Later, Luz returned to her apartment.
"Hey, Amity, I'm home." Luz said.
"I'm in the kitchen!" Amity said as Ghost was laying on the couch, enjoying a nice nap.
Luz walked up to her and hugged her from behind.
"Hi." Luz said.
"Hi to you." Amity said with a small chuckle. "How was the zoo?"
"Great, people love Marshmallow and her siblings. How about you? You used your day off for a magic lesson, right?" Luz asked her.
"Yep." Amity said.
To show her progress, Amity drew a magenta spell circle and created a small abomination on the kitchen counter.
"Abomination, fetch me the oregano, please." Amity said, pointing to the spice rack.
"Uh." It let out with a nod before walking to the spice rack.
"Impressive." Luz said with a nod.
The Abomination quickly melted.
"I'm still working on it." Amity said, "So how'd the interview go?"
"It went great." Luz said as she pulled away. "I also talked to Tank and Bullet afterwards."
"And how are the proud parents?"
"Very happy and VERY overprotective. Bullet almost bit my hand off when I was feeding her kids. She knows I would never hurt them and STILL tried to bite off my hand." Luz said as she walked to the fridge.
"That's how parents are." Amity said, "You should've seen me in second grade when someone pulled my hair. My dad went in and made sure that never happened again."
Amity looked at Luz.
"Speaking of parents, have you looked at your dad's journal?"
Luz's expression dropped.
"No."
Amity looked worried at Luz, moving away from what she was cooking to give her attention to her.
"Luz, I know that look. It's okay to be afraid but you can't avoid it forever." Amity said to her.
"I know but still, I might not like what I find." Luz said with a worrying frown.
"No matter what, I'm here." Amity said.
"As am I." Ghost said as she walked into the kitchen, rubbing herself against Luz's legs.
Luz pet her.
"Ah, you're a good kitty."
"So, are you willing to open it, if I'm with you?" Amity asked Luz.
"I....I think I can." Luz said with a nod, giving a smile.
"Good."
With her fiancé and the palisman by her side, Luz walked to their bed room and grabbed her father's journal from the nightstand. Luz took a deep breath before taking a seat as Amity sat next to her and ghost jumped onto her shoulder.
"Ready?" Amity asked her.
"No... let's do it."
With another breath, Luz slowly opened the journey to the first entry and read it out loud.
"July 7, 1980. I have decided that I will document my findings in a journal. I recently rediscovered a bird thought to be extinct. I will make it my mission to find more species like this."
"A rare bird? That's big." Amity commented.
"Yeah, it is." Luz said as she continued reading. "I went to those at my office and told my superior of an expedition to find more of the bird. You know, I think I remember a picture of it back at my mom's house. I also remember that his last expedition before he... died, was the Rio Apaporis caiman."
"The Rio Apaporis caiman?" Amity asked, "It hasn't been seen in decades. It's been declared as Extinct."
"It was but dad found something that may have proved that wrong. He got a team gathered and set off to find the truth." Luz said, "He... he never came back. I was barely five when it happened."
Luz felt her eyes water before she wiped them dry, moving into Amity's embrace as her fiancé hugged her.
"A-a-alright, let's see some of his later ones. Maybe that will explain where he went." Luz said.
Amity nodded to Luz and moved to hold her hand, helping her to turn the page to the next entry.
"Okay... March 10, 2003. I have found a possible sighting of the Caiman, down in a forest in Columbia. And the one by my side is my oldest friend, I've known her since childhood." Luz read.
'That woman Luz told me about that killed him and hurt the animals at the other zoo.' Amity thought, hearing about Bullet's old zoo.
"Luz, you can stop-"
"I need to see where specifically he went... I need to at least recover his body to get proper closure."
"Are you sure of that, Luz? What if you don't like what you find?" Ghost asked, worried about her second master.
"Even if it's not pretty...anything is better than nothing for a proper burial." Luz said as she let out a shaky exhale, "I... I need this."
Seeing the emotional weight of this and understanding, Amity nodded to Luz before giving her a kiss on the cheek to pull her out of her saddened state.
"Okay, I'll support you on this. And, if you want, I'll even come with you." Amity said.
Ghost jumped onto Luz's head and curled up while purring, trying to support and comfort her.
"Thank you, both of you." Luz said with a smile.
Amity smiled, but deep inside, she was frowning. She also had to deal with her dad and a secret she is pretty sure he's keeping.
'That damn dream.' Amity thought, 'What did he mean by small problem?'
She had been contemplating asking him, but she was too nervous he would deny it, or it might be something serious to worry about. This time it was Luz's job to comfort her, seeing that Amity was having her own problems.
"Come here." Luz said, closing the journal and pulling her with into a hug.
"Something the matter?"
"It's... I don't know."
"Can I help in any way?" Luz asked, wrapping her arms around Amity's waist. "Movie marathon, order some of your favorites, and just sit together for the rest of the night?"
"That does sound ideal but I think no. I think I need something more." Amity said, moving herself over Luz's lap and giving Luz a big kiss.
"Mmm!" Luz moaned out with a grin, kissing back.
"I...shall return to the couch." Ghost said.
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The Zookeeper 3: The Future
قصص الهواةIt's time for Luz to confront her past so that she can finally focus on her future. But will she be able to keep it together when she learns the past isn't as clear as she thought it was? Will her and Amity be able to move forward, or will their fut...
