Amity stood at the principal's door, hesitating. One hand was balled into a fist and held tightly to her chest. The other reached out to the door knob of Principal Bump's office door. She retracted it and extended it a few times, her hand shaking. Her ears sagged slightly, and she frowned. She had never been afraid to talk to Principal Bump before. His magical skills with abominations were nearly equal to her dad's, and while he certainly could be strict in his school discipline, she had never been on the receiving end of it before. Would she get detention? Fated to be sent to the Detention Pit where rowdy students came back… changed? Would she be sent home, to be grounded until Unity Day and never get to return to her volunteer work at the library or read to the witchlings there? She struggled to take a breath before finally managing to touch the door knob.

"Come in, Ms. Blight." came the gravelly, yet calm voice from inside the office. Amity let out the breath she was holding and opened the door, stepping in quietly and shutting it behind her. "This is certainly a first. Mind telling me what this is about?"

Principal Bump's office was spacious, with a large desk more than halfway into the room. An intimidation tactic, forcing visitors to stew in their shame before reaching him. A loud clock on his left side tic toc'd with each step Amity took toward the desk. A bookshelf and cabinet stood behind him, holding obscure, arcane texts and ritualistic daggers that were mounted on their stands with care. A tall plant with multiple toothed heads swayed to and fro as the light through the large windows shined through the curtains, and a writing desk covered in paperwork and personal items finished the furnishings in the room. High above where Principal Bump sat was a banner of the nine main covens stretched out across the width of the room, a reminder of the education Hexside provided. Amity's eyes tried to focus on anything but the Principal, falling upon his sparsely decorated desk that held a quill pen on one side and a viewing orb on the other.

The man himself was elderly, possibly more so than Amity realized. His authoritative black and gold robes hung on his seemingly frail figure, and what seemed like the corpse of a small red skinned demon rested on his head. A creature Principal Bump apparently wore as a cap, with his eyes shining through the creature's own eye sockets and the fangs of its mouth protruding out from its lips on Bump's cheeks.

"I assume Mr. Spleenum already said what happened, sir." Amity said, trying to remain calm. Throwing a temper tantrum here would get her nowhere, but just maybe if she was clear, she could at least get out of the trouble she was in.

"He did." Principal Bump said, then leaned into his desk and folded his long, knobby fingers onto each other. "But I prefer to hear it first hand, if you don't mind."

Amity closed her eyes and took a breath, wiping the heel of one hand across her eyes. When she opened them again, Principal Bump was still waiting patiently. "In abomination class this morning, we were presenting our creations and Mr. Spleenum called on Willow."

"Willow Park?" Bump asked, listening intently. Amity nodded.

"I had met her on the way to school earlier and noticed that her abomination wasn't holding together. I tried to encourage her…"

"Did you now?"

Amity paused. Yes. Kind of. Whether Principal Bump had a spell that could tell when she wasn't being completely truthful, or had just gotten to know how to read people in his career, she wasn't sure. She sighed. "I… told Willow to keep trying?"

Bump frowned, eyeing Amity slyly. "Continue."

"When it was Willow's turn to present in class, something came out of her cart, but it wasn't an abomination. It was something different."

"And you discovered this how?"

She bit her lip. "Because I assaulted it in the cafeteria." She admitted. She couldn't help it any longer, and blurted out, "But it was solid! It was like a demon or something living in the pot. Willow cheated somehow, I know it!"

"Calm down. We'll get to the bottom of this." Principal Bump said, standing. He reached back onto the book shelf behind his desk and took one of the ritual daggers that were stored there, placing it blade first up his voluminous sleeve. He touched the viewing orb on his desk, and asked aloud, "Locate Willow Park." The crystal ball turned smokey before revealing Willow and Augustus speaking to the creature in the empty abomination classroom, with the creature holding up an open hand. "We'd best hurry. There's no telling what that thing is about to do."

Amity walked ahead of Principal Bump, impatiently striding down the now empty halls of Hexside, while he seemed to hover slowly and purposely, his robe touching the floor and revealing no gait. By now, Amity's confidence was beginning to return. Finally, some one believed her. If anyone could find evidence, return her to her place as Top Student, and expel Willow for cheating, it would be the principal. She reached the door, and opened it. The moment she saw all three of her adversaries still in one place, the corners of her lips lifted into a small smile of triumph. She said nothing, but stepped to the side to let Principal Bump enter before her.

Bump entered, shadows crossing his face as he lifted his head to look at the students and their pet. "Good afternoon, students."

"Principal Bump!" Willow exclaimed, her friendly smile disappearing.

The skinny creature dropped to its knees, purple sludge sloughing off with the momentum. Its eyes crossed again and its head sagged forward. Whatever or whomever it was was trying to play the part of an abomination again in an attempt to fool Principal Bump, and Amity's smile started to grow. Willow and Gus backed away and Bump stepped forward and kneeled down. He reached out a wrinkled, elderly hand and took the creature's head in it, turning it to the side harshly in order to inspect it more closely until a faint popping sound could be heard. The creature's expression turned to one of surprised pain for a moment and he stood, rubbing his chin. "Hmm. Abomination, rise." He ordered. The creature stood as well, keeping its face toward the floor. "Abomination, lie."

The creature was confused for a moment before speaking gibberish. "Uh, viral fame is a worthy pursuit. Your cat would never eat you if it got the chance. Chemtrails are real…"

Principal Bump let out a soft chuckle. "Oh no, abomination." He interrupted. He clasped his hands behind his back, eyeing Willow who stood to his side, sweating profusely. "How strange for it to get the command wrong. I mean lie down." He pointed a long nailed finger toward one of the classroom desks. A quiet whimper could be heard come out of the creature, but it hesitantly climbed onto the desk and lied down on its back. "So very lifelike!" Bump approached the desk, placing a hand on Willow's shoulder and moved her to join him. Amity watched with renewed interest, her arms crossed. "When Ms. Blight told me about your abomination, I had to come by and see what she's made of." Amity's eyes widened for a moment and his use of the word 'she'. So it was a person, and he knew it. Likely from the moment he spotted her in the viewing orb.

"Oh, I have her list of ingredients right here…" Willow replied, digging into her pocket. But she was caught in the lie now, admitting that this creature was no abomination.

Principal Bump smiled, reaching into his sleeve and drawing his dagger. "No, we were hoping for a closer look." With an off putting smile, he handed the dagger to her. "Willow, I'll allow you the first cut." Willow accepted the dagger and did her best to smile back at him, stepping close to the desk and whispering something to the creature. It shook its head in response. Bump placed a hand on Willow's shoulder again, pointing with a long yellow nail at the creature's ribcage. "Willow, go ahead and make the first incision." Amity grinned. Either Willow would fess up to the lie or they would see what this creature was really made of. Either way, she won.

"Wait!" Augustus shouted from the other side of the room, drawing everyone's attention. "Uh… high five!" He exclaimed, slapping a clay pot with an open hand. It began to tip over, slamming into another pot, which knocked over a third, and poured abomination goop onto the floor. The purple ooze formed into bipedal creatures that lurched forward, reaching out for Amity and Principal Bump with a groan. "Run!" The boy shouted.

Willow grabbed the creature by the wrist and pulled her off of the desk, rushing for the open classroom door. Amity turned, trying to reach out to the creature before she could run. "They're getting away!"

With a quick spell circle in the air, Principal Bump shattered the three abominations, pinning Augustus to the wall of the classroom with purple sludge. He then turned, catching a glimpse of Willow and the creature escaping into the hall. "No, the intruder won't get far." With Augustus and the rogue abominations incapacitated, Bump traced a new spell circle on the wall beside the door and slammed his open hands onto its center. A loud thrumming could be heard and felt through the walls and floor of the classroom as glowing red sigils began streaming out from the circle. "I will take care of this, Ms. Blight. I suggest you get back to class."

Principal Bump left into the hall, ooze seeping out of the cracks in the stone floor to transform into several towering abominations that followed him. Amity moved to obey, but then stopped herself. Looking back, she narrowed her eyes at the boy that was still pinned to the opposing wall. He spat out a wad of goop and managed to wipe the material from his eyes. "Aw, this stuff is so gross. At least illusions don't leave anything behind."

Amity drew a small spell circle, her running black eyeliner making her look feral and more intimidating than she ever could have done herself. Once the circle was complete, she clenched her fist, tightening the sludge around Augustus with just enough control to scare him without putting him in real danger. "You are going to tell me everything you know about that… thing."

Augustus grimaced, his eyes beginning to water. "She's a human and she wants to become a witch! She offered to pretend to be Amity's abomination so she could get a good grade in exchange for getting to see inside the school!"

"Ah ha! I knew that half a witch couldn't have created something that good! That badge is mine!"

"Why do you want that stupid badge so bad, anyway?" Augustus asked, struggling to free himself against Amity's grip. "I skipped two grades to get here, but there's no badge of recognition. But I have Willow as a friend, and that's better than some pin on my cowl."

"And where's your friend now?" Amity grinned, tightening her grip on the ooze. But when Augustus grinned back, she frowned and continued to clench her fist.

"She and Luz are almost out of the school." He replied with a confident chuckle before his body disintegrated into sparks of light. "Thanks for taking the time to chat though…" his voice trailed off.

Amity growled as the illusion faded and she spun, seeing Augustus wave from the door and run off in the opposite direction that Willow had run. She ran into the hall and looked both ways, watching the boy run off, and the lines of red energy leading toward the main exit of the school. She ground her teeth together, her small fangs nearly drawing blood out of her bottom lip in frustration. A loud crash from toward the entryway caught her attention, and the fields of magical energy that were blocking the door ways suddenly began to vanish. Letting Gus go, she decided to race after the escaped pair.

She rounded a corner into the main atrium and was met by vines that were skewering abominations where they stood. A thick collection of the thorny, tentacle-like creations had grown through the halls and around pillars, reaching for the ceiling in the center of the room where they had Principal Bump pinned. Thin vines still slithered around the floor, and sensing Amity's presence, shot toward her. Without a moment's hesitation, she drew her fingers in two half circles, collecting enough inanimate abomination goo from Bump's small army he had summoned to raise two of the creatures before the vines coiled themselves around her, pinning her to the wall.

"Abominations, release!" She commanded, and the shambling mounds of ooze moved toward her, forming small but sharp edges on their arms in order to cut her free. She could hear footsteps now. Running in a panicked pace, her ears twitched and moved slightly to narrow in on the sound. She maneuvered her hands in an array of motions and one of the abominations at her side lifted her up effortlessly. She may have quit the Grudgby team last year, but the skills she had gained were still fresh in her mind.

Winding itself up like a spring, the abomination uncoiled and tossed her in a perfect throw that landed her in between Willow and her new friend, and the exit of the school. "Not so fast!" Amity was tired, frustrated, and still so angry at everything that had happened today that the pair of girls back pedalled when she appeared, looking ready to slay a dragon with her bare hands. "I'm not letting you get away so easily!" Amity announced, pulling a severed vine from around her shoulders and tossing it to the floor. "I. Want. My. Badge!" She shouted, motioning her hands toward Willow. "Abominations! Seize!"

Amity had never been so focused on her goal, and it was taking every ounce of will to control all the abominations in the area. Two approached the pair from behind and the fake abomination girl spun around with a flailing punch through the chest of one of them. The attack caught Amity off guard, and the abomination fell into sludge, allowing the pair to run off. Amity growled, lifting her hands up and reforming the fallen construct. They were nearly to the large door leading to the outside of the school, and Amity flattened her hands down, causing the two nearby abominations to fall, then gestured toward the running girls like she was forming clay in her hands. The pools of ooze shot toward the door and rose in the form of one of the largest abominations Amity had ever created, blocking the path.

The escapees shouted in surprise and fear and Amity pressed her control, moving the figure of sludge toward them. Suddenly Willow stopped and reached out with her hands, tracing out a glowing green spell circle bristling with power that Amity had never seen her perform before. Vines erupted from the walls of the school, encasing both Willow and Amity's abomination in a thorny web, stopping its momentum. "Get outta here!" Willow shouted to her friend, and Amity's eyes went wide. Half a witch Willow had just stopped her most powerful abomination she had ever controlled, and was sacrificing herself for this… human.

"No! I'm not leaving you!" The human shouted back, fear trembling in her voice. It was the first clear words Amity had heard out of her while not posing as an abomination, and the emotion in it caught her off guard again.

"I may get detention, but you'll get dissected!"

Amity shook her head. She needed to focus if she wanted to trap these two for Principal Bump. And get her badge back. The badge her mother wanted her to hold on to. She clenched her jaw, and reached back for more abominations that had been trapped in Willow's vines. Now under direct control again, they started passing through the vines, pouring through the net of plant life to close in.

"So go!" Willow shouted. She reached out with an open hand to control a collection of vines that grasped the human and lifted her out of the reach of the abomination blocking the door. The vines dropped her outside before closing the massive metal door themselves.

"No!" Amity shouted, running forward to grab Willow's cowl in her hands. "I want…"

"Amity, stop it! She's gone already!" Willow fired back, falling forward.

Amity wrestled her onto her back, knocking her glasses off and snatching the now tarnished and bent Top Student badge. "Give it back! It's mine!"

"Ow! Take it, then!" Willow shouted, the green glow in her eyes while she had been controlling the vines now faded and replaced by angry and fearful tears. "I never wanted it! I just wanted… I wanted to be good at something for a change! To be as good as you at something."

Amity glared back at her, then her eyes softened as she looked around at the mess that had been caused. There were lush, green vines everywhere, with pink petals falling from flower blooms that had embraced every shard of sunlight coming through the windows. Memories of playing with Willow as a child flooded Amity's mind. Of the fun they had on the beaches of Lake Lacuna, the carnivals, and the sleepovers at the Park home. "Willow, I…" she began, hesitating just long enough for Augustus to come running through the now slack vines to help Willow to her feet. Amity's heart was threatening to ache, but she swallowed the lump forming in her throat and hardened her face.

Students began to cautiously exit the class rooms now that the sound of combat had died down, and a stream of ooze was gently lowering Principal Bump from the ceiling after slicing through the vines that had pinned him. This was it. This is where justice would finally be done. Bump calmly glided over to Willow and Augustus, his hands behind his back and his stature still as intimidating and in control as ever. "Willow Park, you and your intruder friend have caused costly damage to the school, cheated on a final presentation in your chosen coven track, and assaulted a member of Hexside staff."

Willow found her glasses and adjusted them on her face as well as she could with one of the arms being bent. "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to do anything of these things, but…" Willow looked at Amity for a moment with a sad look, and Amity suddenly knew she was about to be blamed for everything. "But I take full responsibility. A new friend offered to help, and I wasn't thinking. I guess I'll be going to the detention pit?"

Amity's jaw dropped and her eyes shot open wide. Why wouldn't Willow take advantage of the situation? Of Amity's actions?

Principal Bump surprisingly smiled, though often times showing his fangs made it resemble more of a sneer. "Commendable, Ms. Park. You've shown ingenuity, loyalty, and accountability, not to mention an impressive display of magical talent in plant magic. Tell me, would you be interested in transferring to the Plant track?"

Willow's eyes turned from fear and apprehension to surprise and excitement, and started to shine with renewed tears. "I would be interested very much! I mean, very interested, sir!"

"Willow! We need to tell Luz that everything's okay!" Augustus said, grinning with excitement.

"Ah yes, the abomination girl." Principal Bump said, his friendly smile fading instantly. He drew a small spell circle in the air with a craggy finger and summoned a piece of parchment with an image of the human covered in goo and throwing her filthy hands out as though surprised. Beneath the picture in large red lettering read 'BANNED'. "Your friend's presence will not be tolerated at Hexside. We have security to uphold here, and non-enrolled are not welcome. That's how schools get conquered." He said, chuckling to himself as though reliving a fond memory. He then turned to Amity as Willow and Augustus ran toward the door. "As for you, Ms. Blight." He said, approaching her.

"I…" she began. Apologizing showed weakness. It showed guilt. It showed that she believed herself that she was at fault. Even if it felt like the right thing to do… "Is there any chance I could get extra credit for all…" she waved her hands around at the abomination goo that had settled into pools. "Of this?"

The door to the school slammed shut from Willow and Augustus leaving, making Amity wince. The small golden Top Student badge was beginning to cut into her palm after clenching it so tightly. Principal Bump let a breath out as he looked down at her. "Let's talk."