The Witch Among Humans

Chapter 11: The Guardian

"Alright, so now I just flick the paper between your fingertips, right?"  Luz asked. She was finally grasping the rules of paper football, and it seemed childish. Good thing she loved childish stuff.

Willow nodded to her question, keeping her fingers straight. Luz flicked the paper football with all the strength her finger could muster. It went right between the fake goal, and the two girls began silently cheering.

They were finished with their project, but it was still technically worktime. So Willow had suggested this as a way to pass time.

Eventually the period ended, which meant the school day was over. Luz decided to walk home with Willow, even though they didn't exactly live too close together. 

It was pleasant, talking about... anything. Willow vented a bit about her dads getting on her for slipping up in math, Luz talking a bit about Eda. They had fun.

"Hey Luz, why do you call your mom Eda?" Willow asked. Luz visibly cringed, before turning to the other side.

This was something she was hoping to avoid for a bit. But when she met Lilith, Eda didn't lie about their first encounter. Too much. It was more like twisting the truth a bit.

Here goes nothing, hopefully. "W-Well... she's not my real mom, exactly."

"What does that- oh!" Willow stopped in her tracks. She turned to face Luz, who had not noticed that her friend stopped. 

It didn't take much to figure out something bad had happened to her mom. She even had a guess.

When Luz finally stopped to wait, Willow took her hand. "I-I'm sorry."

Luz stared into her eyes, realizing what Willow figured out. Then the words hit her. She felt tears prickling in her eyes, but it was nothing she couldn't wipe away with her free arm. Luz turned to face Willow, putting on a fake smile. "Thanks..." Willow gave her a real smile, and they continued on.

The rest of the walk to Willow's home was mostly uneventful. Neither knew how to break the ice, but the comfort Willow showed Luz was definitely helping.

---

The crystal ball in Eda's hand was no longer glowing; she had turned the light in it off.

She sighed: her future seer sham was gone now. These only lasted for a few weeks to a month anyways, so it wasn't that surprising.

However, if Luz had been there, maybe it would have lasted longer. Of course sending a teenager to school would negatively affect her.

"No. No, she needs school, and no one would have believed me for much longer anyways." Eda convinced herself. She continued packing up everything she had used for the job. Finding another gig was going to be tough. Maybe the garbage dump would pay pretty well for some of the stuff she had at home... but what did she have that was valuable?

Eda stopped when her phone received a notification. She checked it, and apparently a previous customer had just left a review about their fortune being exactly the opposite from what really happened.

Eda sighed. "Well, that's wonderful." She carried on.

During the drive home, Eda brainstormed to try and figure out what to do next. Pretty soon she would run out of ideas for false advertising. Plus, she didn't get any sort of degree or certificate to say Hey, I have skills that can be used.

At a red light, her mind went to possible expenses that she could cut. Electricity and water were needed, without her car traveling very far would be impossible, and neither King nor Luz were going.