The Mass (TOH Story) (Slow Progress)

Chapter 5. Escalations at Hexside

"¡Despierta Mija! ¡Desayuno!"
At her mothers call, the sleep stirred around Luz. She rolled on her side to get a blurry read on her bedside clock. She had slept passed her alarm. "Did I... did I snooze it?" Her voice was hoarse, the tone scratchier than usual. She groaned, sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of the bed. Her eyes dared to betray her, or perhaps they only had her best interest at heart? She wiped at them feverously. She had to get ready now or risk being late. Being late the day after ditching half her classes probably wasn't the wisest thing to do. She regarded the mirror across the room from her. There was a jagged crack crossing it. "That was one crazy game of hide and seek," she thought fondly to herself. She directed focus on to her own reflection. She looked about how she expected. Like someone who just woke up. Hair sticking every which way, sleep bags under her eyes, and absolutely out of it. "Looking good Noceda," She sarcastically joked to herself as she rose to her feet. 

She had just about finished getting ready. She glanced at the mirror again. The bags were still there, but at least she didn't resemble a lost porcupine anymore. All that was left to do was pack her school bag. Before she could drag it onto her bed, she heard a knock at the door. "Luz, if you don't want your breakfast, can I have it?" King was yelling through the door. Hooty, the house, worm, owl, demon-thing burst through the open window with a protest. "No! Let me have it!" Luz jumped up. "Hooty!"

King slammed the door open. "You only want it because I want it!" 

Luz jumped again. "King!"

Hooty twirled into a coil, he drawled, "You're pooooint?" King raged, "Aaaah, it's mine!" He ran and jumped up, trying to strangle Hooty. Hooty began flailing around. "Hey! That tickles! Ouch!"
Luz sighed internally. So much for a quiet morning. "Quit it, you two!" They froze to look at her. "Split the damn breakfast!" They exchanged a look before agreeing. "Okay!" King held onto Hooty as he wiggled out the window, back downstairs. "They do this at least twice a month," Luz thought hotly as she snatched up her trainers and exited her room, shutting the door behind her. She stopped in the kitchen to see her Mamá and Lilith enjoying what she assumed to be Griffin Egg Omelets. King and Hooty were nowhere to be seen. She guessed that they had already made away with her plate. Luz smiled, deciding a warm greeting was in order. 

"Buenos Días, Mamá."
"Buenos días, cariño." "Buenas días, mi Sabrina" Luz and Camila exchanged a polite smile. "'BueNOS' Lilith. With an 'o' not an 'a'," corrected Camila lightly. "And it's sobrina, not Sabrina," giggled Luz. Lilith looked at them incredulously. "Is... is that not what I said?" Camila came up behind Lilith and patted her encouragingly on the back. "You were close."
Lilith pulled out a little notebook she had and began pouring over her notes, trying to find the ones that needed revision. Luz shook her head, but then she noticed something was amiss. "Where's Eda?" Camila took a sip of her bitter bean blood before answering. "She's getting an early head start, apparently. But we think she's up to something." Camila gestured between her and Lilith. "Probably." Luz shrugged. Eda definitely was running around more than usual, but Luz figured all would be revealed in due time. "Well, I'm off. Love you guys!"
On her way out the door, she bestowed chin scratchies to Hooty and a quick peck on Kings forehead. Now that she's said bye to everyone who was home, it's time for school.

As Luz neared Hexside, she noticed an unusually large gathering of students at the entrance stairs to the school. "I have a bad feeling about this." She took a deep breath, edging nearer to the group. She hoped to find out why the horde was here before actually getting to close, but the crowd was so thick there was no way of her seeing into the center of it. She turned to retreat. Maybe she could find a way around the back out wait out whatever was going on. But before she could Matt had spotted her. "Luz?" She gave him a wary look. He sped up to her, speaking urgently but in a sort of whisper-yell, "You gotta get out of here! They're-"