eyes. 

To her surprise, he lept into the air and yanked her down, pulling her foot with his torn up hand. He was resilient, she could admit that. It was certainly something to be able to be in that rough shape and still use the hand. It also really sucked for her, because this would be harder than she thought.

He was also observant, because he reached up her shirt to grab a pouch. She hissed at his hand on her body, kicking him off, not before he got what he was looking for.

Eda pushed off into the air again, but this time he followed.

“What do you want from me?” She yelled in frustration.

“To go home!” He yelled back. “I know you’ve found the doors several times in several different locations. And I know about the Beast.”

Eda froze, just for a moment before she started flying again. Just enough for him to see he had made his point.

“So there is a beast,” he said to himself with wonder.

Him knowing about the Owl Beast terrified her, actually. She had no doubt he would exploit her in any way he could if he had access to that part of her. She wondered how much he knew about it, whether he knew how power she really was when Eda didn’t shove her away.

Fury also boiled in the back of her brain. It wasn’t like she hadn’t put it together: the “friend of a friend” could only refer to Raine or Lilith. She doubted Raine would associate with this sicko, so it could only mean Lily was the one who betrayed her. Not only betrayed her, but put her and King in danger in the process. Typical Lily.

Eda was so close to the exit. She was flying straight up because flying took a little practice, and she was certain she was more skilled than he was. She absolutely was, but he played dirty. She was knocked out of the air when he threw a rock at her, a big one. 

Fuck, fuck! It hit her in the back, in a way she was certain would have some decently long term consequences when she got out of this. Eda fell onto the jutting out part of rock that made up the nose.

Shakily, Philip flew over to her. He had a big stick, to her horror. She patted herself down frantically, thanking any and every god that she had somehow kept track of her dagger. He invaded her space, pressing her against the wall of the skull, trapping her in. He moved to swing his make shift club, but she instinctively held up the blade to block it.

To both their shock, the shard of obsidian-like rock sliced clean through the thick wood coming down on it. Eda looked at it, and grinned. Philip was about to learn what happened to anyone who invaded her personal space.

~~

Eda paused in her story. All four kids were staring at her with rapt attention. She wasn’t telling them the story exactly as she remembered it, omitting certain details about Lilith, and any of the more bloody sequences that they didn’t need to have in their minds. She couldn’t tell a story about cutting off a hand without telling about it being cut off.

She would just have to edit out a few of the details as she spoke.

~~

Without a moment’s hesitation, Eda plunged the blade into Philip’s eye, pulling it out as soon as she felt a sickening squish.

Then the most horrific noises of pain she had ever heard were ripped out of him. It would’ve made her sick if he wasn’t such a clearly awful person.

“You fucking bitch!” He roared.

Well, that was her cue to go. She had sent a more than obvious message, and if that didn’t stop him, what would? Even he couldn’t just walk that off.

But apparently he could fly it off. “How are still moving?” She screamed in frustration.

“I’m used to a little pain,” he snarled. 

It was a gruesome sight, Philip coming at her with bloody handprints on his pants and a fountain of blood pouring from his eye, popped like jelly. She didn’t feel bad for him, but the gore itself didn’t bring her joy. It was obvious that he was in much more than a little pain, and she didn’t want to think about what he could possibly mean by being used to that.

Eda didn’t want to think about him at all. She wished he would treat injury like a normal person and be incapacitated and let her leave. 

Philip pounced at her, and they both slammed into the side of the skull. He fell, and grabbed her foot, taking her down with him. Thanks to the dust she frantically reapplied, Eda’s descent was less violent, but not prevented.

“Just give up,” she said breathlessly, backing away from him. “I’m clearly stronger and faster than you, and I will never go with you.”

“I can be persuasive.” Philip said, before closing the distance between them and trying to grab her. The loss of his eye affected his depth perception, and he missed her by a few inches, quickly correcting himself to wrap his hands around her throat. He hissed in pain, and she felt the dried blood on his injured hand split apart on her neck, flowing down. Fury blazed in his unaffected eye, and thick coagulated blood coated the other one.

For the first time in their encounter, true fear gripped her as tightly as his hands. She had never actually experienced an attack like this and Eda was really scared. She couldn’t breathe. Panic seized through her, and her mind raced.

Eda might have been scared, but she was also determined to survive. No matter what he did, she was going to survive. She grabbed the knife, and with a cry, brought it down on one of his hands as hard as she could.

A scream of agony escaped him, and attempting to block out the awful noise, Eda sawed down on it, imagining it as just another piece of shifter wood, ignoring the feel of skin, fat, tendons, and finally, bone. It must have been obsidian, because she didn’t think anything else could cut through bone like that.

Blood sprayed all over her, wet and thick. Disgust rose up in her stomach, and she swallowed it down. Then she felt nothing, and to her horror, saw his hand on the ground. He stared at her with shock, mirrored horror, and disgust.

“Don’t come back.”

~~

Eda exhaled heavily. She had edited out all of the blood, any vivid descriptions of his injuries, and anything about his aggressive behavior toward her. She knew Luz especially was feeling vulnerable, and she didn’t want to scare the girl even more by putting those images in her head.

She also didn’t let them know that she felt incredibly guilty whenever her kids encountered the pirates. None of them had ever been injured like that and she would make sure that never happened, but she knew that even them experiencing less than 50% of what she had could be traumatic. 

So far she had been able to limit their interactions with the pirates, and she knew she would do anything to protect them. She just wished she didn’t have to.

Sometimes she worried she exposed them to too much, and that she was making their lives harder. She stepped away to let them all process the story, even if the other three had already heard it. Then, just as her worries would start to get to her, her kids always proved her wrong.

They weren’t terrified or falling apart. They had shifted focus and the other three were teaching Luz how to fly.

Eda rested back against a wall, watching them. Laughter bounced off the echoey skull, and a loving smile stretched across her face as Luz tossed King in the air and caught him like a baby, or seeing Willow and Amity talking together like nothing ever changed between them, or seeing Gus lick a rock when he thought no one was looking, childhood joy filled her heart up.

This was what Neverland stood for. Maybe humanity would always be a mix of love and hate, fear and joy, beauty and pain. It didn’t all have to be about avoiding any form of danger, that was never what she stood for. She never wanted to teach them to run from what scared them. She had always believed in giving them the strength to confront it. No, she couldn’t protect them from everything, but they were all flourishing in ways maybe even they didn’t realize.

Eda wondered if Luz had realized that she wasn’t clinging to her emergency defense glyphs anymore. 

Chapter Text

Luz had probably been in Neverland for months now, but she had just experienced a new First. Her First time getting up before Eda. It wasn’t much of an accomplishment, however, because so was everyone else. Even Gus woke up before she did.

Luz’s immediate reaction was concern, so it was confusing when everyone else reacted to her late waking with excitement. 

“What’s everyone so excited about?” She asked, pacing around their little kitchen.

“Eda only sleeps in a few times per year,” Willow explained. “Whenever she does, it means the seasons are changing!”
“What, is she extra sleepy when leaves change color?”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” Amity said, almost fondly. She was splayed out on the couch, which seemed to be her favorite spot in the house. Luz walked to see her as she talked. “Eda has a deal with the Owl Beast. The first day of every season, she lets her out and they exist in harmony together for a day. The beast makes her sleep longer and eat better that day so she has plenty of energy for flying and stuff.”

Luz cocked her head and started pacing again, this time just to move around. “But isn’t the Owl Beast, like Big Bad News?”

“Only if she’s not supposed to be out,” Gus said, filling her in. “That time you’re probably thinking of? She wasn’t supposed to be out, so it was bad. But, like Amity said, they have a deal.”

“Cool,” she said, wrapping her head around that new piece of information. “But, wait, why are all of you so excited?”

“It means we get to go to the mountains,” Amity beamed. “She needs a place to fly around, and she takes us with her so that we can have fun.”

Luz was a huge fan of having fun, so that all sounded great to her. “When do we go?” She asked excitedly. She didn’t fully understand the significance of this, but everyone else was hyped so she was hyped too.

“When Eda wakes up. King’s kind of like a puppy, so she should be up soon.”

Soon was incredibly relative, apparently, because in Luz’s world ‘soon’ was five minutes or less. Ten minutes at most. It had to be about thirty minutes of waiting for some unexplained fun activity for Eda to wake up, aggressively scratch herself, and scarf down some breakfast, using an explosion of glyphs to conjure up foods Luz didn’t even know how to classify. Finally, with a mouth full of food, she announced she was ready to go. Then King complained that he hadn’t been given enough food himself, and that was another delay for Luz to suffer through. Finally finally, they were off, all flying to the mountains.

It was a truly unreal experience. Luz had had countless dreams about flying, but it didn’t compare. Weightlessness was a wonderful feeling, and it was so surreal trying to learn how to move her arms and legs to stay up in the air. Birds made it look so easy. When she got into her pattern, she experimented with moving her legs in different directions, or trying to swim through the air, but she just threw herself off balance mostly.

It was also interesting to have the wind blowing in the opposite direction as they were going. It felt like someone was blowing air in her mouth as she was trying to breathe, and it was not the most amazing feeling, but it was strange enough for her to find it intriguing instead of miserable. Besides, it was a gentle wind, not too intense.

When she turned her head to look to her friends, that also threw her off balance, and her friends laughed at her. It was nice to have people laugh at her in a way that made her feel appreciated instead of self conscious. Luz really had found her people in the most delightful way. 

She struggled a bit with the steering, crashing into Amity at least twice, and she did a somersault instead of landing gracefully in the snow. Snow was cold, she had forgotten about that when making her quick descent. Luckily, Willow drew her up a fire glyph to warm up. Interestingly fire was the element she had mastered. Luz would’ve thought water or earth would make the most sense for someone with such a natural plant inclination, but Willow could do really cool things with flames. She was full of surprises.

“This is your first time in the mountains, right?” Willow asked her.

Luz nodded, awestruck. Neverland would never stop amazing her. She walked aimlessly, enjoying the crunch of snow under her boots. It was fluffy, but firm. Perfect for snowballs, or snow creatures. Cold wind from the mountains ruffled her hair, making her shiver pleasantly. Something about it pulled something primal out of her, deep urge to break free. The residual fear from her run in with the pirates fueled her, and she ran and ran into the nothingness. Snow enveloped the noises and created a quiet vacuum for her to scream into. 

Luz didn’t turn back as she ran from family, feet hitting the ground hard as she fully gave in. Finally, adrenaline eased its way out of her body, and a cathartic exhaustion forced her to stop and catch her breath. 

The sound of snowy footprints after a few minutes informed her that she was no longer alone. Amity joined her, drawing a glyph combination in the snow. She didn’t have the same speed that Willow did, and Luz watched her concentrate as she ran through the magic in her head, drawing a slow but sure pattern of water and air that formed a bench of compacted snow. Amity gestured to it, and Luz sat down, Amity moving to sit facing her.

“It helps, doesn’t it?”

“What?”

“The mountains.” Amity gestured all around them. “I did track and field back home, but I didn’t understand what running could truly be like until I came here.” She rested back on her elbows. “This is the perfect place to run. You don’t sweat, the cold wind fills your lungs in the best way, and as you’ve now seen, it’s a great place to scream.”

Luz cringed. “You all heard?”

“Yeah. You’re loud. They were impressed by your lung capacity.” Amity pointed to Gus and Willow, who were about the size of her hand in perspective. Wow. She ran further than she thought.

“Amity.” Luz said quietly. “I know it’s been a week or something, but I still think about the run in with the pirates. I know I shouldn’t and you all seem so strong, and unbothered, but-”

“Luz.” Amity put her hands on Luz’s shoulders to stop her spiraling. Luz looked down at Amity’s hands on her, warm and grounding. Amity blushed fiercely and dropped them, and Luz kind of wished she hadn’t. “Of course we get bothered by it! It’s fucking scary. You’re allowed to be scared. You don’t have to hide it from us.”

“But none of you seem scared!” Luz squeezed her eyes shut in case they welled up with tears.

“I never let anyone know how scared I was the first time.” Amity said. “I thought it would make me weak. So the second time, I sort of shut down. We didn’t see them for weeks in between my first and second time, so no one knew how scared I was. I was so ashamed of myself when I broke down. I was never allowed to show weakness with my mom. I spent my whole life feeling like I needed to justify existing, and that any feelings of anxiety or desire for comfort needed to be buried down and locked away. But it doesn’t have to be here.” 

Amity grabbed Luz’s hands, and Luz thought she was about to die. Despite her face looking like an actual tomato, Amity kept talking. “You can be scared. You can ask for help. We aren’t strong because we push ourselves too far, we’re strong because we have each other.”

It was corny, but Luz loved corny, so it was perfect. She nodded, wondering how Amity’s hands could be so warm without gloves, and wondering how long she would get to be with her like that.

Apparently not much longer, because Gus slid in on a shooting path of slippery ice, holding Willow’s hand. As one could expect, instead of a graceful entrance, Gus lost his balance and fell backward onto Willow, leaving the both of them laughing and covered in snow. Amity let go of Luz’s hands, but didn’t widen the small distance between them.

“Luz!” Willow said breathlessly. “Gus and I had an idea!”

~~

It turned out Luz had been doing a very bad job of pretending to be okay, because everyone was acutely aware that she wasn’t. But they also all wanted to help her.

Willow excitedly and rapidly told Luz the plan she had come up with, bouncing on her feet when she was finished, waiting for Luz’s reaction.

“Boot camp?” She said finally, trying to digest what Willow was proposing.

Willow paused. “Um, I guess so? That sounds militant though. I’m saying we can give you some very specific and targeted lessons so you can feel safer and more prepared. And this is the best place and time!”

“Absolutely,” Luz agreed. “Um, why?”

“Right, you’ve never been here when the Owl Beast comes out.” Gus remarked. “She’s so powerful that whenever Eda lets her out, even our magic gets stronger. So it’s the perfect time to practice!”

Luz looked to Amity, who nodded in affirmation. Okay, Luz felt like they were all underselling this. Not only did Eda have a freaking beast who lived inside her body and had a deal to occasionally let her out, but that beast could literally alter the laws of magic and nature?

“Are you serious?” She said, standing up as her eyes were blown wide with amazement. “Eda can change the rules of nature?”

“Yeah,” Gus said, as if it was a normal thing.

“That is possibly the coolest thing I’ve ever heard here.” She said, sitting down again. “And we all get stronger?”

“Yeah. That’s why we should teach you now.”

Negative feeling were cast aside and Luz stood up triumphantly. “I’m ready!”

~~

Usually when Eda didn’t take her potion, she immediately transformed into the Owl Beast. But when they had their deal, she got a little more time and a little more autonomy over when she changed. 

Once she saw that all the kids were off doing their own things and were happily distracted, she went to fulfill her end of the deal. This part was always fun; Eda leapt into the air, knowing the Owl Beast would catch her before she hurt herself. When they worked together. The transformation was fine, nice, even. Eda’s outstretched arms grew into wings, feathers sprouted over her shifting body, and her face gained an owl-like quality to it.

“Hey, girl,” she said. Her voice came out as a whistle, less her voice than the beast’s. “How are you feeling?”

The Owl Beast stretched her wings out further in response, and Eda let out a whoop of joy. All flying was amazing, but nothing really compared to the feeling of joining like this. It was like popping all her joints after long periods of tension, or even a really good orgasm. But mainly, it felt like wholeness. 

Trusting the Owl Beast to keep her safe, Eda let go of control, relaxing her muscles and letting her body go limp. The familiar pressure in her body eased, and the Owl Beast soared through the air happily cooing and chirping.

“May I?” Eda asked, and she felt some of the autonomy returning to her side of the split consciousness. She took a dive down, feeling the wind ruffle her feathers, then barreling at the last second, spinning through the air to finish with her wingspan at full capacity.

“It’s nice to see you,” Eda said to her. “It’s a great day to take you out.”

She cooed in response. 

“I mean it!” Eda protested. “I do like seeing you, I really do.”

She cooed and hummed, and Eda frowned.

“I wish it could be like this too,” Eda told her. “But it can’t. You know that. So I wish you would stop asking.”

The Owl Beast made a displeased sound, and Eda’s wings moved against her command, throwing her off course.

“This is what I mean!” Eda exclaimed. “Maybe if you behaved differently things could be different. Change starts with you,” she added passive aggressively.

The Owl Beast screeched and flipped Eda all the way over, ruffling her feathers in a way that threw her off balance. The damn bird was trying to throw Eda out of the air. She didn’t even realize she was proving Eda’s point.

She acted quickly as she starting falling, and set herself back in the air. “Look,” she said. “This is our day together. You can ruin it for both of us, and we could enjoy this.”

Eda really would like if they could be together more, but they just couldn’t. The Owl Beast needed to stop fighting it.

Tension between them made the flight less enjoyable, until Eda put out an olive branch, swooping down to eat a vole. She absolutely despised the taste, but the Owl Beast was wild animal, and accepted her apology. The awful taste and overall experience of eating a live animal was worth it when a pleasant lightness returned to her body.

When other people referred to the Owl Beast, she was an outside creature who happened to inhabit Eda’s body. When Eda referred to her, they were two halves of one identity, and when they were together their bones intertwined.

~~

“So, what’s on the agenda?” Luz asked. They had gathered in a snowy area with trees in front of them and a mountain base behind them. 

“Willow, it was your idea, you want to take the lead?” Amity suggested. Their relationship had improved drastically, and Willow was starting to accept her offers of friendship. Even Gus was warming up to her again.

Willow nodded. “Yes. Luz, I know you were anxious about the thought of being unprepared. So, we’ve decided to create a safe space for you to practice being able to defend yourself with no real stakes or danger.”

She nodded. She liked that idea. “How do you think we should do it?”

Gus waved his hand around them. “Maybe we should get her used to what magic is like right now.”

Willow nodded again. “That’s a good idea. Luz, what’s a glyph or glyph combination you feel really good about?”

“My light glyph,” she said.

“Make one,” Amity directed, taking over. “Oh, um, is it okay if I help?”

“You can help.” It was Gus who ended up welcoming her in. Amity smiled at him, at her old friend. Luz watched and waited, not wanting to get in the way of progress.

“Okay. Luz, make a light glyph. But don’t draw on the snow. Trace it in the air.”

Luz raised her eyebrows skeptically. She had never done that. The closest to that she had done was when she had drawn directly on the ground, but never in the air. She had only ever seen Eda do that. “I thought only Eda could do that,” she pointed out.

“Normally that’s true,” Willow said. “But remember, we’re all kind of riding a high off of Eda’s power right now. Just trust yourself, okay?”

Trust herself. Luz stared at the snowy ground. That was hard to do. Whenever Luz tried to really trust herself, she got in trouble, or she got yelled at, or she made things worse, or people got hurt. She had learned not to trust herself, actually. She looked up at her friends, people who were they to make her feel safe and loved. They trusted her. Maybe she could try to trust herself.

“Just remember why you love magic,” Amity said softly. 

Why Luz loved magic. Oh, she loved it so much. She closed her eyes, and let a lifetime of memories packed into a few months wash over her. Magic that brought her to Neverland, to Eda, to her friends. The first light glyph she ever made. She smiled at the memory, and even at the disaster that had followed it, because it brought her closer to her new family. 

Magic born from fun, like the ropes course Willow made her at Mermaid Cove. 

Magic born from beauty, like the crown Amity made her.

Magic born from competition, like the strength she never knew she had from her first duel.

Magic born from destruction, like the way they all came together to heal what they could from the pirates.

Magic born from pain, like the way her friends joined her to show her she wasn’t alone in times of fear.

Beautiful magic, scary magic, overwhelming magic, wonderful magic, all of it magic. Glyphs drawn in water and glyphs drawn in paper. Glyphs on paper folding in on itself to turn into energy. Glyphs on a tree sprouting flowers. Glyphs on a plate creating a meal. Intricate combinations, simple single glyphs.

Plant spells alone in her room gone wrong. Fire spells with a friend destroying part of the tree house, and scolded words over guilty laughter. Magic that made her braver, magic that made her scared. Magic that gave her a life, and a purpose, and a family. Magic that felt like it nestled deeper into her bones than fear ever could, magic that ran through her veins, magic that made her who she was.

She traced a light glyph in the air, and suddenly a powerful glowing ball of light formed.

Amity’s eyes widened. “Shit, Luz. I was expecting something impressive, but, I mean, shit.”

She blushed, and Willow walked up to it in awe. “Oh, Luz, you’re gonna go far.”

“Draw another,” Gus said. “This time, imagine making the snow reflect and glow.”

Feeling more confident, different glyphs flickered behind her eyelids as she landed on a pattern, tracing it in the air. The snow beneath them shot into ice, glowing and shining. “Woah,” she cried out, slipping backward. 

In a flash, Gus’ waved a hand in her direction, creating a snow pillow for her with a glyph speed she had only seen from Eda.

“How did you do that!”

“You’re not there yet,” Amity said, bending down to help her up. “Gus is, like, a freaky prodigy.”

“It’s true,” he said solemnly. “Eda didn’t know what to do with me.”

Luz laughed, but Willow and Amity shook their heads. “He’s completely serious,” Willow told her. “I mean, he can’t do that normally, but he gets the craziest boosts from Eda’s magic.”

Oh. Wow. She looked at Gus with surprised admiration. “Well, how did I do?”

“You did well!” Willow praised. “Is it more important to you to be able to defend yourself or attack?”

Luz could almost see Amity mentally chanting attack, looking at her with that hungry competitive look. It was tempting, but she would feel better being able to defend herself. “Defense.”

“You should learn how to get out of restraints,” Gus said suddenly, snapping his fingers with the idea. “If you can do that, you can go anywhere from there.”

Before Luz could say yes, a powerful screech broke through the air. It wasn’t an unhappy noise, however. Looking up, soaring through the air, was none other than the Owl Beast she had worked so hard to subdue with Amity. 

“Hey, Eda!” Gus yelled, getting the attention of the Owl Beast. When she (they? Were they a unit?) swooped down, Luz felt a little nervous, until she saw him shoot a hoop of ice into the air, that the Eda-Beast dove through. The three of them seemed completely at ease with seeing Eda in her Beast form, and it was soothed her nerves.

“The Owl Beast is very playful,” Willow informed her happily. “She loves when we give her obstacle course or something like that.”

To demonstrate, she traced something in the air, and ropes of plant suddenly covered the trees. Eda-Beast screeched with delight, winding in and out of the vines.

Luz turned to Amity, who was molding a snow ball. She stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled, and tossed it at the winged creature in the air. Still, the Eda-Beast didn’t seem agitated, she really did seem playful. And when she saw King holding tightly onto a feathery leg, Luz felt the magic in her bones again. She tried to toss a snowball up like Amity, but when it flew into the air it exploded into delicate snowflakes raining down on them. Eda-Beast had flown low enough that Luz could hear her cooing as she glided under the snowflakes, swooping down to land in front of the four kids. 

“Weh!” King cried out as he fell hard into the snow, and Luz ran over to scoop him up, covering him in wet, snowy kisses.

“Who’s the bestest boy?” She cooed to him.

“Me! Me!” He said happily. “Wait. No! I am the King of Demons, I am not-” he was cut off by Eda-Beast licking the entire side of his face like a mother to her cub. Luz instinctively jumped back.

“You don’t have to be scared,” Amity said, appearing behind her. “The Owl Beast is actually friendly out here.” She took Luz’s hand, again, and put it up to the Owl Beast’s soft, cold, and snowy feathers. She nuzzled into Luz’s touch, and Luz laughed.

“Aww, you’re a big softie, aren’t you?”

The Owl Beast pushed her, but in a clearly playful manner that Luz found absolutely charming. She had a wild animal playing with her. Neverland would never stop amazing her.

She yelped when she was tackled into the snow, and given owl-like kisses.

“Eda! Come here, King needs attention!” King himself said, clearly jealous in the cutest way.

Luz wiped snow out of her eyes, smiling fondly as Gus and Willow chased after King. She pushed herself up, turning to watch the scene. When she turned back, Amity was right there.

She blinked in surprise. How had she–? Eh, who cared. She was there. With clumps of snow on her eyelashes, and cheeks pink from the cold, and a loose topknot that popped out against the white snow.

“Hi,” Luz said softly.

“Do you like girls?” Amity burst out, then slapped her hands over her mouth, flushing bright red.

“Oh. Um, like, romantically?” Luz bit her tongue, trying to meet Amity’s eye.

“Sorry, that was stupid, forget I asked.”

“No, no, I do,” Luz said quickly. “I like girls. And boys. And everything else. Well, not everything, I’m not saying I get crushes on everyone I meet. Actually…”

Luz tapped her finger to her chin, debating the truth to that statement. She did kind of think everyone was attractive in their own fascinating way.

“I’m a lesbian,” Amity said quickly. Her face was so red Luz wondered if blood was circulating anywhere else in her body.

Amity pursed her lips and Luz chewed on her tongue. Both girls sat there awkwardly, not able to meet each other’s eye, too amped up to recognize the cold from the snow they were sitting in.

“Have you ever had a girlfriend?” Everything Amity said was rushed, like if she didn’t say it immediately she would lose all courage.

“No, have you?” Luz felt her heart pounding. She was pretty sure she understood what Amity was trying to say. And she was pretty sure she wanted it. She just didn’t want to assume and be wrong.

“No. I don’t really know what you’re supposed to do.” Amity admitted. “I don’t really know how to do this.”

“Do what?” Luz asked. Her heart was beating so fast she was worried it might burst out of her chest. That would be really awkward.

“Ask someone out.” Amity finally looked up at her. “Am I doing okay?”

Luz swallowed hard. “Amity, are you asking me out?”

“I’m trying?” Her demeanor was tinted with uncertainty and ended up sounding more like a question than a statement.

Luz couldn’t help breaking into a huge grin. Biting her lower lip to contain any squeaks of excitement, she grabbed Amity’s hand. “Ask me. Wait, actually.”

Luz couldn’t help it, she made a little stimmy noise that made Amity look at her with something that could only be described as adoration. She dropped Amity’s hand to hit the insides of her wrists together, stimming unabashedly. Then she took a deep breath and smiled again. “Okay, now I’m ready. Ask me now.”

Amity took her own deep breath, summoning courage. “Luz, will you be my girlfriend?”

“Yes!” She jumped up and pulled Amity into a hug, spinning her around. “Yes, yes, yes!”

~~

Eda’s hearing was very delicate when she was sharing her body with the Owl Beast, but she didn’t need any sort of enhancement to pick up on what was happening between Luz and Amity. A big smile stretched across her avian features, picking up on unmistakable noises of young love. If anything, she would’ve thought maybe one day Amity would end up with Willow, but it made so much sense how those two girls would find each other like that. 

“Look at us,” Eda said fondly. “We’ve become such softies.”

The Owl Beast made an indignant noise, denying the offense accusation.

“Don’t even try that,” Eda said, laughing. “We’ve changed, Stormy.”

She sighed happily, finding a perch on a tree branch to look out and watch her kids. They really were her kids at that point. This wasn’t even close to the life she had expected for herself, but life never seemed to work out the way you thought it would. But sometimes, it ended up being so much better.

“Do you remember our first time here?” Eda asked her, referencing the first time they shared a body willingly.

It was one of their first year together, and they were still trying to figure it all out. Eda fought her much more back then, and their relationship was much more fraught and tense. Not to say it was perfect by any means, Eda still fought to keep her out most of the time, but it was much worse in the beginning. 

For some reason, the turn of the seasons made her even more desperate to break free, to a point that even five elixirs couldn’t suppress her. Seeking a safe place for what was initially a terrifying event to take place, Eda ran to the mountains, feeling like a werewolf seeking refuge from society.

What surprised her was just how right it felt to let her body be shared completely, to let her consciousness become two and one simultaneously, to transform into a wholly different body that was aching to take over. 

Everything felt sharper, more intense but also more manageable, stronger and better. The Owl Beast seemed to hold a lot of her magic, magical potential that she wasn’t even aware of until they joined forces and it became hers for a day. Even King, with his little cry, was able to send out a burst of energy from his bark when Eda let the her out. Initially she thought it was unrelated, but after a few more trial runs, it was undeniable that the Owl Beast could channel glyphs directly, and Eda even found a way to strengthen her individual abilities from the time they spent together.

After the third time they went out together, Eda made the choice to try to live in harmony with her. After all, they had done so well up in the mountains. But it wasn’t to be. The Owl Beast was, in the end, a beast. A wild animal that couldn’t be tamed or controlled. Even though it hurt, Eda knew it was safer for everyone if she just locked her away whenever possible. The turn of the seasons became their exception, the one day where they got to be together again, two spirits intertwined as one. When she intentionally opened up, intentionally stripped away some of her autonomy and her body, the transition was relieving and welcome. Otherwise, it felt like a violent intrusion, like, well, a wild animal trying to subdue her and take over her body.

Eda was pretty sure the Owl Beast resented her for it, that was most likely why she fought so hard to get out all the time. That was also why their days together were so precious. It was a day where Eda could just let go. Not that it was some huge burden she was always aware of, most of the time it dulled into a vague background feeling, something she could always feel but rarely noticed. It was only in the few days after that Eda was painfully aware of the dual consciousness inside her.

She hadn’t ever meant to bring the kids with her when she transitioned, but Viney was so damn persistent and managed to drag it out of her somehow. Dang, Eda really missed that girl sometimes. She was a good kid, and Eda wondered how she was doing now. Viney had been so confident when she left and Eda just knew she was able to change her life in the way she always talked about wanting to. 

When she realized that her curse extended far enough that she and King weren’t the only ones who were boosted, she took the risk and brought the kids again, just to see the glee and excitement on their faces when they played around with their enhanced abilities. No matter the batch of kids, it was always the same. She saw it on the very first kids she brought up, and she saw it on the four kids playing in front of her.

Eda’s curse might have been a pain in her feathers, but seeing the joy she was able to provide them almost made it worth it.

~~

Dizzy with happiness, Luz hadn’t told Gus and Willow yet that Amity asked her out. Not that she felt like she couldn’t or anything, it was just… fun. To look over at Amity and turn bright red, knowing they had a little secret between just the two of them, something exciting and new. 

They agreed that they would tell them later that night, but first they just wanted to experience that glow in a more intimate way. Luz was realizing they must have been really awkward with each other for a long time by then, because she felt like they were being so obvious and Gus and Willow said nothing. They were not oblivious people, so she and Amity must have just been really clear to everyone but each other.

She had just finished another exercise with her friends (and girlfriend) when Eda announced that it was time to go. Eda gave her a sly look, and her eyes blew wide open. Eda obviously knew, but luckily, didn’t seem like she was going to share the news. 

It was funny; she had started the day off screaming her heart out from suppressed trauma and feeling alone, and she was leaving with a freaking girlfriend, and strengthened bonds with people she was now certain she could trust with everything. The tension and fear that had been in the pit of her belly seemed to have gone away, replaced with a comfortable lightness.

Not to mention a million questions. She thought the Owl Beast was a bad thing, a monster. But what she had seen that day was nothing like what she had thought was true. She hadn’t seen a monster, she had seen something much more. Whatever the story around the Owl Beast was, it was more complicated than Luz had initially thought.

Chapter Text

There was one thing on Luz’s mind when she went to bed at night, and one thing on her mind when she woke up in the morning. Well, not actually one thing. If she found a way to slow her brain to genuinely only focus on one thing at a time, it would need to be a national holiday. She could market it and become an ADHD superhero. No, there wasn’t just one thing on her mind, but there was something big enough that it could almost reduce all the chatter in her brain to a slow, mindless buzzing. 

That thing was Amity. Her girlfriend. Her freaking girlfriend. Luz had a girlfriend. Not just any girlfriend, but a cotton candy hair goddess who held her hand through the nights and danced with her.

The past few days had been, well, magical. That was the only thing that came close to describing what it was like to date Amity. It was like everything was amplified, but not in an overstimulating way. Everything tasted stronger, colors were more vibrant, noises were more pleasing. Heck, she wouldn’t be surprised if the island truly had changed the minute Amity asked Luz to be her girlfriend. It would just make sense.

They danced together again the first night. Amity had used a water glyph to make it snow, recreating the moment their two separate worlds joined to be one as Luz took her hand and spun her around. All the dopamine her brain couldn’t naturally produce enough of flooded her system. In just the first day of being girlfriends, Luz felt she was permanently changed. Nothing would ever be the same again, in the most wonderful way. Just thinking about Amity brought the biggest smile to her face, and brushing fingertips with her as they walked past each other was truly electric. 

Up until that day, Luz had felt like everyone was being dramatic when they talked about being in love. It couldn’t really be that big of a deal. Now, she was convinced they were all underselling it. 

On their second night of being girlfriends, they still hadn’t told the others. It was just so special, they wanted a little bit longer to exist exclusively in their own little world, defined by their relationship. Holding hand on the roof of the tree house, Luz learned how beautiful stars could really be. And how beautiful her girlfriend could be with her hair down in the dead of night, lit up by the moon and the stars.

On their third day of being girlfriends, Luz and Amity told the others that they were dating. The reaction was underwhelming, frankly. Seriously, they could’ve at least pretended they were surprised, so they could have the fun of a crazy reveal. It was fine. It was still exciting to break the news, and to hold hands in front of everyone.

On their fourth day of being girlfriends, Luz did Amity’s makeup. Amity had spent plenty of time on the island messing around with glyphs to make herself makeup, and Luz had a wonderful time pinning Amity to the bed, straddling her, and doing her makeup. Smudgy black lines under her eyes made her look like Cleopatra with green hair. Luz wanted to hold her down and give her piercings.

On their fifth day of being girlfriends, Luz decided to do something traditional and just get her flowers. Sure, eventually the honeymoon period of being together would fade and they would settle into a new normal, but she wanted to prolong it as long as possible. She could easily have just made some flowers from glyphs, but she wanted to go full tradition. Walking through the woods, picking a bouquet like people had been doing for their girlfriends for hundreds of years. 

Wanting to surprise Amity, Luz told no one where she was going. She had been there long enough that people didn’t freak out if she just randomly left and did her own thing. She had explored a lot of the island by that point, and she felt confident that she could go off on her own without a map. That was how she did it in the real world! Sure, she got lost a lot, like, a lot, but this was Neverland! She was literally a Lost Kid. If she got mixed up with her directions, she was just living up to her name.

Unsure of where the day would take her, Luz opted to wear shoes as she set out on her quest. The soles of her feet had hardened from a combination of wear and tear and adrenaline, but it seemed like a good idea to go for extra protection. Luz also took a backpack, paper for glyphs–despite having gone straight for the source by then and used glyphs from the ground, Eda had advised her to stick to the old fashioned way unless directed otherwise–, a water bottle, and a shard of something sharp, just in case.

She was pretty new to this whole “being a girlfriend” thing, but Luz was well versed in the art of setting off on a quest while being underprepared and overconfident. The only thing that could improve her situation was music, but that seemed to be the one thing this wonderland was lacking. Neverland, she corrected herself in her head. It was silly, but everything was so wonderful that she often forgot that the island had its own distinct name. Wait, what was she thinking about? Oh, yeah, music. She really wished she had music!

Luz liked to pretend her life was a movie or a tv show, and it was hard to do that without an awesome soundtrack. And while she was a woman of many talents, musical abilities were not part of her arsenal. But if no one was around…

Away from other ears, Luz began to loudly sing, getting lost, not in direction, but in herself.

~~

Not far away, a pirate, just a boy himself at 16, was the last one to get to the ship. Hurrying to keep up, he failed to notice the paper fall from his possession, lying vulnerable and exposed to the land.

~~

Caught up in the moment and the vibes, Luz forgot why she even stepped away from the other Lost Kids, far off in her own little world as she walked past bushes of gorgeous flowers. It was the crunch under her foot that pulled her back, disrupting the various romantic fantasies she was dreaming up. 

What was… a map? That was strange. How did a map get there? Luz didn’t think any of them had brought a map to that area, let alone anywhere. She picked it up skeptically.

Luz stifled a gasp when she saw what was on the map. Ex’d out areas surrounded a single point. Their house. He knew where they lived. That was such a horrifying thought for so many reasons. The first thing she thought about was, if the pirates knew where they lived, why hadn’t they done anything? If they knew exactly where to attack, where to strike, why hadn’t they ambushed them? 

From the way the map had been marked up, she considered if they had some sort of plan that they were putting into action. That was also a horrifying thought, a planned, thought out attack would be hard to defend against, especially if they didn’t know it was coming. Any prior intentions for her day out were abandoned. Luz had one goal: get back to the treehouse and tell Eda what she had learned.

At least, it should’ve been. And it was, until she saw the ship in the distance. She should’ve left, but that just wasn’t who she was. Luz was never the type of person to leave things be. Instead, she was the kind of person to sneak off and get closer to the ship, and closer, and closer.

~~

In the ship, the youngest pirate of the crew checked his pockets to give the map to Captain Belos. A pit formed in his stomach.

~~

Luz didn’t know what she was anticipating, but it certainly wasn’t the ship she found. By that point she should’ve expected more from Neverland, but still. Sometimes she forgot this really wasn’t a game. These weren’t little boys playing in the sand with shovels, these were grown adults with an actual pirate ship and actual weapons and actual danger. 

The ship was just barely out on the water, waves gently lapping at the wooden hull. It was shallow enough that Luz could walk to it without magical intervention, but she chose it anyway so she could stand and not get wet. Using a earth glyph, she made herself stepping stones to the ship, finally making the largest one for her to stand on and eavesdrop.

She got lucky. The voices she heard were close enough to where she was that after finding the right spot, Luz could hear what was being said. There was a conversation being had only a few feet away from her.

“You don’t have it?”

Luz recognized that voice. That eerily calm voice. Captain Belos, the one who orchestrated the attack against her and her friends when they went out for apple blood, and the one whose hand Eda cut off.

“This was a mistake, I can do better, though, I promise.” A second voice responded, a new voice, a scared voice, a voice that chilled her bones. That was not the voice of someone twice her age, the voice of someone ruthless and hardened. That was the voice of someone barely older than she, someone who couldn’t have been older than seventeen, at most. No. No, no, no. No, children weren’t pirates, pirates were adults who had lost their humanity. So much was wrong with what Luz was hearing. Did the others know Belos had a kid with him? Did Eda know? She had to, there was no way she could actually lose a Lost Kid. Then why hadn’t anyone ever brought him up? What happened? How could a kid end up with pirates, much less end up one himself?

Why hadn’t she ever seen him? Her thoughts were spiraling out of control, but when they spoke again, she forced herself to break them up and listen.

“You had one job, Hunter.” Belos’ tone made Luz feel actually sick. Not because he sounded angry or cruel, but because he didn’t. He sounded compassionate, but not authentically. It made Luz think of the Uncanny Valley, a psychological phenomenon that made people uncomfortable around hyper realistic human imitations. Something about things that are incredibly close to human but aren’t cause feelings of deep unease. That was what his compassionate tone felt like to her: an incredibly realistic imitation of genuine human care, but fake enough to cause a deep sense of unease in her. “I gave you this responsibility because I trust you. Am I wrong to trust you with these duties?”

“No!” Hunter sounded desperate. That made her feel even more uneasy. Eda had frequently asked Luz that same sort of question, but it never incited that sort of response in her. There was no need for fear, unless there was a learned response. But no good kind of learning could instill fear. “I mean, no, sir. I really can do better. I don’t know what happened to the map, but-”

The map? Her map? The sound of something shooting out prevented her from trying to think.

“I’m getting tired of your excuses, Hunter.” So calm. Terrifyingly calm. There was a very clear threatening undertone, so blatant that it was actually more of an overtone. A chilling calm voice with overt threatening subtext, some sort of context she was missing and didn’t really think she wanted to know. Besides, that wasn’t even an excuse! Luz actually had said those very words herself, many times, promising to give more, to be more, and it made her sad to hear someone else desperately offer to string themself out to be good enough.

“But you know family comes above all else. I’ll give you another chance, but, Hunter?” His voice raised at the end, asking a question he wasn’t supposed to actually respond to. “Do not disappoint me again.”

Another deep chill went through her. The entire exchange between them had her feeling sick and unsettled, and she just wanted to run into her girlfriend’s arms and pretend she never heard any of that. Wait. Luz suddenly processed something Belos had said. Family comes above all else. Was Hunter his… no. That didn’t make sense. How could he and Hunter be… family?

~~

The captain was not a merciful man, which was why Hunter was even more grateful for his uncle’s magnanimity toward him. He did not deserve it, he knew that. But he also knew his uncle loved him, and that was why he always got another chance.

He realized that his cheek was bleeding; whatever Belos shot at him must’ve been sharper than he thought to break through the hardened scar tissue on his face and split the skin underneath.

~~

Belos left his cabin with Hunter still in there. Hunter was the only person allowed to be in there unattended. Not because he was free to go about as he pleased in there, but because he was a Good Boy who did was he was told and didn’t stray. In fact, he was so good that Belos sometimes forgot he was a boy, not a soldier. Or a pirate.

Pirate. He hated the damned word. It was illegitimizing. The word felt like a child’s plaything, diminishing him as the threat he was. And, of course, Edalyn was the one to bless them with the name. Unfortunately, it permeated both his perception of his crew, and their own. Besides, it was an irritatingly convenient way to refer to each other. His preference would be to simply refer to all of them as his men, but he hadn’t had the luxury of being particular about who joined him. A crew of women would generally be weaker, but his female shipmates did not behave like members of the fairer sex.

Despite the gender issue, Belos had complete control over his crew. It was a rather nice set up, they were all supplied by Edalyn herself, meaning all of them came with previous magical knowledge. It was quite rare that they turned, but he had acquired just enough over the years to pursue his goals. 

The matter of age still bothered him. He preserved himself using remedies from the island, but it was taking more and more to keep himself as he was. Somehow Edalyn kept all kids young, along with herself. And whatever bound them was released when they joined him, everyone on his ship aged normally, spare Belos himself. And Hunter. 

Hunter, oh, Hunter. The boy was coming along so nicely. Of all the grimwalkers, Hunter was his favorite. With each failure, he had perfected his craft to near perfection. There was still the gap between Hunter’s teeth that irked him, but when the boy kept his mouth shut, he was a capture of a moment in time, the last time things were the way they should have been.

There was the matter of the map, of course, but it was a small matter. None of Edalyn’s brats ventured that far into pirate territory.

~~

Luz was freaking out, like high key panicked. That was where it all devolved. Being panicked meant not thinking clearly. Not thinking clearly meant making mistakes. Making mistakes meant getting sloppy. Long story short, that was how Luz went from going to pick flowers for her girlfriend like a true gentleman to staring down the most terrifying man she had ever met. She wasn’t quite sure where she was, but she assumed it was his cabin. It was immaculately clean. Unnaturally clean.

“I don’t believe I remember your name,” he said to her, smoothly. He spoke casually, as if they were acquaintances reuniting after decades apart, instead of him towering over her as she was bound with rope. Real rope, too, not something of a magical variety. It was abnormal enough that Luz was actually register it and the potential implications. Everyone else used magic, it was much more effective. There was really only one reason that someone wouldn’t, especially in a scenario like that. The only reason a pirate wouldn’t use magic on her is if they couldn’t use magic at all. She was running every story she had heard about him against the short encounter she had previously had with him, racking her memories for any indication that he could actually use magic.

Then he snapped at her. He freaking snapped at her. Like she was a dog. Oh, this guy was the worst. “Let’s have a formal introduction, shall we?”

“Eat flames,” Luz spat at him. She really thought she was going to swear that time, dang it. Curse her good nature! She was in a life-or-death (maybe) situation, she needed to break out her inner Eda. “Fuck off.” Luz rarely swore, for a multitude of reasons. But using the F bomb made her feel braver, so she did it again. “Fuck off!”

Belos shook his head and tutted in a way that felt incredibly patronizing. “Children do need a mother,” he said, phrasing it as if she was arguing the counterpoint. “You call yourselves Lost Children, and it’s very fitting. Any child with Edalyn as a role model is certainly bound to be quite lost.”

‘Certainly’ ‘quite’, ugh, who did he think he was? 

“Eda is a great role model!” She yelled back. “And… families come in all different forms! Some people have two dads and no mom, and some people have, uh, three moms and one dad!” Luz added on defiantly.

He flared his nose in disgust. If it wouldn’t probably put her in danger, Luz would really love to inform him that she had a girlfriend. Oh, god, she had a girlfriend, who was probably worried about her. And the rest of her family, too.

~~

“Do you know where Luz is?” Amity walked into the room Willow and Gus shared, where they were working on a collaborative art project. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her miss a lesson of Eda’s before.”

Willow looked at Gus and they dissolved into giggles.

“What? What’s so funny?” Amity demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

“There’s only one thing Luz is more crazy about than magic.” Willow said, arching an eyebrow.

“What?” Amity gave her an expectant, oblivious look.

“You,” Gus said, and Amity blushed. “If she isn’t focused on learning magic, it’s because she’s focused on doing something for you. Don’t worry. You don’t need to know where she is every second of every day. She’s okay, Amity.”

Amity nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.” She sat down on Willow’s bed, and then froze. “Is this, um, okay?”

Willow looked a little startled herself, but quickly recovered. With a welcoming smile, she said, “Yes. It’s nice to have you back, Amity.”

She smiled. “It’s really nice to be back.”

~~

“Now, what do I do with you?” Belos asked, walking around her in a circle. He reminded Luz of a vulture circling around its prey. She was the prey, and she hated it.

“Let me go!” She yelled. “I won’t come back.” The second part sounded so vulnerable, she hated it. 

“No, I don’t think I can do that.” He walked closer to her, reaching his hand out as if he was going to touch her. She instinctively snapped her teeth, widening her jaw as far as she could to bite down in defense. That was something she had learned from a foster sister. Luz snapped at the air, leaning forward to get closer to his fingers.

“You wretch,” he snarled. Jeez, what century was this guy from? He recomposed himself quickly, smoothing his hair down. Then he smiled and ran his index finger over the point of his hook.

Sliding from the tip of his hook to the base and back down again, Belos stopped to poke the hook into the meat of his fingertip. He held it up theatrically, exaggerating his movements as the silver broke the skin. He didn’t flinch, not even as he dragged the hook a little lower, splitting his finger open just to the first knuckle. 

It was clearly meant to intimidate her, and Luz hated it, but it was working. She tried to look ambivalent despite feeling shaky as he slowly licked blood from his finger. It was disgusting and unsettling, especially when he brushed his tongue over his teeth to tint them red. He was already a scary looking dude, but his grotesque display was making it worse.

“This was a gift from Edalyn,” he told her, holding his hook high in the air before grabbing a white towel to wipe the blood off. Then he walked to the side of the cabin, opening a door she hadn’t even realized was there. Luz craned her head to see what was on the other side, and felt her heart race when he fully walked through, leaving her there unattended.

To be fair, it was slightly insulting that he just freaking left, like, she was a formidable foe and deserved to be treated like it, but she also was more focused on escaping. She fought against her bindings, biting her lip to avoid making any noise.

A patronizing laugh breaking her concentrated silence snuffed out any hope of getting away. Dang it, what was he doing? It didn’t matter anymore.

“Apologies. There was something I had to take care of. I see you jumped at your opportunity. You do think fast, I’ll give you that.” He said, pouring himself a drink. Looking around, it almost resembled a study. The more anxious Luz got, the more her mind seemed to fragment off. She needed to focus. She had to be alert. “Have you heard the story of my hook? I’ve been told she likes to tell it.”

Luz refused to answer him. She turned her head, avoiding any sort of acknowledgement of his existence. He just laughed. “You do have a childlike charm. You remind me of… an old friend.”

“I’m nothing like anyone who’s friends with you!” She burst out, unable to resist. He wanted a reaction, and she couldn’t help but give one. “Just let me go.”

“Adjusting to one hand was quite difficult,” he said, continuing a discussion she thought had been abandoned. “But luckily I wasn’t alone. Does she tell you it was her own sister who led me to her?”

Luz’s eyes widened in shock before she could suppress it. She didn’t know that. Belos looked incredibly pleased with himself. 

“Oh, yes, Lilith was happy to lead me to her. She’s always been more agreeable,” he mused. ‘Agreeable’. Sure. Probably just more obedient and easier to command. “She understood even then that we could all help each other. All I want is for her to help me return home, you see. And I can heal her curse, if she would only let me. I’ll do anything to protect humanity.”

That last bit made her shiver. She couldn’t explain it, but it felt so… wrong. It didn’t made sense, contextually, to go from talking about himself and Eda to comparing himself to some sort of savior. It did show how he saw himself, though, and that made her realize how dangerous he probably was. 

Also, she didn’t believe for a second that he just wanted to go home. Eda might be rough around the edges, but she was a genuinely good person. She would never deny help to someone for no reason. If Eda didn’t trust him, he wasn’t someone to be trusted. He definitely didn’t act like it.

“Then let me go. If all you want is to protect people, doesn’t it make sense to let me return home?” She said, trying to keep desperation out of her voice as she attempted to reason with him.

Belos’ eyes flashed with something she couldn’t decipher. “How interesting. You view it as home. You truly are Lost if you think this island has any sort of home to offer.”

Then he stalked toward her again, grabbing her arm and pulling her up. He dragged her out of his quarters and across the ship until they reached another door. He opened it without any sort of warning or heads up. “Lilith.” 

That woman. The one in all black, who looked kind of like Eda. That was her sister?

“This is Edalyn’s newest. She was eavesdropping. She wants to return home. Do with her as you please.”

Then he threw her into the cabin, still tied up. Luz yelled out in surprise and looked around her new surroundings. This room was much bigger and had one, two, she counted quickly, five beds. Five beds, five pirates. They shared one room? Where were the rest of them?

She snapped her head up. “Lilith. That’s your name, right?”

The woman nodded. “Stand up. You’re new.”

Why did everyone keep pointing it out? Did they keep a freaking list? Luz stumbled to her feet. “Please, Lilith. I’m just a kid. Please, I just want to get back to Eda.”

Lilith turned her nose. “The Captain said you wanted to go home.”

The Captain? Jeez, no wonder that guy had such an inflated ego.

“I just want to go back to Eda.” She tried to fight the tears, but it was a losing battle. “You’re her sister. You had to love her once, right? Lilith, if you still love her at all, if you ever loved her at all, just let me go back to her.”

Luz thought she could make an emotional appeal, but Lilith only hardened when Luz brought up her loving Eda.

“You would do anything to get back to her, wouldn’t you?” Lilith asked.

Luz started to nod aggressively, then stopped. “Wait, why?”

“And I’m sure she would do anything for you,” Lilith mused. It was eerily similar to how Belos had sounded when he talked about her. “Maybe even enough to make a trade.”

~~

For the second, or third, or maybe even fourth time since her capture, the person holding Luz’s fate just walked away to do something else while she was incapacitated. Incredibly rude.

But Lilith wasn’t Belos. She wasn’t an evil mastermind like he was. When she left to do whatever she was up to, she gave Luz an actual chance to escape. Luz sang a thousand praises to the foster brother who taught her how to get out of rope handcuffs. That was a lesson dedicated to being prepared for racial violence, but it was also very helpful for being tied up by a crazy pirate. 

Scrambling up from the floor, Luz slammed into the door, ready to break it down if necessary. It opened surprisingly easy, and she raced out onto the deck, before her heart sank. She was out, but she probably had about ten more seconds before someone found her, and the ship had drifted far away from the dock.

So everything had been… for nothing? 

Heart pounding, Luz turned around, and froze.

~~

Amity felt like a little girl again, lying on her bed kicking her feet imagining romantic fantasies about her girlfriend. Domestic life had never felt so good. She wondered what Luz was doing at that moment, and when she would come home.

~~

Standing in front of her was the pirate with the mint green mullet. The one who had seem the most distanced when she encountered them. They looked her up and down. “You don’t belong here.” They stated, not unkindly.

She shook her head in agreement. “No.” For some reason, Luz didn’t feel afraid of them. She probably should have been.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

“I don’t want to be here.”

They nodded. “I know.” They turned around, leaving her confused. Then they looked back at her. “Come on.”

Maybe she was just exhausted. Maybe she was desperate. Maybe it was that they were the first person to talk to her for any reason other than to scare her, but she went with them.

They led her down to the lower part of the ship, and she wondered if she was going to die. Then they stopped at the exact place where she had snuck in, and opened the door. Their fingers swooped through the water gracefully, and a paddle board appeared. 

“Don’t worry about steering. This will take you to the shore. You have to go there rest of the way on your own.”

Luz widened her eyes. “You did magic.”

They quirked an eyebrow. “Yes. It’s common here.”

“You did actual magic,” she said. “Not the dark magic all the others on this ship do. Why can you do real magic when everyone else can’t?”

They bit their lip, and dipped their hand in the water again. She thought they were going to do a demonstration, but instead, she was sucked onto the boat Moana-style. “Hey!”

“Don’t come back.” It wasn’t a threat. “It’s not safe for you here.”

Another glyph drawn in the water, and Luz was off, with many questions and no answers.

~~

Eda stirred a stick in a pot. “Wow, a surprisingly peaceful domestic moment. When will it be ruined?” She spoke aloud to herself, sarcastically. 

“Eeedaaa!” Wailed one of her proteges. There it was.

Then her affect turned serious. Luz looked rough, faint tear tracks on her face, rope marks on her wrists, and mud all over her lower body. “Luz. What happened.”

The girl hiccuped and recounted the events of her day as the others poured in.

~~

When she finished, Luz swallowed a final sob and looked up at Eda with wet, pathetic eyes. “I understand if I’m not allowed to go out on my own anymore.”

“Free will doesn’t get taken away from you because you made a bad choice.” Eda wrinkled her nose. “God, what kind of place were you living in before this?”

“That’s what my house was like,” Amity offered up.

Eda shook her head in disbelief. Luz was huddled in her friends’ arms, wrapped up in a blanket of comfort and community. She hadn’t mentioned what happened with Lilith, or the pirate who freed her. She lied and said she did it on her own. Luz didn’t know why she wasn’t telling the truth, but she kept it to herself. 

“Eda, what are we going to do?”

“About what?” Eda asked.

“The pirates! They have a map, they know where we are, they have some plan!” Luz said frantically.

Amity rubbed Luz’s wrists soothingly, trying to calm her. “It’s going to be okay, okay?”

“They’ve been poking their dirty noses for years,” Eda reassured her. “They’re all talk. Besides, you know I can take them.” Eda flexed her muscles, which were, admittedly, bigger than Luz would’ve expected.

“What about the kid?”

“That’s the Golden Guard,” Gus said, voice tinged with disgust. “He’s Belos’ nephew, and his doting little servant. It’s a stupid title, and it means nothing, but he wears it like a damn crown.”

“He mainly stays behind,” Willow explained. “At the very least, it doesn’t seem like he’s forced to fight a lot.”

“He’s not a victim, Willow.” Gus frowned. “He’s just as bad as any of them.”

“Alright, that’s enough.” Eda said, waving her hand at them. “Let’s just focus on Luz getting cleaned up and comfortable. There’s no need for anyone to be scared.”

~~

Eda lay restless in bed that night, scooping up a wriggling King and cuddling him like a puppy. He huffed, but quickly sighed happily and nuzzled his little body against hers. Luz was hiding something. Eda just didn’t know what.

But she was holding things back herself. The truth was they should be afraid.

Chapter Text

Hunter woke up at the same time every day. He would’ve preferred for his room to be closer to his uncle, but the captain needed to be well rested, and Hunter would probably wake him. Hunter was prone to accidents and screw ups in that way.

Like the map. That was such a horrible mistake, Hunter was still beating himself up about it. He had been stupid, and careless, and his incompetence had led to the horrible security breach. He actually let someone sneak in. 

And he paid the price. Belos was a fair man, and his punishments always fit the crime. Hunter hadn’t been able to carry out a task as simple as keeping track of a map, proving his hands were functionally useless. And if his hands were useless, he didn’t need them. So, naturally, Belos broke each finger on his right hand with a sharp rock. It had hurt so bad, but he deserved it, so he stayed quiet and took it like a good soldier. 

He wasn’t actually a soldier, and he didn’t even fully know what that meant, but Darius had called him that once and he liked it. It made him feel powerful and strong, instead of scared and weak.

Hunter studied his hand, wincing as he turned it over to examine the damage. There had been fragments of rock stuck in the small cuts, but Raine had cornered him before he could go off to cry and took his hand, gently washing it out with warm water.

He liked Raine, despite the fact that they had serious boundary issues. Everyone knew that a closed door meant you weren’t supposed to go in there, and Belos always closed the door when Hunter needed to be punished. It was obvious that they weren’t supposed to go in there for that, besides Raine, who would frequently, and rudely, interrupt, at times even trying to completely redirect Belos to do something else. At least they hadn’t interrupted this time, only cornered him to grab his hand.

Hunter gritted his teeth. They shouldn’t have done that. For so many reasons. They mixed magic when they used warm water, they had to have mixed magic because the water all around them was freezing. He knew from first hand experience. They weren’t supposed to mix magic, the captain had made it very clear that mixing types of magic was wrong and only he was able to do that. 

It didn’t bother Hunter so much that Raine had seen his hand, but that they tried to take care of it. That was for him to do on his own. It was a punishment, he wasn’t supposed to get care for it.

But maybe worst of all, deep down Hunter was incredibly grateful that Raine never kept to themself and just kept taking care of him. Cause there was sure as hell no one else who was going to do it. Not that he deserved it, but the sun hadn’t even come up and Hunter’s hand was freshly broken and he was still awake before everyone else because he was expected to do chores. Pushing the door open with his weak hand, Hunter exited his room and went to get the mop.

~~

It was not Hunter’s first time doing chores under those or similar circumstances, not at all, so he was still fairly efficient in his efforts. By the time the captain was awake, the decks were scrubbed and mopped, everything was spotless, and Hunter was wearing his gloves.

“Good morning,” he said eagerly, standing outside Belos’ door in wait, bowing his head in respect as the captain walked out of his quarters.

“Hunter. What have I told you?” Belos said gently. 

“You don’t want to see me in the morning,” he said, hanging his head in shame instead of adoration. “I’m sorry, I just get lonely.”

Ignoring his remark, Belos turned his head to look at something else. “Is my study clean?”

“Uh, no, uncle, but I-” Hunter stumbled, cut off by a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“I’m very pleased with your work, Hunter. It’s not easy to do so well after such a punishment.”

He beamed, unconsciously raising his shoulders to meet his uncle’s comforting touch. “Thank you, sir.”

The cool metal of the hook against Hunter’s skin would make anyone shiver or recoil, but he sunk into the gentle touch of it stroking his cheek. “Go on now, you still have more cleaning.” Belos gave him an affectionate double pat on his cheek, sending him off for yet more cleaning.

His uncle’s study was a fairly interesting place. It was the biggest room in the whole ship, and it was where the most important things happened. Only he was allowed to go in there alone besides for the captain himself. It was an honor and a privilege. Even if Hunter was mostly just in there to clean, he was still trusted to do that.

Everything in Belos’ study was gold, or tan, or brown. His wooden desk was the fanciest thing Hunter had ever seen, and the furniture was so elegant that he was a little scared every time he touched it. The room was about three times the size of his bedroom, and that was with all the furniture taking up space. 

The thing that alway stuck out the most to him, however, was the door behind his uncle’s desk. Not fully behind the desk, his uncle was after all getting older and needed easier access to things than he used to, but not easily accessible unless sitting behind the desk, which only the captain did.

Hunter didn’t dare touch that, not even the door handle. He simply tidied up the desk –avoiding ever opening drawers– and swept the floor –ignoring how some floorboards felt differently than others– and made sure everything else was spotless and shining. Belos’ study was occupied through most hours of the day, unless they were off doing things, so it was very important for it to always look presentable. Speaking of which, Belos was escorting someone in, which meant Hunter should’ve been finished cleaning. 

Damn it! He couldn’t let Belos know he’d messed up with yet another thing, so he resorted to hiding. It was childish and immature, but he would probably be punished regardless for not cleaning fast enough, and he’d rather take an additional punishment than be caught trying to sneak out by Lilith. 

He didn’t like her. She was… she was fine, she just seemed a little to eager to please the captain. Not that Hunter didn’t, pleasing Belos was one of the only things he ever wanted to do, but she just seemed kind of desperate with it. But she was nice to him. He had no actual reason to dislike her, it was just a vibes thing.

Crawling behind a large chest, Hunter twisted himself into an uncomfortable hiding position, swallow a yelp from his bruised and battered hand. He got really good at forgetting about his injuries, but they still came back to bite him in the ass when he was trying to do something important. 

“Lilith.” 

“Yes, Captain Belos.” She kneeled down in front of his desk, and Hunter rolled his eyes. His uncle did not seem pleased, sucking up wouldn’t make anything better.

“Tell me what happened with our little stow away.” 

Shit. That girl was all Hunter could think about for the past day. He hated her, he realized in that moment. In that moment, that girl was the root of all of his problems, and he hated her.

“What do you want to know, Captain?” Lilith’s voice was still even. Hunter knew it wouldn’t be for much longer.

“After I brought her to you, tied up and defenseless, in your cabin where you are most in control, what happened to her? She isn’t here anymore, so you either disposed of her, or you failed.” Belos said smoothly, but the danger in his tone was very clear. Hunter was kind of in shock. He trusted Lilith with her? If it wasn’t enough that his mistake had been passed around the ship, Lilith was just insult to injury. It was probably just because of her connection to Edalyn. That had to be it.

“She begged me to return her. I saw it as an opportunity to use her as bait to get Edalyn and capture her once and for all.”

“Then what happened, Lilith?” Belos asked. Hunter tried to peek out from his hiding spot to witness fully what was going on. Clearly she had done something wrong. Belos would never call an audience with someone to congratulate or praise them. Except for Hunter, because Belos loved Hunter, and took the time to praise him when he did things well. Lilith was standing in front of the desk by then, but he could see her nervously fidgeting with her hands. Bad move. The captain saw nervous habits as clear signs of weakness, along with just being irritating. 

His uncle was polishing his hook. That was one of his favorite moves, Hunter had learned. Maybe because it was always effective. There was something so unsettling about watching him carefully shining it, or casually testing the sharpness of it. 

Lilith still hadn’t answered. Yep, she had absolutely fucked up. Belos snapped at her, and she straightened up immediately, and started talking. “I failed, Captain. I left her unattended and-”

In a flash, Belos was on his feet, slashing his hook impossibly close to her face. Hunter felt a surge of pride. It was very draining for his uncle to use magic, so he used it sparsely. But he almost always used magic to punish Hunter, which meant that he cared enough about family to extend himself like that. He didn’t care about any of the others enough to do that. 

“I don’t need to hear any further.” Belos said coldly, and any feelings of being special Hunter was focusing on dissolved completely, as that familiar tone turned his blood to ice. 

“But, Captain-” Hunter cringed when he heard her. Bad move. Not only was she talking back, but she was trying to argue with him. She was going to be punished for sure.

“Enough!” He roared, and grabbed the sword he kept by his desk, hung up and polished daily by none other than Hunter himself. He didn’t need to know what came next. Hunter ignored the agony in his hand as he tightly covered his ears. 

When the noises died down, he released his tight grip.

“That will be all, Lilith.” Belos said civilly. “Now leave. My nephew must be very distraught by what you forced me to do.”

Hunter swallowed a gasp. His uncle had known he was there the whole time.

~~

Hunter emerged carrying himself like a prey animal ready to succumb to the predator waiting for it. “I’m sorry!” He burst out. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

“Hunter.” Belos said, warm and comforting. “It pains me that you had to witness that. What were you doing in here?”

“You’re… not mad?” He asked, arms still braced in front of his body.

“No, of course not. Answer my question.”

Hunter snapped to attention. “Yes, Captain. I was only trying to clean, I took too long and I didn’t want you to be disappointed in me.”

“Why did you take too long, Hunter?” Belos asked, clearly probing to something, Hunter just didn’t know what.

“Because my hand hurt, Uncle.” Hunter bit the inside of his cheek hard as he admitted to his weakness. But the only thing worse that admitting weakness or failure was lying to cover it up.

Belos nodded. “And why did your hand hurt, Hunter?”

It made him nervous to have his uncle keep saying his name. There was a right answer to this question, and he paused to carefully try and pin it down. “Because…” his whole body felt jittery. It was just a damn question, why was he being such a baby about it? “Because I got punished.” He settled on, hoping he said the right thing.

“Why did you get punished, Hunter?”

A lightbulb went off in his head. He understood suddenly what the right answer was. “Because I deserved it, Captain. I was careless and stupid, and being your right hand man is a privilege, and privileges can be taken away.”

It hurt to say, but it was worth it to see his uncle smile in approval, clearly proud of what a good soldier Hunter was. Belos squeezed his shoulder affectionately. “It brings me pride to see you taking such responsibility for your failures. I know you can learn from this, Hunter. You really are the best version of yourself.”

Hunter beamed. Any and all pain was worth it if it meant his uncle would say these things. He felt like the best version of himself, whatever that meant. It was special, however, because Belos only said that specific phrase to him. “Go along, now.”

Belos shooed him off affectionately with his good hand. But as soon as Hunter twisted the door open, Belos said, “Wait. One more thing.”

Hunter turned around. “Yes, Captain?”

“Your actions led that girl here. It is now your responsibility to see she is disposed of.”

Hunter’s stomach lurched as Belos shut the door behind him.

~~

He felt his heart pounding in his chest as he walked away from his uncle. ‘Disposed of’? He wasn’t stupid. He knew what that meant. Dead. 

For everything battle he had been in, Hunter had never actually, well, seen death. He knew it wasn’t a huge deal, people were replaceable. He had grown up knowing that people were like chess pieces. Things to be used, and traded for, all in the name of winning. Chess was an old game his uncle was fond of. Hunter was actually pretty good at it, because his uncle made him play it a lot. No, not made him. That was such an ungrateful way to put it. It was a privilege to be able to spend alone time with the captain like that. 

So it shouldn’t have bothered him. That girl was just a pawn in Belos’ overall goals. The game would only end when he got home, and until then, everyone around him was disposable. She and the other Lost Kids, as they stupidly called themselves, were just pawns. Edalyn was probably a knight, able to make strange moves that other pieces couldn’t, making it a little more unpredictable. 

He was a queen. He once said that to his uncle, who initially laughed, and then got really angry for some reason, yelling about being a man. Apparently queens are a real thing in the human world, and they’re a bad thing to be. But in Hunter’s head, secretly, he still liked to think of himself as the queen. Most important piece aside from the king. He also liked that a queen could start out as something as insignificant as a pawn.

Belos was the king, because the king couldn’t reach as far, and Belos couldn’t use magic. He knew he really get it if his uncle heard him make that comparison, but the king also controlled the whole board because it all revolved around him.

Raine was like a bishop to him, along with Darius. Terra was a knight because those pieces annoyed him, and Eber was a rook. Lilith was also a knight in his mind. The part he liked the most about the chess analogy, a word he learned from Raine, was that it emphasized that they were all, in the end, expendable. Even a queen could be sacrificed and the king could keep going. 

Hunter was pacing the length of the ship, lost in his thoughts when a familiar voice broke up his spiral.

“You’re going to give yourself splinters.” Raine said, appearing behind him out of nowhere.

Hunter jumped in surprise, and sighed aggressively when he saw it was just Raine.

“I’m fine.” He said, making what Raine once affectionately dubbed ‘Hunter Eye Contact’. Apparently you were supposed to actually look at people, not pick something near their face to look at. 

“How’s your hand?” Raine asked softly, and Hunter flinched. 

“I’m fine,” he snapped. “Why are you like this?” He added on, irritated.

Raine ignored that. “Come over here.”

Instinctively, interpreting a command in their voice, Hunter drifted over. “Show me your hand.”

Hunter was torn between his deliberately constructed nature to follow orders, and his equally deliberate nature to be good for his uncle. His uncle wouldn’t want Raine trying to help him out. But his body betrayed him, holding out his hand while his mind tore itself apart.

Raine’s face twisted, and it made him feel sick in a way he couldn’t describe or even understand. “Okay. Come on.”

“What?” Hunter yanked his hand away.

“You need actual care, Hunter. Come on.”

“No I don’t!” Hunter ran away, feeling like a disobedient child. Well, what he assumed a disobedient child would be like. He had only ever behaved like a soldier, following every command, always ready to comply.

Raine didn’t chase him, and it made him a little sad. He stopped, cradling his injured hand, turning back to them. The ship wasn’t huge, even though he had run from one side to the other he saw them easily. They didn’t look mad, they didn’t look disappointed. They just looked… sad, like him.

He trudged back. “By order, you are not allowed to tell the captain.” Hunter said strictly. They might have been older than he, but he was their superior and he got to order them as he pleased.

Hunter knew Raine only saw him as a little kid playing pretend, so he really did appreciate how they bowed to him when he gave his command.

~~

Belos was pretty strict about some things, and one of them happened to be how much space they all had. Hunter’s room was definitely the smallest of all, but considering the five of them shared a space, Hunter was always a little taken aback when Raine brought him to their room. 

He wasn’t restricted about where to go, besides for his uncle’s weird door, but Hunter rarely went into the big room unless he was with someone. And the only person who took him there ever was Raine. 

“Let’s get you fixed up.” Raine sat Hunter down on their own bed, reaching for a kit to plop next to him.

“What’s this stuff?” Hunter asked suspiciously, holding up a leaf.

“A variety of healing potions or ingredients.”

“Why do you have them?” He held it up to them by the stem.

Raine paused. “Darius is very clumsy,” they said finally.

Hunter wrinkled his nose. Darius was not clumsy. “What are you- OW!” he yelped.

While he was talking, Raine had filled up a bowl with warm water, and put his hand in it again, creating little waves to wash it out.

“You shouldn’t be, ah, doing that,” he grunted out. “Glyphless magic is wrong.”

“Breaking your family’s hands is wrong,” Raine muttered, and Hunter glared at them ferociously.

“It was a punishment. I deserved it. Maybe that’s a little to complicated for you to understand,” he snarked.

Raine just raised their eyebrows, and took his hand out, gently patting it dry, before pulling out… sticks and strings? “I don’t have real equipment for you, but you need splints. This was the best I could do.” They lined up each of his throbbing fingers with a stick of roughly the same length, tying them together as he yelped in pain. “This will help them heal properly, because these are absolutely broken.”

Hunter was about to say ‘Duh’ when Raine smeared some sort of cream on his fingers, and the pain instantly dulled. It definitely wasn’t gone, but it was lower in intensity.

“Why did you do that?” He cried out, standing up and grabbing his hand.

“What?” Raine’s eyebrows furrowed in concern and confusion.

“I deserve it!” He wailed. “You can’t take it away, that’s not your choice! I deserve this!”

“Hunter.” Raine spoke firm, firmer than he had maybe ever heard them. “You do not deserve to suffer. You made a mistake. It happens. You aren’t a bad person.”

He shuddered, holding back tears. “I failed. I deserve to suffer.”

Raine shook their head. “No. You don’t. You never did.”

~~

Hunter donned the pair of gloves he occasionally wore, silky golden and perfect for hiding things, like the splints he should’ve broken but couldn’t bring himself to.

His stomach ached a little. It was past lunch time, but he hadn’t gotten any food. He was carrying out tasks for the captain, and didn’t make it in time.

“Little Prince.” An affectionate yet patronizing voice. Who else but Darius could pull that off. “Waiting for your table scraps?”

He sneered at them. “No, actually, I had a great meal. Shouldn’t you be off burning things?”

Darius only laughed. “Why are you sitting on the sails?”

Hunter looked down to him. “I like watching the water.” Then he grinned. “I’d ask if you want to join, but…”

Darius was a highly capable man, but he absolutely could not climb. He hated heights, and tried to keep it on the down low, but Hunter was grateful to exploit any sort of weakness he found in him. It pleased him to see that he comment had an effect on the older man. 

“I’m sure it must be difficult to have everyone looking down on you all the time, I’ll give you this one, Little Prince.” Darius said, smoothly turning the tables as always. Hunter frowned deeply.

He didn’t know how he felt about Darius, and that bothered him. Hunter much preferred when he could easily organize his thoughts into categories, so that everything could make more sense. Sometimes Darius was mean to him, but sometimes he felt like a friend. Darius taught him how to sew, after all. He was unreliable, but, well, so was a lot of stuff in Hunter’s life, unfortunately. He just wished everything was more clear, less ambiguous, more predictable. Too much of his life felt unpredictable.

“Hey, kid.” Darius said, sounding a little more serious. Hunter looked down. “Did you get anything to eat? For real?”

“I’m fine.” Hunter turned back to look out at the water.

“I will light these sails on fire,” Darius said. “Hunter, have you eaten today?”

“No,” he said quietly, raising his voice to add, “but I’m fine!”

“Kid, get down here.” 

Why did everyone order him around? He was a higher rank than them! And why did he always obey? “What?” He asked, trying not to sound like a whiny kid. He had very mixed feelings about Darius calling him that. He absolutely wasn’t a kid, and he was even more important than Darius. On the other hand, no one ever really treated him like a kid, and maybe a small part of him wished he could’ve been.

He stood before Darius, feeling both tall and small as he looked up at the older man, like a child, an adult, and a soldier all at once. Darius held out a thick ripped piece of meat, and his stomach rumbled at the sight of it. “Go on, princess.”

He frowned at Darius, aware there was some implication there that he didn’t understand, but too hungry to ponder it. He ate savagely, embarrassingly greedy for someone who got more than enough food. “Fuck,” he gasped after, eyes widening and clapping a dirty hand over his mouth when he realized he swore aloud. “I’m sorry, I didn’t-”

Darius clapped him on the back, with amusement instead of violence. “I knew there was a kid in you somewhere.”

“What?” Hunter wiped his face, bothered by the sticky feeling.

“Get into some trouble more, hmm? Act your age.” Darius said, then smirked. “You know, when I grew up, there was a word for boys who dressed like that.” He gestured to Hunter’s gloves. “I got called it quite a bit.”

With that, he walked away, leaving Hunter confused on whatever the hell that meant. Moreso, he was thinking about Darius’ advice. ‘Get in more trouble’. Yeah, right. He had physical proof of what that did for him.

~~

After a long and tiring day, Hunter just wanted to go to bed. He was on his way when something caught his foot and he fell, hard. Disoriented, he looked down and saw it was a very deliberate vine. Terra.

“Fuck off, Terra,” he snapped. She was his least favorite out of all of them. She was just mean. 

“I’m sorry, little prince,” she crooned. “Didn’t see you there.”

“Yes you did!” Hunter pushed himself up, smothering a cry of pain as he once again forgot his hand was injured and tried to use it. “That was intentional!”

“Why, no, it wasn’t,” she said, feigning dramatic innocence. “Why would you ever accuse me of such a thing?”

“You did that on purpose!” He yelled. His immature outburst attracted attention, and Eberwolf appeared. Hunter cringed, he didn’t want another person to see him all riled up and baited by Terra, he just hated liars so much.

Really? They signed to her, raising their eyebrows in distaste. Grow up, Terra.

Hunter smirked despite himself. Eberwolf had given all of them sign names. His was more of a nickname, just the sign for gold. But Terra’s was his favorite. Eberwolf was about as fond of Terra as he was, and they made no effort to hide it. Her sign name was a combination of the sign for ugly, but instead of finishing in an X handshape, finishing in a T handshape. T initialized for Terra. She hated it, but the rest of them found it incredibly funny.

“Do you have something to say?” She said condescendingly. Eber’s eyes narrowed. She knew they didn’t speak. Everyone on the ship had learned what was called American Sign Language, and Eber taught Hunter that America was the human land where they all originally came from. All except him. He didn’t understand why Eber didn’t speak, but if the captain didn’t question it, he wouldn’t either. 

For the most part, that was it. Belos accepted that they didn’t speak and learned enough sign to be able to communicate with them (no more, no less) and the rest of them got lessons from Eber to be able to further their communication. Hunter didn’t think Terra actually had an issue with it, he thought she was just a bitch.

Then Eberwolf signed something Hunter wasn’t allowed to repeat, and his eyes widened. Terra huffed and spun around, leaving the two of them alone.

Thank you, Hunter signed. He didn’t have to sign back, but he felt it was only polite given how Eber had stepped in to help him.

Night now. You should sleep.

I try now. Terra interrupt me, finish. Hunter signed back. His sign language grammar wasn’t great, but Eber was very patient with him.

Go bed Hunter. Good dream. Eber waved their hand off to him, and he smiled softly. 

You too.

~~

Hunter’s room felt huge and small all at once. He had room to stand and walk around, and his bed was big enough for his whole body. Sometimes his bed felt too small, and he wished for one that fit him better, but other times, when wind wafted through, his bed felt agonizingly big and so empty.

Chapter Text

The house was silent as Eda slipped out. She made sure not to wake King either; she needed time to just herself. Some nights an empty bed hurt more than others. When they first left, Eda meant to redo her nest so it was only big enough for one, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. It was silly, but getting rid of their side of the bed just felt too much like getting rid of them.

But some part of her couldn’t give up the hope that one day the bed wouldn’t be empty anymore. She just started walking, unsure of where she was going or where she wanted to go. Eda kind of just needed to get out.

She still had dreams about them. For some reason, it wasn’t bad dreams that tormented her. She didn’t relive their worst moments, she didn’t relive the fight, she didn’t dream about when it all fell apart. She dreamed about the green of their eyes, how it felt to hold their hand, the warmth of their body on or next to hers.

Muscle memory took her on a very familiar path. Grass became sand as she walked to Mermaid Cove. She could swear that there was a time when she really did see mermaids there, even if most of the kids thought it was just one of her bits. She remembered their shiny scales and huge eyes. 

It was so peaceful in the dead of night, water sparkling as it reflected the moon, stars shining softly and water running and trickling. The night sky was dark and noises of nature comforted her. It should’ve been perfect, and it was, briefly. Until whistling broke her calm.

The sound pierced through her, stabbing deep in her bones, drawing grief directly out of the marrow. She turned away, trying to walk as silently as possible. But she was never known for her powers of discretion.

“Eda?” An incredulous voice rang out. “What are you doing here?”

She tried to slink away, but water gushed forward, pulling her back.

“You can’t get away that easily.”

She sighed in defeat. “Hello, Raine.”

~~

Raine was gaping internally, but they had become a fantastic actor, and were certain Eda couldn’t see how shaken they were. They only saw her in battle these days, and it really wasn’t the best kind of reunion, to be honest. 

“What are you doing here?” They asked coolly. “Shouldn’t you be with your kids?”

“Couldn’t sleep.” She said simply. “What about you? Shouldn’t you be, like, on your knees kissing your master’s boots? Or is that honor assigned to someone else?”

They tightened their jaw. It was a bad habit from childhood that they had never really shaken. “No, actually, I’ve been promoted to shoe-shining.”

She let out a soft laugh, and Raine got that familiar burst of warmth that came from making her laugh. She always did have the most wonderful smile, and they couldn’t help but love being the source of it.

“Nice to see you, Rainestorm.”

They hadn’t heard that nickname from her in… years, actually. 

“You too, Calamity.”

She crossed her arms and stared at them as water gently lapped at her shins. She was as beautiful as the day they lost her, her fiery orange hair now silver, gorgeous wrinkle lines along her face. Her eyes shined just as bright as ever, and she wore a ripped red dress that briefly clouded their thoughts to look at. 

Raine couldn’t resist dipping their finger in the water to pull her closer to them. To their relief, she looked amused more than upset or irritated. All they wanted was to have her closer to them.

“Time has made you bold, Rainestorm.” Twice in a row. Had she missed calling them that as much as they had missed hearing it?

They tried to find some good witty remark, but the pressure stressed them out and they flustered. Eda laughed at their obvious attempts to keep up witty banter. “Some things never change. How did you get to be where you are if you can never find the right thing to say?”

“I guess actions speak louder than words.” There. That was a good comeback.

~~

Eda blinked. They were so fucking corny. They looked so pleased with themself, too, clearly under the impression that they were so smooth. It was unfairly attractive. She debated telling them how corny they were, but she didn’t want that stupid smirk to go away.

“I suppose they do.” 

She studied their appearance up close. Their mint green hair was down to their shoulders now, and had the texture of their natural hair, wavy like she liked it. They sat on one of the large boulders in front of the waterfall, one knee bent into a peak, the other leg dangling loosely off the boulder. They were still gorgeous, despite how badly she didn’t want to see them that way. Each feature that made them up, the wrinkles around their eyes, the bump in their nose, the single earring they wore. She didn’t let herself look below their neck, because she knew she would fall in love with their body all over again.

“Really, shouldn’t you be with your kids?” Their voice was softer that time, more genuine.

“They’re teens, Raine. They can stay alone for a little while. I leave them by themselves all the time.” The water had loosened its grip on her, and she could’ve left. Instead she took another step forward. She felt her heart lurch, and could swear she saw theirs do the same. “Why are you here?”

“Sleeping in a ship every night makes me seasick,” they admitted.

She snorted, and they gave her an offended look. “I’m sorry, it’s just.” She laughed. “You’re seasick so you can to relax at a waterfall?”

“The water isn’t rocking me!” Raine protested. “This is a perfectly reasonable thing to do.”

Impulse took over, and Eda drew lazy glyphs in the water, summoning a wave to flood the rock and sway them around. She laughed heartily as they let out a noise of surprise. Raine was caught off balance, and somehow managed to fall into the water. What a fucking dork. 

~~

Eda dragged their hand along, bursting with a smile. 

“Eda, I really don’t like running with my eyes closed,” they complained, still not letting go of her hand or slowing down.

“Don’t be a buzzkill!” She cried out, tightening her fingers around theirs. She had a wonderful surprise for them. “Okay, okay.”

Eda stopped suddenly, and Raine ran into her, with their left hand covering their eyes. “Oof,” they groaned as their body made impact on hers.

Eda, charmed by them as always, grabbed their other hand with glee and spun them around. “Look at this! I found a waterfall while out looking for food!”

Raine’s eyes widened with the same excitement and wonder she had pictured when she dragged them out here. “Oh my god. This is beautiful.”

“See now why I made you dress like that? All part of the plan, baby.” She tapped her head confidently.

Raine quickly looked down at the thin black tank top and loose shorts Eda had laid out for them, and at her matching white tank top and tiny shorts. “Yes, but you would also wear that either way.”

“True!” She said cheerfully. “Okay, okay, okay,” she said again, faster. “Come on!”

Unceremoniously, she ran into the water, pulling them along so that she always had some part of her body touching theirs. She shrieked at the temperature, dunking immediately so that she could shake her hair out at them like a wet dog. They gave her a playful shove before sinking under themself.

“Whoa.” They said when they came up. “I’ve never seen water this clear.”

“I’ve never actually gone in,” she told them. “I was waiting for you. This is so nice.”

Eda spread out on her back, floating and looking up at the sky. It was the prettiest shade of blue.

Then she flipped over, launching herself at her partner. “Tag.” She gave them a mischievous smile, darting away as fast as she could against the elements slowing her down.

Raine cried out in mock outrage, kicking their feet with determination, reaching out to touch her and missing by mere inches. Eda popped her head up to stick her tongue out, taunting them, just so she could watch their face slip into something more competitive. That was the Jock Raine look, one she used to see when they were younger and life was easier and everything didn’t feel as heavy as it would come to.

She was suddenly overcome by emotion. This wasn’t the life she planned for, but it was so much better. She got to be with the love of her life, enjoying sunny days and waterfalls. She grabbed their shirt and pulled them in. Streaks of sands kicked up in the water as their feet dragged across the sandy floor.

“Hi,” they said, blushing. What a fucking dork. She loved them so much.

“Hi,” she replied before pulling them even closer to kiss them. They tasted like fresh clean water and wild berries. 

Raine wrapped their hand around the back of her neck, holding her lovingly. She slipped her hands under the wet tank top that stuck to their skin to feel the warmth of their back. Both of their shirts clung to them, outlining their body, which was why she picked out a black shirt for them, giving them a more androgynous form while still enjoying the way her transparent white tank top highlighted her curves. 

Following her lead, Raine moved to put their hands on her ass. Eda broke the kiss to give them a mischievous look. “Ever had sex in a waterfall?”

They grinned. “Can’t say I have.”

“Wanna change that?”

~~

Raine spat water out from where Eda had thrown them in. Anyone else and they would’ve been incredibly upset, but something about it was enchanting coming from her. Those stupid feelings. They needed to get away from her. Being around her was just hard and confusing. They could never seem to let go of her.

“Remember the first time we came here?” They said instead, remembering how she pulled them along, the way they once would’ve blindly followed her anywhere just to hear her laugh. Her excitement at the discovery was intoxicating.

“Striving for a repeat performance?” She asked, smirking.

Repeat perform… oh. Of course. Of course she would remember that they had sex. That didn’t bother them, not really, it was a great memory. No, what bothered them was her audacity to suggest they go again, like after all this time they could just fuck it out and pretend everything was normal or even okay.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Eda.” Raine said in disgust, wiping water out of their eyes. She recoiled at the ice in their voice, treading in place to stay afloat.

“Raine?” She said their name like it was a landmine to carefully step around.

“You can’t do that. You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to blow up our lives and then come around and be coy and suggest we have sex.” Pain clouded their voice despite their attempts to sound angry.

“I was just playing around, Raine.” Eda said, visibly torn between moving away and trying to swim closer, trying to assess the situation and the best way to approach it.

“You don’t get to.” Their voice broke and they felt a surge of shame and weakness. “Not anymore.”

Raine watched her fight it, fight her nature, eventually losing the battle. Their fights were always epic. When Eda got mad, she got mad. It was explosive, even before the beast. She was trying to hold it in, but she never could. “Don’t even for a second act like it’s all my fault. You think I blew up our lives? Yeah, well who fucking ran away and decided to hunt me like an animal?”

“You made yourself an animal!” Raine yelled back, slapping a hand over their mouth as Eda sucked in a deep breath.

~~

Raine loved their nature walks. It was difficult to get Eda to do some more mindful than adventurous, so each time they got to wind their fingers through hers and feel leaves poking at the soft of their feet and take in everything around them, they made her draw it out.

Every now and then she would tilt her head down to meet their eye, and kiss them, twirling around like Sleeping Beauty and her Prince. Eda was so in love with them that it made them blush, and Raine was so in love with her that she couldn’t meet their eyes. 

“How many animals have we named so far?” Eda asked, dropping their hand to pull out a paper list, scribbled with poorly talented drawings of animals and names Eda had found amusing. 

She counted them aloud, and pumped her fist. “Rainestorm, we’ve got a whopping twenty four animals on here! All named by yours truly.” She batted her eyes at them.

Raine punched her softly in the arm. “Um, excuse me, but Poppler was absolutely my idea.”

Eda bowed dramatically. “Of course, my liege, how could I ever forget?”

“I’ll forgive you, just this once.” Raine decided, looping their fingers through hers again. Red grass scratched their feet, and they itched their ankle with their other foot, falling and making Eda laugh.

“You have got to be the clumsiest person on the planet.” Eda said, laughing. “That raises a great philosophical question actually, are we on the planet? Or does Neverland exist outside of all that?”

She had affectionately dubbed the island Neverland, because she declared that they were never going back home. Not that it seemed they even could, Raine was certain years had passed and neither of them had ever seen a door appear like the one that brought them to the magical island in the first place since then. 

“I think we exist away from everything else.” Raine smiled at her. “It’s just us, Calamity.”

She blushed and turned away. They could still make her blush like when they were teenagers. “Oh my god. Raine!” Eda squealed.

“What? Are you okay?” 

“Look at her! She’s so cute!” Eda gasped, pointing to the small animal in front of her. Raine wasn’t sure that cute would be their first reaction to it, but sure, the creature had its own charm. The skull bones on top of its fuzzy head were a little off putting, along with the fang-like teeth on the outer skull or the tusk-looking ears protruding from the skull bones. But it was really fluffy, and it had purple and yellow eyes, so Raine could see how all of that would appeal to Eda. “Oh, baby, she’s hurt. Raine, come here.”

Eda pulled them over and pointed to where part of a bone on the head had broken off. Raine knelt down beside her, reaching out. “It’s okay,” they said soothingly. “We’re here to help you.”

She was skittish, but Eda’s coos and Raine’s balancing low voice seemed to put her at ease, even if only slightly. “She’s all alone, Raine.” Eda’s voice dropped low when she said that, and they understood what she wasn’t saying. 

Animals were never alone in Neverland. Everything on the island seemed to work in a pack, and seeing an animal alone was always a bad sign. Especially if it was injured. This wouldn’t be the first time Eda and Raine had gone off to reunite some critter with its family, and they didn’t have to confirm with each other to know that their day was onward going to be spent helping out Eda’s new find.

Only, that day, they didn’t have success. They did not find any other animals that looked like her. Neither of them felt comfortable leaving her on her own, so they brought her back to the treehouse they were living in. She made a huge mess of the place, and Eda decided that she was going to be named Demon, for her name and her species.

They didn’t get any luckier the next day. Or the day after that. And maybe around the third day, Raine was also starting to see Demon as their pet. Raine didn’t know that everything from then on was going to blow up.

There wasn’t some omen for what was going to happen. It just… did. Maybe it was bound to happen at some point either way. Maybe if they had never gone on that walk things would be different. Or maybe, no matter what, Eda and Raine were the way they were, unchanged by outside forces.

By that point, Eda and Raine both knew there were no more glyphs to be found. They had learned them all, and even begun to combine them. Magic was the liberation of their life, something they used freely, and as Raine would come to see, carelessly. Recklessly.

Eda got very attached to their new pet. Of course, Raine adored their little demon, but it wasn’t enough for Eda. Looking back, it was like observing Frankenstein and his monster. When Eda mentioned that she was trying to create her own glyph, Raine thought it was just a joke. Until it wasn’t. And they began to fight.

“You can’t just mess with magic like that, Eda. You have no idea what will happen,” Raine warned her, eyeing the way she possessively stroked the animal in her lap.

“Everything we’ve done has been messing with magic. God, Raine, how do you think we ever learned anything here? By reading history books? Instruction manuals?”

“We learned it from the island. Every glyph we’ve used was one we observed in nature. You’re talking about completely creating your own.”

“Yes, I am.” Eda said emphatically, raising her eyebrows at them, inviting them to escalate the situation. They refused to.

Raine knew that just trying to take magic for herself was a bad idea. They tried to get her to understand. They tried to reason with her. They tried to make her listen. But that was Eda. Stubborn, short-sighted, and reckless. Her good traits greatly outweighed her bad ones, but when her bad qualities flared up, all hell broke loose.

So when they woke up and couldn’t find her, they knew what she was doing. Racing outside, Raine scrunched their eyes shut, trying to think of where Eda would go. Of course. Where they first found their demon. Their stomach sunk lower and lower as they ran, wondering if they were too late, wondering if they were overreacting, wondering if Eda was right, wondering if Eda was wrong.

“Eda, stop!” Raine cried out, trying to scoop Demon up as she completed her glyph circle. “Why are you so obsessed with this?!”

She looked at them like it was the stupidest question she had ever heard. “I want more company.” Eda said, simply. Raine wondered if that meant they weren’t enough. They never wanted more than what she had to offer. While they comprehended that statement, trying to figure out if they should be hurt or not, Eda grabbed their pet and put her in the middle of the circle, right on top of the glyph she created. It was the lines of a pulse monitor, with a heart in the middle. 

“Don’t,” Raine said, as Eda stood in the circle herself, touching the lines of the glyph to make it come alive.

~~

Eda swallowed, hard. So that was it. That was their truth. They saw her as an animal.

“Eda, wait.” Raine pleaded. “I didn’t mean that.”

“Of course you did. You just didn’t mean to say it,” she corrected, tears burning at her eyes. She refused to cry.

“Don’t tell me what I mean, Eda.” Raine said, frustrated. “You think you know everything going on inside my head, just like when I left. You never once gave me a chance to actually tell you! You just assume!”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. You’re upset that I’m not hearing you out? You lost that right when you started attacking me and my children.” Eda spat at them, and they faltered. The water suddenly felt bone chilling, and she climbed out, using a fire glyph to heat her freezing body.

“No, that’s not…” Raine grunted, trying to find the words and failing.

“No, that’s not what? Not you? Because it sure as fuck is. Not the point? I think it’s incredibly relevant. Please, Raine, tell me what it’s not.” She blasted herself with hot air, steaming and wincing. It hurt, but she almost wanted it to.

“It’s always your narrative, Eda. You’re impossible to talk to.” Raine climbed out of the water themself, manipulating it to dry them off as well.

Anger burst up in her chest, exploding out of her body. “You left me!” She screamed, losing her temper, sending a forceful blast of water their way, knocking them down.

~~

Eda’s whole body felt like it was on fire. Magic rushed through the lines of the glyph like blood through veins, and her blood boiled. Demon whimpered in her arms, and she felt a twinge of fear. She just wanted her pet to be able to talk with her. She adored Raine, but Eda had always been more of a social creature than they were. They seemed perfectly happy to just have her, but she needed more. She never wanted to hurt their feelings or make them feel like they weren’t enough. She just craved more social stimulation than Raine did, and sometimes she felt a little lonely. She didn’t miss the outside world, but sometimes she did miss her sister, or whatever. Eda just thought it would be nice to have more people to talk to.

Definitely not a kid, but a talking pet seemed nice. Raine just didn’t seem to understand, and Eda was never good at communicating her feelings. She was sort of just hoping everything would work out in the end without her needing to put in the effort.

But whatever was happening to her did not seem like it was just going to work out. When the pain finally ended, Raine was rushing in, holding her in their arms, asking if she was okay.

“Yeah,” she said weakly. “I’m okay. What about Demon?” Eda kept her eyes closed, hands in the fluffy fur of her pet.

“Weh?” 

Eda’s eyes shot open, and she sat up, ignoring the residual pain. “Oh my god. Did she just speak?”

“Weh?”

Raine gaped at her. “Shit. Eda. I think she did.”

“Yes!” Eda cheered, cringing at the aches of her body. “I did it!”

Maybe it would all work out. Maybe everything would be okay. Maybe… something was happening to her. Something painfully bursting out of her arms and legs, her face changing, body swelling, feet nubbing. “Raine?” She tried to say, but all that came out was shrill animalistic noises. Something was very, very wrong.

“Eda? What’s happening?” Fear clutched her partner’s voice, and she knew something was very, very, very wrong. “Can you hear me?”

Eda tried again to speak, to tell Raine she didn’t feel right, to say anything, really. Awful screeches came out in place of words, and panic gripped her. Then, horrifically, she started to feel like she was being pushed out. Out of her body, out of her consciousness. She was no longer in control. 

When she came to again, Raine was knocked backwards, looking at her with horror and fear. “Raine?” Her voice cracked, and they shuffled away from her. “Raine!”

“I… I have to go.” They said, and she saw the claw marks on them, red, raw, and bloody. Had she done that?

“Wait, Raine, please,” she said, but they had scrambled away, leaving her confused, alone, and scared.

~~

“I was stuck for days!” Eda yelled. Raine sat up, rubbing their head where they hit a rock on the way down. “I don’t remember how King and I made the first elixir, but I remember being alone, and scared, and disoriented, and trapped, and-”

“Do you remember how you attacked me?” They asked, curt and quiet. “Do you remember how I told you it was a bad idea to mess with magic like that?”

Eda swallowed, hard. Then her eyes narrowed again. “So your response has been to escalate attacks? To mess with magic in a much worse way? Real fucking mature.”

“I hate doing that!” Raine Whispers was a calm person. They did not get in screaming matches, they did not throw things, they did not lose their temper. Except with Eda. Only she could bring out all the emotional energy they could never seem to access, for better, and for worse. Besides, everyone has a breaking point, don’t they? “I never wanted that, Eda! God, all I wanted was you. You can end this all now. Just come with me.”

“Oh, fuck you. You’re unbelievable, Raine. There is no way in heaven or hell I would ever go anywhere with you again.”

For some reason, that stung them, really stung them. There was a time she would have moved heaven and earth just to make them laugh. But that was a lifetime ago. Tears pricked at their eyes, and they fought to stay cool and collected. Cool. Cold. They were really cold.

Raine got out of the water, drawing up a fire glyph to prevent frostbite, even they could even get that in Neverland.

“Gasp,” Eda said bitterly. “I thought you good little soldiers were supposed to stick to one element only.”

“Yeah, well, you couldn’t even stick to that,” they snipped. 

“Leave me and my family alone.” She said.

Raine felt like their heart had been dipped in ice and shattered. Her family. They used to be that.

~~

Raine didn’t know where they were going. They just knew they had to get away.

They knew it wasn’t their Eda who did all that. Because their Eda was, well, Eda. Whatever that thing was, it wasn’t Eda. The attack itself wasn’t too bad. Raine knew how to defend themself, they just hadn’t ever had to do it against Eda. But again, not Eda. They had to remind themself that over and over to be able to do what had to be done.

Raine was alone. In every sense of the word. For hours, Raine was alone as they walked and walked, trying to process what had happened and plan what to do next.

They were alone, until they weren’t.

He called himself Philip at first. At some point he started calling himself Belos, but when they first met, he called himself Philip.

He said that he had been alone for many years, and he was thrilled to see a familiar face.

“Familiar face? We haven’t met.” Raine said skeptically, aware of their questionable appearance, and his lack of mention toward it.

“We needn’t meet for me to recognize you as a fellow human,” he said. 

Raine was put off by how he said that. Something about it felt wrong. Something about him in general felt wrong, but they couldn’t put their finger on it. 

When Philip finally pointed out Raine’s disheveled state and asked them what happened, they paused, finally replying that they had a fight with their partner.

“Partner?” He asked, lighting up. “In what are you partnered? Scientific exploration?”

Raine hesitated again. Something in their gut told them to keep themself guarded. “Something like that.”

“Why, what a nasty fight it must have been. Come with me, friend. You are in need of assistance.” He held his hand out. Raine knew better than to go off with strangers. They knew to trust their gut instinct about someone’s character. Oh, but they were tired. They were upset. They didn’t take his hand, but they went with him.

And they didn’t leave at the end of the night. Raine couldn’t bear the thought of facing Eda, and Philip had an undeniable charm to him, a disposition that simultaneously told them to keep their guard up but still to lean into his charismatic allure.

Raine didn’t leave the next day, either. By the third day, it seemed like it was just too late. By the fourth day, when Raine met Hunter, they knew something was very incredibly horribly wrong. By the fifth day, they were trapped.

Philip had Raine right where he wanted them from the moment Hunter became a human pawn in whatever his sick twisted game of chess was. He was convinced that since Eda and Raine had gotten to Neverland, they would know how to reopen it from the other side and get them home. The problem was, Raine had never opened the portal on their own, and had absolutely no idea how to get home. Their accidental confession of that became Eda’s death sentence. Well, not death. He needed her alive. But Raine felt the guilt of condemning her to that fate, or worse.

At first he was only obsessed with getting her to bring them all home. Then Lilith came and fucked everything over. Once Philip became aware of the Owl Beast, and moreso, Eda’s natural abilities with magic and her mastery over the elements, he wanted her captured to take what she had for himself. 

Really, that was when he became Belos. Raine wanted to leave. They wanted to escape. But they couldn’t. Because of Hunter.

It was no secret what Belos was doing to the boy, even if Raine seemed to be the only one who ever cared. Belos saw that, and the boy became his bargaining chip. 

They would never forget the day they realized they were genuinely trapped.

“I’m leaving,” they had said to him. “This is demented. I won’t help you hurt her.”

Belos tilted his head slightly, a dangerous small smile on his face. “No?” Then he turned and called out, “Hunter. I need you.”

The boy ran in like he was on fire, so eager to please. “Yes, uncle?”

“Would you like to be part of a demonstration?” His voice was deceptively soothing and warm.

“Yes! Anything to help.” Hunter said, bowing with undeserved respect and adoration.

Raine felt a pit in their stomach. They didn’t know what to expect, but they felt everything in their body light up into fight or flight. But they didn’t fight. They just froze.

“Be a good boy, now.” Belos said, almost lovingly.

The beating that followed was the most horrific thing Raine had ever seen. The horror was only amplified by the way Hunter so dutifully took it, not fighting back, not because he had given up or tried to protect himself, but because he withstood it with a clear familiarity and almost comfortable or natural experience. Finished, Belos looked up at Raine, callous and distanced from what he had just done to someone he called family, a child who idolized him. 

“You either help me get Edalyn, or you are next.”

“You’re threatening me?” Raine asked, mouth dry.

“Oh, no.” Belos laughed. “No, you’ll be taking care of him. It won’t be difficult. He’s much more compliant than she is.”

~~

Eda stared into the eyes of the person she used to love so much, the person who knew all her secrets, made her laugh and cry, knew her body inside and out, knew her mind in the same way. She search for the Raine she ran away with. She looked deep into them, and came out empty, like they had taken something out of her, and she had to search her body for the scars.

Chapter Text

After about a week, Hunter’s hand was basically healed. From a combination of undeserved care from Raine and the healing properties of time, he was back to full function. It had been a good day. He had been very good and his uncle had been pleased. 

There was a side to the captain that only he got to see. That made it all the more special. It was like those moments existed outside of the real world. His uncle was a wholly different person, stripped down to something only Hunter had the privilege of seeing. Hunter knew he was loved when his uncle went from the ruthless, cutthroat captain to just Philip, Hunter’s uncle and entire world.

He would call Hunter into his study, and he would smoke what he called a pipe, and he would tell stories of his childhood, of Hunter’s father. His father was like a mythical figure to him, someone who existed only in flashbacks and memories, a nameless protagonist in Hunter’s favorite stories. Hunter would sit on the plush carpet eagerly, closing his eyes in tandem with his uncle’s, as the man drifted into a dreamlike state, weaving vivid tales so clear Hunter could pretend he was there, too, not just hearing retellings but experiencing it firsthand. 

There was a rocking chair in the study, one that his uncle built for him years and years ago when he was young. Hunter couldn’t actually remember being young for some reason. His own memory was faulty and unreliable. It was as if he could only recall life events starting from about age sixteen. What he presumed was age sixteen, to be clear. Hunter didn’t really… age. He asked his uncle once about it, about why he didn’t age like all the others on the ship did, if he was like the Lost Kids, why the pirates grew up when they left. He had all the scars to remind him not to ask those questions.

But he had to be young at some point, even if he couldn’t remember it for whatever reason. The rocking chair, and of course, all logic in general, were proof of that. It was too small for him now, but sometimes he would sit next to it as his uncle talked, rocking it with his hand to imagine what it must have been like to be young and ride it, safe with the company of his uncle. 

They had been in there together earlier that day. Philip would often tell him about ‘record players’, things that could play music out of them somehow. Hunter was fascinated by that, and loved hearing stories about the technology in the human world. At night, the gold and tan colors of the study were accompanied by lush ruby red, velvet curtains drawn and a gorgeous crimson coat Philip liked to wear when it was just him and Hunter. The atmosphere was magical, in a whole other way. Hunter gingerly touched a lock of his blonde hair, thinking about how his uncle would wind his hook through his curls fondly. He once off handedly mentioned that he used to do that with his little brother, Hunter’s father. The gesture was so intimate and personal, and it made Hunter feel unbelievably close to not only his uncle, but to his father, because even if he never knew him, that was another thing they shared. The hair, and the way Philip affectionately played with it.

He was always more physically affectionate when they were alone like that. Hand or hook in hair, shoulder squeezes, grazed touches. That was what separated Philip from Belos. Belos had an image to uphold, and Hunter understood that. But Philip? Philip was free to just be family, away from everything else, unburdened by his responsibilities. Not that it was a burden, of course, Belos was flawless at his job and Hunter would never question him.

His uncle made sure he knew when he was good. Today he had been good, and the reward of his uncle’s uninhibited affection was worth whatever punishment it took to get there.

~~

Hunter didn’t take off his necklace to sleep. Captain Belos gave it to him as part of his unofficial Golden Guard uniform, and he took good care of it. Though as he changed into his pajamas, panic struck him when he realized he didn’t have his golden gloves. Racing through his memories of the last twenty four hours, he traced his steps back to his uncle’s study, where he must have taken them off to clean.

He was all alone when he went in there, planning to slip in and out without disturbing anything. His gloves were on the table, neatly folded with care, as the would be as soon as he brought them back to his room. Tucking them into his pocket, Hunter scanned the room. He liked to leave things cleaner than he found them. He stepped backwards, resting against the wall as he did his check. Something poked into his back.

Belos’ door. The one place Hunter was not on any circumstances to enter. The gold polish on the doorknob was worn down to a rusty silver, a compilation of every time his uncle had ever grabbed it flashed through his memories. Belos putting a protective hand on it whenever someone got close, squeezing it tightly. Belos twisting it back and forth mindlessly while talking to him. Belos stepping in, lingering on the handle as he looked over his back. Whatever he kept in that room was clearly not meant for anybody but himself.

Hunter didn’t break rules. He was a good pirate, and a good nephew. He did what he was told and he didn’t ask questions. 

His uncle wasn’t there, though. A terribly disobedient thought crossed his mind. If he snuck in right now, no one would know. He could just be in and out, and it would be his little secret.

No! What was he thinking? He didn’t get to have secrets! Everything he did, he did for his uncle. He had no secrets and he had no privacy, and that was just fine. He didn’t do things just because he wanted to.

Still, it was the middle of the night… and he had been working very hard, so it would make sense if he somehow forgot he wasn’t allowed in. It was like an invisible force was controlling him as the key found its way into his hand, fitting into the hole and turning with the sound of a latch. When Hunter slowly gripped the doorknob, he expected it to burn his hand, or set off an alert. It was almost more alarming that it just… opened. He slipped in, feeling around for some lamp in the pitch black darkness. Fumbling to strike a match through touch alone, Hunter managed to light the room.

At first glance, it was completely unremarkable. This was what his uncle was so protective of? Just some messy cabin? This tiny room, no bigger than his own quarters? He told himself he would just look and leave, but he had to know what was so important about this room. It was like an itch that needed to be scratched.

The mess was utterly out of character for his neat and orderly personality, and Hunter struggled to know where to start. Scanning the room, he tried to take inventory. It wasn’t unusual for his uncle to give him a task like this, actually. Show him some sort of wreck and expect him to clean it up in a limited amount of time. Hunter would just have to approach this the same way. He grabbed the oil lamp, holding it high. 

Starting with the walls, because they were the least visually overwhelming. A picture of Belos was taped to the wooden planks, and he walked toward it for a closer look. Belos and another person. Someone who looked near identical to himself. Hunter swallowed a gasp and reached to touch it, stopping an inch from the worn down picture. Was that his father? His uncle never talked about Hunter’s father. He knew that his father was killed by wild magic, and that was why Belos understood that it needed to be controlled. He knew they were both from a far off world, and all Belos wanted was to return after all the years away. That was it. He didn’t ask any more questions. He still had the mark from the one time he did.

But this had to be his father. They looked so similar. They both looked young, young enough that his father could be his twin.

Was this room dedicated to his father? Maybe he could even learn the man’s name. Tentative excitement bubbled up in him, and he waved the light around the space. The walls were covered with drawings. He set the lamp down on a desk pressed against the wall and took a closer look. The drawings could be separated into a few categories, starting with his father. Detailed sketches of his father, ranging from early childhood to however old he must’ve been when he was killed. Was that what Hunter would look like? The same chin, the same hooked nose, the same hair. The only difference he could see was the small gap between his teeth, but if he kept his mouth shut he could’ve been a carbon copy of his dad. 

He moved on to the other sketches. More people, but people he didn’t know. But they looked a lot like him. A mix of boys and men were carefully put to paper, immortalized in painstaking detail. Were they also his family? They were all older than he was. There were a total of nine of them, and names were attached to the drawings. Scattered around, he counted Connor, David, Aaron, Roman, Isaiah, Simon, Samuel, Marco, and Harper. Who were they? He had never heard anyone mention them. Surely there couldn’t be people who just disappear into thin air, could there?

The last category of sketches looked like revisions of a recipe. He looked closer.

Grimwalkers

Grimwalkers? What did that mean? Hunter almost pulled a page off to look at before he remembered he was never there and wasn’t going to leave any sign. The print was small and hard to read, but he struggled through. 

• One lock Caleb hair
• Two drops Caleb blood

Blood? Hunter wrinkled his nose. Something felt wrong.

• Log of shifter wood for skin
• One gryyerock for heart
• Mermaid lungs
• Soil for growth and pure water
• * Mushrooms

Hunter took a step back. What was that? What did all of that mean? Mermaids? Those weren’t real. And the rest of it? What was a grimwalker? Who was Caleb?

He was starting to regret ever coming in. Breathing slightly uneven, Hunter put out the flame and grabbed the door handle to run out. It didn’t budge. In a panic, Hunter remembered Belos telling him the door locked as soon as someone went in, and could only be opened with a key. He had always found that to be stupid, why would a door need a key to leave? He frantically lit the lamp again, trying to figure out what to do.

He couldn’t slam on the door; it probably wouldn’t do anything, and worse, Belos would know he was in there. And where was the damn key? Fuck, fuck, he never took it in with him!

This was all his fault. If he had never gone in, he never would’ve gotten locked in there. Sliding down the door, Hunter rubbed at his eyes.

His thoughts swirled around despite his desperate attempts to shut them down. Who were those people? Why did they look so much like him? What was a grimwalker? Why was this all hidden away? Was Caleb his dad? What was his uncle doing with his dad’s blood? Were those his other children? 

None of it made sense. For every answer was a reason it couldn’t be. He kicked his foot out in frustration, pulling it back immediately when he hit something. Hunter crawled over, and stifled a scream when he saw a bone. Behind it was a door. This wasn’t all, Hunter realized. There was more. Well, he was already screwed, he might as well. Hunter pried the door open to reveal a much bigger room. And much scarier.

This room had rotted wooden walls, an awful stench, and low lighting.

Ten equally sized stone tombs stretched across the center of the room, overflowing with dirt. In one corner of the room was a stack of decomposing mermaids. Next to it was the horrifying sight of a fully skeletal sack of bones that had once belonged to a person with hair disturbingly similar to his own. Vials full of blood stood upright next to the skeleton.

Whimpering, Hunter crawled toward the tombs. There were ten tombs. Were there ten bodies to go along?

He felt sick to his stomach, but he couldn’t turn around. Not that he would have anywhere to go. The first grave had the worst smell, and he assumed it was the oldest. Three things immediately stood out to him.

One. The body was not at all decomposed, despite the fact that it had clearly been dead for a long time.

Two. This was, without a doubt, Connor. The immaculately preserved details of his face perfectly matched the sketches Hunter had burned into his memory. He looked even more alike to Hunter in person.

Three. He was wearing the exact same uniform as Hunter, down to the golden necklace and golden gloves and leather belt that Belos had told him were made special just for him.

Unable to contain it, Hunter threw up, vomiting into the soil carefully arranged around the corpse. It was too much, but he didn’t leave. There was no turning back.

He turned away to go to the next one, but from the new angle he could see the way Connor’s neck had been snapped and carefully rearranged. He threw up again.

David’s neck was snapped the exact same way. Were all of them killed in that violent manner? This man seemed just slightly younger, too. His eyes were green, different from the blue of Connor and Hunter. His nose was straighter, and his jaw was more angular. A variety of subtle differences set him apart from the dead man, but with the same uniform, they were definitely related.

Aaron was younger still. He looked less like Hunter, brown hair and brown eyes, thinner frame and more delicate features. It was unsettling. Hunter looked for a manner of death but couldn’t find one, which made him more uneasy.

When he reached Isaiah, he stiffened. His uncle’s drawings failed to include the horrible scars criss crossed over his body. Hunter was no stranger to horrible scars, but even this was too much for him. He quickly moved on.

Roman. Marco. Samuel. Simon. Harper. The farther he went, the younger they look, and more similar to him. And the more scarred they got. It was undeniable that they had all once been Belos’ right hand man. It just didn’t make sense. Yes, his uncle was old, but he wasn’t that old. And even if he was, there was no way Caleb would’ve been able to father all those kids and still be killed by wild magic at such a young age. None of it was adding up.

Not to mention the last tomb, the empty one. There was something in it, but he was too scared to look. 

There was one explanation. One that made sense. One that he loathed to think about.

The dead body. The blood. The mermaids. He knew Neverland was home to all kinds of magic, light and dark. But was it really possible to… raise the dead? No. That was an idiotic thought. But at the same time, was there any other explanation? Why else would… Hunter swallowed hard. Why else would someone have a list that included blood, hair, skin, lungs, and a heart? 

There was a desk in there, too, Hunter realized. It felt like forces outside of his control were responsible for how he drifted toward it instead of racing to find another way out. The desk looked incredibly out of place amongst the rot and ruin of the room, with its tombstone feel, compared to a fancy and expensive looking desk, with a little carpeted stool. Hunter sat down on it, trying to catch his breath as he felt his whole world being torn up and spat out. Something very big in his perception of reality was changing, but he didn’t even understand what. Hunter slumped his head down on the solid wood, mindlessly tracing the patterns grooved in like he always did with any furniture in his uncle’s space he ever touched. As he did, his fingers caught on metal; a knob for the desk. Hunter cautiously pulled it open, revealing a journal.

Journals were personal. Hunter knew that. It would be a huge violation of privacy for him to look. But, then again, everything he was doing had been a huge violation of privacy. He flipped it open.

~~

I wish I could add a date to record this occasion, but my sense of time has been warped beyond recognition from this strange land. However, I must document this momentous development. I have raised the dead.

I am like Victor Frankenstein with his monster, although I have not created a monster. Far from it; I have reanimated my dear departed brother. I have spent years attempting to bring him back, and I have finally made a breakthrough. I have managed to make a copy of him, using materials of the land. I have named him Connor, similar to my dear Caleb. I do not think a creation like him can have an age, but physically, he seems reflective of Caleb’s twenty years. Somehow, he also seems to have Caleb’s memories. Most astoundingly, he does not know he is not Caleb. I am unsure how to tell him, or if I even should. He believes he is my brother. He has the memories of my brother. He looks like my brother. He even behaves like my brother. Is it wrong to tell him? Is it more wrong to not tell him? I have observed him for three days, and if I were not his brother who knew him best in the world, I confess that I might not even know. So I truly don’t know myself, is he not really my brother? Is the matter of his body so important? 

Hunter’s stomach sank. And he turned the page.

I told him, and it was a disaster. I don’t understand, does he not want to live? He must be my brother, because only he can fight with me like that.

I have given him the gift of life again, but he thinks it to be perversity. He told me to let the dead stay dead. What does he want me to do, kill him again?

Hunter froze. What did he mean, kill him again? Again?

Maybe he just needs time. I’ve spent years attempting to bring him back, and taken years to process the situation. I suppose it is quite a lot to have sprung on you. I’ll give him time. He’ll come around. I know he will.

We are slowly building up trust again. He is my brother. Connor is struggling with the situation, but it makes sense. I understand. I need to get to know him more; learn his biology, his thoughts, his durability. And find a way home. Now that I have him back, I will fulfill his final wish, and we can go home. I owe him that.

He doesn’t remember what happened between us, and I intend to keep it that way. The weight of my betrayal already hangs so heavy on me, I can only imagine the consequences if he learned the truth of his death. Would he believe me when I swear it was an accident? Does that make it better? No. I have a chance to rewrite history. I will not take it for granted.

After that, pages were torn out. Oh, god. Hunter pulled at his hair, trying to process what he had just learned. His uncle had raised the dead? His uncle had killed his own brother?

This wasn’t real. None of this was real. It couldn’t be. Maybe his uncle was a story teller. After all, he told Hunter stories all the time. Maybe before he had Hunter he wrote them down. It wasn’t real. No. 

And still, many pages of the journal were left. Hunter scrambled for answers to the ever growing questions.

I have given their species a name. Grimwalkers. I have now created a second. What happened with Connor was a mistake. A poor repetition of history. It is no matter. I have another chance. Like Connor, David does not know he is a Grimwalker. I have sewed him the same outfit I made for Connor. Caleb was always interested in fashion, much to our father’s distress. I hope it would bring him some joy to know that his successors get to wear one of his designs. 

Similarly to Connor, he was not pleased to learn of his existence. I wish they would just be a little more cooperative. They don’t see that all of this is for them. He is slightly younger, although that was not by design. I wonder how that happened. I have been aging faster, but I think I’ve found a cure. Gryyerock seems to have anti aging properties to it. I wonder if it has an effect on my Grimwalkers.

Hunter didn’t seem to age. He had always wondered why. He pushed the thought down.

I am growing angry with them. I have gone through a few generations of them so far. The mermaids hide from me now. I fear I am acting like our father. I can’t help it, I just get so frustrated with them. I am acting like a child breaking his toys. Everything keeps going wrong. No matter what I do, I cannot seem to find that door again. Even if I did, they seem to be slipping further and further away from my Caleb. If I am to return to the real world, it must be perfect. One can only imagine how things have changed. I cannot go alone. I will need my brother. After all, this was his dream, not mine.

I did not mean to hit him.

Hunter almost closed the book right there. That was the shortest entry he had read, but without a doubt the heaviest. He did not mean to hit him. A lifetime of feelings flooded him, feelings he couldn’t explain or fully understand. The simplicity of that sentence triggered something deep in him, but he couldn’t reach it. It was as if it was just out of his grasp.

He flipped through the pages, dozens of diary entries, flashing glimpses of each additional log, until he froze again. Hunter felt like his body had been assaulted with shocks over and over since he opened it. It was a drawing of him. The first drawing in there he had scene. Tears welled up in his eyes. 

It was a beautiful drawing. It must have taken him a long time to draw. The angle of his nose, the careful gap between his teeth, the way each line of his hair appeared individually drawn. He could have closed it there. He could have traced the careful shading of his jaw, and taken it as a sign that his uncle truly loved him. That he meant something. 

But then he would never know. Hunter could have walked away, stopped the story there, come up with his own ending. But he would never know the truth.

Of all the Grimwalkers, Hunter looks the most like him. I hope he will by my last. It hurts me each time Caleb chooses to betray me again. I have tinkered with memories for years now, and I have finally created a version of him that is fully separate. He was a true blank slate. He believes he is my nephew. 

He is sixteen years old, the age Caleb was when we left together. He reminds me of him so much, with his earnest spirit. His voice is uncanny. Sometimes I can pretend I have truly gotten Caleb back, from when things right. And I have finally solved the problem of aging when I made him. I think it has been at least a year, but he has not changed at all. I have meant to add more updates, but things have gotten quite interesting.

I am not alone. I have thought it was only me and my Grimwalkers, but there are others here. Only two, as far as I am aware. I have a companion. A fascinating person, who I assumed to be a female but possesses traits I can only attribute to masculinity. Disturbed by both masculine and feminine perception, my companion insists I use ‘they’ and ‘them’ when talking about them. They look like a woman, but have hair like a man and bind their breasts to appear even more difficult to categorize. I have never met a woman or man like this.

They have joined my side after running away from their partner. This is revolutionary news, if they have found a way here, they must know a way back. The woman is incredibly resistant, however. More time than I thought must have passed, because she behaves nothing like women should. So, there are positives and negatives to this development.

Raine knows Hunter to be my nephew. I have the feeling that they can tell he isn’t natural, although I cannot for the life of me figure out how. Within a day, they seemed to have an inclination for him. I do not like it. Hunter is my business, and I am not going to allow someone to come in and ruin what I have worked so hard for. 

Hunter is my master creation, so long as he continues to be useful. I don’t want another failure.

Hunter couldn’t read any more. He hurled the journal, crumpling and sobbing. What was he supposed to do now? His whole life was a lie. He wasn’t a person, he was an animated corpse. No wonder Belos had been so upset whenever he asked questions about his past. He didn’t even have one. 

He felt hollow inside. The final grave was for him. He didn’t need to check. Hunter retrieved the journal, setting it nicely back where it was. Then, like a miracle, he saw it: a spare key. It felt to convenient to be real, but it was solid and firm in his hand, clammy from sweat and wiped tears. He held it for a moment, debating whether or not he even wanted to leave. What could Hunter even do now? Go on like normal, like he hadn’t just found out he was nothing more than a clone of someone his uncle used to love? That he wasn’t just a replacement?

Or that his uncle hadn’t killed his own brother, and copies of him after it? That he wasn’t special? Or maybe that he was. He seemed to be Belos’ favorite Grimwalker so far, which filled him with all sorts of confusing emotions. 

Hunter was his favorite. Yes, he was a hollow shell of the man he thought was his father, a perverse combination of blood and bone, but of all of them, he was the favorite. That had to mean something.

Because if it didn’t… No. That was too painful. He couldn’t let himself go there.

How was Hunter supposed to look at his uncle and pretend he hadn’t been betrayed? How was he supposed to be the Golden Guard if he had seen what happened to the others? He thought he was important, but his uniform had been stained with the blood of those who came before him. Hunter hadn’t even known that others came before him, that his handmade garments covered the bodies of dead men and boys, all amalgamations of someone dead but not buried, killed and resurrected? 

That the bruises and cuts and all else that he had worn so bravely had decorated the bodies all lined up in tombs?

Or did he tell his uncle that he knew? Would that end with a filling of the final grave, one built for him lying in wait for him to repeat the mistakes of his successors, an expectation of his failure, or maybe just a habit from past experiences? 

Was Belos still his uncle? 

Did… did Belos love him?

When he raced out of that nightmare, he didn’t slam the door behind him. He closed it gently, making sure to leave the study cleaner than he found it.

Chapter Text

Philip could not remember a time without Caleb. They were two years apart, but that was close enough for him to forget he ever existed without his brother there as well.

His early years were full of love and joy, laughter and community. They went to church on Sundays and public school throughout the week. He held Caleb’s hand as they crossed streets and waited outside his classroom when it was time to go home.

Caleb was so brilliant. Everyone knew it, everyone agreed. He had a raw, natural intelligence that no one could replicate. He was so smart, and Philip knew it. That was why he didn’t understand why Caleb couldn’t just read. It wasn’t that he didn’t try, because he did. Philip knew it because he watched his brother sit down in front of a book for hours, over and over until tears threatened to spill over his lashes. By third grade, when beginners chapter books had started to be assigned, Caleb could still only read short words with huge blown up text.

Philip asked him over and over what the problem was, and Caleb insisted the letter would change places while he was reading them. He tried to explain to Caleb that wasn’t possible, that printed words couldn’t move, but the younger boy wouldn’t budge.

Where Philip just couldn’t understand, their father got angry. He got angry with Caleb’s lack of progress, with his “crazy stories” and excuses, and his delays.

The first time his father hit Caleb, all he did was stand there. Cowardly, he just gaped as an open palm made contact with his beloved little brother’s face.

He hated himself for his cowardice. Caleb was his responsibility, he always had been. It was his job to keep his little brother safe, and he had failed. From that moment on, he knew he would do anything to make up for that moment. He would keep Caleb safe, no matter the cost.

~~

“What are you doing?” Caleb mumbled, words clumsy with sleepiness. 

“We’re leaving.” Philip said, pulling his covers off. “Get up. Come on.”

“‘S it time for school?” He asked drowsily, rubbing his eyes.

“N-” Philip paused. “Yes. We have to go early.”

“‘S too early. Lemme sleep. Go ‘way.” He batted his arm, and Philip bit his inner cheek with frustration.

“No, we’re going now. Pack a bag.”

“What?” Caleb sat up, squinting. “Philip, what’s going on? Tell me the truth.”

He bit his cheek again, harder. “We’re leaving. For good.”

“What?” Caleb said, loudly. Philip clapped a hand over his mouth, shushing him.

“We’re getting out of here. I’ve saved up money. I’m all packed. You need to get moving.”

“But…” he rubbed his eyes again. “What about Mama?”

Philip felt his heart pinch, twisting up. “We leave her.”

“No, can’t… can’t do that.” Caleb flopped back down, and Philip yanked him up. He was trying to be patient, but he had been planning this for ages, and it needed to happen exactly the right way.

“I know. It’s awful. But we need to go, Caleb. You can’t stay here.”

His brother seemed to finally wake up. “We can’t just leave.”

“Why not?” He asked, trying to keep desperation out of his voice.

“Because…” Caleb stuttered, “because I’m only sixteen and you’re only eighteen, and we won’t survive on our own!”

“Caleb.” Philip allowed just enough emotion into his voice, just enough to convey the seriousness of the situation. He lifted up the younger boy’s arm, healing bruises hidden by long sleeves. After all, punches had started with slaps. Fractured ribs started with gripping shoulders. How long until they turned into something worse? “You won’t survive here .”

~~

It was Caleb who found the door, and it was Philip who didn’t believe him. He was resistant in the beginning, but Caleb wore him down. Caleb always wore him down. By now, all the details were fuzzy, and long gone to history. The truth was often subjective either way, wasn’t it? It was near impossible to get a correct recollection of events. The important thing was that they got from point A to point B, from a house full of fear to a strange wonderful land. And for once, things were perfect.

They learned the language of the land, and taught themselves to build beautiful things. Caleb was safe, he was happy, they had each other. That was all they needed. Or, at least, all he needed. But Caleb wasn’t satisfied. It wasn’t enough for him.

For years, Philip’s life had been centered around one goal. Keep his brother safe. That was the only thing that mattered. Then, finally, he did it. After all the time feeling like Sisyphus pushing his rock up the hill, keeping his brother safe, or as safe as he could, every day, found a permanent solution. Finally, he could rest. All he wanted was to be able to enjoy the life he had worked so hard for, the life he had sacrificed everything for. A life where he and his brother could be safe and happy. 

And somehow, that wasn’t enough. Somehow everything Philip had done for Caleb wasn’t enough for him, and somehow, after everything, he wanted to leave. Philip had brought them paradise, and Caleb wanted to leave. It was like he had changed, and Philip couldn’t stand it.

Caleb became obsessed with bringing up leaving, constantly asking Philip when he wanted to go home. ‘Home’. As if he had forgotten what his so called ‘home’ had truly been like. They had the chance to live in a dream, and Caleb wanted to go back to a place that had done nothing but hurt them. None of what happened had to happen.

Philip had replayed that day in his mind so many times it was burned into his memory. His brother’s voice had been seared into his brain, their dialogue like a commercial jingle he couldn’t get out of his head.

“Please, just think about it,” Caleb begged him, pulling him by his hand to press it flat against the wooden planes of the door, the damned door. “We’ve been here for years, Philip. Don’t you think it’s time to go home?”

“We are home,” Philip said angrily, yanking his hand away. “Let it go. ” 

“No, we aren’t!” Caleb stepped in front of his brother, blocking his path. “We have a home. We can’t stay here forever.”

“Yes, we can. And we will.” It was an argument they had had many times before, but this time, Caleb changed up the script.

“I’m not going to.” He said it quietly, and Philip snapped around to face him.

“What?”

“I’m. Not. Going. To.” He repeated, louder and more forcefully. “I’m not staying here. I want to go home. Are you coming with me?”

“What are you saying?” Philip said slowly, staring at his brother in a whole new light. His adoring younger brother, who worshipped him, now staring at him with cold eyes and a defiant look.

“I’ve been clear, Philip. I’m leaving. ”

“Now?” He forced his mouth shut, resisting the urge to gape.

“I keep trying to tell you, but you just don’t listen. I’m not a little kid anymore. Papa can’t slap me around now. And I miss Mama. I’m ready to go home, and I keep asking you to come with me. But if you won’t, I’ll go by myself. Please don’t make me do that.” He stared at his older brother, softening, holding a hand out.

Philip faltered. “You can’t go. You have nothing with you.”

“What would I take?” Caleb countered, gesturing around. “Magical plants? There’s nothing left for me here.”

“Right now?” He repeated, feeling vulnerable and pathetic.

“Yes. Now. Philip, we’ve done everything together. Don’t make me do this last step alone.”

Rage gripped him suddenly. How dare he? How dare he? After everything he had done for Caleb, he had no right to speak like that.

“You’re staying. With me.” He growled, and to his horror, fear flashed across his little brother’s face.

“Philip, you sound like Papa.” Caleb whispered, and shame replaced the rage pooling in his belly. “Let go of me.”

He looked down, not even realizing that he had grabbed his arm. Dropping his hand, red finger indents speckled Caleb’s arm. “Caleb…”

“I’m going now.” Caleb said, backing away, reaching for the door. As he opened it, light flashed through, and the real world hit him in the face.

In a single second, more thoughts than he could count raced through his head. Thoughts of anger, fear, sadness, and feelings he couldn’t taxonomize. More than anything else, one thought rang loudest: I can’t let him go.

His body moved without permission from his brain, disconnected from conscious thought. When he came to, Caleb’s neck was at an awful angle, and he stared at his hands, not recognizing them as part of himself.

~~

Once again, Philip was pushing a rock up a hill, doomed again to be another Sisyphus. He had not spent decades of his life protecting his brother to lose it all so violently, so unplanned. He was bringing his brother back, no matter what. Surely in a land as magical as the one he was in, he could find a way. He would not give up, no matter what.

Time seemed to blur meaninglessly as it went on. Without another to converse with, he began to lose his whole sense of it entirely, relying solely on the changes reflected in his body. 

He had never wanted many people, but it would be a lie to say the solitude had no effect on him. Philip was only human, after all. 

But it meant he worked hard. Without anyone to talk to, or be distracted by, he was able to focus completely on his task. There was nothing else to do, after all. Sometimes Philip felt like he could hear Caleb talking to him. In the deepest corners of his mind, the part that feared he was going mad, he would talk back, making sure to pull himself out before he was lost inside a fantasy. One day it would be real again. 

Philip had no idea how one went about reanimating a person. He tried every mix he could think of, every plant, ever rock, speaking the language of the land and imploring it to talk back. Days and nights were spent over his brother’s corpse, begging him to come back on his own. Eventually, he built himself a lab. A large stone room with wooden walls and ceiling lights that never worked right. He dug out different trenches to experiment with, and different recipes to try to bring his brother back. Then, somehow, one day, he did it. From an amalgamation of unholy ingredients, he created a monstrosity and a scientific breakthrough, a homunculus and a marvel. Philip did not manage to raise the dead, but he did something both better and worse. He created an entire body for his brother’s consciousness to inhabit, and created a being that did not even know what he truly was. Philip’s only mistake was telling him. He had been so hopeful when he first started journaling about it, it was almost sickening to look back, knowing how it would go.

He had thought for years about bringing Caleb back, but it was only when he finally did that he began to question what next. Ideally, they could stay there together forever. But one day, Caleb would want to leave again. So as much as it pained him, he decided that this time, he would not be caught off guard. If Caleb wanted to leave so badly, they would do it together, just as his dear brother wanted in the first place. Philip’d had years to himself, maybe it was finally time to say goodbye. 

He thought he was doing the right thing. He thought Caleb would at least show a little gratitude. Or, Connor, as he had started to think of him in his head. As similar as he was to Caleb, it felt wrong to give such a creation his brother’s Christian name. 

Philip thought Connor would understand. But he didn’t. He was even angry. There was no doubt by then in his mind that Connor was his brother, because he showed the same selfish ungratefulness as his real brother had at the end. 

He even had the audacity to say it was a perversion of God’s gift of life. He told Philip that he should have stayed dead. To think he didn’t even know at that point how he had died. Would that strengthen his belief that he should not exist?

Connor refused to listen, to go with him, to just do what he was supposed to. This was not what Philip wanted, not at all. Connor’s attitude just filled him with rage, and the next time he told Philip that the dead should stay dead, he obliged. He snapped the man’s neck without thinking, hearing the crack of brittle bones and a feeble body. Horror gripped him once more, disbelief mixing with regret.

Unsure of what to do, he sank to the floor, the polished wood of the small house he and Caleb had built for themselves. Connor’s body had fallen at a horrible angle, and he carried it gently down to the trench where he first created him, laying him down to rest. 

It was only after he stared at his brother’s face, once again carefully arranged in a grave, that he decided to sew him an outfit. Caleb had always been interested in sewing, and he wanted to honor him as best he could. It took several days and multiple efforts. Philip had never taken part in the activity, but he was determined to get it right, even if it delayed his progress. 

He had buried Caleb as well, but realized with despair that he would have to dig him up. Caleb’s hair and blood were needed to create another one of them. It was at that time that he decided his creations needed a name. Without much of a reason or explanation, something about Grimwalker felt right.

He brought Caleb back to the lab, resting him against a wall, posing his body to make him look like he was only sleeping. 

The majority of the ingredients were easy to find, but there was just one he hated the thought of trying to get again. Mermaid lungs. He had gotten lucky the first time, and found them washed up on the shore when he went looking for pure water for the soil. It had been just something he had thrown in without much intention, but it ended up being the thing that completed his recipe.

It was a pain to slaughter one. Messy, and disturbing. Philip almost threw up as he gutted her like a fish, carrying her corpse out in a bag to dump far away from him. 

The lengths he would go to for his brother.

~~

The next one was younger. Had he used a younger mermaid this time? Philip himself was starting to age faster. It must have been the strain of trying to bring his brother back so many times. It brought him joy to see a younger version of his brother, and he hoped it would mean he was back to his younger personality. 

He named the man David, for a friend Caleb had when he was around that age. That time, he did not tell David what he was, or how he came to be. If Connor had been so petulant without even knowing the full story, he wasn’t going to take chances this time.

And it worked out well at first. David was sweet and silly, and he brought Philip joy he thought he would never experience again. But he also had Caleb’s intelligence, and curiosity. He started asking questions, questions Philip couldn’t answer. Questions about little details Philip hoped he would overlook, but should have expected he would find and pick apart. That was how yet another found out the truth of his existence. He reacted similarly, despite Philip’s attempts to make him understand. 

Philip buried him in the same clothing.

~~

It was infuriating to go to the lengths he did and still not be recognized for all he was doing. By the time he created Isaiah, created yet another version of his brother from sheer determination to bring him back, from the years of effort and care, that he changed his story. He remembered one of the times he and Caleb went out exploring, one of the times they experimented with the strange properties of the land. Caleb was always more adventurous, and more so, disobedient. 

It was a newer trait in him, one Philip had never seen when they were under Papa’s cruel reign. Maybe it was what he would have been if they had grown up with love instead of fear. Nonetheless, the longer they stayed in Neverland, -as Caleb had affectionately named it, for their shared intention to never go back, which clearly only meant something to one of them-, the longer Caleb showed a streak of defiant, rebellious behavior. 

There had been a mushroom that Caleb had held up for his older brother to inspect. Philip hadn’t liked the look of it, and told Caleb to put it down. Instead, he looked Philip in the eyes, grinning mischievously, and popped it into his mouth, chewing with exaggerated spirit. If he had been younger it might have been funny, or endearing, but watching Caleb directly disobey his instructions, Philip realized how old his baby brother looked. The shape of his jaw, the length of his hair, the filled out muscular frame. Gone was the skinny little kid who was scared to leave his Mama, the child who did what he was told with his head bowed down. Philip was cold as they walked home, but Caleb, who once asked if he was mad when he changed his walking speed, didn’t even notice.

The mushroom, as it turned out, affected memories. Caleb woke up disoriented and amnesic. Having gotten over his hang up the day before, Philip decided to pull a prank on his little brother, and managed to alter his memories. Nothing too serious, he got Caleb to think that whenever he saw the color green, he got itchy. Once it passed through his system, he was back to normal, and the color green became a running joke between them. All was how it should have been.

If he had been able to create false memories in his brother, could he do it with the Grimwalkers? Philip sought out as many of those mushrooms as he could, adding it to the formula, scrawling it down with an asterisk for importance. 

Isaiah was his fifth Grimwalker, and he was getting angrier. All of his work would not be for nothing. He would find a way to get it right, to make this all right. 

And it worked. Isaiah emerged with a faulty memory, a mind susceptible to persuasion. Philip led him to believe he was Caleb, the original one, perfecting his story, and covering his tracks. Isaiah lasted longer than the others. He was sweet and charming, yet still dutiful and obedient. He listened when Philip told him to do something, the same way Caleb had before he changed. That was something Philip had realized as the years had gone on; he should have had them leave sooner. He was blind to it at the time, but the lawlessness of the land had changed his young, impressionable brother. It had corrupted him, led him to be petulant and unruly. But Isaiah, he reminded Philip of a younger version of his brother, the version that would be best suited to go home with him.

Yes, sometimes he misbehaved, but there was nothing wrong with a little corporal punishment.

He should’ve been the last version. He could have been. But Philip was sloppy. Careless. He had forgotten about children’s tendency to go exploring. Of course, what could be more irresistible than a hidden door? He had gone to investigate, and Philip found him hours later, shaking and looking up with watery eyes.

~~

By the time he got to Samuel, Philip had reinvented himself and his story a handful of times. Attempting to keep up the story of himself and his brother was proving to be too complicated, so he took on a new name. Belos, like the protagonist in stories he used to make up for Caleb to keep him from crying. His first attempted story was wholly made up, but that didn’t work out for him. Between a plethora of plot holes and spare memories, it was a disaster. He was also getting too old for his original story. Simon did not last long. With Samuel, Belos said he was the boy’s uncle. Because they were boys at that point, mere teenagers. It was at that time he also started to amp up his efforts to return home. He started to build himself a ship, a vessel to carry himself, his new companion, and his failures. It was useful to have extra mobility. 

Samuel seemed to have a lazy streak to him that Belos did not like. He did not remind Belos very much of his brother, but he had gone through so many of them, he had to give the boy a chance. 

But he was weak. He cried when he was disciplined, and he was slow. His end was unintentional. A mistake. A shame.

~~

Then, right as he was starting to give up, with his final attempt, his brother’s face stared back at him. An almost uncanny recreation, spare the teeth. Belos was almost resistant to take him out. He wanted to keep the boy there forever, so he could never break the illusion. But he knew he had to take the chance.

It was like a dream. Belos almost couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t have been more than sixteen. Looking at him, it was like he chose his name himself. Hunter. 

His masterpiece.

Belos told him that he was his uncle, that they were in a land far from home, and they were trying to get back. All more or less true. He kept to a carefully crafted story, one perfected from years of failure.

And for the first time, everything just… clicked. It was like everything he worked for finally fell into place. Everything was right.

Together, they built his ship, and they searched for a way to return home. It was a peaceful life. It reminded him of the life he and Caleb originally had together, just slightly different. He was too old now for what had once been, but he was adapting to his new role. In a way, it fit him better. Belos had never been a child. This was the role he had always played, now he just looked the part. 

Hunter was a quick learner. Belos was too. He had learned from all the others that he had to be fierce, and he had to be adamant. There was no letting anything slide. Asking questions, going behind his back, being disobedient, those were all the things that led to all their failures. As much as it pained him, he had been forced to discipline them. Past generations of Grimwalkers had all reacted in their own ways to their deserved reprimands, but Hunter proved himself still. 

He took each punishment in stride, holding his head high and taking what he deserved. He learned from his mistakes, and he adapted and mended his behavior accordingly. He was Belos’ last chance. And he was going to be perfect.