It's a Long Way To Dearest Gravesfield

Chapter 31: Home

Camila, Luz, Hunter, and the Collector go through the portal together and decide that the opening in the human realm will move to a closet in the abandoned house. They return to the demon realm, the Collector goes through alone, and when they return, the others test the new exit. It works perfectly. The next step is to create the locking entrance on the human side. Once again, the Collector goes through, this time taking Luz with them, and one of the new keys. The nondescript closet door doesn't change it's appearance, but when Luz's key is turned in the now-ornate bronze lock, it opens into Eda's living room, not the dusty closet shelves usually behind it. She waves to them and closes the door. When she opens it without the key, it's just a closet. She waits a moment. The door opens into the hallway from Eda's side and Lilith steps through.

"It worked," she says, stunned, "How...how did it actually work?"

"Collector magic," the Collector says, "I'm kinda special like that."

"That you are," Lilith says, "I never thought I'd meet a being who uses magic like you do."

"It just kinda happens," the Collector says, "Like, I don't have to learn it, it's just there. I don't understand how."

Lilith smiles, "Well, we'll have to do some research and see if we can find out more about your kind of being. But also...we get to explore the human realm!"

"But not right now," Luz says, "I still have school tomorrow and it's getting late. So back on through you go, and we'll make more plans this weekend, alright? When everybody's over?"

Lilith nods and inches back through the portal; Luz turns to the Collector, "Do you want to test the other keys tonight, or wait until tomorrow after school?"

"Tomorrow's fine. I don't have to go to school, but I bet Camila'd be real mad if you just didn't go because you got stuck here or something."

"Yeah, that's one of the reasons you're here though, right? So I can't get stuck?"

"Yep! But I'm kinda sleepy, so let's head on back over. King promised me bedtime stories."

They return to the demon realm to King, Steve, and Eda enthusiastically cheering the success of this experiment. Camila brings tea to her family in the living room and then whisks some to Hunter, intently studying in the bedroom.

"Sounds like it worked just fine?" he asks.

"Beautifully. They'll test the other keys tomorrow, but it looks like there's no problem coming through from either end."

"Great! Willow was excited. We can't wait to go see Vee."

"Have you thought a little bit more about what your plans are?" Camila asks.

"A little. But I want to spend some time talking to Willow this weekend. It feels scary. What if we're on opposite sides and the portal fails somehow?"

"I know. But do you want to be stuck away from any of your friends or family?" Camila asks, "Because some of us will be on either side. If you just decide not to choose at all, we'll still be living in different worlds."

He nods, "Yeah, I know. And I know I finally get to make some big decisions without being told what I should do and the whole thing not really being a choice. And that's amazing. But...I've never made that kind of big decision, Mom. Belos planned my whole future. Including how it would end. I'm not sure how to take that back."

She shrugs, "You just do. You try something, you see if it works, and if it doesn't, you try something else. It's alright. And it's alright to fail."

"Now that's something I'm still afraid of doing."

She sits on the bed beside him and puts her arm around his shoulder, "I know, baby. But you're OK. You know none of us are going to hurt you. It's alright, you'll learn. And even if there's always a little something in the back of your mind that sounds an awful lot like Belos' voice trying to remind you what will happen if you do...tell it to go away and imagine smacking him in the face with a bat. It's a very satisfying experience."