Luz hummed to herself as she plucked her books out of her locker. Amity had invited Boscha and her to a sleepover tomorrow night after the three tests she had. It had been over text though, probably because of how busy she was. The energetic girl did wish her crush would answer Boscha’s message asking if she was feeling better today. She hadn’t noticed anything yesterday and she really hoped she hadn’t simply been oblivious to it.

Luz turned with her books before throwing them around her from suddenly seeing someone standing less than a foot away from her. “Ah! Who are you?”

The girl glanced away from the human as she rubbed one of her arms with the other’s hand. Not telling Boscha who she was hadn’t worked out super well. She was trying to keep a low profile though. If she told Luz even just her name it could cause problems for her and her and Cam. This was I though so… “You can call me Dalia. I’m, um, new to the school and looking for someone else who transferred here. She, uh,” she paused as she sucked her lips in and thought about what to say. She’d practiced it but now that the shy girl was actually having to say something, it seemed impossible.

Luz then placed a hand on Dalia’s shoulder and got the shy girl to jump a little. A small squeeze seemed to calm her though. “Hey, trust me, I know what it’s like coming to Hexide brand new. I was lucky enough to have some friends help me transition though so,” she said as she jumped onto the railing that overlooked the other floors of the school, “I, Luz Noceda, will be that friend for you!”

For a second Dalia began to smile before raising a hand over her mouth. She should be concerned, not entertained. Wait, but she had expected this sort of behavior from Luz. She was I for a reason. Oh, why did it have to be complicated now? She should be able to hang out with her and be fine.

Her fingers sparked with energy for a second, which only made the shy girl slip her hands into her armpits. She then finally looked back at Luz and asked, “Can you be a little more careful? Luz Noceda can’t help me if she falls.”

Luz hummed before she hopped down from the railing. She did go right back to sitting on it but Dalia would take that. The shy girl would have preferred had she just walked away from it but this should be fine. Luz didn’t seem to notice any of this though as she asked, “So, you said you were looking for someone?”

They were actually staying on topic! Perfect. “Well, you see, me and a friend of mine name Cam are looking for a third person. Her name is Bright and-”

She was cut off by the scream of the bells and Luz crouching as she looked at the alarm. “Oh crud, I have potions with Boscha! Sorry, but I need to get going. Find me at lunch or after school, okay?”

Dalia sucked her lips in before biting them. Those meant having to find somewhere to hide in Hexide, preferably from a place where she could follow Luz without her noticing. She could maybe manage the first one but she didn’t have a clue where to watch the human from while she waited. She then paled as she realized that she would definitely be with Amity and Boscha during lunch and, if she stuck around very long after class, would probably be trying to hang out with one of them, even if that just meant watching Grudgby practice.

Nope. Nope. Cam would get mad at her but she couldn’t do it. At least she’d be given the cold shoulder rather than being teased for hiding herself from people.

======+++++======

Cam wasn’t having any luck unfortunately. He’d interrupted five different classes with his forged note looking for Amity and had failed each time. He was running out of logical options at this point too. He’d tried all three levels of the abomination track that would be available to her right now in case she was assisting in teaching younger witches, or just in her own class. Potions hadn’t yielded any results, though he was partially to blame for that last one because he almost strangled the teacher for what he was teaching. Using chimera toenails for a transformation cure? Disgusting. Everyone knew you used beholder eyes.

He was down to the basics and had just crossed off the science course he assumed Amity was in. If she wasn’t, well, it did make him feel a little better about himself but he doubted it. She was too smart not to be on the same level as him.

She was also apparently too well liked for no one to have informed her that some weirdo was looking for as she rounded the corner and caught Cam in mid-thought. His eyes widened before he flailed his arms backing up. “Will you stop sneaking up on me?”

Amity merely crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. She didn’t need this. She didn’t need her one chance to relax today to be ruined. After all, she’d been given permission to go study in the library during her science class since her being a year ahead in the abominations track meant she knew everything being taught already. The school just didn’t want to let her be three years ahead on the curve for that which is the only reason she was in the class she was in. None of that mattered though when someone decided her chance to actually sleep mattered didn’t matter.

Oh, and how Amity wished she could sleep. She hadn’t gotten any rest last night either. She’d managed to get the idea of kids out of her head but memories of being all alone wouldn’t go away. It was why she’d invited Luz and Boscha to her place tonight tomorrow because maybe she’d get some sleep then.

But first this i-boy. “I hear you’ve been looking for me.” She extended her hand to him before saying next, “Your pass to be doing that, please?”

Cam breathed in slowly to calm himself. Sure, he had found A in a bad mood, but he had the proper paperwork and she would be more than willing to help him find a lost friend. If she hadn’t already that is, but he doubted that was the case. Bright was nice but he would bet money on her looking for Luz first. Hopefully Dalia’s talk with I would be productive then. Still, he had to try. “Here you go. Signed by the principle herself.”

Amity took the paper and ripped it in half before she even bothered looking at it. “Did you say her?”

Cam looked at the two halves of paper in agony. He’d spent all night making that and Amity didn’t care about it for a second. “Of course I did. I got it from Principle Vi-” He cut himself off before he realized the mistake. “Fiddlesticks.”

Something about the alternative curse made Amity smile. The mirth lasted about half a second though before she said, “I was studying. I have tests coming up tomorrow. You should be concerned about both of those things rather than coming up with some excuse to skip class.”

Cam clenched one of his hands into a fist as he cursed himself out internally for screwing this up. It was salvageable though. They both just needed to stay calm. “Well, you see, I was hoping to get your help. I-”

“I don’t do tutoring lessons, especially for strangers.” She then stamped her foot down and pointed down the hallway. “Now, get to class.”

“I’m not asking for-”

“Young man, where should you be?”

Cam paled at the statement before stepping slowly away from Amity as his blood ran cold. “Class?”

“Class.”

Amity watched as the boy ran off to wherever he was supposed to be. He was out of uniform admittedly so he might not even be going to Hexide. Was he being honest about not wanting her help with studying? The black in her neck became much more solid as tears came to the edges of her eyes. He should be asking for her help. If he wanted to be recognized like he wanted to be, then he’d need all the knowledge he could get. She didn’t want him to be a failure…

Amity couldn’t get herself to blink as twin lines of tears came down her cheeks. Where did that come from?

======Two Nights Ago======

A woman cast in shadows stepped out of a circular portal as the moon came to its zenith. The portal began to spark and shake behind her but she couldn’t have that. She didn’t know if there was a way home if this one went away. With a flick of her wrist, she retrieved a sigil card from her sleeve. It was a simple sealing spell but one that would stabilize the energy of the portal for a few nights. She then reached into one of the pockets of her white cloak and pulled out a black marker to add a small light, fire, and flower sigil to it. All three were just a touch off though, just as they needed to be to play nice with the sealing magic. Besides, they weren’t spells but commands for who the stealth glyph, the only one that the sealing sigil did work with, wouldn’t work on. She just had to put the finishing touches on it before nodding at her craftsmanship.

She then raised it to the surface of the portal before tapping it with a white staff and watching as chains came around her way home. It all then disappeared before showing the three altered sigils in the air. Any of the three would be able to spot the sigils and dispel the magics to get through while no one else would see the sigils. She only hoped all three were together for that to stay simple. If they had split up to run around the isles...

She breathed in deeply as she tried to dismiss her rising anxiety. The images that had flashed over the face of the portal on the other side of it meant that she was worried about when she might be but that was no reason to panic. It’s not like the three could do that much damage. Or get hurt. Or lost.

The woman shut her eyes for a second as she tried to calm herself. She didn’t see the shadows thicken around her feet during the moment of weakness, nor a scrap of black goo slide away while she was distracted. What mattered was that she not make herself known. It had become so hard as the years went on though…

It didn’t matter. It especially didn’t matter right now as she heard a noise coming from a path nearby. She slipped another sigil card into her hand before moving silently to one of the nearby bushes. If it was one of her three then that’d be great. Start on the right foot so she could hopefully be back for dinner tomorrow. No, she wouldn’t make dinner, regardless of when she got home. Not when she’d already taken almost a day to realize she no longer felt one of the three. But if she didn’t eat then everyone would get mad at her and-

Focus! She knew she was distraught about all of this but freaking out wouldn’t help anyone. At best, it wouldn’t hurt anyone. Besides, she still had the stranger to deal with. That would give her a distraction. A possibility at help.

And to say she was disappointed was an understatement. Cluz was looking surprisingly good tonight but that just meant her and Boscha must have met up recently. She didn’t need a reminder of her failures though. Not now. Besides, the clone was unlikely to have decided it was a good idea to reveal herself to any of the three, no matter how familiar they appeared to her.

No, she was wasting her time here. Two of the three had only left perhaps two hours ago so she might be able to find them nearby. At least so long as Cam hadn’t planned for the possibility of her coming after them. He was so smart but sometimes overthought things and if he thought they were safer here than her…

She shut her eyes before cursing to herself. She’d need to figure out a way to check Hexide because the boy would have been right. They could be seen and make excuses. There was no way she could do the same. Oh well. If she could find them then they could get her the information she needed.

Unbeknownst to her, she took off in the opposite direction as Cam and Dalia, who hadn’t considered the idea of her coming after them, at least not so quickly. They’d told her they were going on a nature trip after all. That should have given them a few days without worrying anyone about where they’d gone. But even worse, was wrong about Cluz.

Not when she extended her hand into the cave she found just off of the beach. It had an almost invisible rock path that led into it which made it perfect for the clone after she’d lost her slug. And now she could pause for a gasp, or a squeal, at the fact that she had brought otter pops with her. The sugar was the dark side after all.

When nothing came out, she smacked herself. “That’s right, you don’t talk, do you?”

The girl in the cave shook her head. She wore what appeared to be Luz’s old hexide uniform with a new, yellow hoodie. Short hair led into bright, yellow eyes and all in all, pretty normal. Maybe even plain.

Until she put her hood down and the poorly lit cave suddenly had a spotlight in the middle of it. That short hair? It was pitch black until it got to her roots which shone like the most powerful light spell Luz had ever cast. It dimmed quickly once being released to something that didn’t burn your retinas, but never to a point where you would mistake it for simply weird blonde or white roots.

Cluz wasn’t going to get answers out of the girl though. She refused to use pen and paper, Cluz didn’t know ASL, which appeared to be what she defaulted to, and what little information she’d gotten out of the girl made the clone inclined not to ask more, nor tell anyone she was here. After all, she claimed to have a good reason to be hiding, that her being in hiding helped Luz somehow, and that she would behave. For as much as she cared about the first two, the last one was the one she was happiest about as the girl immediately got to making them something for dinner. She hadn’t had a properly cooked meal since she was created and having a friend, silent as she was, was more than welcome.