Birdhouse in Your Soul

Part 2

Luz expected more of an uproar when Hunter went limp again and succumbed to unconsciousness for a second time that evening, but everyone went oddly quiet instead. Everyone, including her, was too afraid to speak. Because what just happened?! It was a lot to process, and none of this felt real.

None of this felt real.

They were all there when it happened, they all witnessed it--Belos possessing Hunter, Flapjack getting injured, Camila rescuing Hunter from the icy depths Belos threw him into--and then, the worst, most horrible part of all.

Hunter almost died. He almost died. For all Luz knew, he actually did die because for one terrifying minute there, he wasn't moving. Not until Flapjack...Until Flapjack...

Oh Titan, Flapjack actually died.

No, no, no, Luz didn't want to think about that right now. She couldn't, it hurt too much, and the cardinal hadn't even been her palisman. If she felt this way, she couldn't even begin to imagine how Hunter would feel once he woke up.

If he woke up.

Luz had been scared, terrified even, countless times since she first came to the Boiling Isles, but seeing that monster Belos come back and possess Hunter? And then seeing Hunter very nearly die? After everything he'd been through, he didn't deserve this. He deserved to be happy, not to be traumatized and grieve for his lost palisman.

Her hands were still shaking. She could feel the dried tear tracks on her face. It was funny, in a way. Luz seemed to be constantly stuck in a cycle of 'Oh, things couldn't possibly get worse now,' but they somehow always did. Much worse. And she'd begun to notice that that was true for Hunter in particular. He'd been through so much, and in such a short amount of time too.

All of them had their struggles. All of them had their heartaches and their days where they wondered if they could keep going. The past few months being stuck here had been especially hard for everyone, and Luz wasn't sure she'd ever felt worse, weighed down by all her guilt and fear.

But at least she, Gus, Willow, and Amity didn't have to fear for their lives everyday. At least they didn't find out some horrible truths about themselves and then have someone close to them try to kill them. At least they had their family members and each other for support.

Hunter though? He had them—Luz, Willow, Gus, Camila, even Ver and Amity too—but he had no one else. He had no family to go back to. He had no one else who cared.

Out of all of them, Vee at least, seemed to understand some of what Hunter was going through. And maybe, just maybe, if he had the whole 'Grimwalker talk' after this, those two would be able to relate to each other even more. Both of them were one, or the only one of their kind left, and both had unfortunate connections to Belos. Neither had any family to speak of either, until Camila accepted Vee into her home.

Luz had told Hunter that he was family now, and she meant it. And after seeing how Camila acted after Hunter nearly died, she had no doubt that her mami would accept Hunter as her son the same way she did Vee as her daughter.

After the complete horror this night had been, Luz was going to make sure that Hunter never felt alone ever again. She was going to be there for him, all the way through...whatever was going to happen next. They were family now, after all, in the same way that Eda was her surrogate mother back in the Boiling Isles, and King was her little brother.

Luz kept a close eye on Hunter as Vee, Willow, and Camila did their best to gently lift and carry Hunter to the car. Right after he passed out again, Camila ran to get her car since Vee still couldn't get a cell connection to call an ambulance. And even if she was able to call for help, Luz knew...she knew a human hospital wouldn't be able to help Hunter with whatever this was.