Warnings in this chapter for child abuse and murder.
Okay, I'm giving a big reveal very early. And the part I'm putting in this chapter is inspired greatly by another fic. I will put it in the end note which fic it's inspired by, because I don't want to give the twist away.
Spoiler warnings for season 2.
The second time around
Chapter 7
Doing what is necessary
Luz, since finding out what sounds the Titan had been making, had known that morse code wouldn't be translated in the same way that human languages and morse code would be in her world.
So that was why she needed to go to the library. She took out books on language and what was called morse code here, which was called "Tapping messages." She supposed that that was as blunt as possible, but appropriate enough a name.
The languages that existed within the Boiling Isles, and in the islands around the Boiling Isles, consisted of what she knew to be English, but also some other human languages, and some of the old languages that predated the arrival of any human to the world. While reading a book on languages almost as soon as she had discovered that the Titan had been using morse code, she learned that the only reason why almost everything in the Boiling Isles, spoke English, was because a pair of British humans had at one time been here, thousands of years ago. Two humans. Brothers.
Luz didn't know what one of the brothers' name was, but the more famous one had been named Philip Wittebane. Luze read as much as she could on him, but nothing about what had happened to him, or to his brother came to light.
However, she did learn of two different versions of morse code in this world.
One was referred to as "Common Tapping Messages." The other one was referred to as "Pristine Tapping Messages."
From the first of the words of the second type of morse code, Luz was going to go ahead and assume that it was a form of "high class" morse code around here.
And Common Tapping Messages were probably, as the name suggested? The most common form.
The only question became, which type of morse code was the Titan rumbling out?
There was a possibility that it might be Common Tapping Messages, as it was the most common form of morse code.
But on the other hand, there was a possibility that it might be the Pristine Tapping Messages, because it was the Titan, and the Emperor's Coven were its caretakers in a way.
That was why Luz had taken out books on both the Pristine Tapping Messages and the Common Tapping Messages.
She couldn't take any chances. She had to study both.
She went back to the Owl House, with all of the books in tow and kept them in her room.
She kept studying them, up to when the circus came through and it was time for the shrinking incident.
She prepared herself, feeling bad for all three King, Willow and Gus.
She and King made bread puns as Luz waited.
Joey was poking around nervous, and when the subject of the circus came up, he was too nervous and chose to stay home.
Luz agreed, slightly relieved, since she didn't want him getting caught in the crossfire, and then eventually she, King and Eda went off to the circus.
They met up with Willow and Gus, after Luz saw that little pig demon, claiming he had changed his ways, even if Luz knew he hadn't, and her and King getting some tickets for those friendship bracelets, and when they met Willow and Gus, Luz knew she'd have to stand back and do nothing.
As much as she disliked hurting King's feelings, and disliked that Willow and Gus didn't respect him, she knew she had to hold back.
As Gus spoke condescendingly to King, picking him up, treating King like a baby, rather than likely the older child that he was. She suspected he was approaching his teen years. Luz had no idea what type of demon King was. But she suspected that he might be getting close to being a teenager, assuming he wasn't a teenager already.
She remembered what Eda had told her one time. That she had found King back when the witch had had short, orange hair. That had been almost fifteen years ago.
So yes, by age, anyway, King certainly was a teenager. But that was assuming that demons aged the same as humans did.
And Luz knew that a lot of demons aged more slowly than humans did. And some aged quicker than humans did.
If they were the insect type? Then they aged quickly.
If they were beast type or humanoid types? Then they aged slowly. And it was a toss-up whether they'd age like humans or age more slowly than humans did.
For all Luz knew, maybe King was older than her. And Gus and Willow were treating him condescendingly. Not respecting his autonomy.
That was why it took everything Luz had to clench her jaw and keep herself from snapping at them.
She reminded herself again and again that she had to let this happen. Even if she didn't want to.
The day passed and as usual, Luz tried to ignore the tightness in her stomach over what she was allowing to happen.
Eventually, things had happened the way they had happened before. She, Willow and Gus got shrunk, then so did King. They were taken by the pig demon, brought to his attraction, almost killed by the tiny, vicious animals, one of which, Luz punched, making the vicious horse dazed and making Luz's right hand ache.
King undid the damage that had been caused, they went back to their full forms, no longer tiny, Eda dumped the desserts onto the pig, his now normal sized animals attacked him and drove him off.
And now all four Luz, King, Gus and Willow were friends. And they had a lot of money now, as Eda had found.
After that, Luz had tracked down the container of shrinking potion and had confiscated it.
It was a far too dangerous an item for just anyone to get their hands on.
So she had kept it locked away in her room. That night, she apologized to King for not standing up for him, against Gus and Willow, when they had treated King the way they had treated him.
King had told her it was alright and said he'd forgive her, if she hugged him. She happily had hugged him.
He was her little brother. And she didn't ever want him to feel like he didn't matter.
The next day, Luz had waited for the boiling rain to come and she opened up the container and laid the container under the sky as the boiling rain came down. She backed away and hid in the Owl House and watched from the window as the boiling rain filled the container and evaporated all of the liquid within the container.
That got rid of the shrinking potion, thankfully. Luz then went back to her room and started studying the morse code languages again.
The next few days passed.
And then came time for the developing of photos from memories.
And Luz knew what she had to let happen, no matter how terrible it was to allow that to happen to Willow and let Amity go through all that.
Luz watched Willow turn the photos around, and Luz turned the photo with Amity and Willow in it around and walked back out, knowing what was going to play out.
So at the cafeteria, while they ate, Luz was in no way surprised that Willow suddenly looked sweaty and disoriented and weak. But she forced herself to look surprised.
Eventually, she got to the room where the pictures were, and gasped, pretending to be shocked by Amity's actions.
"Amity!" She cried out, running into the room with Amity, seeing the photos burn, "How could you?!"
Amity desperately was trying to save what she could and Luz felt her heart hurt at the panic and fear on Amity's face. The desperation.
Luz knew she had to keep a shocked and accusing face, as much as she wished she could tell Amity that she actually understood why Amity was doing it, even if it wasn't right.
"Look," Amity said, holding up some pictures, "I saved some." Then the pictures caught fire and Amity groaned, "Oh, come on!" Luz almost smiled in sympathy, but stopped herself, in case Amity looked at her.
Luz loved Amity, deeply. But Amity couldn't know that Luz knew what happened next.
For her own sake as well as for Willow's
Luz told Amity that she broke Willow's brain, and Amity protested, then Willow appeared between them, giggling, then collapsing, which gave Luz reason to give Amity a look that made Amity know she couldn't get out of this.
They went off to the Owl House.
Joey had immediately hid when Amity had shown up, since she was a new person to deal with. Luz told Eda what happened and Willow dropped on the couch, trying to "peel" King, thinking that King was a fruit, before Eda made her go to sleep.
Luz got Eda to send her and Amity into Willow's head and Luz offered her hand to Amity. Amity, resigned, took Luz's hand and Luz smiled. The warmth from Amity's hand sent warmth through Luz's chest.
Their relationship couldn't come close to what it had been, because they hadn't gotten there yet, but Luz knew that this was a big step.
She knew that she would eventually have to tell Amity, Willow, Gus, Eda and King everything. Eventually.
And when she did, she hoped that they could forgive her for what she had allowed to happen.
She fought the urge she had to squeeze Amity's hand. And she was given the bell and she and Amity were sent into Willow's head.
They went through the long and complicated rigmarole that was going through another person's mind. Luz wondered vaguely if all minds were like this, but she suspected not.
Willow's powers and classes were focused all around plants. Her room at her home, was full of plants.
So, it made sense that Willow's mind would be filled with plants, grass, trees and such.
Luz couldn't help but wonder, looking at Amity, fighting a loving smile, what Amity's mind looked like.
Covered in abominations? Unlikely. Most likely abominations would be a part of it, but not all of Amity's beautiful brain. The library and books, and the Azura books would likely also be a part of it, as well as unfortunately, a great deal of her family and the Emperor's coven.
Luz pushed that last part out of her mind.
She couldn't think about that right now. She had to play out what she knew was going to happen. So, aware that there was a hulking figure in Willow's mind, covered in fire, bent on burning every memory that Amity was in, Luz went into the first memory, alongside Amity.
In the meantime, as one manipulator allowed the events she knew were going to happen play out, another manipulator, in the Emperor's palace, planned.
He sat atop his throne, contemplating everything he had learned in the past few days.
The convention had gone smoothly. According to Lilith, she had had no interruptions. And from what the Emperor's guards had told him, her story was true. Then there was more information that he had learned. From a group of bounty hunters, who his guards had interrogated.
On the night when there could have been a Moonlight Conjuring? The bounty hunters had caught a large house demon, and three witches that had summoned the house demon. The thing was, the description of one of these witches.
The description of the third of the witches, was a brown-skinned girl, with long, dark hair, muscles, brown-gold eyes, and a hoodie and jeans.
These two things, had caught Emperor Belos's attention.
Why? Because they were different.
From what had happened last time.
Which had told Belos one thing. That the human, Luz, remembered too.
Things were happening differently, because someone remembered, and chose to change a few things.
And if the young, muscled girl that the bounty hunters had seen, had indeed been Luz, who looked very different from the first description of Luz that the Emperor had heard, then that meant that Luz was the one who remembered.
Behind his mask, Belos smirked.
He suspected that there was a reason why only he and Luz remembered and no one else appeared to.
It was because they were both human, and were both chosen by the Titan.
Belos stood up from his throne, going down the steps, ignoring how the guards all bowed to him respectfully.
Belos remembered everything. Yes, he did. But he had chosen not to do anything. He wanted to know if the other human here remembered anything. And apparently, she did.
Belos would have laughed, were he more sure of what he had suspected. But he had to make sure.
This was why he was going to his oracle. He needed a vision, to see if his suspicions were true.
He lifted his left hand to his right sleeve and pulled it back, grimacing behind the mask at the growing pustule that was the nasty dark green color that it was.
He had been cursed a long time ago. The same curse that had killed his brother, years back when he and his brother had first entered into this world, was now killing him. It was why he had to survive off of palismans from now on, but they wouldn't sustain him forever.
He had to see his oracle now. The sickness was moving faster inside him. He was going to die soon. He probably only had a few years left. He knew that.
He had to hurry.
Inside Willow's mind, Luz and Amity went through the different memories. When Amity was hesitating to allow Luz to go into more memories, she had grumbled, "Alright, when you're ready to tell me what's going on, I'll just be busy in this ball pit."
She knew she was about to step into a disgusting memory involving giant spider eggs-long story, which Amity had told her later, but at least this time, Luz knew what to expect.
Amity tried to warn her and Luz groaned as an egg got stuck in her hair again and she stuck her head out, looking at Amity, disturbed. This time, her reaction wasn't faked. Even if she had known what was coming, it still didn't make it any less gross.
"Yeah," Amity said, running over, "That one's hard to explain."
After Amity had helped pull the gunk from the egg out of Luz's hair and they put the memory right, they got out and Luz zeroed in on the memory that Amity wanted to avoid.
Amity tried to get her away from it, but Luz turned back to Amity and said, "Look, Amity, whatever you don't want me to see? It's alright. I won't judge you. Willow pretty much told me a lot already."
Amity looked down, looking scared and Luz's chest clenched. She wanted so badly to reassure Amity and tell her that she knew that it wasn't Amity's fault, but Amity's parents.
Her awful parents.
But she wasn't going to say that. Because she knew she couldn't reveal what she knew.
Again, she hoped Amity eventually would understand. And forgive. But she wouldn't ask that.
Amity shook her head, still looking scared. "I can't," she said, "I can't, it's just-"
And it was then Luz saw the smoke. "Uh, Amity?" She said, pointing to where the rest of the memories were hooked on the trees, set ablaze.
And that was when everything happened very, very fast.
The Inner Willow, made of fire, came running at them and they hid inside the memory with water in it and Luz summoned a big glacier of ice, sliding the fire Inner Willow out into the water.
Luz hugged Amity, knowing that was what she had done before, but feeling slightly disgusted with herself for doing it.
It wasn't that she didn't want to hold Amity again, she did. But it felt like she was taking advantage of Amity.
Because didn't she know so much more than Amity did? This wasn't right by Amity. So when she released Amity, slightly troubled at how pleased she was at Amity's blush, she fought the need she had to apologize to Amity.
The Inner Willow appeared, this time, without the fire covering her, they were pulled into Willow's memory, the one that Amity didn't want her to see, and the next thing Luz knew, she was being chucked through the air, into the wall of the memory of Amity's room again.
Landing hard, her back hitting the wall, she groaned, eyes closing and she felt herself sliding down the wall, as she had the first time the Inner Willow had thrown her through the portal of the memory. She got up off the floor, just slightly achy, relieved that they were in a memory, otherwise, she most likely would have broken several bones.
Standing up and rubbing the back of her neck, her right hand under her mane of dark hair as she looked at where Amity had landed, again, just on the bed.
It wasn't lost on Luz that while she had been thrown through the frame of Willow's memory, Amity had just been dropped onto the bed, as if handling her delicately.
While this may have just been so that the Inner Willow could keep Amity well enough for Amity to see the memory and twist the knife, as the Inner Willow had felt Amity had done to her, but Luz suspected that it was because there was still some affection, even now, that Willow had for Amity.
Hoping that she and Amity could be friends again.
After all, when Amity had been about to be set on fire by the Inner Willow, as soon as Amity had said, "Wait!" the Inner Willow had stopped.
Almost as if Inner Willow had been looking for a reason to forgive Amity.
Or at least, attempt at mending things with Amity.
Luz watched as the scene played out, watched as the memory went by. Two small children, one Amity, one Willow, faced each other and Amity did what she had to, in order to protect Willow from her parents and had broken things off with Willow.
Luz's heart felt again like it was going to break, when she saw the hardened expression on young Amity's face and the pained expression all over small Willow's face, as both children disappeared.
The Inner Willow was about to burn Amity, Amity and Luz both cried "wait!" and Inner Willow stopped.
Amity showed Willow what else happened.
Showed the Inner Willow her own memory. That her parents had made her cut off her friendship with Willow.
Luz watched as the Inner Willow's face softened. And Luz's heart hurt again when she heard Amity's words, "You were never too weak to be my friend, Willow. I was too weak to be yours."
Those words had hurt Luz to hear the last time. But now they hurt so much worse.
Luz hated Amity's parents. She deeply hated them.
She had been thinking a lot about asking Eda to take in the three Blight children, keep them safe from their abusive parents. But she knew she couldn't ask Eda to do that yet. Not this soon with Amity.
She needed to wait.
Amity took out the invitation that Skara had given her and mimed tearing it, but quickly said, "I'm not actually going to rip it, because it's a real butterfly, but you get the gesture, right?"
Inner Willow smiled and said that she did.
When everything was put back to normal, Luz and Amity left, when Luz rang the bell, and they came out of Willow's brain, into the living room of the Owl House.
Though Luz didn't see Gus anywhere, she knew where he was. Interviewing Hooty, of all things. But Luz still put up the act and asked where he was and what Eda had done to him.
Eda grumbled as she and King walked off, "The kid's fine, he's just dead to us."
"Those are very mixed messages," Luz said dryly, her and Amity watching Eda and King go.
Willow woke up and Luz went over and hugged her. She wanted to include Amity, but she knew it would be too soon.
So, when Willow told Amity, before Amity left that this was a start, Luz smiled and watched Amity go, knowing that she just had to let everything play out here.
She listened to Willow tell her everything, trying to ignore how tight her chest still felt. She still hadn't figured out what the Titan had been saying with the morse code.
And Grom? Grom was still coming up soon.
In only a week.
And Luz's fears? They had changed since the first time she had come here.
What would be seen if Grometheus read her fears?
Eda being in her demon form and being turned to stone? Willow being killed by the Emperor's guards? Amity being caught in the crossfire of an Emperor's guard's blast of magic? King being caught and put in a cage like Luz had feared would happen to him, after waking up in her room in the human world, months and months ago, with the memories of all that had happened.
She kept feeling terrified, during that time, when she had been preparing all those months, to head back into the Boiling Isles, that after Eda was petrified, King would be caught and put in a cage.
Amongst many other things she had been scared of. Fears that had festered over these several months.
And if other people saw those fears? They wouldn't understand what they were looking at. And it would tell them things that they shouldn't know.
Which meant, as much as Luz hated to realize this, she couldn't face Grom. Not if it meant revealing her hand.
But what about Amity?
She couldn't just let Amity face Grometheus alone, could she?
It was when Willow said that she needed to head home, that Luz remembered something from that night, when she and Amity had danced and fought Grometheus together.
She remembered something rather important.
When Grom had read their fears, it had only been able to show images of one of their fears at a time.
In other words, it couldn't only read one of their minds at a time.
When she had faced off with Grom, her fears had shown up. But when Amity had shown up, her fears had shown up.
But when they had fought Grom together? The fears had become more abstract. Less tangible.
Which meant that Grom could only focus on one individual at a time.
Okay. This was good to know. This was good information to have.
But Luz also realized what this meant.
She cursed mentally, after Willow left and she closed the door of the house, feeling disgusted with herself as she realized what she was going to do.
She would go and help Amity defeat Grom, but only at the end, when her own fears couldn't be displayed to everyone.
And in the meantime?
Well, Luz would have to do the unforgivable. Again.
She would have to allow Amity to face Grom alone in the first several minutes, before interfering.
She was going to use Amity's fears as a shield.
At the Emperor's castle, the other manipulator in this story, went to his oracle, commanding that a new vision be made in the pool between them.
The frightened oracle agreed, and poured liquid into the between the two of them and Belos looked into the pool.
He had asked the oracle to show him who would be on the throne six years from now.
The oracle had looked confused and scared, but Belos had ordered the oracle to do it, so, Belos was now looking into the future.
And what Belos saw, made him laugh. Finally laugh.
Because he should have realized it before.
Why the human, Luz was here. What she was meant to do here.
There was a reason she was here, when he was so close to dying.
What Belos saw in the vision that the oracle provided to him, was the vast palace room, leading to the throne that Belos sat on. Only there was two things that Belos noticed. The first was that there were two thrones on the steps where the throne usually was. And while one of those thrones was empty, the other throne had a figure on it. And the other thing that Belos noticed, was that the figure on the throne clearly wasn't Belos.
It was a woman.
Slim, muscled, dressed in dark clothing, with a black cape. The arms weren't covered, save for a pair of black leather gloves. The arms were brown. There was a mask over this woman's face, only it wasn't gold colored like Belos's was. It was white. And it had antlers instead of horns. The woman had long, dark brown hair.
Flanking the throne, were two guards with their helmets off. One was a young man and the other a young woman. Both with dark green hair.
Belos recognized the Blight twins easily enough.
Belos heard the doors inside the vision open up, and saw a new figure emerge in the vision, walking across the hall, towards the throne where the woman sat.
It was a tall, handsome looking, black young man with short, black hair, in a pale blue robe. He looked at the woman on the throne and bowed almost playfully at her and said, "Empress."
The woman on the throne took no offense and got up from where she was seated. "Augustus," she said, "What is the news? The Blight parents still on the run?"
Augustus, who Belos realized was "Gus," said, grinning, "Don't worry. We'll find them. Then we'll bring them before the queen and she can pass her judgment on them."
The Empress nodded, a smirk on her lips. The lower half of her face was visible. Not the upper half.
But Belos knew who was under the Empress's mask.
It was the whole reason why she had been brought here.
Belos was sure that the Titan had a plan. And he was seeing this plan before him. His replacement for when this curse eventually took his life, was here, in the Boiling Isles.
He simply would need to groom her for power.
Two more figures entered the room in the vision.
Two women. One was chubby, with long curls of dark hair, and wearing glasses and wearing dark green robes. The other was slim, but powerful looking, with light purple hair tied in a ponytail and in purple robes.
The purple-haired woman approached the Empress's throne. The Empress turned to the second woman and smiled, reaching for her mask and pulling it off her.
Belos was not surprised by what he saw under the mask. It was a face he knew, but had aged only a few years, as this vision was only six years from now. The Empress placed her mask down on the seat of her throne and turned back to the approaching light purple-haired woman.
"My love," the purple-haired woman said, walking into the Empress's arms, and she and the Empress, who had an adoring smile on her face, kissed deeply.
Belos scoffed. He had no judgment, but this wasn't what he was here to see. He only cared about who would be taking his throne and looking after his kingdom after he had died.
When the Empress and her wife parted, the Empress held the queen's face between her hands, still giving the purple-haired woman that same loving look that made Belos snort.
There was commotion coming from down the hall and the Empress sighed, pulling away from her wife and picking up the mask and placing it onto her head again, dropping down onto the throne.
The purple-haired woman sat down in the other throne, next to the Empress.
The tall, black witch flanked the left side of the thrones and the chubby witch with glasses flanked the other side.
Two guards came in, and they both bowed to the Empress. One of them said, moving past, the two witches on the right-hand side of the thrones, "Empress Luz! Queen Amity! There is news I must share. About the Blight parents."
Luz-as if Belos ever doubted the identity of the person under that mask, held up a hand and ordered, "A moment, Halden, now that you've addressed us, address the Mistress of Thornes and the Master of Illusions, and our two closest guards."
The frightened guard nodded, and he turned to the "Mistress of Thorns," speaking quickly, "Mistress Willow. Sir Edric."
He then turned to the other two as he said, "Master Augustus. Dame Emira."
The guard next to Halden did the same, before they looked back to the Empress and the queen.
"Now, the news," Empress Luz ordered gently.
Halden nodded. "Yes, Empress," he said, "The elder Blights were seen fleeing to the left foot of the Titan. They wish to leave to other lands, to avoid judgment for the mistreatment of the queen."
The Empress nodded. "We'll see to it later," she said, glancing at her wife, queen Amity's expression unreadable, "And what's the news about the wild witches?"
Belos raised his head. Ah, so Luz had finally realized what he had realized. That wild magic needed to be controlled. Destroyed.
The guard next to Halden said, "Yes, Empress! The new wild witches have formed more covens and are to celebrate the emergence of their newest coven in two days."
Luz nodded, smiling. "Good," she said, "I will be sure to visit them and give them my blessing. It will do well for us to mend relationships with the wild witches. And that wild magic is returning to the Boiling Isles."
Belos's eyes widened.
Luz was going to allow wild magic to flourish?
His jaw tightened. He could not allow that to happen.
He would clearly need to teach Luz to hate wild magic as much as he did. Which would be difficult, given that Luz's current mentor, was a wild witch.
But he would work on that. If Luz was hope for a new world, without wild magic, he would take it and would have to teach her to hate wild magic as much as he did.
He lifted his head and looked at the stunned oracle, who didn't understand what he was seeing.
"Thank you," he said to the oracle, "Your services are no longer needed."
The oracle looked at him, confused, and Belos reached for his staff and rammed the tip of it against the floor, causing pillars of the floor to rip apart, branches all around breaking out of the sides of the wall and turning into spikes and piercing through the oracle's body, wooden blades shooting through the oracle and tearing out the other sides, through the oracle's chest and neck, the oracle's blood flowing out and splattering the floor and Belos smiled as he watched the light go out in the oracle's eyes.
He couldn't risk the oracle telling anyone what he had just seen. Only Belos could know.
Belos looked down at the pool filled with the gradually disappearing vision. He would make this happen. Soon. but he had to make Luz hate wild magic. Before anything else. He had to.
He would do what was necessary.
A week went by. And Luz's studies told her something vital. If she was going by the Pristine Tapping Messages, then the Titan was telling her to go buy vegetables. Which was most likely not what the Titan was saying to her.
Which led Luz to one conclusion. The Titan was using the Common Tapping Messages version of morse code.
So, Luz instantly went to the books on the Common Tapping Messages.
And the message she was beginning to put together, from the grumblings she had put together, was starting to look ominous.
Yes, it technically probably made more sense than the vegetables one, but it made her confused, nonetheless.
Some of the messages from the Common Tapping Messages that the Titan was giving out, were messages like, "You're here. At last." And "Take your place." And "It is time to fulfill your purpose."
Luz had no idea what that all meant. Take your place? What did that mean?
She hadn't thought that far ahead.
But it made her very nervous. What exactly did the Titan know about her "purpose," if anything?
She knew that this wouldn't help, when Grom eventually came around.
The week passed, and it was time for Grom.
Luz practically could feel her stomach turning when she woke up the next morning, the morning of when the Grom queen would be selected this year.
She huffed, and rose out of bed, going past where King and Joey were sleeping, walking out of the room to the bathroom, smiling at Hooty who had stuck his long head into the bathroom to say hi, and shooed him off as she went to the toilet.
Today was not going to be easy. She knew that for sure.
She walked through the halls, pretending to not understand why everything looked different.
She met with Willow and Gus and they told her what was happening.
Luz walked into Amity "accidentally" and watched as Amity started her angry retort against whoever "dared" to walk into her, before her face softened at seeing Luz.
This time, Luz couldn't help but smile, feeling warm again.
She saw the small slip of pink paper that Amity had dropped and knew that it was her name on it, but picked it up, asking what it was and Amity, nervous, very clearly, took it back from her and quickly told her it was nothing.
Then the speakers went on and announced who would be Grom queen.
Luz congratulated her and again felt that disgust. Like she was torturing Amity, even if it was to pretend that she had no idea what was going on.
Amity quickly left and Luz tried to ignore the pain in her heart.
She knew what was going to happen. And she knew that she couldn't help until the last minute.
Which meant she'd be leaving Amity to suffer alone, until she decided it was time to interfere.
She knew that she was doing it because she was simply doing what was necessary. But she just felt like the lowest.
Like the most manipulative person in the world.
Author's note
So, as you may have figured out, this chapter and the entire plot that's coming, is inspired by The Great Fossil King's fic, Usurper AU: The Empress.
I wasn't sure if I was revealing this twist too early. It feels like I did. I don't know.
