The scream of the alarm clock was Amity's signal to finally get out of bed. She reached over to silence the alarm, when it went quiet. For a moment, Amity was wondering who the hell was in her room and why the hell they were there. It was when a now familiar voice, all too cheery and happy, sang out a loud good morning that Amity remembered. She was not home (thankfully), this was not her room, and she was in fact sharing a cabin with Luz Noceda, the human.
"Rise and shine, Blight," Luz chirped, already much more awake than the purple haired mess who wanted nothing more than to be a lump in her bed and have Luz magically disappear. If only. Amity managed a small groan, sitting up and forcing the sleep out of her eyes. Her ears twitched slightly, and eventually she stretched. She was used to getting up early, true, but that didn't mean that she liked it.
As Amity managed to step out onto the floor past the blanket, Luz was busy shrugging on her green hooded jacket. The red beanie followed suit, managing to place itself perfectly atop messy, long, curly locks of brown hair. Two longer strands fell down to frame the human's face and her smile, while the rest fell back behind her or curled up and out from underneath her hat. She wore the same shirt as she did the day before, blue and white stripes encased in green down to black skinny jeans that had been torn in so many different places it was hard to see how they actually were held together.
Amity didn't even realize she was staring until Luz piped up again.
"Not a morning person, are you?"
"Shutup," Amity mumbled, stretching again, "I didn't expect you to be."
"I'm always bright-eyed and bushy-tailed," Luz said matter-of-fact-ly.
Amity sighed. She was grateful that the human seemed to at least have stuck to her end of the deal so far. Between blankets, clothing, trinkets, and whatever else Luz had with her, none of it passed the tape line. The lack of anything in the neutral zone gave Amity some confidence that, even when she was asleep, Luz was respecting her space.
As she damn well should.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Luz asked, and Amity could hear the shit eating grin on her voice.
"Forgetting what?"
Luz fell onto her bed and beamed, "Let me remind you!"
The human made an ordeal of clearing her throat to speak.
"Blight, you're actually quite the fashionista!"
Amity's gut twisted in a way she couldn't comprehend, and she felt her face heat up. She had, in fact, forgotten of the most asinine part of the deal she had made with Luz. Complimenting each other every morning, for reasons Amity still didn't understand. The witch groaned again, mumbling a barely audible thanks before Luz shot her an even bigger, expectant grin.
"You're not quite as annoying when you're asleep, Human," Amity spat.
Luz shrugged, "Eh, good enough!"
The human bounced off her bed again, this time taking her time to do stretches on her side of the room. Amity had managed to go over to the foot of her bed, perusing through what was effectively a full vanity and walk-in closet of outfit options.
"What got you up so damn early?" Amity asked.
"I always wake up early," Luz said, "But I really just wanted to get my shoes back."
More memories clicked into place as the witch held up a couple of shirts, putting one in front of her chest, "So have you done that already?"
"I was gonna, but then someone woke up and I had to stick around to say good morning."
Amity rolled her eyes, "So you need my help?"
"What? No?" Luz's voice lilted up in confusion.
"I mean why else would you wait?" Amity asked
Luz simply shrugged, "I dunno. Just tryin' to be a good cabin mate I guess?"
"I see," said Amity, her voice flat and cold. She finally picked out a set of clothes, and turned to face Luz again.
"Wanna be a good cabin mate?"
"Well, I mean, yeah-"
"Great! Step out, I need to change."
Luz stepped towards the door, but stopped for a moment to turn on her heel, "So you're coming with me?"
"Out!"
Luz loitered around the cabin door, perking up when Amity stepped out. Amity had chosen a pretty simple outfit, an off shoulder black tunic that was loose and hung delicately on her body, the fabric light and soft. It was tightened around the waist with a gray, fabric belt, and complemented by deep red leggings. And, at the very bottom, a pair of short, high heeled boots. It was one of many simple but striking outfits the girl wore, all with the purpose of carrying a statement.
A statement that flew right over Luz's head.
"Is this the best place to be wearing heels?" Luz asked.
Amity sneered and held her chin up, looking down her nose at the human. Luz simply shrugged, and the two walked off, splitting, as usual, at the central campground. Luz wandered off, quickly finding the group of the ABOM cabin. Amity, however, veered over to the cabin labeled EMPO, meeting up with Boscha and her clique of friends.
"Hey, Ames!" Boscha said, rushing over scroll in hand, "Look at this!"
Amity looked down to see Boscha's Penstagram open to the image from last night, a bright pink middle finger pointed up at a pair of shoes in the treetops. The girl snorted, swiping through a few extra photos that showed Boscha's clique showboating over their prank.
"I saw that," Amity said flatly.
A shorter girl with white hair pulled back into a poofy ponytail spoke up, "It was my idea!"
"Shut up, Skara!" Boscha barked.
"And where are these shoes now exactly?"
Boscha turned back and shrugged, "How the hell am I supposed to know? There are, like, hundreds of trees around here."
"And you don't remember which one you put the shoes onto?"
"I mean we had a bit to drink."
Amity rolled her eyes in her head.
Of course they did. And of course they probably still have plenty of booze.
Amity's inner monologue was quickly cut off by Boscha throwing an arm around her, the two girls walking off in the direction of the cliff overhanging the lake. The clique followed behind them, Skara chatting away with two other girls. Every one of them, minus Amity, was glued to their Penstagram feeds. And despite Amity's best efforts, she just wasn't able to tune out their gossip today.
Every couple of minutes, Boscha extended an arm and demanded Amity's attention to show her something on her scroll, and Amity always responded with the same nod and invisible eye roll. The tiny Amity in Amity's brain piped up.
You know you could try and get away from her too.
And go where exactly?
I mean, Noceda and her friends are at least tolerable.
Amity shuddered.
Hell no. Not them. Not again.
Well what other choice do you have?
…You know being completely solitary for three months doesn't sound that bad.
And that would be any different from life at home, how?
The witch sighed, and was about to make some sort of excuse to break away from Boscha and her clique, when they all came to a stop. Ahead was Luz, Vee, Gus, and Willow. Gus was doing his best to cheer Luz on, while Vee and Willow looked on in concern. But by far and away the most eye-catching thing was Luz. She had, for once, let her jacket and beanie come off. She was dangling from a low hanging branch, getting her bare feet up onto the trunk of the tree. She yanked herself up with a huff, and straddled the branch, eyes fixed on the branches above.
Amity followed her gaze, and laid eyes on a pair of shoes. Boscha and her group got a bit closer, and Amity's ears tilted forward a bit.
"Are you sure you don't want any help?" Vee asked.
"'s cool! I got it!" Luz chirped, beaming a bright smile back to her friends. Boscha and her posse stepped forwards, the pink girl's cackles echoing out over the lake from the clifftop.
"Oh, my Titan, the human actually found them!" She was doubled over, doing her best to try and lean on Amity for support. The purple haired witch retracted her shoulder, scrunching her nose up momentarily before looking back to Luz.
"What the hell are you doing?" She called out
Luz, who was now standing on the branch to get to the next, glanced at Amity and waved. She simply pointed at the shoes that were now only a few feet above her.
"I said I was gonna get 'em back!"
Amity went to speak but just groaned, Luz already traversing upwards. Boscha had her scroll out, laughing her ass off as she pointed it at Luz. Amity paused for a moment, and could help but feel something in her gut that she couldn't quite pinpoint. Or, that she could absolutely pinpoint, and swept under the rug. She watched as Luz made her way higher, eventually crawling out to the far edge of the branch which sagged under the extra weight. It took a few swipes, but Luz managed to grab the shoes, holding them out in her hand with a triumphant cheer.
"Let's go!" She shouted, before a loud crack cut through the forest like a whip. Everyone fell silent, minus Boscha barely holding her laughs in, and another loud snap echoed through the camp valley as the branch finally gave way. Luz hit the ground hard, with Amity feeling the impact in her feet. Her friends rushed over to help her, but Boscha and her clique had finally lost all composure. They burst out laughing, pointing their scrolls at Luz and co.
Luz somehow managed to stand up on her own, Vee and Gus taking an arm over their shoulders just in case as Luz managed a weak walk. Amity felt that feeling in her gut again, her gaze drifting to Boscha. It was stronger this time. Slipping her shoes back on, Luz stepped over towards Boscha, breaking away from her friends who tried to drag her away from the pink haired girl.
Boscha immediately stepped forward with a cocky grin, and a glint in her eye. But Luz didn't back down, and that was probably the nicest thing Amity could say about the situation. The two girls exchanged heated looks, with Luz egging Boscha on to throw the first swing. And just as Boscha was about to oblige, Amity cleared her throat. She glared at Boscha and her friends with a piercing gaze that even Boscha wouldn't try and go against. So the jock opted to give Luz a stare of her own, before turning about face on her heel, and marching away, followers in tow.
Luz smirked, giving them all a big fat pair of dual wielded middle fingers, before Amity turned her glare onto her. Her hands went up defensively, confusion taking place. Amity said nothing, but her mind was racing. She could think of plenty to say to Luz, especially about how the girl was incapable of keeping her mouth shut sometimes. The witch raised a finger but ultimately sighed, turning to look out across the cliff towards the lake's furthest reaches.
"You're pretty stupid, Noceda."
"Thanks?"
Amity groaned, and turned her gaze back to the girl, a scowl on her lips. Her eyes were concerned, though, and she mumbled something to herself.
I don't know how to figure this girl out.
Eventually Amity simply turned and walked away without a word, retreating back down the hill. She glanced carefully over her shoulder, watching as Luz's friends began to check up on Luz now that she wasn't trying to stand up to someone. Amity swallowed hard and steeled herself, emptying her mind as best she could. A deep breath gave her back the best example of "Blight posture" imaginable, and she held her chin high.
Back at the main campsite, campers had once again taken mostly to forming cliques amongst cabinmates and talking rather than doing much else. Amity couldn't really say she blamed them. As much as the time away from her family was nice and definitely deserved (though she had her doubts that her mother wasn't somehow keeping tabs on her), it was hard for her to really get into the spirit of being outdoors. While she wouldn't outwardly complain about it most of the time, she sympathized with the complaints of people like Boscha about the bugs, the heat, the humidity, the sun, and the everything else.
Which, Amity assumed, is what made it extra weird to see Luz and her friends off actually doing things. It shouldn't be weird, they were at a summer camp, in the outdoors, and this is what people did. But in comparison to the other people there, Luz's cheery nature and excitement about doing something even as simple as climbing a tree seemed out of place. Hell, in comparison to the actions of everyone else at camp, it seemed almost brave, seeing Luz beckoning her friends as she darted off into the brush behind cabins whooping her heart out.
Despite how confusing it may have been, Amity was grateful. The more time Luz spent doing whatever the hell she was doing the less time she was going to be bothering her.
Didn't stop Boscha trying to evidently pick up Luz's slack.
The preppy witch leaned over, scroll outstretched as she caught Amity staring off into the distance. The shutter clicking got her attention, and she gawked over at Boscha who was already posting the selfie to Penstagram.
"So what made you stop me from trashing that human earlier?"
Amity's head shook a tiny bit, trying to drag herself into focus.
"There are better things to be doing with your time, aren't there?"
Boscha snorted, "Yeah, but all those things would be better if she wasn't around."
"She wasn't around when we were walking, was she?"
"Whatever," Boscha scoffed, "I just think you're trying to make sure I stick around and don't get kicked out," she continued, her voice hinting the smallest bits of condescension, "That makes you a really good friend you know?"
"I do my best," Amity said flatly, "Can you take down the picture you took of me now?"
Boscha raised an eyebrow, "But we're besties, aren't we?"
Amity huffed out her nose, before forcing her best smile, "You are absolutely right, Boscha. Be sure to tag me in it, okay?"
"'Atta girl," Boscha beamed, throwing an arm around Amity's shoulder and dragging her into another picture, fingers held up in a peace sign to the camera and their cheeks pressed right up against each other. Amity bit her tongue and forced another grin for the camera before it clicked. As soon as Boscha had let her free from her grip, Amity stood up, took a deep breath, and started walking.
Amity didn't quite know for sure how she ended up back at the clifftop, but it wasn't something she was super concerned about. She had taken a seat at the base of the tree, leaning into its trunk as she looked out over the edge of the cliff. The sun had begun to tip out towards the horizon, blue sky slowly turning golden with the rays that spanned across everything the eye could see. Long, beautiful shadows reached like fingers out into the lake water, and Amity…
Amity was confused.
Truth be told, she couldn't really tell Boscha why she had stopped her. Had it been anyone else, any other time, any other setting, Amity would've sat back and watched the fireworks. Hell, depending on who it was, she probably would've joined in. But for some reason, Amity didn't do that. Rather than let Boscha try and have her way with the cocky, cheery human girl in her stupid beanie and jacket, all just to watch her kick the shit eating grin off of Luz's face, she stopped Boscha.
And she didn't have a fucking clue as to why.
The more Amity tried to understand, the more she felt herself begin to scowl. The more she tried to think, the more she found herself unable to, and the more she tried to justify any sort of notion that Luz Noceda deserved whatever sort of ass kicking she got for taunting someone like Boscha when she just fell out of a tree, she failed to come up with something to fault Luz over.
It was starting to piss her off.
The sound of footsteps brought Amity out of her own mind for a minute, and the sight of familiar, worn out shoes that had once been up in the tree behind her came into view. Amity blinked for a moment, as if she hoped that when she opened her eyes that Luz would somehow not actually be there, because Titan this was the last thing she needed right now.
"You good, Blight?"
Amity just glared at her.
Luz just smiled, sticking her hands into the pockets of her jacket, "I just uh…Wanted to say thanks for earlier."
Amity kept glaring.
Luz shifted around uncomfortably, "You know for…Uh, getting Boscha to back off."
"You're the one who should've known better," Amity hissed.
"Woah," Luz said, hands coming up defensively, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You were hurt, you fell out of a tree, Noceda," Amity stood, "And you still kept taunting her. You were practically begging for an ass kicking."
"What, are you saying I shouldn't have said something?"
"Yes!" Amity gawked, "That's exactly what I'm saying!"
Luz frowned, "She had her scroll out, or whatever, what else was I supposed to do?"
"Haven't you learned to turn the other cheek, dumbass?"
Luz stepped forwards, but kept her voice under control, "What, and let her think I'm an easy target?"
Amity paused.
"If I hadn't done anything, she was probably gonna do something even worse tomorrow! Or she would've probably hit me anyway!" Luz explained, leaning into the tree trunk, "I'm not gonna sit there and let her think she can get away with that!"
Amity sighed and sat back down, sliding down the tree with Luz following suit.
"Whatever," Amity huffed, "Just…Figure yourself out, Noceda. I'm not stepping in again."
"Yeah, yeah…"
The silence hung awkwardly.
Luz shifted a bit, turning away from the lake view to face Amity a bit better, "What do you think they're gonna have us all doing tomorrow?"
"I can only imagine it's either going to be tedious or childish."
"Real ray of sunshine you are, Blight."
Amity scoffed, brushing her hair out of her face, "Whatever it is tomorrow, if it's a competition I am not losing."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. It is. especially not to you, Noceda."
"Supongo que la descubriremos," Luz smirked, "Blight."
Amity's ears wiggled a bit, one pointing up and the other falling downwards, aiding to the confusion on her face. But the cocky grin on Luz's face told her all she needed to know.
"Oh, you are on."
Luz sat back into the tree, "Can't wait to see what you bring to the table."
"If I were you, human," Amity smirked, "I'd give up now."
"In your dreams, Blight."
As the sun finally dipped below the horizon, the pair had begun to make their way back to their cabin. Amity noticed how the central campfire pit had come down to embers. They had been gone for longer than they thought. And in that time, Luz had found yet another way to bother her. Luz, at some point in their walk back, had found a stick. Luz had cried about it being a 'cool stick' and that she 'had to take it with'.
"I could just stick that thing up your ass and call it good," Amity scoffed.
"Have you never found a cool stick and just kept it?"
Amity groaned.
This girl is a child. She is actually a child, Amity's mind started.
Okay but is it actually that big of a deal? It's just a stick.
Exactly! It's just a stick, and we are not going to be the girl known for rooming with the human who gets giddy over a stick.
"I'm taking your silence as a yes," Luz interrupted her thoughts.
Amity shook her head, "Excuse me?"
Luz looked back over her shoulder, "I asked if I could bring it inside, you didn't say anything. So I'm taking that as a yes."
"Absolutely not."
"It's just a stick, princesa!" Luz said.
Amity stiffened slightly, ears pinning down against her head. It took her a beat to get the words out, "Exactly! It's just a stick, why do you need to bring it inside?!"
Luz did her best to put on puppy dog eyes, and suddenly Amity felt really confident in punching her right now.
"Pleaaaase?" Luz asked, batting her eyes, "It'll stay on my side!"
Amity lifted her head to the sky and groaned, "Fine!"
Luz whooped, twirling the stick in her hands. The witch followed her, and she sighed when Luz called dibs on changing first.
The alarm clock screamed, and Amity slapped it quiet, doing her best to fight off any residual sleep that tried to wrangle her back down into bed. Her eyes fluttered open and she managed to, eventually, get her eyes to focus on Luz. Who was already awake, already dressed, and was currently doing push ups on her side of the cabin. The pool of sweat under her head (and the smell of the room) tells Amity that she had been at it for a while.
The human caught a glimpse of the witch, and flashed a smile on her way up, "Morning!"
Amity sat up and stared down at Luz, ears twitching as she processed waking up.
"Working out this early?"
"Mhm!" Luz grunted.
"You're mental."
Luz laughed, glancing back at Amity between push ups, "Someone misses their double cappuccino macchiatos."
"Get bent."
"What are we supposed to be doing every morning?" Luz asked, flashing a smirk as she swapped to doing crunches. It earned another groan from Amity, who shuffled out of her bed and over to where she kept her clothes. It suddenly hit Amity that yeah, camp was actually starting today. She sighed and picked out something light, before turning to face Luz.
"I need to change."
"After this set?"
Amity growled, but Luz held up a finger, tutting her tongue.
"Let me go first," Luz cleared her throat, "Amity, you're actually pretty good at controlling Boscha."
Amity pursed her lips, and eventually spat, "You're good at climbing trees," before her finger drew another magic circle, before she turned her palm upwards, held like a claw. A puddle of purple, murky goo formed at her feet just between the two of them in the neutral part of the room. Amity raised her hand, and from the goo rose a crude, gollum looking creature. Its eyes and mouth drooped, and it let out a pathetic sounding wheeze. With a flick of Amity's finger, the creature reached out, grabbing Luz by the arm, and tossing her out of the front door of the cabin. Luz scrambled to her feet outside.
"What the hell?!" was all Luz could really say before her beanie and jacket were tossed out with her, and the door was shut in her face.
By the time Amity had strolled out, Luz had found another stick, and was balancing it on the tip of her finger while waiting for her. The two, for once, seemed like they were actually prepared for the summer. Luz had a two tone hoodie on, blue on top and white on bottom, paired with some shorts and some white shoes. The hood of her hoodie was adorned with cat ears, go figure, but she opted to keep the beanie on her head for the time being. Amity was in a light, pastel pink-ish fitted tee, surrounded by the mauve letterman jacket she had brought with her. And, to round it off, black sneakers, and a pair of running shorts that made sure Luz suddenly realized that Amity was far, far more toned than the impression she gave off would suggest.
And just as the two were about to bicker about Amity throwing her out and whether or not it broke the cabin rules, they heard a chirp of a megaphone in the distance, followed by the familiar voice of Eda.
"Attention campers!" the older witch's voice echoed through the forest, "Meet at the campfire pit in ten!"
"Or suffer my wrath!" King added, just before the megaphone cut out. Amity and Luz gave each other a quick glare, before making their way to the center of camp. They were greeted with a bunch of groggy looking witches, gathered around the ashes of last night's fire and doing their best to stay awake. Boscha and her group in particular looked devastated, with Boscha loudly complaining and ordering the others around her to get her some form of caffeine.
Luz and Amity actually walked together this time, though not without any troubles. The two were exchanging occasional mean mugs and middle fingers, when the group of the ABOM cabin managed to break their attention away from each other. Luz waved at her friends, and they returned the favor. Well, except for Willow. Willow was busy looking anywhere other than Amity, and Amity was returning the favor, instead just giving Gus and Vee a weak wave.
"What do you think we're gonna be doing?" Luz asked.
"I really, really hope it isn't those get to know you games," Gus said, wiping sleep from his eyes.
"Oh yeah," Willow agreed, "Hate those."
"Ditto," Luz joined in. Amity stayed quiet, choosing instead to focus on what must have been the world's most interesting blade of grass. The idle chatter from the group of friends was just enough to keep Amity eavesdropping, until they all turned to look at the source of another megaphone chirp. Eda stood tall on a crate, tapping a large wooden staff against it once everyone started to look at her. King did his best to scramble up onto her shoulders, and his beaming grin could be seen through the skull he wore on his head.
"Listen up!" he barked into the megaphone, every camper's attention now truly on the pair…Well, the attention of everyone awake that was. Eda smiled and looked out over everyone, raising a hand high.
"Good morning, everyone! Today marks the first camp event!"
There were some mixed reactions amongst the crowd, but Eda moved forwards, "This challenge will be extremely simple, and will be a quick test to see how well you can all get along with your cabin mates!"
Amity and Luz immediately stiffened.
"So, split up into cabin teams!" The older witch instructed the crowd of campers, before turning aside to face Amity and Luz, "You two, though. Since you don't have a third cabinmate, you're taking King along with you."
Luz's eyes lit up and she gasped, almost making grabby hands at the demon dog thing, while Amity pressed her face into the palm of her hand.
"The challenge is simple: A ten kilometer run around the lake!"
Amity suddenly perked up, a grin tugging at her lips.
"That's it?" Amity snorted, "That'll be easy. Boscha could probably do that in her sleep."
Luz glanced over at the aforementioned witch, who was struggling to hold her head upright, "Probably a good thing."
"But!" Eda went on, "There will be no magic allowed!"
It was Luz's turn to be cocky. The human spun on her heel and flashed a smirk at Amity, waggling a finger at her. The members of the ABOM cabin giggled behind her, and Amity did her best to roll her eyes and shrug it off. Eda continued on explaining.
"Now, there's one more important thing to note. Somewhere on the beach there's a washed up trash slug. It's dead, but we really don't want to bother trying to clean it up ourselves. That being said," Eda chuckled, "King and I did already go through to pick out some of the good stuff. The losers of this challenge will be tasked with cleaning up the trash slug."
Luz held a confused eyebrow cocked up, but something about the look on Vee's face told her she really didn't want to lose.
"The winners will have their choice of treasures from the trash slug! We cleaned them up so they shouldn't stink…Well, not too much, anyways."
King scampered down from Eda's shoulders, ending up at Luz's feet. He stood proudly, pointing a commanding claw at Luz, "You, Human!"
Luz smiled brightly, and took a knee, "Yes, my liege?"
"I have deemed you worthy of carrying me in this race!"
"Why thank you, your majesty! I would be honored," Luz giggled, helping King up onto her shoulders whilst the ABOM cabin members cooed. Amity just rolled her eyes, and shrugged in King's direction.
"Easier for me," she muttered. Luz smirked again.
"Really? So you're saying that you need me to make the race easier for you?"
Amity scoffed, and stepped forwards, looming over Luz with a cocky grin, "Noceda, you'd be out of your mind to think you could beat me."
"So you'd bet on it?" Luz asked.
Amity nodded, and Luz responded with a deep chuckle. Luz thought for a moment, bringing her finger to her lip and tapping it again. And Amity, once again, didn't even realize she was staring until Luz was beaming and shaking her hands in excitement.
"Okay! Okay, if I win, you have to help me learn magic!"
Amity scowled, and stared at Luz like she had grown an extra pair of eyes, "Humans have no magical ability."
"That might be true, but who's to say I couldn't find a way?"
The witch growled, "You are not a witch."
Luz felt the tone shift, and she gave Amity a calm stare back. She took a deep breath, and stepped forwards, causing Amity to lean back.
"That might be true but just like how I don't see a fucking rulebook saying I can't be here, I don't see anything telling me I can't become a witch."
Amity glared back at Luz, amber piercing like daggers into copper. Luz swore she could see the blaze in Amity's eyes, but she stood her ground and never looked away. Amity had straightened herself, putting the two nearly nose to nose. Luz took another deep breath. Amity stiffened, and Luz felt the heat creeping up to her ears underneath her beanie.
"Fine," Amity said, "And when I win, you will give up on learning magic. And you'll go home."
Luz was quiet for a long moment. A smirk curled onto her face.
"Deal."
Amity never broke her gaze as she magic'ed another circle into the air, snatching Luz's wrist. The purple ring left off a familiar golden glow, and dissipated. Amity's voice was just barely above a whisper, and her ears were pinned hard to the sides of her head.
"The everlasting oath is sealed."
The two stood for a moment, as if stuck in a game of chicken to see who would blink first. But Eda's voice cut through their focus, as she announced that the race would be starting in twenty minutes. As she passed by the pair, she turned to face them.
"While I'm all for some good competition," Eda said, "Remember you two still have to work together to win the challenge overall."
"Yeah, Blightie," Luz said, sticking her tongue out.
"Grow up," Amity huffed.
Eda chuckled, "Yeah, see this? This is what I mean. Try not to go at each other's throats too much, got it? Now go get ready."
The pair nodded, Luz stuffing her fists into her jacket pockets and heading out to the lake, Amity following suit. As they reached the sand, they could see flag markers heading down the length of the beach, as well as a boundary that extended a bit into the woods from the shoreline. And, of course, a finish line, which seemed to be manned by Hooty, who was stuck in a sort of…Backpack contraption.
Other campers and cabin groups were already preparing, grabbing water and stretching out beforehand, and Amity decided to waste no time, tossing her jacket aside and getting into a stretch routine that she seemed to know off the back of her hand. Luz, after getting King off her shoulders, decided it best to follow suit. Amity raised her arms above her head, and Luz mirrored her, carefully watching every movement she made.
The sun showed how toned Amity's arms were, with carefully shaped muscles revealing themselves for the first time. Luz didn't even notice as her eyes trailed down, and caught a glimpse of Amity's legs. They were lean, athletic, muscular but feminine, and effortlessly defined. If they had to escape a lunatic, Luz would probably bet money on Amity making it out. Each stretch Amity made showed muscles pushing and pulling without breaking a sweat. Her eyes trailed back down again as Amity turned around, and Luz got a good look at her- Nope. Nope. Luz was done with that. She could stretch on her own.
By the time they had finished, other groups were gathering at the starting line. Amity and Luz joined up, next to the members of the ABOM cabin. They exchanged a few words of luck and best wishes, before Eda got everyone's attention. She chirped the megaphone a few times, before slowly starting to walk down the line of campers.
"And as a reminder," she said, "You have to win with your cabin mates. Even if you get here first, your place won't be counted until the rest of your cabin shows up. So stick together, and work together. Everyone got that?"
The group nodded their heads. Eda grinned, as she approached the end of the line. Luz took a deep breath, letting it out slow as she turned to look at Amity. Amity looked about as interested as she usually did, and seemed more focused on…Well, Luz's best guess was meditating. Her eyes were closed, and she was breathing slowly. Whatever worked, Luz guessed.
"Now…On your marks…"
Luz shifted down, and saw Amity follow suit out of the corner of her eye.
"…Get set…"
Amity's eyes shot open. The burning spirit in them caught Luz off guard. For the briefest of moments, Luz felt like time had slowed down. Like she could watch the flames lick away from Amity's amber eyes, as if she could feel the passion burning from inside her. Luz felt her face flush. But a loud bang snapped Luz from her daze, as Eda had pointed a finger gun up into the air. A large bolt of fire shot up into the sky with a booming crack, and Luz was just barely able to make out Eda shouting the word "Go". And it quickly, very quickly, became evident to Luz that Amity was a jock.
Amity got an early lead on just about everyone, excluding Boscha, Luz, and Willow, as well as a few other people lagging a bit behind them. While Luz did her best to keep up with Amity, her chest was already starting to burn, and it didn't help that King was on her shoulders. It wasn't enough to keep her down yet, but she was breaking a sweat, and she knew that she was going to have to push herself. Amity, on the other hand, seemed unstoppable. Her legs were all muscle, pumping away as if she were some sort of machine, without even the slightest hint of fatigue. Luz wasn't even sure if Amity had broken a sweat.
A few minutes into the race had really begun to separate the groups of campers, with stragglers lagging far behind, and Amity, Luz, and King not being able to tell where exactly in the race they stood. The only things really guiding them were the race markers, and King's occasional blabbering (though he seemed to love trying to give them wrong directions). Eventually, Amity had slowed down just enough that Luz was able to run with her side by side. The two did their best to follow the sand from the beachfront, balancing themselves carefully on a line where the sand began to blend with the grass, to keep themselves oriented.
Luz ducked under a tree branch, making sure to get low enough as to not let King get smacked by it, before she popped back up to look over at Amity.
"You seem like you're holding up well," Luz heaved.
"At least one of us is," Amity said between calculated breaths.
Luz shot her a middle finger, "Hey, I'm keeping up aren't I?"
"Barely," Amity puffed.
"Bite me," Luz growled, before King decided to butt in.
"You two need to get along better!" he insisted, "If at least for the challenge."
"Oh shut up!" Amity snapped. Luz and King were taken aback by the sudden burst.
"Hey!" Luz said, "What the hell?"
"I don't need some dog thing telling me how to behave around you," Amity spat, gluing her eyes forwards.
"That doesn't give you any right to treat him like that!" Luz said.
"Get bent!"
Luz growled, "He didn't even do anything to you!"
"Yeah," King added, "What she said!"
Amity stayed silent, opting to keep her gaze locked in front of her. Luz sighed, reaching a hand up to her shoulder to give King's claws a comforting squeeze. As the two ran, Luz decided to look ahead, and huffed between breaths.
"Your silence says a lot more than you think, Blight."
The two were about to launch into another argument, but suddenly a horrific smell began to waft over them. The two fought off retching, as they came through to a small clearing. On the beach, dead and on its side with a large incision running down the length of its belly, was a trash slug. The smell of whatever refuse it had consumed combined with the scent of its decaying corpse was enough to make the pair dizzy. Immediately, Luz put her nose into the sleeve of her jacket.
"Oh, my god, that's fucking nasty!" Luz shouted.
Amity shuddered and gagged, "We are not cleaning that fucking thing up."
King swallowed hard, covering his nose with both hands, "It's not worse than cleaning Hooty, but it's still really bad!"
Luz and Amity flicked to look at King, speaking in unison, "Hooty is worse?!"
"I swear, if I have to touch that slug or that fucking bird tube, I'm destroying this entire camp," Amity grimmaced.
Luz tugged at Amity's wrist, an act that got the witch to freeze up completely. Her face fell, and she looked at Luz astounded. Luz gave her arm another tug, nodding her head at the trash slug.
"The sooner we finish, the sooner we don't have to touch that thing!"
Amity's body went onto autopilot and nodded, eventually getting her legs back up to speed and catching up with Luz again. But every part of her brain was fixated on the fact that Luz had touched her. Like, actually physically touching her. It made her wrist tingle, in a good way, like an electric rush had shot up her arm, and Amity couldn't tell why. The more she tried to figure it out, the more confused she got and the more frustrated she became. She knew she was supposed to stick together with this girl and she knew they were supposed to work as a team, but that just seemed a little too much to ask of someone who's brain seemingly started misfiring the thought of Luz, especially when she kept trying to be nice.
Meanwhile, with the members of the ABOM cabin…
"Willow, c'mon," Vee practically begged, tugging at the girl's arm. Willow had gotten distracted by a clearing of wildflowers. The temptation had proven too much, and she was studying each one, collecting samples and going on about various facts about each.
"We're gonna fall behind," Gus urged, "If we get caught in last place, we're gonna have to clean a trash slug up!"
Vee nodded, giving Willow another yank, "Yeah! And Luz may be nice, but I don't think even she would wanna help with that!"
"But the flowers!"
"Willow!" The two ordered in unison. Willow conceded, and the three got back up to pace. As they did, they passed by Boscha and her clique, who were busy walking and checking their scrolls.
"Aren't they gonna lose?" Gus asked.
"I don't like the look on Boscha's face," Willow muttered.
"Just keep going! Luz and Amity are probably halfway there alread-"
The three all gagged and sputtered, the trash slug making its presence known.
The race had been a long, grueling run, at least for some. It had been quite a long time since Luz had run this much or this far, but she was at least able to manage pretty decently. Waking up so early to exercise every day didn't seem so dumb now! Amity, though…
Amity was on an entirely different level. The girl hardly broke a sweat, keeping a steady, unwavering pace. Her legs never gave way, never stopped putting power down, and never let her stop. And the taller girl didn't look the slightest bit worse for wear. Luz could definitely tell that Amity was an athlete. The jacket she owned wasn't just for show.
Luz had lagged behind Amity for most of the race, a fact she would blame on being the one carrying King, who did nothing much aside from sleep in Luz's hood. But, all things considered, being behind Amity gave Luz the opportunity to watch her. She studied the girl, watching her run and appreciating the details. She took note of how she breathed, of how she even held her chin up while running, how she moved with a confidence and stride that could only come with years of practice. She even got a good look at Amity's- Luz was going to stop staring now! Luz was now very much going to stop staring, because she was being creepy at this point!
Luz felt her face flush harder, and she coughed a bit, prompting Amity to look back at her.
"You okay, Noceda?"
Luz put on a big, cheesy grin, "Yep," she forced out between coughs, "Just swallowed a bug or something!"
"All the more reason to keep your big mouth shut," Amity laughed, a shit eating grin tugging at her lips, that unnerved Luz more than she'd like to admit.
"Oh, come off it, we're supposed to be working together."
"We are though, aren't we?" Amity asked, her breath labored.
"What do you mean?"
Amity shrugged, "I mean, I've set the pace. You've kept up so far."
"So what you're saying is that you're not even really trying?"
"Yep," Amity snickered, popping the P.
"Fuck you," Luz chuckled.
As the two kept up their banter, King got stirred out of his sleep. He rested his head lazily on Luz's shoulder, his voice groggy.
"Are we there yet?" He whimpered.
Luz was dragged out of her back and forth with Amity for just long enough to ask herself that same question. And that's when she saw it: The finish line. The only people there were Eda and Hooty. There were no other campers, there was no one in her way.
No one, of course, except for Amity.
And Amity hadn't noticed yet.
Luz pushed King's head down, her body listing forwards as she hit her second wind. The human bolted off into the distance, 'scrawny nerd legs' (her words) pumping away and pushing the girl far, far into the lead ahead of Amity. By the time Amity realized what was happening, Luz was on the home stretch, and Hooty had already begun to cheer her on.
"Go Luz, hoot hoot!" Hooty screeched.
"You got this, kid," Eda shouted.
Luz pumped her arms and cranked her legs, each step in the sand sending a pounding rush up through her head into her ears. Her heart slammed against her chest, and she did her best to keep her breathing calm. But most of all, she didn't dare look over her shoulder. She heard the hard stomping of Amity's feet coming up behind her, but she didn't look back. She didn't gloat, she didn't dare jinx this. She took one last breath, and instead lurched forwards in one last hail mary effort, right as she saw familiar pale skin come into her periphery.
"Luz Noceda brings her cabin into first place," Eda shouted after a moment that felt like it lasted forever, as Luz broke through the tape at the end of the race, Amity just inches behind her. The girl finally came to a halt, doubling over as King hopped down from her shoulders and eagerly hugged her leg. Amity stopped not too far away, staying upright and looking in any direction except Luz.
"I won?" Luz gasped.
"You woooonnnn," Hooty cheered, extending his body around Luz and lifting her up into the air.
"Let's fucking go!"
Luz, King, and Hooty all cheered, as Eda laughed and walked over to join them.
"Not only did you win," Eda said, "But you and Amity are the first ones here. Your cabin wins, you get to pick out the goodies from the trash slug!"
Luz threw her fists into the air, hopping down from Hooty's back(?), waltzing over to Amity with the world's smuggest smile. She raised a finger and wagged it, quips and remarks already locked and loaded on her tongue to rub it in the witch's face, just a little bit. But before she could get the words out, Amity had quietly taken hold of Luz's hand, placing the two of their hands into another purple magic circle. It pulsed again, and eventually faded away. Amity stared straight ahead, letting Luz's hand fall before turning away from her in the direction of the cabins.
"The oath is unbound," she said, before walking away.
Luz flipped her hand around and looked it over, before looking back up at Amity, "Did it work? Can I still learn magic?"
Amity sighed and looked over her shoulder, "At this point, I doubt anything I could say or do could stop you."
Suddenly, there was a large explosion on the other side of the lake, a mushroom cloud of pink dust and roaring purple flames shooting up into the sky through the trees. And, at about the same time, the members of the ABOM cabin came out of the near side of the woods, approaching the finish line. As they rushed up to celebrate their win with Luz, Luz couldn't look away from the explosion.
"What the hell was that?"
"If I had to guess," Willow said, Gus and Vee snickering, "I'd say Boscha just fell into her own trap."
Luz laughed, "Oh that is evil!" throwing her arms around her friends, the group cheered along with Hooty, with King even managing to find a party favor to blow on. Amity just watched from the sidelines, eventually turning away to look out at the approaching setting sun.
One by one, more cabin groups began to appear out of the woods and at the finish line. They filled up the roster nicely, with all cabins being accounted for by the time the sun was starting to dip below the trees. All, that is, except for the members of the EMPO cabin. Or, in other words, Boscha and her friends. And, like clockwork, about twenty minutes behind everyone else, Boscha and her clique appeared out of the woods, barely managing a jog. Boscha was limping, and a chunk of her hair seemed like it was burnt off, while the rest of her friends were covered in soot. They flopped across the finish line, and Eda chirped the megaphone.
"And that, campers, is the end of the first challenge! Luz, Amity! You two meet up at the Owl cabin, we can figure out your prizes. Boscha, Skara, Amelia, Cat! You four come with me," Eda snickered, "You gots a trash slug to be cleanin'!"
Luz grinned and turned to look for Amity, and found her already making her way over to the Owl cabin. Luz gave her friends a quick goodbye, before catching up with Amity. For once, the witch wasn't holding her head high. She stared at the ground, kicking a rock along as she stuffed her hands in her jacket. Luz decided it was probably best to keep the chatter to a minimum.
The pair waited inside of the Owl cabin, perking up as the front door creaked open and Eda yawned, walking inside and slamming it shut behind her. She smiled when she saw Amity and Luz, and motioned for them to wait for a moment, disappearing into a back room. She reappeared a moment later with a large burlap sack, dumping out a large selection of…Well, stuff was a generous word for most of it. Most of it was tacky junk or just…Junk.
"You two won the challenge, so you two get to pick something out of the valuables from the trash slug! The rest," she chuckled, "The rest, Momma's gonna sell. Could use the extra snails."
As the two teens walked over to the desk, Eda laughed, "And don't worry, we cleaned the smell out of them…Mostly."
Amity and Luz poured over the goods in front of them. Most of it, they could both agree, was largely crap. It was really more a matter of finding the gold amongst the trash. After a few minutes, Amity reached down, her hand taking hold of a necklace. It was a pendant of a crescent moon. The crescent itself was made of gold, while the shadow of the moon was made with deeply colored amethyst, inset inside of the gold. She turned it over in her hands a few times, before taking the black fabric cord and latching it behind her head. It fell just below her collar bone, and was cool on her skin.
"Nice find, Amity," Eda said, her voice lighthearted but sincere, "That looks really solid."
Luz just looked at Amity for a moment, her jaw going a little slack. Eventually she smiled, and nodded.
"It looks really good on you," Luz said, before coughing, "It-! Yeah! Yeah it looks good!"
Amity brushed off whatever the hell that was, but grinned at Eda, "Thank you."
Luz was taking her time, even sifting through the pile of knickknacks and tchotchke stuff. Eventually, though, her patience seemed to have paid off. She gingerly reached down, lifting up an incredibly old looking book. Its cover was a faded gun metal gray, the leather peeling and scaling in places and flaking off in large chunks. Corroded brass embellishments decorated the book's corners. The spine, while still round, was worn to near disrepair, with the pages of the book looking ready to fall out at any second. The title was printed on it amongst various glyphs in a script Luz couldn't quite make out. It barely looked like anything a Human would've come up with.
Eda whistled, "Damn…Let me see that, really quick."
The older witch carefully opened the book, Luz and Amity leaning over the table to get a glimpse. She flicked through a few pages, a beaming smile creeping onto her lips. She looked up at Luz.
"You're gonna like this. It's a book on the history of ancient wild magic and the history of witches. It's in your human languages, too," she said, turning the book around to a page detailing the anatomy of a witch's bile sac in perfect English. The human's jaw fell and she gasped, carefully taking the book as a grin took over her face. Her eyes were like dinner plates, and there was a decent chance that if they were all quiet enough they could hear every gear in her head turning at once.
"This is incredible," Luz exclaimed, throwing her arms around Eda, "Thank you so much!"
Eda laughed nervously, looking over at Amity, who just shrugged. Eventually, Eda put her hands around the human, who squeezed her extra tight before letting go, immediately switching to leafing through the pages of the book. Her grin was unbreakable. If younger Luz had gotten her hands on this, she probably would've detonated.
The rest of the night was rather quiet, as Luz and Amity talked sparingly on their way back to their cabins. They did, however, take a moment to stop and look out over on the beach, watching Boscha and her friends nearly throw up as they did their best to clean up the remains of the trash slug. Luz doubled over laughing when Boscha tripped and landed in a pile of lord knows what, while Amity just scoffed and wrinkled her nose at the sight.
As they sat in their own beds, Luz was glued to the book, the sound of turning pages being the only thing that broke the silence other than the hum of the lightbulb above them. And the occasional shriek of disgust coming from the beach. But as time ticked on, Amity eventually turned over, sliding out of bed and walking to the pull cord for the light in the center of the room.
"I'm turning the light out," She mumbled.
"One second," Luz urged, carefully flicking back and forth from the book to her notebook. Eventually though, she put a slip of paper into the books pages, and shut it, setting it and her notebook aside. And with that, Amity checked the clock on the shelf, before pulling the cord. The light gently clicked off, and the pair shuffled into bed. As Luz was beginning to drift off, she heard Amity shift in bed.
"…Congrats on winning, Noceda," Amity said.
"...Thank you, Amity."