Camila yawned as she drove up to her block. It had been a long day at the hospital with a double shift because the emergency ward got slammed and they needed extra hands and she was willing to put in the extra hours. She was somewhat happy for the distraction though. Ever since she had to accept that Luz wasn’t going to be around very often she’d become restless and needed something to do most days. Besides, it was a Wednesday. Luz wouldn’t be by until Friday, at earliest.

Or, so she thought. The light to the dining room was on as she pulled into the driveway. She’d made sure to give both Amity and Luz house keys in case she ended up not being home when they came by to visit but that was supposed to be if she had to rush to work during the weekends, not at almost eleven on a school night. She didn’t like it. Not when it likely meant her little girl must be in trouble.

Or, she hoped it was her little girl. There was that Belos fellow for her to worry about. Then again, Luz truly would be in trouble then. No, she had to have faith that her little girl wouldn’t get into that sort of trouble. She had to say that fairly often though about the Isles and its dangers.

But when she opened the door, Luz was indeed the one sitting at the table. She had the scrapbook that she’d sent to Camila open to Amity’s page and simply staring at the dozens of pictures. Her little girl looked so tired as she swayed slightly on the chair. How long had she been home? How long had she sat there? Neither mattered. It only mattered that she was home and Camila came over and gently placed a hand on her daughter’s shoulder as she whispered, “Are you okay, mija?”

Luz jumped at the touch before she shook her head rapidly to clear it. She then stretched out with a big yawn before finally speaking. “Um, yeah. Of course, mom.” She then looked back at the pictures before sighing. “Or, maybe. I don’t know.”

Camila sat down beside her little girl before squeezing one of her hands. “Come now, you know you can talk to me.”

The normally energetic girl’s eyes didn’t meet her mothers, even as she squeezed Camila’s hand back. “It’s just… I’ve been having a lot of thoughts recently. They just get louder and louder and louder and it’s getting harder to ignore them. Not when Amity keeps showing up over and over again. Keeps holding me. Keeps telling me that she’d make sacrifices for me or that she accepts me. Accepts how screwed up I am. And…” She shut her eyes before hanging her head. “Never mind. It’s just another way I’m weird and I should just be quiet.”

The last sentence ran through Camila like a spear before she grabbed Luz’s cheeks so that she could force her daughter to look at her. “Luz, do you think I’ll hate you because you like a girl?”

Luz couldn’t meet her mom’s eyes as she tried to look down. Her mom wouldn’t let her look away properly. Let her escape the fact that she could see Camila’s face no matter what, even if it were only in her peripherals. She eventually took in a deep breath before whispering, “I don’t know.”

Camila’s grip became gentler as she leaned in so their faces were closer. “Mija, I could never hate you, let alone for who you love.”

Luz met her mom’s gaze for a moment before asking, “But?”

The older woman simply shook her head though. “I know I mess up. I know I don’t always connect with you or how to deal with how you express yourself. But I have known love and I would never want to rob you of that experience simply because of who they are.”

Luz shook as tears came down her face. “But they’re different. A witch. A girl. And so much better than me. I don’t even compare to her. She’s so much prettier, so much more talented, so much…” She grew quiet as Camila placed a hand over her lips.

“It doesn’t matter if you think all of that. It matters if she thinks that. Do you really think she does?”

Luz was quiet for almost a minute before she finally smiled. “Can… Can I ask that we run to the store tomorrow to grab a few things? For when I’m ready to find out if she does.”

Camila smiled as she wrapped her arms around Luz. “Of course, Mija.”

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

Amity groaned as she turned over in her bed. It was a Thursday night and she had at least a half dozen tests tomorrow, and that was if she was remembering all of them. She was pretty sure Advanced Abominations didn’t have a familiar test but… She slammed a pillow over her head as she tried to push out whatever noise was keeping her up.

What was it even that she was hearing? I was like something was tapping on her window. She didn’t have a tree outside her room though or a trellis for someone to climb. But it wouldn’t stop. In fact, it was only getting louder.

Until, finally, she heard a voice that immediately set her blood to a boil. “Get up already!”

Amity was sitting up almost immediately before she looked at her window. Hooty was retreating away already though while the serious girl’s eye twitched. How far did that stupid owl’s body go? Great. Now she was going to be wound up for at least a few minutes. Maybe she’d get herself some water to help calm her.

Or maybe she’d finally notice the fact that the owl had left something on her window.

Rule 1: Have fun, like we always have.

What? How was she even able to read this? She at first thought it was because of moonlight before realizing it was because of a large mote of light in the air. It made her look back at the note. It was in Luz’s handwriting. She then looked out the window and noticed that there was another mote of light in the yard.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Amity didn’t bother changing out of her soft pajamas as she rushed outside. She was too tired to want to put too much effort into whatever game Luz was playing. Didn’t she realize how late it was? Sure, it was a little cute, but she wasn’t even in the yard. Instead, there was just a post that stuck out of the ground with another slip of paper attached to it.

Rule 2: Be yourself, which is something I somehow can’t stop being around you no matter how many times I’ve tried holding back.

What was she talking about? She loved the fact that Luz never held back. That she never even tried… Okay, now she got it. Why was she saying it though? She then groaned as her eyes barely caught a mote in the treeline. She really hoped there were only three of these. She needed some sleep.

There weren’t just three lights though. Instead, she kept barely finding the next one after she found the previous. In fact, a couple times she had to stop and notice that arrows were carved into the trees beside each light to point her in the direction she needed to go. None of them had another rule though until she finally got to a clearing.

A clearing where the portal to the human world was wide open. DIdn’t Luz know how dangerous this was? She knew her idiot knew better so why was she doing this? She’d even left a trail that Belos could follow! Her eyes then noticed the post beside it and groaned as she hoped it would explain all of this. It, of course, didn’t.

Rule 3: Never apologize for bothering someone else. Never think you can’t do something just because you’re afraid of how they may react, not when all you want to do is see them smile as I always have with you.

This one made Amity’s heart skip a beat. What… What was Luz doing? She swallowed hard as she stared at the portal. There obviously had to be more on the other side, right? Or Luz would be on the other side. Amity was suddenly regretting having chosen to wear something as plain as her pajamas but she still didn’t know if this wasn’t just all a trick. She was starting to hope it wasn’t though.

She stepped through the portal and recalled the briefcase once she was on the other side. She could hear the pitter patter of something on the roof and frowned while she breathed in heavy, moist air. The humidity of the Summer air was almost suffocating as she walked towards the entrance of the house.

Then she pushed the door open and immediately backpedaled away from it. After all, there was a good rain going through the night. Not so much to be a downpour but too much to ignore. Not that you could ever ignore the rain. It hurt too much to be caught in the middle of. Did Luz know that it had started to rain? Did her plan get ruined just by weather?

She then looked out one of the windows and saw a trace of a candle’s flame in the rain. She blinked a few times in surprise but it was close enough for the moonlight to make it clear that it was in fact another post, complete with a plastic baggie on it that held something in it.

And the only reason she’d have put what was likely a slip of paper into a plastic baggie was if she knew rain was coming. It was only then that Amity remembered that human rain didn’t burn. That, in fact, it was something Luz enjoyed being in. The cold drops on her skin. The melody of it falling, just as Amity heard above her. The smell of the damp air as you ran through it. Luz had always made it sound beautiful.

So, with another few moment’s hesitation, she finally stepped outside. She clenched her fists to her side and shut her eyes in preparation for the pain but nothing of the sort came. Instead she felt the cold drops against her skin as it began to shower upon her. It didn’t hurt though. In fact, it was somewhat soothing, even as she quickly came to regret that she didn’t have something thicker on. Or that she went to bed without a bra. At least she wore dark colors. Still, it meant that she wasn’t too interested in staying out in the cold for too long.

The post did let her see that Luz had gotten a candle that covered the flame while water ran in towards the bottom of the container before running into a basic below it. It must have been burning for a little bit though because she doubted it’d still be going within a few minutes. Any others out here would probably be just like it. That didn’t stop her from lifting the baggie from where it had been stapled to the wood.

Rule 4: Unless you actually make them upset. I know I’ve hurt you in the past and I’m sorry for that. For having to rely on you always being willing to put up with me to get by with how stupid I can be, just like I have been for a long time about tonight.

Amity shook her head at the rule. Of course. She should have known Luz would say sorry. The girl was too compassionate for that. Reckless, sure, but she recognized when she messed up and the lengths she would go to to fix those mistakes…

She took off down the path, assuming that the next post would be on the way to Camila’s house. She was soon proven right as she came close to the street and pulled the next bag up to her face.

Rule 5: Avoid the slop in the cafeteria. You didn’t think all of these could be serious, right? Not when they were always meant for me. Six is right in front of you.

Amity looked up just in time to see a small flame in the rain. Then it caught onto something just moments before a shower of sparks erupted where the flames had met. The figure holding the wand then bent down and picked up a second one that she soon had lit.

And then, inbetween them, Luz smiled at Amity with that same dumb, enthusiastic, care free sort of gleam that melted the serious girl’s heart. She wanted to be mad for her crush for pulling her out of bed and including a joke amongst these that made her question what it was Luz was up to, but she couldn’t. Not when Luz looked so excited. So, instead, she walked forward with a yawn. “Luz, you do know what time it is, right?”

Luz blushed a little before grinning and extending one of the wands to Amity. “It’s a sparkler. We count them as fireworks over here, or at least firework like.”

Oh. Amity carefully took the stick from her crush before looking at it. She remembered when Luz last brought them up. How sad she had looked to be missing them and how excited the very thought of them made her. A part of her tugged at her heart as she remembered wanting to help fix that for Luz. She didn’t need to now though. Not when her crush was willing to share these with her. “It’s… pretty.”

Luz stood back up after getting another sparkler in her hands so she was once again dual wielding the flood of sparks that fought against the rain. “So, don’t you want to know what number six is?”

Amity blinked a few times before remembering about it. She had been too busy processing that she actually was getting to be with Luz for so much that had scared her because they tempted her crush away. “What is it?”

Luz stepped closer before wrapping her arms over her crush’s shoulders. She was careful not to have the sparklers be too close to the witch’s head but they still illuminated the two’s faces as Luz stayed only a breath away from Amity. It was enough to cause the witch’s face to turn bright red as all thoughts of the joke vanished. She could only think about the other rules. About how sweet Luz had been being. Her mind screamed there was only reason she could be doing all of this but she didn’t dare commit to it. Not until Luz actually said something.

“Rule six. Treat Amity like everyone else. Because I knew if I didn’t keep reminding myself of that, I would screw up. I would get too close to you. And when I first wrote it, it was because I thought I was too weird for you. Too much of a screw up. And that what I wanted wouldn’t even last because once I came home, there’d be no coming back.”

Amity’s heart hammered in her ears as she tried to respond. Tried to think of anything to say. The words got caught though, just as they always did. Just as she hated. She only hoped Luz wasn’t struggling like her though.

And maybe if all of her doubts were there, Luz would have. Looking into her love’s yellow eyes though made it weirdly easy now that she was here. Now that she was letting her take even one proper step towards what she wanted. What she hoped they both wanted. “But that’s all gone. And so there’s no reason for me not to say it. For me to take a leap that,” Luz said as her arms trembled with fear, “I hope you’re willing to take with me.”

“Because I love you.”

Amity was silent as she merely stared into those beautiful, scared brown eyes in front of her. Her heart felt like it had stopped. In fact, she felt like most everything in her had come to a dead halt at the words. At everything. The fireworks, the rain, and especially Luz’s words all felt impossible. Like the exact things she kept dreaming about but then always ran from.

Her body acted before her head could though and it followed her heart, not her brain. Luz’s eyes widened as Amity pressed her lips nervously against her crush’s. No, Luz thought as she kissed Amity back. Her girlfriend.

It would take a car honking at them for being in the middle of the street to get them to stop holding each other as they enjoyed all that they both thought was impossible. That they thought would never happen, even if it was something as simple as being held by the other like this.. To be content in the other’s heart and warm in their love. Right where they wanted to be. Where they wouldn’t need to be afraid or have any reason to doubt anymore.

Not when they had each other and knew that that was all that mattered.