"Closed?!" Boscha shouted at the sign hanging on the Mr. Elixir shop. "It's not closing time yet!"

Amity looked up and down the path running the length of the market, watching as booth after booth shuttered their doors and hung up closed signs. She walked to the Cursed Paintings booth and tore down a parchment holding a notice. "By Order of the Abomination Coven, All Market Booths Are to Close Early While the Emperor's Coven Investigates Reports of Wild Magic. Please Report Any Information to Police Precinct 128." She read aloud. Of course it was stamped with the Blight Industries seal, and likely by her mother's hand, and the intimidating mask of the Golden Guard was front and center; a sign that this came from the Emperor himself. "Thanks mom." Amity said to herself, scrunching up the poster in one hand. Anyone that knew her as a Blight likely wouldn't provide any assistance, no matter what she told them.

"Well now what are we going to do?" Boscha asked, approaching to stand beside her.

Amity sighed. "Is there any chance those seniors you mentioned earlier said exactly where they got the Body Swap potion?"

"Uh…" Boscha said, thinking. "Yeah… but you're not gonna like it."

"Night Market?" She asked, knowing what the answer was going to be.

"Night Market." Boscha confirmed.

"Well, let's go to Clauneck's for something to eat then. It'll be a few hours before the Night Market appears." Amity offered, leaving Boscha standing in front of the Cursed Paintings booth.

"Oh, thank the Titan. I'm starving! You're buying, right? Because my body had my money, and you kinda left it in that cafe."

Amity let out a breath. It really didn't seem to matter how much she did for some people, her involvement in their lives always felt like a burden. "Sure." She answered through clenched teeth, trying to be as succinct as she could. Arguing with Boscha at the best of times was a losing battle, but now that she had muscles and testosterone running through her brain, it was like Grudgeby season was already here. The sooner Amity could get everyone in order, the better.

The nearest Clauneck's wasn't far, and it seemed that if you were in a city, the fast food franchise was only a few steps away, serving every kind of dietary requirement for witch or demon, so their menu was incredibly varied. It was also a well established rumor that much of their food was outsourced to various parties of Demon Hunters and their prey, as well as perhaps the odd demon hunter themselves that didn't make their quota. They also served every kind of clientele, and patrons of such a class as Amity and Boscha were used to being a part of got special treatment away from the common riff raff and the toddler's slayground on the other side of the restaurant.

While the larger, more crowded area of the restaurant were served by common abominations created by minimum wage witches that often left drips of goo in the food, and were rarely able to get an order correct, Amity and Boscha were escorted by a well dressed pixie wearing a bow tie, a white and black suit, and a fake smile to their table and seated with plenty of room between them and the next. An assortment of drinks were made available by the pixie, each pitcher floating to the table on a glowing pink field of magic. "So what can I get you lovely couple today?"

Boscha made a disgusted face, and Amity blushed slightly, realizing that she had gotten so used to Boscha being… Boscha, that she had nearly forgotten she was walking about with a muscular male witch dressed in her own father's dress clothes. "Yeah… we're not…"

"Ew!" Boscha groaned. "We are just friends, thank you very much!" She added, then blatantly turned to Amity. "Can you believe this guy? Us, a couple?!"

"That thought has literally never crossed my mind." Amity admitted.

"My sincerest apologies, sir! I should not have assumed." The little pixie stammered, clearly nervous now that Boscha might demand to the manager that he be deepfried as her meal.

"So anyway…" Amity began before Boscha interjected again.

"Bloody right, you shouldn't assume! What kind of service is this, anyway?!"

"Boscha, it's fine!" Amity said, feeling her stomach begin to flip and grumble. "Let's just order."

Boscha glared at the pixie for a moment more, and then smiled as though never having been offended in the first place. "Yeah, I'll have the Aqrabuamelu Platter, a Quarter Pound Spider Burger, and… a Strawberry Spider silkshake." Amity stared at her in surprise. "What? It's not my body, and I'm hungry!"

"Okay, big appetite here." Said the pixie. "And for you?" He asked, gesturing to Amity.

"Just a Mermaid Sandwich with some Gorgon Fries, please."

"Oh! Manners!" the pixie said, then added sarcastically while glaring at Boscha, "What a rarity…" The pixie turned in the air, and left for the kitchen with the floating drinks following behind.

"Okay, so do you know exactly where we can find this potion in the Night Market?" Amity asked in a whisper to keep the other patrons in the room from hearing. While everyone in Bonesborough including the Emperor's Coven knew of the Night Market's existence, it was also a well known place of illegal magic and all sorts of other debauchery that mysteriously went untouched by the authorities.

"We'll have to look around a bit, but we'll find it." Boscha replied, trailing off. The table became quiet and Amity crossed her arms uncomfortably while her companion leaned on an elbow on the table, rapping her knuckles on the surface. "We don't really talk as much as we used to, do we?"

Amity shrugged and looked away, watching their pixie server be chastised by the other customers. "Yeah. It's been a busy couple of weeks."

"Ugh, I know, right? It's like this last month has totally changed the Boiling Isles for some reason. Suddenly we've got houses walking around, half-a-witch Willow is creating abominations, and humans are duelling…. Uh, anyway."

Amity sighed at the memory Boscha had dragged up again, and rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah. Amazing what one human can do."

Boscha looked away in disgust. "Hmph. Humans. I still can't believe she went through with that rat worm race on Dead Man's Curve today. I thought for sure she'd wimp out. Oh yeah, speaking of which, do you think you can help rebuild the Treasure Shack?"

Amity frowned. "I'm… not sure. I have an exam coming up that I need to learn some new spells for."

"Whatever…" Boscha grumbled, moving out of the way for their meals to be set down by the pixie. "Finally! What took you so long?"

His expression never changed. "Charming." The little pixie said, setting down the plates gently with a tiny spell circle. "Enjoy your meals. If you need anything…" he said with a shudder. "Please, don't hesitate to ask."

Boscha shrugged. "He's so 'Aw' inducing, isn't he? I have to own him." Boscha grinned, watching him flutter away before turning back to Amity. "Anyway, so about this Night Market thing…"

"Would you keep it down?" Amity said, fighting off her attacking Gorgon Fries with her fork as they snapped and hissed at her. "It should be appearing any time now."

"Amity, no one cares what goes on there. It's fine! Besides, if we want to snag a body swap potion, we're going to need to know who to look for."

"Potions, you say?" Came a squealing voice of delight from the booth behind Amity.

She turned around in her seat to find a small porcine demon with large pink ears, a pair of small tusks jutting out from his mouth, and a twirled pointed tail that was reaching out to grab a salt shaker off of the table to add to his meal. "We're having a private conversation here."

"Oh, my apologies! It sounded as though you were seeking the assistance of a master potion maker!" The little demon giggled. "One that could create a magical potion that could possibly reverse the effects of, dare I say, illegal wild magic?"

Amity narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the little chuckler. "And you are?"

"Tibblet-Tibblie, Grimm Hammer the Third, at your service." He replied, standing up in his seat and taking a bow. "I know just the potion you seek, but unfortunately I have fallen on some hard times, due to no fault of my own. Perhaps we could make a deal that would benefit us both?"

"I'm pretty sure we could find the potion on our own, Amity." Boscha said, then whispered uselessly across the table. "I'm not sure I trust this guy."

Amity didn't either. This Grimm Hammer character was dressed in an expensive maroon vest, though it looked as though it was in rough shape. His large round glasses had a crack in one of the lenses, and yet somehow he was sitting in the VIP section of the restaurant. Whatever happened, through no fault of his own, had obviously happened recently and he still had enough influence to enter this section of the restaurant. "What exactly are you looking for in exchange for this potion?"

The little demon hopped off of his seat and skirted over to their table to talk more privately, gesturing for Amity to move in. She growled, but conceded, and Tibblet-Tibblie took a seat beside her. "While I am a master potion maker, as well as a proprietor of many other products, my booth in the Night Market was recently destroyed by a very rude customer, ridding me of my livelihood."

"Yeah, yeah, sob story." Boscha said, already bored. "Get on with it, Tibblet."

Tibblet-Tibblie paused a moment, and Amity could see the restrained rage in his face before he chuckled. This being was a master of public relations, and most likely manipulation. They would have to tread very carefully. "Please, call me Tibbles. Tibblet-Tibblie is so formal, and I really feel like we're friends."

"Continue, Tibblet." Amity said, emphasizing the more formal name.

"I can tell you're both very shrewd! That's important in transactions such as these." Tibbles grinned. "Now, where was I? Ah, right. So as my booth, Mud & Sundries… perhaps you've heard of it? No? Well, since it was destroyed, all of my supplies were destroyed with it, and I'm in need of some… minor ingredients in order to concoct a potion for a future endeavor that is certain to get me back on my feet. You get me these ingredients, and I'll give you the potion to reverse the effects of your little curse."

"It's not a curse." Amity insisted. "It's just a body swap spell, and there's a number of people that are affected."

"Pish-posh! I guarantee that this elixir will do the trick!"

"Well that doesn't sound so hard, I guess." Boscha said. "What are these ingredients? I'm a bit of a potion maker myself, y'know."

Tibbles eyed the well toned witch up and down. "Yes. I'm sure." He said with obvious hesitation. "I'll give you a list. You get them to me by sun down, and you can have your elixir. Deal?"

Amity frowned. While it was true that they might be able to find another vendor in the Night Market that had the potion they were looking for, one was being offered right in front of them by someone that really wasn't any more untrustworthy than anyone they might find on their own. Reluctantly, she nodded. "Deal."

Tibbles giggled gleefully. "Stupendous! I'm sure I can trust you to keep your end of the deal." He said, pulling a napkin from the dispensary, and pulling a pen from his breast pocket. "Here are the ingredients." He slid the napkin toward Amity, then stole a Gorgon Fry and slurped it down head first before she had a chance to protest. "Mmm. Love those. The venom really brings out the salty flavor!" He went for another and Amity slapped his tiny paw before he could get close. "Oh, you've got some quick hands! Delightful!" He said, though she could see the offended look in his eyes. "You can find me on the carnival grounds once you've collected everything." He added, then hopped from his place beside Amity. "Ta!"

"That guy was weird." Boscha said as the pair watched him leave. "So what's on the list?"

Amity lifted the napkin and read the list aloud, "Giant's thistle, Lung Wart, Redcap Fungus, Slimey Snails or Puppy Dog Tails, and Ginger for nausea."

"That's it? Why can't he grab this stuff himself?"

"Any idea what kind of potion this would be for, just out of curiosity?"

"It's definitely a transformation potion of some kind. Usually Giant's thistle is used for growth, but the Lung Wart would reverse that. The real clue is the Ginger for nausea. I think it's a shrinking potion."

Amity shrugged. "Okay, well it's nothing illegal at least. Any idea where we could get all of this?"

"With the Market closed, we'd need to either collect it all by hand, or Hexside has all of it in the Potions Class."

"You want to break into the school at night? We're trying to get out of trouble, not into more!"

"Don't you have an in with Principal Bump, Ms. Top Student?" Boscha countered, and Amity audibly growled at her. "Alright, alright. Well, what do you think we should do?"

Amity never did receive a new Top Student badge after the first one was crumpled in her fight with Willow, and really, nothing had changed. No one had treated her any differently or felt that her worth had become any less. No one except her mother, and herself at least. "Why would Principal Bump let me, an Abomination student, into the Potion class storage room after hours?"

Boscha grinned. "What's the worst that can happen? If it works, by this time tomorrow, this guy will be the only one in trouble, right?" She asked, pointing her thumbs at her current body.

"You can do this, right?" Boscha asked, looking uncertain now that they were standing at the foot of the stairs that lead into Hexside. The school looked bigger than it ever had since the first day Amity had attended as a toddler. It was built like a cathedral, with four tall pillars adorning the front platform and tall wooden double doors marking its entrance. Fortress-like battlements supported each corner, and many students assumed there were even defences upon each in case of someone trying to infiltrate the school by flight. A great central tower that stood above the rest had spikes on each pointed roof and the eyeball of some ancient creature that looked over the school grounds from its place in a recess at the top. Fortunately, it had a tendency to fall asleep early on school nights.

"Sure. No problem." Amity said, taking a deep breath. This was something she hadn't tried before, but the idea had struck her from thinking of Luz, of all people. She began drawing a large circle of magical energy around herself, slowly and methodically. Purple ooze began seeping out of the dirt and grass around her feet, encasing her boots and sliding up her leggings. "This is a lot colder than I expected." She said, gasping as the goop crested her chest and ran down her arms. "Here we go…" The abomination slowly completed covering her face and hair, and it felt like she was about to drown in mud. She slowly exhaled, blowing a bubble of the material until it popped. "Yeuch…" she said, the ooze continuing to pour over her mouth. She could breath at least, but there was a faint smell of old, wet dirt that was permeating her mouth.

"You okay?" Boscha asked, looking at her uncomfortably.

"Yeah…" she strained. "I hadn't thought of how heavy this stuff is. How do I look?"

"Terrifying." Boscha answered.

Amity summoned up her scroll and snapped a selfie in order to catch her reflection. The abomination that was covering her was under her complete control, but it didn't look the same as what she normally conjured. It had multiple eyes that were trying to move about her body to focus on a single point, but her own eyes stood out as points of glowing gold in the growing darkness under a heavy brow. While there was a noticeable gap where her mouth was in order to keep from being suffocated under the sludge, another mouth that groaned was struggling to move into place where the form should have had one. "I think for the future, I'm going to limit this idea just to a single leg or something." She said, making a mental note and lifting a leg in order to walk forward. "Let's… ugh… get these… ugh… ingredients…" she huffed, slowly climbing the steps to the grand doorway to the school.

She found she was having to concentrate on every step she took, and moving her arms for balance just to be able to move the heavy substance that encased her. Otherwise she could feel that giving the abomination autonomy would very likely break her bones and twist her up in ways her body wasn't meant to go as the creature continually shifted form with each movement. As she reached the large double door, she pressed a finger to the large key hole, and the abomination goo slid through to the other side.

"What's taking so long?" Boscha whispered from behind her.

"You think this is easy?" Amity replied in frustration, using the thin tendril to feel around for the massive bar on the other side of the door. It was strange being able to feel what her abomination could feel, like feeling vibrations along a long string. Everything was vague and incongruent, and she had to try to visualize what she was touching, and then muster enough mass in the tendril to lift the heavy bar that ran across the doorway. She had to admire Principal Bump's insistence on having so much security on the door considering he himself had lead the attack on the former school that once stood where Hexside does now. He knew full well what trouble intruders could cause. "Almost…" she said to herself. The abomination 'suit' was starting to get hot and even more uncomfortable as she strained until finally a loud thud could be heard through the door. She used the tendril to twist the doorknob on the opposite door she was running it through and could feel the lock click out of place. "We're good."

Boscha opened the door and peeked in. "I can't see anything."

"You don't have three eyes anymore." Amity reminded her, taking a breath and moving her body forward. "Where's the Potion storage room?" Even she was having trouble seeing in the pitch black hallways where wall sconces usually illuminated. "Let's make this as quick as possible.

Leading the way along the wall down several hallways and around enough corners to get truly lost, Boscha was having to move slowly to allow Amity to keep up in her abomination suit. While the chances of being discovered might be relatively low, the consequences would be dire for Amity without the disguise. As it is, it would simply appear that an adult witch was wandering the halls with his own abomination, and that would have to do. "I think it's this way."

"You think? Do you have any idea how heavy this is?" Amity whispered back.

"I'm sorry I don't have the whole school memorized by feel!" She replied, far louder than Amity was comfortable with. A loud growl echoed through the halls, and both Boscha and Amity gasped. "What do you think that was?"

"Maybe someone left the detention doors open? It could be the Brain Scrubber Worms." Amity suggested. She wasn't sure if anyone other than Principal Bump would be familiar with what inhabited the school after hours, considering what everyone knew was imprisoned below it. Another moan travelled through the halls. "We need to find those ingredients now."

"Okay, okay…" Boscha said, squinting against the darkness. "I think that's the greenhouse, so that would mean the Potions Class is that way." Amity nodded and followed along, trying her best to tip toe along behind Boscha despite the heavy, wet footfalls she was making. It took at least another half hour to find their way to the storage room they were looking for, and Amity pressed a finger up to the keyhole on the door, again passing a tendril of abomination goo through the mechanism. "Hurry up!"

"It only locks from this side!" Amity replied, trying to feel through the abomination what was inside the lock. "I have to figure out how to open it from inside."

"Great!" Boscha complained. "I think I hear that… thing… getting closer!"

Amity shut her out, closing her eyes and regretfully sticking out her tongue in concentration and getting a taste of abomination mud as she continued to feel around. She pushed on various surfaces as she searched for the tumbler that the skeleton key for the door might press against to unlock it. Finally, she felt something budge and she pressed as hard as she could until the door popped open. "Got it!"

"Get in!" Boscha whispered, shoving her form into the storage room and closing the door behind them. Amity was trying to remain quiet and listen despite her heavy breathing, remaining as motionless as she could despite drops of goo that were continually sloughing off whenever her concentration wavered. The sounds of footfalls moving past the storage room door, and a faint light passing under it told Amity they had made it in just in time.

The light passed on, as did the foot steps, and both Boscha and Amity heaved a sigh of relief. Boscha cast a minor light spell, just enough that they would be able to see what was on the shelves, and began searching through the stacks of beakers, pouches, and chests while Amity instinctively reached into her pocket to pull out the napkin that Tibbles had given her. Her pocket immediately filled with abomination goo and she cringed at the cool, heavy wetness all of a sudden. "Let's get this and go. I don't know how Luz spent all day covered in this."

Boscha was continuing to search, but her attention had been grabbed. "Luz? You mean the human thing? What makes you bring her up?"

"It's… it's where I got the idea." Amity frowned. "I figured if a human can spend all day covered in this stuff, I could too, right? Because they're so fragile."

Boscha looked at her suspiciously before giggling. "For sure! Now, I think I found what we're looking for. Read that list again?"

"Giant's thistle, Lung Wart, Redcap Fungus, Slimey Snails or Puppy Dog Tails, and Ginger."

"No thunder and lightning?" Boscha asked, stirring a glass vial with a flickering light inside a thick grey fog.

"No. What difference does the Slimey Snails make from the Puppy Dog Tails?"

"That'll be for what triggers a reversal." Boscha explained. "We'll take both, just in case."

"Got everything?"

Boscha nodded and grinned. "Not quite…" she said, pocketing a few other items.

"Boscha…" Amity growled. "We're only here for the potion."

"Oh, give it a rest. When else am I going to have this opportunity?"

"Tomorrow? When you could just get it at the market?"

Boscha rolled her eyes and blew out her light. "Whatever. Let's go."

Amity growled, but gave up on trying to convince Boscha not to steal. "Fine." She put the ingredient list back in her pocket and pressed her ear up to the door to listen. "I don't hear anything."

"Then I'd say we're in the clear." Boscha said, pushing past her and opening the door again. She wore a look of shock as her eyes caught sight of two beings dressed in black robes with royal blue tabards and carrying long, curved shepard crooks. What flesh was showing was a sparsely furred brown with large pointed ears, but their faces seemed to be covered by an upside down, skull-like mask with imposing, stitched up eyes.

They both sniffed the air when Boscha revealed herself, rasping "Trouble…."