𝘎𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳,
Luz soon walking towards the boy.

"Hey Gus, you okay?"

"I-I messed up bad, Luz," Gus stuttered, explaining his problem. "Willow needed help with this pixie problem, right? So I thought, 'oh, that I'll just lure them away with an illusion!'. But then..."

"That angered the pixies, and they attacked Willow." Luz finished his sentence, looking down at Gus in pity.

"I heard."

"I moved up two grades!" The boy complained, soon burrowing his face in his knees once more. "What's the point of being good at this if I can't do anything good with it?"

"It was an honest mistake," The Latina answered. "Besides, Willow's tough as nails, I'm sure you'll both be feeling better tomorrow."

Gus lifted his head as he smiled slightly before the scene jumped to the boy frowning, sprawled across the carpet on his floor, groaning as he didn't feel better at all, bandages still stuck on his face.

The wind howled through the window of Gus' room, the boy frowning as he received an incoming call from the crystal ball near him, the boy rolling over before a little video played.

"I'm not reading this," King hissed, papers in his hand as a text in red appeared below, saying 'pre-recorded message'.

"Come on, King. Please?" Gus begged from behind the camera before King tossed the papers aside, groaning.

"Ugh fine." The demon cleared his throat. "Is that a six-footed pig or a floating appendage? Why no! It's Gus the Illusion Master!"

Gus then hopped in as a cape was wrapped around his neck.

"Please leave a message." King frowned, before the small video appeared, Willow smiling as Gus whipped around, hearing his friend's voice, a frown on his face.

"Hey Gus!" Willow smiled. "Thanks for sending me all those 'Get well soon' illusions, but, uh..."

Mini Gus illusions then appeared, overwhelming the girl as she grimaced.

"Can you please take them back?"

The video was then cut-off by static, the boy groaning as he held his hands on his face, the boy flopping over before he drew a light-blue circle, the get well soon illusions appearing in front of the boy, the three worrying.

"Where's Willow?"

"Why are we here?"

"Did we do bad?"

The said boy frowned as he blew the illusions away, a knocking on the door soon appearing as he opened the door, seeing a smiling Luz and a sleepy Georgia.

"Gustopher! Gusteban! Augustabeth! Any of those working for you?" Luz smiled as she called out nicknames, leaning against the doorframe while Georgia rubbed her eyes.

"This better be worth the scare you gave me this morning." She grumbled, glaring at Luz as the Latina smiled nervously.

"You need my library card to visit Amity, don't you?" Gus deadpanned, Georgia snickering slightly.

Luz then chuckled nervously.

"I haven't been doing a good job of hiding that, huh?"

Gus then shook his head slightly, Luz smiling as she clapped her hands, then grabbing Gus' collar as she grabbed Georgia's forearm.

"Well, I was also hoping to do a little bit of... research! Come on!"

She then dragged the two out, Gus' bandages falling off as he cried out, the boy glancing at Georgia who was completely unfazed.

"Does this happen often?" 

"You get used to it after a while." Georgia responded as they walked through the streets.

"So, Eda's mum told me that I'm not the first human to have lived in Bonesborough!" Luz smiled. "If that's true, there might be some info on how they got here in the library!"

"Yeah, okay." Gus looked away, depressed and uninterested. "Looking through old newspapers is about all I'm good for anyway."

Luz and Georgia looked at the boy strangely, the two looking at one another as Luz pointed a finger at Gus.

"Spill it Gustomino, are you okay?"

The two leaned over the bridge, placing their hands on the railing.

"I-I've just been thinking," He frowned. "What if it's time for me to explore different kinds of magic?"

"I'm all for trying new things!" Luz smiled, the girl raising a brow. "But what's wrong with illusions?"

"Illusions are just so..." Gus waved a hand, trying to find an explanation. "You know–"

A roar then rang out, interrupting the boy as the three jolted up, a slitherbeast breaking loose as the ropes around it snapped, the beast swiping at the animal control, the man flying backwards as it ran.

A child with a claw-like mouth ran across the road, a balloon in hand, as he cheered before he turned towards the beast running towards his direction two kids jumping in front of him as a boy pulled an abomination out, the beast slipping on it as another boy made a net of plants, springing the slitherbeast back as it crashed.

A girl then jumped from behind the beast, slamming a fist down as she landed, a rock-cage forming around the creature, sweeping her hair back as she held a thumbs up at the two boys, Georgia's eyes widening as she recognised the girl.

"Good work guys!" She smiled. 

Everyone cheered, Gus glancing at the trio with sparkling eyes as the father of the child picked his child up.

"Son, are you okay?" 

"Yes, Daddy!" The boy responded. "Thank you mysterious heroes!"

"Stay safe out there", The girl smiled as Gus walked towards the two, Georgia watching from afar.

"Wow, just wow!" Gus smiled as he pointed at the kids, listing the covens they were in.

"Plants, abomination, construction! You guys took down that slitherbeast like it was nothing!"

"Nah, it wasn't that easy." The girl responded, the abomination boy placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, look likes you had a real hard time out there!" He joked, the girl sticking her tongue out.

"You're Glandus students, right?" Gus smiled. "I go to Hexide, name's Gus."

"Nice to meet ya," The girl smiled as she pointed at her crew. "This is Angmar."

An orange boy raised his hand. 

"Gavin."

"Ey." The tall boy smiled, pointing finger guns, the girl soon pointing at herself.

"And I'm–"

"Bria, nice to see you again." Georgia walked forwards, placing her hand on her hip as she glared at the girl, Bria smiling forcefully.

"Georgie, what a delight!"

"You two know each other?" Gus pointed between the two, Georgia rolling her eyes as she scoffed.

"Know is one thing," Georgia hissed, the two glaring at one-another. "Relationship-wise, I'm an expert in that department."

"Georgia, always known to hold a grudge, yet where were you when I asked you out to grom?" Bria retorted, crossing her arms.

"Bria, we've been through this before, I ended it before grom." The girl rubbed her temples. "You just didn't get the message through your rock-hard skull, no wonder you're in construction."

Bria took in another breathe to retort but was interrupted by another voice calling her name.

"BRIA!"

Mattholomule ran towards the group, placing his hands on his knees as he panted, sweating.

"I would've helped, but, like, there was this other baby in danger." He nervously chuckled. "You probably couldn't see."

"Mattholomule?" Gus raised a brow at the boy by his side, the boy's eyes widening in surprise.

"Augustus?!"

The boy then pointed a finger at Gus' chest, glaring at the illusion boy.

"Back off, twerp. This operation is Glandus kids only!"

"Hey Matty," Bria smiled. "It's all cool. Did you get the map?"

Mattholomule pulled the map out, smiling triumphantly.

"Yes!" He walked towards the group. "And I only had to endure thirty-five noogies from my older brother!"

"Nice work!" Bria smiled, opening a rolled piece of parchment as Georgia glanced suspiciously at the paper, Gus scratching his chin.

"Well, uh, I can see you guys are busy, so uh–"

"Wait!" Bria called out. "Have you ever heard of the Galderstones?"

The girl flipped the map around, showing Gus as Gavin and Angmar explained the stones.

"They're powerful relics. Many witches and demons have sought them." Gavin smiled excitedly.

"But they've all returned empty-handed," Angmar continued. "Haunted by its guardian. Until us!"

"We heard some coven scouts talking about them, but it'll be rough-going." Bria smiled, Mattholomule's eyes widening.

"You said you were a Hexide student, right? We could use the extra strength."

"That sounds awesome," Gus smiled but rubbed the back of his neck, Georgia glancing at him from the side of her eye. "But, I-I can't. I promised a friend I'd help her with something today..."

Luz then appeared out of nowhere, gasping for air as she surprised the entire group, an invisibility glyph in her hand, the entire group letting out a call of surprise.

"Gus," Luz panted. "You ran away so fast, but I didn't want to interrupt, so..."

Luz then took in a deep breathe as she placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"I think you should go!" Luz cheered, Georgia squinting in uncertainty.

"Well he can't!" Mattholomule frowned. "Gus is just an illusionist, he'll only hold us back."

Bria frowned, her amber eyes glancing at the boy sadly as Luz scoffed, a hand around Gus' shoulder.

"Show us what you know." The Latina smiled, pointing at Gus. "Gus here is a regular super witch."

Gus blushed in embarrassment, the boy pulling Luz away as the three discussed.

"I see what you're doing, and it's really sweet, but I don't actually know any spells besides illusions!"

"No problem," Luz smiled, pulling glyphs from her pocket, handing them to Gus, winking.

"C'mon man, you know how I'm all about proving jerks wrong." 

Gus smiled, taking the glyphs in hand before Georgia hummed.

"Well, if he's going, count me in." She crossed her arms. "You'll need back up if Bria has a trick up her sleeve."

Gus nodded before turning around, facing the group as he placed his hands on his hips.

"All right, we're in." He smiled confidently at the group. "Where do we find these Galderstones?"

"We're journeying to," Bria winked smiling. "the Looking Glass Ruins in Forearm Forest!"

The girl held her hand out, the others looking in its direction as they stood on a hill, looking upon the forest before them.

"What's wrong, Augustus?" Mattholomule taunted, placing his hands on his hips. "Scared?"

"We all are," Bria looked at the boy, Matty's eyes widening. "Who knows what awaits us out there? But we all got each other's backs, right?"

Bria winked, Gus blushing as he stuttered while Georgia scoffed, rolling her eyes before walking forwards.

"Yeah, uh, Yeah. Yeah! Alright let's go!" Gus grinned, fist bumping the air running towards Georgia as Mattholomule frowned, saying 'whoo' with the least amount of enthusiasm.

•

The library was filled with soft chatter, Hexide students and more wandering around as Luz sat on a table, a crystal ball in front of her while she had a pencil in hand, looking up news with the result 'human' in the glass orb.

"'Mystery vendor floods market with dangerous human goods'?" Luz read aloud, seeing Eda on the image while chuckling.

"Oh, Eda..."

The human scrolled to the left, seeing a headline of a movie named 'Planet of Humans' as she then swiped left once more, the news headlines catching her eye.

"'Human Resident Philip Wittebane donates personal diary to local library'!" The girl then gasped, jotting the man's name down. 

"Yes! This must be it!"

Once she was done, the Latina crept her way to the kids corner, peering over the door way as she glanced at Amity, remembering that the green-haired witch had worked there, seeing the girl's hair down as she blushed.

"Come on, give it back." She heard the girl say as she saw Amity hold her hand out to a little girl the child shaking her head as she called out a 'no!'.

Amity smiled, sighing to herself slightly.

"If you give me back my hairband, I'll read you whatever book you want tomorrow." Amity compromised, the little witch opening her eye as she grinned, returning Amity's hair tie.

"Finally!" The kid cheered, running off. "I can learn how to summon the dark lord!"

Amity got off one knee, tying her hair into a half-up half as she smiled, Luz watching the girl in adoration as she blushed heavily, her thoughts interrupted by two familiar voices behind her.

"Hey Luz." Edric and Emira smiled, Luz's eyes widening while her smile dropped.

"Oh!" Luz chuckled nervously. "Hey Ed, hey Em! Picking up Amity?"

The girl clutched her notebook close to her chest as Emira got off Edric's back, grinning at Luz's actions.

"Nah, looks like you already got that covered." Emira answered, the two placing their hands on their hips.

"I'm looking for skincare tips." Edric smiled smugly. "I have a date tonight."

"Yeah," Emira sighed. "He needs all the help he can get, after he accidentally texted a poem to their mum!"

Emira chuckled, Edric's eyes opening as he glanced at Emira.

"Please don't tell people that..." He begged.

Luz smiled softly at the two's interaction before a voice interrupted her thoughts, the Latina blushing once she recognised the voice.

"Are they bothering you again?"

•

l u m i t y

thanks again for reading, it means so much to me and i hope you all have a lovely day/night ahead :D

- sam