The rest of the demonstration passed in a blur. The creature (it had not been given a name, strangely enough) did a couple more cool tricks, but just little stuff, like shadow puppets and more levitation. Nothing that could be replicated in the demon realm, Luz thought, but nothing quite as impressive, either. In fact, Luz wondered if this was the kind of stuff that would be considered magic show tricks in that world.

It didn't last very long, either. Soon, Luz was set back down, and Calica, loudly, thanked her for her help. Luz only glared at her, but the old lady had already turned back to the audience, announcing the next creature.

Just like before, all eyes were on her, and Luz confirmed with a quick glance that no one was paying any attention to her, not even Calica. Moving slowly as to not attract attention, Luz backed up, towards the curtain behind her, and then ducked behind it, following the cage that had been wheeled out when its usefulness ended. As the curtain fell into place behind her, the lights and sound of the stage disappeared, turning into a dull murmur that Luz had to strain to hear. Not that she wanted to; the show had already lost its charm.

Luz turned to the rest of the backstage. Darker than the stage for sure, but still light enough to see about a dozen people hurrying about, talking to each other in low whispers and waving clipboards and the like around. Some were wheeling cages with other creatures around, and others were near the curtain, listening in to whatever Calica was saying next. Probably waiting for a cue. They were all dressed in stark black, so even in the darkness, Luz clearly stood out. She was already attracting some odd looks from the people working there.

Oh, great. Now Luz actually wanted the cloak back.

Still, after some hesitation, Luz stepped out, as confidently as she could amidst the stares she was attracting. Soon, someone would probably try to come and stop her, but for the moment, Luz's path was clear, and she hurried to the cage that held the magical creature she had seen, resting near the back wall of the backstage, near the tent clothe.

Luz knelt down to it, taking a look at the lock before taking a risky glance back at the stagehands. The show, which seemed so simple from the front, seemed to have a lot of moving parts, so they all were pretty occupied for the moment, seemingly forgetting about Luz, so she took it as the opportunity it was and turned back to the creature, realizing that it was watching her through the bars of its cage.

Luz gave it a smile. "Hi..." she whispered. "I'm here to help you out, all of you, but you're going to have to stay quiet, ok?"

The creature stiffened. "I think it's already clear I can do that pretty well," it said in a high, feminine voice.

Luz froze, staring at the creature, her mouth falling open in shock. When she spoke next, it was with a harsh whisper. "You can talk?"

"Always could," the creature said dryly. It was making no effort to be quiet like Luz was, and only rolled its eyes when Luz made a frantic shushing motion.

"Then why didn't you?" Luz asked it. "In the show?"

"Didn't feel the need," the creature said, and Luz winced at the implications of that statement. "So. You said you were here to 'rescue' me? How?"

"Don't worry about it," Luz said in leu of explanation. "Just trust me."

The creature gave her a strange look, and Luz gave it a reassuring look. She backed away, wondering what she intending to do herself, but she didn't get to wonder for long, but she accidently ran into someone else, and to her horror, a cage the person was trying move crashed to the ground in a very loud and very attention-grabbing way. And if that wasn't enough, the thing inside let out a loud screech, effectively attracting the eyes of every stage hand in the area, looking first to the cage, then to Luz, who stared back, also feeling horrified.

"Um..." Luz accidently said out loud, feeling like she had to apologize. But she quickly snapped out of that, moving quickly in the shock of the moment. Reaching over the cart that the cage had toppled out of, Luz reached over, quickly unlatching the lid. Almost immediately, something flew out, and Luz felt feathers brush her hands as the creature flew up into the air.

The people around her finally started moving, and Luz moved quickly, but no one was going for her, instead, they rushed for the bird behind her. Luz found herself grinning as she ran away. Two birds with one stone! A distraction as well as freeing the animal! But there was more to go and Luz didn't hesitate, running around the backstage and unlocking other cages, big and small, and jumping out of the way as they rushed out. Luz felt sorry for them; they seemed to be panicking, but this was a tent: they would find their way out. The stagehands didn't seem to be able to catch any of the animals anyway.

However, the stagehands had finally seemed to realize the source of their troubles, and one of them cornered Luz as she got back to the original creature's cage, grabbing at her shoulder before she could unlock its cage.

"Hey!" they yelled, and Luz jumped, trying to pull away, but the hand on her refused to let go, tightening as she tried to pull away. "Enough! What do you think you're-!?"

Suddenly, the person was cut of, ripped away from Luz by an invisible force. Luz stared at them, before turning back to the creature, finding it's cage open and it's shackles off. Luz gaped out it.

"Wha- how did-?" Luz tried to parse out her thoughts. "Could you do that the whole time?"

The creature shrugged. Luz stared at it.

"Why didn't you?" Luz pressed. Again, the creature shrugged.

"Maybe I was waiting to be rescued," it told her, and Luz frowned. She couldn't tell if it was being sarcastic or not, nor could she decide what that even meant in the first place. But before she could ask, the creature nodded to the chaos behind her.

"Shall we leave?" it asked, and Luz only needed a quick glance to agree wholeheartedly.

It didn't take very long for the creatures to spread, and Whiz Calica hadn't been lying: they certainly were wild, weird and wonderful. One that looked like the skeleton of a dragon the size of a small car flew off after wrecking a big tent, another that looked like a large wolf with a horse head and even one that looked like a giant moth on fire, rising up into the air. Within minutes, the entire circus had practically been destroyed, with Luz and the creature that could talk watching from a safe distance away.

Luz didn't really feel too bad about it, in the end. The only thing she felt was a strange sense of pride, knowing Eda would be proud of her, and a curiosity of what Calica was thinking about all this. Luz hadn't seen her among the fleeing people.

Well, that was a lie. Luz was also wondering where the promised unicorn was.

"So, may I have the name of my heroic rescuer?" the creature asked and Luz jumped.

"Can you really call me a 'rescuer' if you could always save yourself?" Luz wondered.

"Whatever," the creature said. "Your name?"

"...It's Luz," Luz told it. "I'm from another world and... I don't know how I got here."

"Ah," the creature hummed. "Straightforward."

"Who are you?"

The creature tilted its head, thinking for a moment. "You can call me Six."

Luz frowned. "It's not your actual name?"

Six chuckled. "Well, aren't you a smart one?" it said. "No, that isn't my real name. One not going to tell you that. In any case, I'm assuming you want to get home, correct?"

Luz brightened, looking over to Six, a suddenly hopeful expression on her face. "You'll help me?"

"Fair's fair, I suppose. You help me, I help you."

Luz felt tears in her eyes as she was suddenly filled with a new, bright hope. She hadn't realized how much she had been despairing until now. It felt kind of weird, because Luz wasn't exactly a negative person... still, the brightness she was feeling now was better than anything she'd felt in this world since waking up here.

"You'd do that for me?!" Luz asked slowly, her voice thick with emotion. "You'd help me?"

"You already help me..." Six pointed out, now looking uncomfortable. "So this shouldn't be a big a deal as your making it."

"Still, I..." Suddenly, Luz leapt forward, bundling up the little creature tightly in her arms and hugging it tight. "Thank you so much! Also, please, PLEASE teach me your magic! That's possible, right?"

Six groaned, looking miserable, but they nodded anyway. "Yeah... It might help you to survive this place anyway. But I'm warning you: don't grow too attached."

"Too late!" Luz squeal, hugging her new friend tighter. Six groaned in pain.

"Fine," it wheezed out. "Your funeral.... PUT ME DOWN!"

The memory, up until this moment, was a good one. The stranger who oh so kindly helped Luz when she was kicked down, who helped her navigate this new strange world so different from the demon realm and the human realm... but now the recollection has gone sour.

Luz stared at the creature in front of her, still looking proud and defiant in the face of the clear rage Luz could feel on her face. She felt pinpricks in the corner of her eyes, and fought to keep them down. She didn't want to start crying in front of someone who, at most, looked a little annoyed.

Luz floundered wondering what to say. She had so many questions... but she didn't know how to voice any of them.

"What is it?" Six asked her. "What's wrong with you?"

Luz, taken aback, just glared at her old friend. She didn't know what to say.

After a minute of silence, Six just continued, ignoring Luz's problem.

"Here's a new type of magic," Six told her, picking up the flowers and moving closer to the machine. She spoke around them. "Healing magic. I told you about the pink magic, right? This is how you create it. Truthfully, this magic wasn't found to recently, by accident."

"Healing magic?" Luz repeated. "Wait, but I thought you said you wouldn't be able to help-."

"That's what I thought," Six replied, nonchalantly. "We can't make it without the wi-the grave flowers. We're lucky I found them, your friends would be toast otherwise."

Luz opened her mouth to say something, and then closed it. Six was throwing the flowers on the machine, and then hopping up herself.

"I'll show you how to make this healing magic, but remember, this stays between us," Six told her. "Stay back."

Luz wanted to argue, but in the end, she did what she was told, back up to the wall. On the machine, Six started a fire, somehow (she had said it was 'too dangerous' for Luz to learn, and through her annoyance, Luz agreed), and, with no explanation, set the flowers on fire, before using the shadows as a kind of cage to keep the smoke in.

"Alright, come here," Six said. She didn't even look up when Luz stepped forward. If she was wondering why Luz wasn't asking as many question as usual, she didn't say. "I'm going to open a window. When I do, take a piece of the smoke. I'd do it... but I don't happen to have any hands."

Luz frowned. "...Okay."

Six didn't look up or respond, but she did as she said she would, opening a hole in the shadow cage. Some pink fog leaked out, and Luz quickly reached out, gripping it, and the smoke became solid under her grip. Luz pulled on it, and though the fog seemed to fight back, Luz won that particular battle, and she stepped away with a torn piece of... smoke.

Quickly, Six closed the shadow cage, keeping the fog inside. "On its own, this stuff is dangerous," Six explained. "It's almost an effective killer, and fog with one goal: to destroy. It almost is... vengeful, in a way."

Six looked at the grave flowers, almost smiling. "But when it's combined with human touch, it nullifies, turning into a healing cloth. So whatever you do, don't let go."

Luz's fingers tightened on the cloth.

"So I'm afraid we, or I, at least, am going to be stuck down here for a while," Six continued. "It's a small fire, so the fog will burn itself out. Eventually."

"...I'll stay," Luz said, lowly. Six frowned.

"But your friends-."

Luz quickly shook her head. "No... they can wait. Because... there's things you're not telling me."

Six looked positively scandalized. "Wha-?"

"Six, don't lie to me anymore!" Luz practically pleaded, and Six's mouth snapped shut at Luz's agonized expression. "I... I know what you did, to the last kids that were here. You killed them! They trusted you and you betrayed them!"

Six stared at her, stunned. Slowly, her gaze turned to the Ouija board still on the floor because no one picked it up.

"Who... were you talking to?" Six asked, slowly. Luz groaned.

"That doesn't matter!" Luz all but shouted. "Six, just tell me! Or are you planning to kill me, too?"

"..." Again, Six seemed to contemplate her next words, looking incredulous, like she couldn't believe Luz was accusing her of this. "...Look."

"..." Luz tilted her head as Six didn't continue. "What?"

"Just... look," Six repeated, and she dropped her gaze. "Believe me. I wish this was easier. I wish this wasn't happening at all, and... I don't want anything to happen to you."

Luz sighed tiredly. That didn't line up with what they now knew. There was something else, so Luz waited.

Eventually, Six continued.

"Luz, I do like you," she told her. "Marginally. But I'm no idiot, and I'm not... whatever. I'll look out for myself. You look out for you. I trust you enough for that."

Luz mouth was set in a thin, determined line. "What if I don't die? What if I make it out? What if all of us do?"

To Luz's annoyance, Six's expression didn't change. "You won't."

"How would you know?!"

"Because someone will stop you," Six told her plainly. "But... here's what I can give you: Good. Luck."