Chapter 105

Amity got as far as saying that she almost died before her brother and sister were too busy clutching onto her for dear life to let her finish the story. And they didn't stop, to the point that Amity was literally dragging her older siblings behind her as the group approached Hexside. It saddened Luz to see the grounds in disrepair and the door boarded up... Until the boarding up was lifted to let them in, revealing the whole thing was pointless.

"So the only adults left in town are Malphas from the Library, Tinella Nosa, and Steve Tholomule," Edric said as he and his twin finally released their youngest sibling. "Even with the school on lockdown during the Day of Unity, well, once the spell passed, a lot of people came out to see what was going on, and most of the adults in a couple of the braver kids got turned into puppets by the Collector's Star Goons. right after. It was crazy, but everything's been recorded on various Penstagram accounts."

"Well, we've got a plan to help everyone," Luz said. "Some people back in the human are prepared to take everyone in. I just need a couple more things to make a stable portal door and probably talk with the people in charge."

This resulted in the squad being led through the school, seeing how people had adapted to the apocalypse, and occasionally being greeted by friends who asked the where they'd been or informed them of developments like having to put down Willow' orchids after they became self aware and revolted against the Plant Trackers using the greenhouses to grow food or members of the human appreciation society asing what human artifacts could and coul not be used as weapons. Eventually, they made it to the teacher's lounge, which was 'the only space large enough to be headquarters but small enough that it didn't have a better use.'

There, they met with the aforementioned three adults.

"Hey, everyone," Luz greeted. "Malphas, you haven't had any inconvenient summonings lately, have you? 'Cause I can probably do something about that, now. Steve, good to see you," she then gave a CATa hiss, "Tiny... I actually forgot that Malphas said you were here. Might need your help with something in a little bit."

This led to a bit of a chaotic conversation as to how they got back was explained, which ended up expanding out to what happened during and since the Day of Unity on their end. Amity finally got to finish the story she'd started telling, and Luz had to transform to provide proof for the fantastical story.

"Which brings us to the plan," Luz lectured. "According to The Titan, the Collector is just a sad kid who's dealing with a lot of hurt and doesn't really understand what he's doing wrong... I can kind of relate. If I can just talk to him, I'm confident that I can get him to turn everyone back to normal. But, I want to make sure everyone here is safe in case things go pear-shaped: There are people back in the human realm who are prepared to take you and the kids in for a while. They host refugees all the time, and they're stocked up on demon-safe food. However, I need to make a portal first, and for that I need two things: a decent amount of Titan's blood, and a Titan's eye." Luz pointed a thumb at her own right eye. "Mine should work fine, and my healing factor is strong enough that it should grow back before I even wake up after surgery, but... I need someone who can actually do the surgery."

Nobody who didn't have the whole story or know about the plan had said anything the entire time. Then Emira spoke up. "...Oh My... Titan."

"...No, I'm Amity's Titan," Luz quipped, which earned her a playful bap from her girlfriend.

"Do you have any idea how big of a deal this is, Luz?" the elder Blight Girl continued. "You're... People are going to be worshiping you for years to... You said part of the Titan's spirit is still with you even after the rest passed on, so technically we're standing on you now, and... I'm regretting taking theology as an elective."

"...So are we the weird ones for being so accepting of all this or is she weird for freaking out?" Gus mused.

"I don't think any of us have ever been normal," Willow quipped.

"Seriously, don't make this weird," Luz replied. "Don't want to be worshipped, I'm still just Luz, no matter how powerful I get."

"I'll be sad if you make my girlfriend sad by getting weird about this," Amity added.

"Low blow, sister," Edric quipped.

"And you're absolutely sure that these people in the human realm can accommodate this many kids?" Steve asked.

"One hundred percent positive," Luz confirmed. "Again, all I need is to build a portal and that shouldn't take more than half an hour once I'm recovevered from getting my eye out. if we an find anyone who can take my eye out."

Tiny Nose scoffed. "Please, I could do that suwgewy in a back alley with a pizza cuttew, a stapplew, and a bottle of cough sywup."

"...This is your doctor here?" Luz's mom asked.

"I gwaduated medical school!"

"I've actually been meaning to ask," Luz started, "why are there medical schools separate from the healing coven?"

"You didn't wead my book, did you?" Tiny replied.

"I did not."

'Well, it started yeaws ago with two houses, both alike in dingy, in faiw Bones—'

'I'm sure this is a fascinating story,' Luz's mom said not too rudely, "but can it wait till later? I'd like to inspect the medical facilities we have access to before we commit to anything."

"Yeah, um... Mom's really nervous about me going under the knife," Luz said. "Maybe we can go over how this kind of thing works here while we're checking this all out."

"Okay, yeah, we can do that," Tiny agreed. "We can check it out now. But I'm gonna need a couple assistants for the opewation. Emiwa, find that Viney giwl and meet us in the healing homewoom."

Emira left immediately.

"If we're going to be clearing out possibly today, we're gonna need to organize the kids," Steve said, "can we count on the rest of you to help explain what's going on?"

"I'm more than prepared to help however I can," Hunter volunteered.

Amity, however, seemed less certain. "I'd actually like to—"

"Um, sorry to interrupt," Malphas said, "but like... the Kindergartners have been a bit hard to control. But the ringleaders are mostly kids from story time at the library, so like, they might listen to you, Amity."

Amity sighed. "Okay. For the children."

With that, the group split up for a time, with Luz and her Mom following after Tiny as the strange biped explained how surgery worked in the boiling isles.

"So I've got some human wealm medical texts I bought fwom Eda, the actual opewations ain't too diffewent. Mostly it's the tools. I wasn't joking about being able to do it in a back alley, but we've got enchanted scalpels and stuff that never go dull and clean themselves as you use them and sutuwes that speed up healing. The biggest changes from what you'll be used to are the aesthetic. We use a combo of potions to put the patient undew."

"What sort of potions?" Luz's Mom asked.

"The main one is the tonic of living oblivion," Tiny began, "Youw whole body locks up so you can't move on the table, meanwhile you completely dissociate so you don't really feel anything or have any idea what's going on. Don't even notice the passage of time. But, some people will wesist, only get the pawalisis. Since you can't tell until they come back up, the potion is paiwed with sleeping nettle essence mixed with pleasant pollen, so you'we also asleep and having nice dweams. Finally, just in case, that's all mixed up with a heavy-duty pain potion. The kind that makes it so you could be gutted like a fish and only feel a little pain... You'll be loopy for a couple of hours once you wake up, but it means most patients don't notice the pain till they have already gotten over the wowst of it."

"Okay, that sounds... Good," her Mom noted.

"But fiwst comes the puwge potion: Can't have the patient puking on the table or it'll go into the lungs and kill'em. Making them spew ahead of time is easier than expecting them to not eat with less than twelve hours till the opewation."

Luz's mom stopped for a moment. "So I'm an animal doctor, not a human one, but.. I feel your pain there. It's not everyone who doesn't listen to instructions, or even a majority, but..."

"Enough to not want to take any chances," Tiny confirmed.

"Not gonna lie, that part completely slipped my mind," Luz admitted.

"Anyway, this is the place."

The operating theatre was a bit more... medieval-looking than Luz expected. Her mom clearly had reservations too but after examining the much more modern looking tools admitted that "This all seems up to code."

They then went to the healing track homeroom, where Tiny left them with Emira and Viney to cover the intake and consultation while Tiny whipped up some of the necessary potions.

"Okay," Emira said, "this is important, but we're still doing it by the book, so... Luz, are you allergic to any common medicinal potions?"

"No," Luz said.

"Do you smoke or have you been exposed to second-hand smoke recently?"

"No and no."

"Do you have any re-existing conditions that could complicate the procedure, such as but not including a history of heart problems, hemophilia, or—"

"No."

"Are you sexually active?"

"I'm fourteen!"

"Doesn't answer the question," Viney quipped where where she was jotting down the answers to Emira's question.

"No," Luz insisted indignantly.

"And you're not just saying that because you're dating my sister?"

"No!" Luz shouted. "Is this even necessary?"

"It's part of the boilerplate," Emira defended. "Also, as your future sister in law, it's my prerogative to embarrass you, but mostly because of the boilerplate. A couple of social diseases can put you at risk for complications, so we've got to know... But since you answered no, we can skip the rest of this section. Have you ever donated an organ or received an organ transplant?"

"No," Luz said as the heat left her face.

"Have you ever had any major surgeries before?"

"Nope."

"Are you taking any medications?"

"Um, a hormone pill every morning, but that's more of a nutritional supplement than a medication," Luz explained. "Keeps the alien side from getting hangry."

"Okay, then," Emira finished while nodding to Viney, who stopped writing. "That's everything we need for we'll be going over the procedure now... Gonna have to break out a textbook though," she admitted. When the book was retrieved and turned to he right section, they began. "So we're taking out the right eye, correct?"

"Yeah. And it needs to stay more or less intact once it's out."

"Okay, so how this works is..."