Witches Among Humans (TOH)

Chapter 12: That went well...

The following week had flown by so quickly. Amity wasn't allowed to come to school for a couple of days. Apparently her leg was worse then any of them thought, and her parents didn't want to risk her walking around on it. 

Luz had missed Amity terribly. She had texted her every day, asking her how she was feeling and what she was doing. 

Luz had kept herself busy trying to find ways to actually access the astral realm. Gus was more than happy to help. Willow wanted to, but she was stuck helping her parents with something all week, and into the weekend. She had passed off the herbs that she had managed to collect at the market the previous weekend. They had some luck with all of the witchy and paranormal books Gus had in his collection.

That is where it left them in this current moment. As the weekend had come and gone. Luz and Gus were at the school library, borrowing a private room for their research. They decided to meet up an hour before their first class.

They had set up their laptops on a table, surrounded by books and papers. They had headphones on, listening to a video call with a person who lived in a town called Gravesfield. Gus apparently met them in an online chat group. It was a town with all sorts of history in occult magic. This person, Masha, shared a story of two brothers named Phillip and Caleb Wittebane. It was said that they were witch hunters. Until one day, the eldest, Caleb, was lured away by a witch. Philip had ran after them, only for them to never be seen from again. The story took place 400 years ago. It honestly creeped Luz out a bit.

Masha was a young woman with short black hair and glasses. She wore a leather jacket and a pentagram necklace. She seemed very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the occult.

Masha had told Gus and Luz that she had ways of accessing the astral plane. She gave them a list of the ingredients for a tea that Luz should drink just before trying to meditate into this plane. Gus and Luz already had these ingredients thanks to Willow picking them all up. Luz was quick to write everything down.

2 tsp of white tea leaves
2 tsp of mugwort
1 tsp chamomile buds
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg

"Thanks Masha, this is all fantastic!" Gus thanked her.

"Heh, no worries!" Masha smiled. "I'm glad to see you're practicing actual witchcraft, Augustus. It's refreshing to see, instead of you just geeking out over your demon mythology books again."

Luz liked Masha. They were only able to meet online, but she could tell they had a kind soul. 

"Well, I'll talk you later! Thanks again!" Gus closed his laptop. He turned towards Luz. "Well, looks like we're all set. Masha said the best time would be to attempt this would be on the night of the full moon. The next one is in a few of weeks, so looks like we got nothing else to do but wait."

"That's such a relief." Luz sighed, leaning back in her chair. She glanced up at the ceiling. In a couple of weeks, if everything went well, she might be able to see her mom again. To say she was nervous would be an understatement. Part of her knew that none of this might work. Another part of her didn't want it to work. What if she found out her mom was dead? What if... what if she saw her petrified body? If it didn't work, that meant she could still hope her mom was alive. What if she found out her mom was still alive? Guilt gnawed at Luz's heart. If her mom was still alive, that probably meant she was in the conformatorium. That meant Luz had left her there for over a year.

Luz suddenly felt as if she couldn't breathe. She clutched at her chest. Her heart ached. 

"Luz? Luz!" 

She could barely hear Gus calling for her. She didn't even notice when he stood right in front of her, waving his hand in front of her face, trying to snap her out of it.