Luz and Amity checked the cameras once again to make sure that the masked men are indeed gone. Once they did that, Luz unlocked the door with her handprint on a similar panel from the inside. The door opens revealing a line of hanged clothes. Luz and Amity came out of the closet (Gay-pun intended) and goes to their rooms to prepare for the journey ahead.
Luz packed just a little extra of what she always brings trekking with her. Some extra food, water supply, spare clothes, sleeping bags just in case, and a first aid kit box all stuffed in a backpack.
Amity on he other hand didn't bring much. Just a drawstring bag containing some stuff from her hometown, half of which are enchanted.
The two girls then gather at the front door.
"Ready?" Luz asked.
"Ready."
The two walked out of the door and Luz locks the door. They head straight to the dirt path nearby that leads directly to the forest. As soon as they enter they're immediately greeted by the beauty of mother nature's creations. Critters like rabbits and foxes are running around, birds flying and singing overhead, leaves gently falling blown around by the wind. Everything is so peaceful. It made Luz and Amity almost forget the situation that they're in.
Luz is staring at the map in Eda's journal, trying to point out the path they need to take to reach the red mark.
"Okay, if we entered through here...so it means we're here now...?" Luz points to the map as she talks.
Amity noticed that Luz isn't pointing to the right spot, instead pointed out east of where they are right now. She's pretty adept with maps.
"More like...here." Amity grabs Luz's pointing hand and points it to the right spot.
"Oh. I pointed to the wrong spot didn't I? Sorry, even though I go trekking and hiking a lot I'm no good with maps."
"It's okay. At least you have me to be good with maps, right?"
Just then they noticed that Amity is still holding Luz's hand. Luz noticed that. And suddenly *poof* the two of them blushed red.
"Oh, sorry-" Amity tries to let go of Luz's hand in attempt to defuse the awkward situation, but Luz had something else in mind. She grabs hold of Amity's hand.
"I, uhh...just so we won't get separated." She says without even looking at Amity's face. She trying to hide her own reddening face. "These parts of the forest can be pretty dangerous...or something..."
"Oh...o-ok, sure."
And so they continued on their way, hand in hand. Halfway through they started to get tired and decided to take a break. Luz brings out some of the food she had prepared while Amity takes out a knife and starts carving out strange symbols on nearby trees.
"What're you doing?" Luz asked.
"I'm marking the place with glyphs to protect us. I'm not sure if this'll work but, well, here goes nothing."
Amity taps on the 'glyph' and it lights up.
"It worked...it worked!"
She then ran around to each one of the glyphs that she drew and taps on them and they all lighted up. They then form a circle around their area forming some sort of forcefield.
"Whoa!" Luz exclaimed in glee. "How'd you do that?!"
"Glyphs! It's an ancient form of magic used by the witches that came before the witches. It's basically drawing a magic circle in a piece of paper."
"Can I do that?"
"Maybe."
"Can you teach me?!"
"Sure can, but can we eat first? I'm kinda hungry."
"Oh, yeah! Of course!"
They started eating. While they're on it they actually forgot about the dangerous situation they're in. With the forcefield and the forest's protection surrounding them, they're trapped in a state of calm in the midst of the chaos they've gotten into.
"How far are we from the red mark?" Luz asked.
"About..." Amity checks the map and starts tracing and measuring how far they've gone into the forest, "...1, maybe 2 miles away. Not too far now."
"Hmm...but it's getting dark. How about we camp out here for tonight? We walk again first thing tomorrow?"
"Good idea. I have a feeling that as soon as we found Eda's other hideout we're in for some more danger. We're gonna need to be in top shape to handle that."
"Ok, that's settled then. I'll bring out the sleeping bags. I brought one for you."
"Oh. Thanks...but why-"
"Because I noticed that you didn't bring any. If we're gonna camp out in a forest filled with possibly dangerous mythical creatures, might as well get a little comfortable."
"Aww...thanks."
Luz sets up both sleeping bags right next to each other. Close by is a fireplace that Luz sets up rather quickly. Before long, night falls on them, and the only source of light are the moon, the stars and Luz's fire. Amity transforms into her werewolf form to help her see in the dark better. As they're setting up camp Luz noticed something on Amity's nape. It's a faint mark shaped like a triangle inside a circle.
"Hey, I never noticed that tattoo on your nape. Pretty sick!"
Amity's hand reaches for her "tattoo"
"Oh, ummm...this is not a tattoo. It's a birth mark."
"Whoa, shaped like that? Dang, girl, that sounds like a setting for a really cool action story! Small town girl born with mysterious marking that will lead her to her inevitable fate of greatness."
"Heheheh, that does sound pretty cool. But, no, that's not the case here. I'm just...born with it."
"Oh. Is it, like, a common trait for werewolves?"
"It's...actually not. As far as I know, I'm the only one with a birthmark like this."
"Huh...a mysterious marking. Another thing added to my book of recent questions."
Amity laughed a little at Luz's mock seriousness, and Luz joined her laugh. They spent some more time talking, but soon enough Luz stars getting sleepy and she lets out a cute little yawn that pulls on Amity's heartstring.
"I'm getting kinda tired. I'm going to get some sleep. Aren't you getting some?"
"Maybe later. I'm pretty used to staying late when in the forest. Besides we're gonna need some lookout. Can't be too careful."
"Oh, well don't stay up too late then. Gonna need the energy for tomorrow." Luz crawls into her sleeping bag. "Good night, Amity."
"Night."
Not too long later, her breaths become slower and calmer, that's what let Amity know that Luz's asleep.
Amity is keeping watch on a tree branch, making sure here eyes, ears and nose are sharp. Somewhere in the middle of her keeping guard, her head droops in exhaustion. She snaps out of it, but she finds herself staring down at the empty sleeping bag next to Luz and her wanting to crawl in and snuggle next to Luz for just a few minutes. To relieve herself from her exhaustion, plus, snuggle time with Luz,
"Why not? Just a few minutes." She thinks.
She then drops down from the tree branch she was perched on, and crawls into the empty sleeping bag. She immediately felt the warmth of the sleeping bag and Luz's sleeping bod next to her. Some extra warmth caused by her blushing face. Soon enough however, she falls asleep.
Minutes later she's woken up by some noises in the trees. She sits upright and looks around. Some more noises, this time waking Luz up.
"Are you...?" Luz asked.
"Yes, I'm hearing that too. Stay here!" Amity jumps up and climbs a tree to try and look fore whatever was making those noises. Amity reached the top of the tree and she looked around. Suddenly, she spots a flying figure. A person riding a staff.
"Is that...a witch-?" The witch flew directly at Amity, knocking her out of the tree. Amity hits a few branches on her fall before she hits the ground, leaving her pretty injured.
"Amity!" Luz ran over to Amity to make sure she's okay. She's obviously not so much. "What happened? What's up there?"
Amity gasped in pain. "A...a witch!"
"What?"
Suddenly,
*WHOOSH!*
*BAM!*
The witch broke through the forcefield Amity set up and lands in a menacing pose. They then stands upright and just stares at Luz and Amity. Almost threateningly. What do they want?