Birthmark

Ch. 23: New Friend

"So, how was your first training session, Lucenda?" Lilith asked.

"I think it was pretty good, minus the collapse from magic exhaustion though. Gonna have to work on that." Luz said as she drank some water.

"A little work and you won't deal with it anymore."

"Plus, it seems you can learn spells just by seeing them a few times. That's rare." Amity said.

"Yeah, I guess I am really powerful. I just thought mama was saying that."

"I would never lie about something like that, Lucenda." Lilith said.

"I just thought you were saying that because I'm your daughter."

"Do you honestly think I would show favoritism?" Lilith asked.

"I don't know. I've never really had this." Luz said.

Once again, Luz thought back to her life in the human world and...she hated it so much.

"I never want to go back to the Human Realm. It was a living hell."

Luz didn't realize it, but she said that out loud, worrying her mother and Amity.

"Sorry, I swore in public."

"Lucenda, I don't care about that. I care more about why you said it, was your life in the human world that bad?" Lilith asked in worry.

"....If you're a weird girl that finds magic and fantasy more interesting than normal things, yes. Magic doesn't exist on Earth, so you can guess what they would think of a girl that believes in magic." Luz said, looking sad.

"And this happened in New England? A place with a history around witches and magic?" Lilith asked.

Luz nodded sadly.

"That won't happen here, you're one of us." Amity said.

"Indeed. You won't face such prejudice here." Lilith said, hugging Luz close. "I promise."

"Humans are mean." Luz said.

"They just don't understand what they don't know, so they choose to ostracize and fear it." Lilith said to her, kissing Luz's head to sooth her a bit.

Luz hugged her mom.

"I'm glad to have you in my life again, Mama."

"And I the same, Lucenda." Lilith said.

Watching with slight jealousy, Amity wished she had this sort of loving relationship with her mother.

"Now, are you two ready to leave?"

"Y-Yes, Ms. Lilith." Amity said to her with a nod, balling up her trash.

Luz looked at Lilith.

"Mama, can you give me and Amity a minute?"

"Of course, Luz. I'll dispose of the trash while you two talk." She said as she picked up all of the trash off the table.

"Amity, is something going on at home?"

"What? Why do you ask?" Amity asked her.

"Because, being ridiculed and bulled most my life, I learned to pick up on things. Like how you seem to be very nervous when Lilith mentioned home."

Amity flinched at how she was easily able to pick this up, making her think that Luz was a lot smarter than she originally thought.

"Amity, I want to be your friend and I want to help but only if it's alright with you." Luz said before asking. "You....don't have a good home life, do you?"