Here to Help

Chapter 16

"Hey Luz! Have you seen Mittens anywhere," Ed chimed as he and Em approached the human standing on the steps just outside of Hexside. Having been looking around and waiting for Amity herself, the human regretfully had no answer to Ed's question. Feeling a knot begin to grow in the pit of her stomach, Luz woefully met the twins' gaze as she offered up an answer.

"Hey Ed, hey Em," Luz began, her chipper voice laced with anxious undertones, "I haven't seen her since this morning and well, I am a little concerned."

"Understandably so," Em remarked. "We heard you both were back today and wanted to see you but... but then we heard about what happened with Boscha," the green haired witch explained, wincing slightly as she stiffly repositioned the hand she had in her pocket. "Are you doing okay, cutie?" she asked the human, voice filled with concern.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm more concerned for Amity than anything. I used to that kind of stuff. Back in the human world, kids weren't exactly the nicest to me but I have to say, that is not what I was expecting to come back to," Luz explained.

"Yeah, that is a terrible way to be welcomed back," Ed sighed sympathetically. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. Boscha is a total jerk."

"You can say that again..." Luz sighed.

"Luz!" a concerned voice called out as the sound of footsteps neared. Turning to find the voice's owner, Luz watched as Willow and Gus approached. "Any luck finding Amity? Oh hey Ed, hey Em."

"Hello Willow, Augustus," Em replied shaking her head, a soft undertone of delight in her voice as she took in the sight of her sister's former best friend. Perhaps the two were patching things up, Em thought to herself.

"Hey there Willow and Gus. We haven't," Ed remarked, "I take it you haven't seen Mittens either huh?"

"No we haven't," Gus sighed. "We tried to find her at lunch to see if she wanted to eat with us but couldn't. Then Luz told us she never stopped by her locker during passing period and from what we've heard from other folks, she wasn't in any of her afternoon classes."

"Doesn't seem like shes taking anyone's scroll calls either," Luz sighed, woefully staring at the scroll in her hands, the calls and messages she had sent to her girlfriend having gone unanswered.

"You don't think Boscha did something to her, do you?" Gus asked somberly.

"No, thankfully," Luz sighed. "I had classes with her all afternoon and other than seething, I didn't see her do much."

Concern knotting in everyone's stomach, Emira finally pipped up, uneasy at the time the group was wasting just standing around and worrying. "Well how about this, why don't we split up and look for her? Ed can go check at home and Luz can check back at the Owl Lady's house. Willow and Gus, perhaps you can give the school one more walk through and then check the market place on the way back to your houses?"

"That sounds like a good idea," Ed nodded in agreement with the older twin.

"I agree," Luz spoke as she fumbled with her scroll once more, the scrolls of everyone present pinging in unison as the human pressed send. "If anyone sees or hears from her, send a message to the group chat I just made. This way we can all stay on the same page."

"Great idea, Luz," Em remarked as she looked at the group of worried yet determined faces staring back at her. "I'll go check the library. What do you say everyone shoots the chat a message here in an hour to check back in?"

"That sounds good but Em, what if we don't find her?" Willow asked, voice tinged with sadness.

"We will," Em stated flatly. "We just have to."