high tides ☆ TOH au

Chapter 2

It takes a couple of seconds for Luz's mother to answer the door, and during those few seconds, the dread in the bottom of my stomach began to grow. There's no good way to explain this situation other than 'the worst'. The rain had gotten heavier as in the half hour they've been in the human realm, and it was now thundering and lightning. It was, in a way, peaceful.

The door swung open, and Luz's mother stood before us. I've never seen her before. Luz looks a lot like her mother, both having spiky hair, similar skin tones, and a lot of the same facial features. The main distinguishing feature is how much older Ms. Noceda looks. She's clearly taller, and she has more weight on her figure. She has more wrinkles, and a slightly sharper face than Luz. She has glasses, too. Black, square ones, with a spiked red top.

We probably look like a mess, like a group of wet, stray cats with nowhere to go. Hunter and Gus are still quiet, and Willow is trying her best to smile. I don't know what I'm doing. Trying to look somewhat presentable, I guess, the way my parents taught me. I have my hands crossed in front of me, my posture is as straight as I can probably make it, and I'm trying to smile, at least slightly, but it mainly came off as awkward.

Me and Willow glance at each other, trying to figure out what to say to this stranger that they knew so little about, yet knew so much about. Willow cleared her throat, and says, "Hi, Ms. Noceda! We're friends of your daughter, Luz. Uh--We kind of need your help."

It was a simple way to say something so complicated and hard to explain, but it worked, I suppose. Luz's mother seems quite shocked at the information. She glances at them, taking in their appearances as a whole, then staring at their ears. She takes a minute to process, as anyone would, and responds, "Oh, oh! Yes, of course, come in, you can explain everything to me later."

We shuffled inside. Vee, the basilisk Luz had told me about, was standing by the stove, stirring what looked like soup. They also seem shocked that we're here. I haven't met Vee before, but my wonderful girlfriend had told me about them before the Coven Day Parade, so I know a bit about them. My knowledge of the Human Realm itself is pretty limited to what Luz has told me, though. It's probably better to ask Gus about things like that, him being the one with a hyperfixation on the place.

We sit down around a coffee table in the Noceda's living room. It's eerily silent, the only noise being the rain and thunder from outside. After a couple seconds, Ms. Noceda clears her throat and speaks, saying, "So, what happened? Are you all okay? You're all scratched up."

Willow glances at the rest of us. I'm on her right, Gus's on her left, and Hunter's beside Gus. Ms. Noceda is right, we're all covered in scratches and bruises. As I'm praying to the Titan that someone will speak up soon, Willow interjects, and says with a hoarse voice, "Yeah, we're all okay. We do have some, er, bad news about your daughter."

"She's not dead, though." Gus says, trying to wipe the look of fear off of Ms. Noceda's face. "She's just stuck in the Demon Realm. Well, still, at least." I'm sure his words did something, but not enough to help.

"And she's kind of, um, stuck with someone very dangerous?" Hunter states. I'm the only one who hasn't spoken yet. "But she's with Eda, so I think that's good...?" Hunter's just as unsure about this as I am, I can tell from his voice. It puts me on edge, and I don't know exactly why.

Ms. Noceda's silent for a minute or five, processing the situation, just as I had earlier. Except, she cries much quicker, and much less. Tears prick up at the corners of her eyes, and she wipes them away. She stands up, clearing her throat again. "Okay! You can stay here for the time being, while we try to figure out how to open another portal."

Luz's mother was very optimistic, I guess. It's doubtful they'll even find half the ingredients here--it's more likely Luz will make a portal back to them. Nobody knows how long that could take, though. A week, or years? I hope it doesn't take as long as I think it will. I can wait, I can wait forever for her, but I don't want to.