Two days later, the entire school was abuzz with stories about what happened at the carnival grounds. While Amity hadn't mentioned what all had happened to anyone; Skara and Boscha had been more than happy to spread the news around. Amity was hoping that her evening excursion into the school would remain a secret, though she had been avoiding the Hexside Guardsmen with the crooks and upside down skull masks on the chance they would recognize her. Two students had already been carried off to the Detention Pit this morning for bullying one of the younger demons in the hall, and they hadn't been heard from since. Everyone that actually came back from the Detention Pit returned vastly different, at least for a few weeks, usually mumbling about being good students. While their behavior certainly improved, the zombie-like glaze to their eyes was enough to dissuade most of their fellow students from misbehaving as well.
"We even helped the Emperor's Coven head get her body back!" She heard Boscha say from the back of the class, surrounded by fawning students.
"Yeah! She got her body swapped with one of the Cerberus Hounds!" Skara said, suddenly talking over Boscha. "We had to chase her around the Slayground for an hour until Boscha came back with a potion to put us all back in our bodies!"
"Wow!", "I wish I could get swapped!", and "How'd you make it out alive?!" And other such comments could be heard from the group, and Amity frowned. Not only was the body swapping illegal in the first place, but she was growing more frustrated not being able to talk about her involvement in everything. If her parents discovered that she was a part of any of that, and had been kidnapped for ransom, she'd likely never be allowed to leave the manor again.
"Settle down, everyone." The professor ordered after walking through the door of the classroom. "Settle down. Did everyone finish their homework?" He asked, placing his note case on his desk. Mr. Kahn was a demon of the serpentine variety, with pale gold scales, a wide mouth and slit pupil eyes. A pencil thin mustache gave him an aristocrat look that was further accentuated by his blue and red robes and beret. His lectures in History, Lore, and Arithmancy tended to get droll despite his normally upbeat attitude, but everyone in Hexside knew how animated he could get when talking about any kind of sport.
Amity moved her notebook to the side, pulled out her Astronomy text book and her homework. She had always been fascinated by the constellations in the skies and how the stars could affect magic on the Boiling Isles, such as the mysteries of moon magic, and everything fantastical related to the subject. Before finding the Good Witch Azura books, she had often casually read Trekking the Stars, and had more recently began secretly putting effort into her own story when she could; a romantic science fiction story that had began as an Azura fan fiction but expanded on its own.
"Hey…" Boscha whispered, taking a seat next to Amity. "Grom is coming up. Are you going this year?"
A wave of annoyance washed over Amity at Boscha's interruption of her thoughts, and she frowned. She had skipped the last two years of Grom Night due to simple disinterest and that awkward feeling of attending a school dance without a date. While the Blight name could certainly open doors in Bonesborough, it also had an air of intimidation that came with it, and Amity had spent a substantial amount of effort cultivating that reputation in an effort to not have to make connections. "I doubt it. I still have a lot to do. A lot going on." She said, taking out her pencil and beginning to take notes on what the professor was saying.
Boscha rolled all three of her eyes. "Oh, come on. It's the school event of the year. Skara's hoping that boy from the carnival grounds asks her. I guess they really hit it off."
"Good for them." Amity replied, her annoyance at the distraction growing. "I'm just not that into watching my fellow students get humiliated by their fears, or worse."
"You can't just spend your whole life doing homework. As your friend, I am going to convince you that Grom Night will be worth going to."
Realizing that the distraction was unlikely to go away on its own, Amity whispered back. "So who are you going with?" She asked, changing the subject.
"Me and Celine were going to go, but we need one more. We wanted to rent a manipillar and carriage, but if there was a chance we could borrow that abominamobile…"
"No!" Amity almost shouted, then paused as her outburst attracted the rest of the class's attention. When everyone returned to the lecture, she continued. "No way. It's bad enough we barely made it back in time from Latissa before. There's no way we'd get away with taking it through Bonesborough." She said, catching up on her note taking. "Besides, I told you, I'm not going anyway."
Boscha sighed, taking out her books and utensils. "Fine. At least let me borrow your notes."
Amity growled, but relented, sliding over each page of notes as they were completed. The rest of the class was uneventful and Amity was able to pay more attention to the lesson on Sibriex and what the Demon Realm's Oracles could decipher of its make up and effect on the Boiling Isles. She couldn't help but daydream of not only leaving the Boiling Isles one day, but maybe the Demon Realm itself.
Class came to an end, and Amity packed up her books as Boscha did the same. Celine was another student from the Oracle track with pale skin and a crescent shaped face with a single eye that was just off center. Her purple uniform never seemed to fit quite correctly, with sleeves that always over hung her hands. "Hi, Celine." Amity nodded, then turned to leave the classroom.
"Amity has decided not to go to Grom, so no wheels…" Boscha whispered.
Amity stopped and slowly turned to glare at her. "Boscha… no one…" she began, then smiled sarcastically at Celine while pulling Boscha away. "Do you not know the meaning of the word 'SECRET'!?" She shouted as quietly as she could.
"Take it into the halls, students. The next class will be starting soon." Mr Kahn said.
Amity turned on her heel and exited the classroom, but she could still hear Boscha whispering to Celine. "She gets like this sometimes. You just need to know how to ride it out." And they giggled. "Ew… when did we get a new janitor?" Boscha added once they were in the hall. Amity was too distracted, holding her books to her chest and looking at the floor that she nearly bumped into a vaguely familiar tall woman with a full head of greying hair and a red dress. She was using a mop to chase graffiti that had travelled around the various lockers in the school for as long as Amity could recall. "Later, Amity! Let me know if you change your mind!" Boscha shouted, laughing with the rest of the students at the woman in the hall.
"What do you want, kid?" The Owl Lady asked, spotting Amity out of the corner of her eye, staring.
Amity felt her face flush with embarrassment, and she tightened her grip on her books. "Sorry. I recognized you from the Covention. You're Luz's mentor, right? The Owl Lady?" The Owl Lady glared at the graffiti that had so far eluded her mop. The lockers themselves were starting to look agitated, having already received a good scouring from the woman chasing the ever changing words that went from 'Mother, Noooo!' To reading 'I need a moment!'
"Right. You're the one that tried turning Luz into paste." She said, facing Amity and rolling her eyes mockingly. "Lilith's little protege." The titles caused Amity to frown and look away. "Aw, don't sweat it. Luz has made a habit of biting off more than she can chew, and Lilith has always chosen the Emperor's Coven over the 'little people'. You're the Blight kid, right?"
"Uhm, yeah." She admitted.
"Yeah, I remember your parents from school. Real pain in the neck, your mom." The Owl Lady continued, turning back to the lockers with her mop and focusing on the magical text. "A real stickler for the rules, that one."
"Yeah, she still is. The ones she makes, anyway…" she said absently. Her face reddened when she realized what she had just said and to whom, and she tried back tracking. "I mean… she's tough, but fair…"
"You think I don't know what that necklace is for? C'mon Kid, I know an Oracle Charm when I see one. How often does she listen in on you?" The Owl Lady casually twirled a finger, summoning a gold web of energy that reached from one edge of the graffiti to the other, locking it in place. The words seemed to struggle against the web, bouncing around inside like an insect under a cup. "Ha!" She laughed with a snort. "I painted you, and I can erase you." She said to the colorful text on the locker, stuffing her mop through the holes of the webbing. Drips of water off of the mop sizzled and popped as they touched the strings of the barrier.
"How did you…" Amity asked, her eyes widening at the barrier spell.
The Owl Lady let out a grunt as she scrubbed away the graffiti that had transformed into an image of a fist with an extended thumb as it slowly faded away. "What, this? A little fire magic, a little illusion, with a touch of construction, and BAM! Energy cage!"
"But that's mixing magic."
"Heh. So it is. What are you gonna do, kid? Turn me in? I've been dodging the Emperor's Guards for years!"
Amity frowned. "I know. I've seen your wanted posters… well, everywhere. Why didn't you ever join a coven?" she asked.
The Owl Lady let out a frustrated groan, releasing the energy cage where the graffiti had once been, and was about to answer when Amity caught sight of one of the Hexside guards that she had escaped the other night. It turned and stared at her with its stitched closed eyes and gave a sniff. "Trouble…" it hissed.
"Uh, I gotta go!" She said, hiding her face behind her books and running off, leaving the Owl Lady looking suspicious and confused. She quickly turned a corner of the hall without looking, bumping into the shorter form of Mattholomule and knocking him to the floor. "Ugh! Watch it!" She gasped, skirting around him.
"Hey, wait!" Mattholomule said, climbing back to his feet.
Amity rolled her eyes and looked up and down the hall to see if anyone was going to be a witness. "What?" She snapped.
"Just in case you might change your mind about me, you're talking to the future president of the Human Appreciation Society." He said in a braggish tone. "I'm on my way right now to secure my position."
"The what?" Amity asked, genuinely confused. The name sounded familiar, but there were so many clubs, minor covens, and societies at Hexside that it was impossible to keep track of all of them.
"The Human… Appreciation…" he began, looking deflated, and he frowned at her lack of recognition. "Anyway, have you seen those creepy guards around?"
Amity gestured with her chin in the direction she had just come. With any luck, this kid would get them off of her trail. The class bell began to scream above their heads, and she turned away. "I need to get to class. Remember, we've never met."
"Yeah, yeah." He replied, walking dejectedly around the corner.
Amity had to sprint to her locker now, sliding a few feet to stop in front of it and banging on its surface. The creature was jarred awake and she quickly stuffed her books in its fanged mouth and extracted her gym bag, racing her way out to the field. The halls were nearly empty with the next class already started, so she had a clear path to the back door of the school. Several students were on the field when she reached the change room, and she quickly pulled off her pink and black school uniform to replace it with her pink and blue sport padding.
"Who are you taking to Grom, Amity?" Asked a voice in the change room, and Amity closed her eyes in frustration. "You're not wimping out this year."
"Aren't you supposed to be spouting portents of doom or something?" Amity asked. The disembodied voice was coming from one of the many spirits that haunted the girl's locker room for what was apparently the last few decades. They had been here so long now that they had lost any recognizable features, and were now no more than gooey, formless apparitions with blacked out eyes and mouths, leaving purple plasma on whatever surface they touch.
"Maybe we are…" laughed another spirit.
"No, I'm not going to Grom. Why does everyone think I would go to Grom?" She asked, rubbing her thumb in her green face paint and applying it under her eyes, looking at her own reflection angrily. "Besides, there's no one here for me." She frowned.
"Aw! Is Amity Blight feeling sorry for herself?" Asked one of the spirits.
"There's no one here… yet…" said another, emphasizing the last word.
"Assuming she makes it to Grom Night."
"What?!" Amity asked in a high pitched yelp.
"Blight! Get out on the field!" Shouted the teacher through the door. She could hear Skara yelling from outside as well about hating the game before the score buzzer blared.
"I'm on my way!" Amity replied, glaring at the spirits floating around the room.
"Isn't the Grom theme getting a little old?" Asked the first apparition. "It's like a lesson in redun-dance!"
"BoooOOOoooo!" Cried the others as Amity raced out of the locker room.
"Welcome to the game, Blight!" The coach announced.
"Sorry, Mr. Pectoralis!" She called back. "The ghosts are at it again."
"Let's see some play, not excuses." Mr. Pectoralis didn't look like a typical physical education teacher or sports coach, and often filled in for other classes like the Detention track and Health Class. He had blue skin, three sets of eyes stacked on top of each other in his tall forehead, with a pair of round, red lensed spectacles for each. White hair adorned his upper lip and the top of his head in a crew cut, and he managed to keep his aging physique in relative health.
Amity took her place in the line up, quickly drawing a spell circle just behind her and made a fist, holding the spell in place. The grass began to bubble with purple ooze, ready to erupt at the sound of the whistle. Skara met her on the opposite side of the center line and crouched, nearly meeting Amity nose to nose. "I heard you and Toddric are an item now." Amity said.
Skara's determined face turned to a smile. "Yeah! He's actually pretty sweet! Can you believe we wouldn't have even met if you… uhm…"
The whistle blew and Amity opened her closed fist, conjuring an abomination out of the field. After being kidnapped, she had been practicing her defence skills, and honing her concentration, being able to connect with her abominations in order to have them mirror her actions out of reflex. It was still difficult as her body adjusted to not having the boost of a power glyph again, and the reminder made her neck and wrist itch as though something felt missing, but she was working through it.
The abomination surged forward, picking Skara up and slinging her over its shoulder. "This isn't fair to Bards!" She shouted, waving her fist in the air as the abomination carried her away. Amity had a clear path from the ball carrier now and clapped her hands to get their attention.
"Hi Amity!" Came a familiar voice from the stands and Amity risked a glance, seeing Luz waving excitedly before being pulled away by Augustus Porter back into the school.
"Luz?" She whispered, suddenly bewildered as to what the human was doing in the school again, and then it hit her. The undeniable sound of a stitched leather ball striking a witch's skull filled her ears first, before the pain of the realization that it had been her skull that had been struck; before she had then landed on the grassy field. Her vision was blurred, she could taste blood in her mouth, and her cheek felt as though she had just been stung by a fire bee.
She could hear everyone around her cringing for a moment before someone finally offered her a hand to help her to her feet. "Ooo! Head shot!" Someone shouted, and she wobbled upon standing up, stretching out a hand to steady herself, but there was nothing there to support her. "C'mon, people!" The same voice rang out, and Amity began to recognize it as the coach. "Keep her on her feet!" He ordered. "And get that abomination off the field before it crushes someone too!"
Amity's abomination was wobbling around the field, copying Amity's actions while still carrying Skara on its shoulder. "Get me off of this thing!" She shouted, beating the abomination's back with her fists. Amity crouched and put her outstretched hand on the ground, allowing Skara to crawl off of the abomination that was doing the same.
She shook her head, trying to clear it when Mr. Pectoralis stomped his way over. "C'mon, Blight! Walk it off and get back in the line!"
"I think she's really hurt, coach." Said a muffled voice she couldn't recognize.
After a short pause, Amity raised a knee and placed a hand on it to push herself up. She must have lost her shoes when she was hit as she could feel the cool grass poke through her socks and tickle her feet as she stood. "You okay, Blight?" Mr. Pectoralis asked, removing a pair of spectacles to squint into her eyes. "Ugh. Hit the locker room. You won't be any good for the rest of the class. Just try not to get in the way of the cleaner in there."
Amity nodded, clenching her jaw in frustration. She had taken plenty of hits in her time as the Captain of the Banshees, and now being told that she was of no use, for any reason, struck deep. She could hear a voice in her mind complaining about how if Luz hadn't said something, this wouldn't have happened, but there was getting to be a bigger part that was trying to be more accountable for the bad things that had been going on lately. Maybe it was hearing Boscha blame Amity for the terrible mishaps in her life, or it could be that blaming someone else for her own lapse in concentration would just make it easier to deal with the repercussions.
Her abomination met Amity at her side, holding out a thick, sticky arm for her to hold onto as she walked off of the field. She pulled open the door to the girl's locker room, her head still throbbing, and was now being agitated by the shouting coming from inside. "Get in the sack!"
Amity winced against the yelling, turning the corner to find the Owl Lady holding a large canvas sack, surrounded by the pun spewing spirits that had tormented Amity earlier. She had stains of purple slime in her hair and on her dress, and she was drawing circles of magic in the air, repeatedly casting her barrier spell in an attempt to capture them. The Owl Lady turned at Amity's entrance and glared at her.
"You again?!" They both said in unison.
"Oooo, that's quite the mark you've got there…" The Owl Lady said, wincing at the red mark on the side of Amity's face. Her gaze then lowered to Amity's lack of footwear and grass stained socks. "Boots."
Amity glared back at her. "What are you even doing here?" She asked, rubbing her cheek gently.
"Cleaning up some old messes for ol' Bumpikins." The Owl Lady said, turning her attention back to the swarm of spirits flying about the room. "I wasn't what you'd call an obedient student."
"Shocker." Amity replied dryly.
"She's here for the boooooos!" One of the spirits announced.
The Owl Lady chuckled and grinned. "Ha! If only." She snorted. "Now get in the sack."
"Is that your whole plan? Just ask them nicely to jump into a bag? They've been here for…"
"Around twenty five years, give or take; but no…" The Owl Lady replied unconvincingly. "I can't say it wasn't Plan A, though."
"If you've got it, haunt it!" Said one of the spirits.
"You can't pin anything on us!" Said another.
"BooooOOOooooo!" Cried the others.
Both the Owl Lady and Amity frowned angrily at the assault of puns. "Okay Boots, watch this." The Owl Lady drew gold spell circles around herself, and tendrils of energy began reaching out to grab at the spirits. The first spirit to be snatched out of the air struggled and passed through the wall of one of the bathroom stalls, leaving the strings of energy behind. Two more of the spirits were grabbed and pulled back toward the spell circles and the Owl Lady scooped them up with the canvas sack. The spirits, unfortunately, passed through the sack and left the tendrils behind again.
"Very impressive." Amity said, clearly unimpressed. She ducked under an approaching spirit to avoid being slimed, and the abomination by her side attempted to do the same, but being taller, the spirit struck the creature and stopped. Amity and the abomination stood again, looking at the ghost curiously while it struggled to detach itself from the abomination's chest. "Did you want some help?" She asked the Owl Lady.
"I don't know." Eda said. "Would a Blight kid reduce themselves to cleaning a locker room?" She asked, clearly frustrated.
Amity growled at her, reflexively wanting to walk away and leave her to it but Mr. Pectoralis' words about being of no use echoed in her mind. Despite her pounding head and sore cheek, she ordered, "Abomination, fill.", pointing at the Owl Lady's bag. The creature groaned and stepped forward, yanking the spirit off of its chest and dunking it and its arm into the sack. The arm reshaped itself to coat the inside of the container, the ghost still struggling against the sticky substance.
The Owl Lady smiled. "Well done, Boots. Now let's try this again." She said, gesturing with open hands at the now panicking spirits still floating around the room, sending out glowing gold wisps of energy that sparked with magic where they struck the walls and locker doors. "Whoops!" She grinned, leaving scorch marks in every surface the tendrils touched.
Amity shielded her eyes from the mess of sparkling streams and dug into her gym bag, pulling out her training wand. She checked it's charge, the indicator showing it still had half power. "Fire, Construction, and illusion…" she whispered to herself, pointing the wand at one of the spirits. She traced the gesture she had seen the Owl Lady perform earlier on the lockers in a tiny spell circle, and a purple web of energy trickled out the end of the wand.
"You're going to need to give it a little more juice, kid." The Owl Lady said, looking back. "That wand isn't going to help anything."
Amity frowned, knowing how the power glyphs had disturbed her magic to the point that it took far more concentration than she could muster right now to perform new spells. She narrowed her eyes and drew a bigger circle, pointing the wand again at the same spirit that was mockingly flying back and forth in front of her. The small energy web sparked and flared as it attached itself to its target, holding it in place long enough for the Owl Lady's gold tether to strike it and draw it into the bag. "I got one!" She shouted, an unfamiliar smile creeping across her face.
"Great kid!" The Owl Lady shouted over her shoulder. "Don't get cocky." Amity continued to put the new spell to use with the wand until it was out of power, then reverted back to commanding her abomination to swat at the few ghosts left with its one arm while the Owl Lady casually reeled in each one she caught with her energy tendrils.
"We'll be back in the moan-ing!" The last spirit shouted as it was stuffed into the sack. Both Amity and the Owl Lady were covered in slime from the irate spirits, and they shared a look for a moment before letting out a short laugh.
"I've got to get these things back to Bump. Thanks for the help, Boots." The Owl Lady said, swinging the dripping bag over her shoulder.
Amity wiped purple slime from her face. Her cheek was still stinging, but the headache had dissipated enough that she could think again. "Hey, uh… can you let Luz know I'm almost done with her book? I'd like to get it back to her."
The Owl Lady rolled her eyes, opening the door to the locker room. "Ugh, that flowery Azura thing? Sure, I'll let her know. That book is what brought her to the Boiling Isles in the first place, so I'm sure she's eager to get it back." She explained, then waved a hand back to Amity before leaving. "Bye-eee!"