The story had gone over well, as far as Luz could tell. Lots of people were talking, and a few had come up to her to ask if the story was really, really true or if she could show off some magic—her light glyph had earned a lot of praise, which brought a smile to her face. She'd always have a soft spot for her first spell.
Eventually, however, things calmed down. People started to leave to return to the festival, and kids went off to do more trick-or-treating. With the town square mostly cleared out, Luz was able to congregate with her friends.
"...And that's how I learned that most humans can't breathe lightning," Gus finished explaining by the time she got there.
"Okay, but how would that even work?" Sasha asked.
"Yeah, lightning's not exactly physical matter as much as the shape formed by the plasma in the wake of significant electrical discharge," Marcy added, "so I'm not sure how you could breathe it into the first place since that implies that it's coming from your lungs... That'd be like, just breathing plasma, but it wouldn't look like lightning... Maybe if you had an organ in the back of your throat that was like a little fleshy Tesla coil, but that's not really breathing. I mean, it'd be modeled as a breath weapon in Creatures and Caverns, but that's game mechanics, not lore, so..."
"Okay, Gus," Luz began, "I know I didn't teach you that one."
"Oh, Sprite taught me that one," Gus replied.
"Seriously, how are you friends with her?" Luz asked not for the first time.
"I have a whole secret life you know nothing about," Gus replied.
Luz was about to reply to that train of discussion when Amity came up from behind her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "How are you feeling, mi amada?"
"I think you already know, Ella cuyos besos me dan vida."
"Seriously, are you sureyou're not engaged?" Anne asked. This prompted Amity to glare at the Thai girl. "You gave her jewelry to symbolize that you were making a major romantic commitment to each other and have not adequately explained how that's any different from a proposal," the girl said in response.
"Because we didn't exchange blood," Amity said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "If it was a proposal, we'd have cut ourselves and let our blood commingle."
Luz was about to comment on that when Willow got a confused look on her face. "Amity, what are you talking about?"
Amity then shushed Willow, but the damage was done.
"Okay," Anne began, "what's the real difference?"
"Look," Amity insisted, "there's a difference; it's hard to put into words, but it's there, and... Look, I've already had someone trying to make us take a step before we're ready, so just... Just drop it, okay?"
Anne shrank back. "Okay, sorry. I'll take your word for it, I..."
"It's fine," Amity replied. "It's just... This," Amity said while gesturing to herself and Luz, "is the best thing in my life. Luz gave me the courage to... To make things right with a friend with who I was forced to break things off with, stand up to my incubator, and be the kind of person I want to be. Our relationship is... We are very close and will almost certainly be wed when we're older, and I know every teenage couple says that, but...Urg, it's very important to me—"
"To us," Lz said in solidarity.
"To us," Amity agreed, "that our relationship progresses at the rate we are comfortable with, on our own terms, and when we are ready. Like, in general, but especially after... It's hard to find the words right now."
"You want me to?" Luz offered.
"Yes."
"Her... Incubator," Luz began with Amity's latest term for Odalia, "was an oracle-witch and apparently, she saw some possible futures where I was sitting on the Throne with Amity by my side and decided to conspire with anyone and everyone to see it come to pass. Which, among other things, included trying to pressure me into agreeing to a marriage contract. She tried to frame it as looking out for our best interests, but it was all just financial stuff, and she didn't even know my name at the time, so..." To be frank, Luz was still creeped out and offended by the whole thing. "And then it turned out she made a deal with the devil as part of her plans but didn't read the fine print so..."
"I'm starting to see why all your friends looked at you when I gave my backstory," Pacifica noted.
"Oh yeah, there are responsible adults here," Luz noted as she'd forgotten they were there until just that moment. Mabel apparently found this to be hilarious.
"Anyway, she's dead now," Amity finished. "I... I might need to write another letter now that I think about it, but... You understand now why I do notappreciate—"
"Oh no, I totally get it," Anne insisted. "Very touchy subject, again, sorry. I'll just have to accept that there's some cultural nuance here that I'm not getting and move on."
"Okay, just so we're clear," Amity responded.
Anne pulled a container from a backpack. "Cricket?"
"Yes, thank you," Amity agreed. She was then handed a chocolate-covered insect, ate it, and exclaimed, "Oh my Titan!"
"Yes?" Luz answered, which earned her a playful shove before Amity continued.
"You have to try these."
Luz did when one was offered to her and... "Is that cayenne pepper?"
"And cinnamon," Anne confirmed.
This led to a brief discussion on cooking techniques that, after a few minutes, spiraled out into everyone having their own side conversations. Amity and Sasha were talking with Pacifica about something, Willow was discussing exercise routines with April, Marcy was roped into a discussion about Cosmic Frontier with Hunter and Gus, and Anne was discussing something with Mabel and Vee. And Luz, Luz was just...
Talking about Belos to the whole town was scary, but once it was done it was like a weight was gone. Narrating how he finally died had made it seem like it was over and she felt...Not happy, but at peace. But... Seeing all her friends interacting... She was happy that all her friends from the demon realm and her new human friends got along, but... Seeing everyone together reminded her that... They were still here. They'd found Evelyn's portal and confirmed it still worked this morning but were unsure how to activate it and... Overcoming Belos wasn't the end of it. This wasn't over until her friends got their homes and families back and... Frankly, she was missing the rest of her family too.
And... there was a resource they weren't exploiting. If Luz was careful, she could get her friends home tonight. Well, the Collector would take a little longer to deal with, but then... all it would take is Luz being a little less cautious.
And besides, she was experienced with people trying to manipulate her by now and she'd been trained by The Owl Lady. If she was careful...
She was startled out of her thoughts by someone speaking to her. "So you wanted to talk about something earlier?" Dipper asked.
"Um, yeah, uh," Luz said awkwardly. Then she made a show of slapping herself. "Ugh, Doy. It's back home, I'll be right back." She then called upon her staff and flew off.
What had she been thinking, getting other people involved? Even if the Pines knew what the book was, well... It's not like she needed needed their help. She was a strong, independent witch who knew what she was doing. She should have just confronted Cipher from the get-go: Bringing in other people, even people who might know... That was an unnecessary risk.
Luz landed outside the old shack and made sure the summoning circle she and Amity had made was still good and then she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and began invoking.
"Triangulum, entangulum, vene foris dominus mentium. Vene foris videntis omnium."
When she opened her eyes, the world was greyed out and Cipher's silhouette manifested in a blue flame before his features came in.
"I knew you'd call me, Queen," he said in a playful tone. "What do you need?"
"Well for one I need you to cut the crud, I know you're trying to play me," Luz deadpanned.
"Oh, it's nothing personal. I'm trying to play everyone," Cipher admitted. "It's kind of my thing."
"But," Luz continued, "we're at a dead end and I really want to help my friends find a way home. Do you know how to activate Evelyn's portal?"
"Oh I know all about all kinds of portals, girlfriend," Cipher said. "They're kind of my specialty."
"That's not a yes."
"Yes, I know how to use the Titan's Blood to open Evelyn's portal," Cipher confirmed, annoyed. "You're a lot less fun than I thought you'd be."
"My friends' futures are on the line, that's when I'm at my most serious," Luz insisted.
"Fine, fine," Cipher said, "if it'll get you to have fun again I'll make you a deal: I'll teach you how Evelyn's portal works andeverything you'll need to make a new portal door just like Wittebane's but in exchange," he said while offering an extended hand wreathed in blue flames, "you'll have to do me a solid. What do you say?"
TLOA
Amity noticed Luz's mood cooling but hadn't thought much of it. She knew that that was just how Luz worked right now and that while Luz was getting better it'd take time for her to fully overcome the depression, but she also knew that Luz was content for the time being and Amity was prepared to drop everything to give her a little boost if it started to seem like she was crashing.
Then Luz just flew off all of a sudden and Amity didn't even bother to excuse herself from her current conversation before asking "What just happened?"
"She said she left the thing she wanted to talk about at home," Dipper said.
"No, she put the book in her bag before we came out tonight," Amity corrected. "I saw her do it."
"And her bag is inside," Masha added with a gesture toward the Historical Society building. "...In fact, now that I think about it we probably should have moved inside a while ago."
"...What book?" Dipper asked and Amity could feel apprehension radiating off of him.
"This cosmic entity's been trying to get her to do something by appearing in her dreams," Amity started. "The last time he did it he left a book under her pillow when she woke up. We've been studying it for any hint of what he's up to and—"
"I need to see this book right now," Dipper interrupted rather quickly.
Into the building they went, Luz's bag was retrieved, and Amity was voluntold to be the one to get the boo on the grounds that she was the least likely to have Luz get mad at her for going through her stuff. She did so and handed the book to Sipper, who immediately radiated relief and... Nostalgia? He started flipping through the book like he was looking for something. "Okay, this isn't anywhere near as bad as it could have been, but..."
"You recognize the book?" Hunter asked. "What is it?"
"It's one of my Great Uncle Ford's journals... That we threw in a bottomless pit ten years ago to keep it out of the wrong hands. " Dipper said solemnly, "and some of the pages are missing or edited."
"Which ones?" Mabel asked.
"All the ones that worn about Bill." Masha winced, which Dipper took note of. "You know who that is."
"Yeah... Constance's Muse, the guy who helped Philip with his portal," MAsha confirmed.
"Luz said the guy in her dream was named Cipher," Gus supplied.
"Granny in hotpants!" Mabel shouted. "He was supposed to be in Hell or Space or something... Okay, did you guys get those sweaters I sent you?"
"Yes," Willow answered.
"Go get them, they've got unicorn hair spun into the yarn."
"...Why?" Amity felt compelled to ask.
"Well, the main reason is that I have more unicorn hair than I know what to do with," Mabel answered, "but right now because it'll protect you from Grunkle Ford's clingy ex."
"Why do you have so much unicorn hair?" Anne asked.
"It's mostly tribute," Mabel noted. "But seriously we should probably—"
April doubled over and clutched her head all of a sudden. "Okay, okay... The last time Spidey-sense got this bad was when someone tried to air-drop a Master Mold on the school. Something big's happening, and it's happening now."
Between seven fliers it wasn't thathard to get everyone to the Noceda House, except for April who ran off to find Ms. Rasputina. The fact that Luz wasn't in the house despite saying that's where she'd be, and Camila's confusion at Luz having ever come home that night... Everyone who had a protective sweater to put on soon had one and the search was on...
...Until Vee reminded them that she could smell magic and Luz's was fresh down the path to the shack in the woods.
They found her standing, facing the path with her eyes closed and Amity could immediately sense that something was terribly wrong.
"Luz," she asked hesitantly. "Are you okay?"
"Today's just so wonderful, I feel like chuckling," Luz sang quietly before literally enunciating 'ha ha ha.' "I feel all fuzzy inside like a duckling... Full of, tarantulas, and now that I'm here... Tonight. It's gonna... Get..."
Luz's eyes snapped open and AMity's heart skipped a beat. Those weren't... Those weren't Luz's eyes. Solid yellow with a thin slit down the middle, that...
"Weird!"