Amity raised an arm toward the pixie in a grasping motion, and her abomination stretched itself up, narrowly missing him as he shifted to the side. Jerbo drew a circle that collected the layer of sediment in the area into a mound below where the pixie was floating. Wiry purple vines attempted to spear the tiny pest before he swerved out of the way again, moving unpredictably and without effort. "Uh, I'll get him!" Toddric said, backing away and drawing a glowing red circle in the air; the pixie waiter directly in his sight.

"That's not going to work on me." he said, letting out a laugh. "I'm not some common beast you can just control." he continued, dodging and weaving around Amity and Jerbo's attacks. "I was on my way to a managerial role before that pink haired teen decided to deal in demon trafficking."

"This is all just to get back at Boscha?" Amity asked, gesturing to the pods in the room. "What are you doing to them all, anyway?"

"Bringing my number one customer the freshest meal I can. You see, in a few weeks, one student from Hexside will be sent to battle Grometheus the Fear Bringer, to keep it from escaping after its been starved for a year. It's been completely devoid of the nightmare fuel it needs to gather strength. Doesn't seem very sporting, does it?"

"You're feeding all these witches and demons to Grom so it can escape?" Celine asked with a gasp as Amity cast a sideways glance at Jerbo.

"Look, the fast food industry on the Boiling Isles isn't a glamorous career, alright? I held no ill will to your kind at first, other than that rotten girl that made a deal with my manager that heard about my aspirations and wanted a reason to get rid of me…" the pixie began, his vision drifting away for a moment before he shook his head to bring his focus back to the group of kids. "Anyway, escaping from her joke of a cage and getting busy with the local Hexside pixie population…"

"Ew…" Celine commented as Amity and Jerbo shyly blushed.

The pixie rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I've heard you teens gossip. Don't pretend to be prudes." he said before continuing. "It turns out, they don't appreciate being turned into spell components, so I started teaching them the basic SOPs from the McClaunek's manual and BAM! I had an army. Once we got into the vents, we found our way to the greenhouse and; this is rather embarrassing, but we got into the sleeping nettle and zonked out something major. Turns out, Grometheus has been reaching out for awhile now, feeding on nightmares ever since that basilisk knocked everyone out. It gained a lot of strength from that little event. I could hear it, and it directed me down here."

Amity felt a new chill go through her and she shivered, recalling the awful nightmare she had during the basilisk's attack. Grom was down here somewhere, and had been orchestrating its escape during the dance for awhile. Whomever was selected to do battle with it was going to have their work cut out for them. Hopefully they were powerful enough to not be intimidated by their fears. "And you thought doing a fear eating demon's bidding was a good idea?"

"As opposed to what? You witches?" he laughed. "Please. If Grometheus manages to escape, it'll get it's fill on all the witches and demons on the Boiling Isles for the year before sleeping it off. I'm confident I'll be safe."

"And the Demon Hunters? Let me guess, they didn't fit into your plan."

"Admittedly, what we managed to get out of the two we took, their plan to capture Grometheus and deliver to a buyer was a bit of a twist, but all it did was move up dinner time so that it can deal with them itself." he grinned. "It's going to be quite a different Grom Night this year." A terrifying growl echoed through the underground chamber, silencing everyone in the furnace room instantly. "Speaking of…"

"Jerbo, now!" Amity called, lifting a hand into the air and high-fiving the tall, lanky boy. Her small abomination leaped into the air awkwardly, meeting Jerbo's plant-mud hybrid vines and catching the pixie between them when he tried to flutter out of the way. She clasped her fist closed, causing her abomination to encase the pixie and she struggled to squeeze her hand tighter. "Celine, start waking everyone up!"

"E-everyone?" she replied.

"Can you do it or not?!" Amity shouted, looking back at her impatiently. "We're about to be ground zero for Grom, Demon Hunters, and pixies that are going to be swarming through here again any minute!" The abomination fell to the floor as Amity's concentration wavered, but she held it closed, trying to crush the small pest inside. Her fist was beginning to glow as she compressed her abomination; the creature groaning under the pressure, but she could feel the tiny pixie inside like a mosquito trying to escape her fingers. "Now, Celine!"

The girl nodded hesitantly, then drew a large spell circle in the air and small tethers of faint pink energy shot out from it, snaking along the floor and walls to each pod and seeking out the minds of their occupants. "I- I can't! They're not waking up! Can anyone do anything about the sleeping nettles?"

"Uh, On it!" Jerbo replied through his mask, holding out a finger to begin drawing a pale green spell circle. A glowing fog began to fill the room and glow as he took control of the heavy particles of sleep inducing plants and fed them into the dragon furnace's flaming maw. He nodded at Celine to acknowledge he was done.

Again, Celine directed her mind influencing tethers of oracle energy through a few pods at a time, and Toddric moved to begin helping the students and faculty out of their cocoons. "I need a few more minutes to get everyone out!"

Amity was pressing her closed fist against one of the pipes she had been hiding behind, trying to force her hand closed as tightly as she could when several tunnels in the ceiling burst with swarms of pixies, looking for their leader. "We're out of time!" she shouted. The cocoons that Celine and Toddric had opened had been random since they didn't have the time to pick and choose exactly who would be most useful in escaping. Ms. Anansi and Professor Homunculus were awakened, the spider biped demon lifting the diminutive abomination teacher in her extra arms for the moment as Toddric directed them toward the door. A dozen other students were managing to groggily wake up as Jerbo and Celine waved them over, but the pixies had already begun to descend. A witch boy and a demon girl at the back of the crowd were overwhelmed and pulled up into the air to vanish in the darkness. Three more were knocked over and dragged away into the shadows behind the furnace where terrible noises erupted that Amity struggled to block out. Another student with thick green skin and thin spines that jutted out from their body leaped forward in an attempt to wrap their arms around one of the pipes before another group of multi colored pixies grabbed their ankles and cowl, pulling them away. They were in a frenzy now; their leadership trapped.

"Amity! Come on!" Celine shouted to her from the furnace room door. She could no longer tell if the pixie leader was still moving inside her abomination bubble, but she couldn't risk the swarms of tiny rodents following them. She released her grip, and her abomination relaxed and unfolded back into its toddler sized form, waddling along behind as she threw herself through the doorway. She splayed her hand out as she gestured at the door, commanding her abomination to cover it, and they could see the shadows of the insectoid demons through the thin, purple material before Ms. Anansi and Toddric cranked the old door closed. "Are you okay?" Celine asked, helping Amity to her feet.

She could feel her heart pounding out of fear, and she was glad that at least two instructors were here to lead now. She nodded, trying to keep her hands from shaking. "Mr. Homunculus…" she began, turning to her homeroom professor. The small statured man shook his head to clear it, doing little more than snap his fingers to summon his personal, horned abomination beneath his feet that rose straight up, lifting him in its arms as it grew. "We have a bit of a situation."

"So it would seem, Ms. Blight." Mr. Homunculus said, using a handkerchief to clean his glasses. "Perhaps a report would be in order."

Tiny dents began to appear in the door, causing several students to shout out in surprise and fear. "We need to find our way to the gymnasium. It's the only place we think we can escape from."

"The gymnasium?" Ms. Anansi asked, her mandibles adding a faint click to her speech. "Where exactly are we?"

Amity was growing impatient and not interested in meeting the Demon Hunters or Grometheus, and looked either way down the hall in an attempt to decipher Hexside's floorplan from beneath it. She was doing her best to look strong and in control, like she always did, but she couldn't help but wonder if Ed and Em were still in that room behind the door, and she squeezed her eyes shut against hot tears that were threatening to spill out. With still shaking hands, she pulled out the map she had taken from Principal Bump's office, and she could hear Celine begin to explain their predicament. "We're under the school, Ms. Anansi. Pixies have infested Hexside, and there are Demon Hunters coming to capture Grom!" she said.

"Under the school?" Mr. Homunculus asked in a shocked tone. "Dear me! It has been some time since I've seen these hallowed halls."

Amity sniffed and cleared her throat before turning back to the group. "That's right, you were a part of Hexside's first class with Principal Bump, weren't you?" she asked, and the Professor nodded. She was about to continue when she spotted a purple haired witch trying to hide at the back of the group of students. "You!"

The group of students and teachers spun about to face the recently freed Demon Hunter, Viscous. She backed away, stretching out a hand, ready to cast a spell if she needed to in case she was attacked. "You made it down here, eh? You're braver than I thought."

"I…" Amity started, torn between wanting to go back into the furnace room and search for her siblings and friends or run as fast as she could for the gymnasium. "My brother and sister could still be in there, and Grom knows we're here!"

Ms. Anansi let out a friendly chuckle that seemed inappropriate for the circumstances. "Edric and Emira? Oh Amity, I heard them chatting with Boscha about a party that they were going to crash while I was up on the ceiling trying to clean up a mess that little Braxas caused outside of the Baby Class. They left the school long before the pixies showed up. I was going to mention it to Principal Bump when I was knocked unconscious."

Amity could feel her face turn red with built up oxygen as she held her breath. Boscha. And the twins. They hadn't told her, even after Boscha promised to check on her pet pixie, and she had come down here to risk her life for them, and they weren't even here?! Her vision began to blur and her knees were about to give out under her weight before she let out her breath again, gasping. "If I survive this, I'm going to kill them." she whispered.

"Grom knows we're here?" several students whispered, a wave of fear washing over them.

Growling and stepping forward, Amity pushed through the crowd to approach the Demon Hunter, trying to ignore the loud pinging on the door beside them and the haunting groans from down the hall. "Do you even know what you're after? What Grom can do if it gets free?"

Viscous stretched to stand a full head taller than Amity, crossing her arms and flashing a mocking smirk. "Goreman already faced the thing years ago when he was in school. He knows everything about it."

Mr. Homunculus let out a giggle. "Goreman? Gummer Goreman? He never defeated Grom when he was in school! He fled from the grounds and never returned!" he continued to laugh.

The witch's smile vanished. "He what?" she asked, clearly surprised by the revelation.

Suddenly Amity was grinning up at Viscous. "Does he actually have a buyer, or is he just here for a rematch?" she asked, causing the witch to return the look with a glare. "Either way, we need to get moving. Mr. Homunculus, do you have any idea which way Hexside's gymnasium would be? Grom's nest is the only place I can think of to get out of here."

He nodded. "It shouldn't be far, but getting past that monster will be difficult. There is a reason that we send only one student to battle it every year. This many witches and demons in one place will provide it with an ample amount of fear to feast on."

"We'll have to all do our best to remain calm." Ms. Anansi said, using the same voice that Amity had heard since she herself was in the baby class that the instructor used to temper the little witchlings.

Another dent in the metal furnace room door startled everyone again, and Mr. Homunculus spoke first. "Perhaps we should take our debate elsewhere before those rodents make their way through the door. Come along, students!" he said, his abomination turning to carry him down the hall.

The old school that was providing the foundation for Hexside was in disrepair, which wasn't surprising considering Principal Bump himself lead the mob that burned it to the ground before Hexside was founded. Mr. Homunculus had been only Amity's age when he joined in the attack with Bump, but his mind seemed sharp enough to recall the maze-like halls from the experience. Unfortunately, many of the halls that lead directly to Grom's nest beneath Hexside's gymnasium had collapsed, causing the group to have to detour and double back several times; slowing their progress. It was beginning to cause some of the students to question the group's leadership.

"Amity…" Skara whispered. A number of students that had managed to be rescued had made themselves known; Skara included, and begun to voice their confusion and opinions on the current circumstances. "Are you sure Mr. Homunculus knows where he's going?"

Aside from her father and Lilith Clawthorne; both of whom had always been more evaluators than instructors, Amity had learned the most from her Abomination homeroom instructor and despite the round about navigation of the old school, she had to trust that he knew where he was going. "He's the only one old enough other than Principal Bump to know where the gymnasium would be. It's not his fault half the halls down here are no good."

"Hey, are you guys talking about Homunculus leading us to our doom?" Amelia asked, stepping up on Amity's side opposite of Skara.

"He's not leading us to our doom." Amity replied angrily.

"I mean, he's probably doing better than that human, right?" Boscha said from behind, making Amity jump. "It's a good thing you stuck with us and left her in the furnace room."

"Wait, what?" Amity asked, suddenly shocked out of her thoughts and she found herself still walking through the magically lit hallways of the old school. She looked around herself and could see growing fear in the faces of the other students. Skara had been rescued, and was walking on the other side of the crowd and being comforted by Toddric, but seemed to be as jumpy and nervous as Amity herself was. Mattholomule lingered toward the back behind Jerbo, looking at each of the other students with suspicion and crossing his arms tightly over his chest. There had been no sign of Luz or her friends in the furnace room, and she had heard from the half dozen rescues that all three of them had been seen exiting the school at the end of the day. She reached out to the nearest student, a biped demon with a large eye for a face from the potions track, "Have you seen Boscha?" she asked, grasping the girl's cowl.

She let out a muffled sound and shrugged, pulling away from Amity in annoyance. A number of other students perked up at Boscha's name, but remained shy and nearly cowering. "I didn't see her earlier." Matholomule spoke up. "But I thought I had seen her walking with us." he added, his voice shaking. Amity stared at him for a moment as realization began to set in. Matholomule had been a common target for Boscha; being both new to Hexside, previously from Glandus, and simply physically smaller despite his ego. A few others that were nodding were also known victims of the Grudgby Captain, and it was becoming clear that they were all sharing the same fear. Being lead around in the depths of the school in the dark had a habit of bringing all of one's fears to the surface.

Amity let go of the other student's cowl and moved up to the front of the group beside Mr. Homunculus, gasping at the eerie sight of Ms. Anansi's spider-like visage in the dancing shadows of all of the orbs of light summoned by the group. She shook her head, trying to ignore the distracting images. The smaller professor was clearly sweating, possibly suffering from the same fear inducing effect that was manipulating all of them. She watched as the professor's sand colored abomination that carried him looked down at her, its mouth growing jagged fangs and stretching toward her as though it would devour her.

She stepped away, and the abomination's eyes flashed white before returning to its normal form. "Uhm, Mr. Homunculus?" she asked, remaining some distance away and wringing her hands together. "How much further? I think several of the other students are beginning to get scared…"

The professor turned to her; his green combover was dishevelled and his spectacled eyes were large and dark, as though he was struggling to see through the shadows that surrounded them. "Ms. Blight?!" he asked, as though surprised to see her. "I thought you'd fell victim to the pixies!"

"Sir, I've been here…" she began to reply.

"But since you're here, I must inform you that your abomination magic has been quite disappointing so far. I will have to inform your parents of your failing grade." he said, causing Amity's heart to fall.

"Wait, why? I've come all this…" she said, her voice cracking. "No.", she growled, ejecting the fear from her mind. "Mr. Homunculus, I think Grom is influencing all of us. We need to escape as soon as we can." she whispered.

Mr. Homunculus looked back at her sadly. "It would seem that my mind isn't what it used to be, Ms. Blight." he whispered. "I'm afraid I may have gotten us lost down here."

"I think that's the point, sir." Amity replied, looking back at the crowd to keep growing tears from being seen by her instructor. When she turned back however, both professors were gone and she spun again to find herself standing alone in the darkness. "I know you're there!" she called out nervously, holding her hands to her chest.

A low, wet growl wafted into the area and an odd number of bright white eyes appeared a short distance away near the ceiling of the hall, forcing Amity to look up as she backed away from the amorphous beast that was slowly stepping toward her. She could hear it speak despite its slobbering mouth that remained unmoving. "You're alone, due to your own actions."

She was alone. She was going to disappear down here and she couldn't even be certain if anyone was going to miss her. Maybe her parents would finally place some of their pressures on Ed or Em for a change, and maybe Willow would be better off too; she thought, sliding down to her knees and feeling her cheeks heat up with tears. She could feel the beast move closer; hear the drips of thick, heavy drool striking the floor as Grometheus neared. Amity felt cold and empty, trying to repel the thoughts that were causing her to believe that she had no one that was going to care if she was devoured right now.

"Ammmiiiiiity Bliiiiiiight…" the creature said, whispering in her ear. She could feel her heart pounding and her body tensing as she tried to shrink away from the creature but found herself frozen in place. "You are alone in my lair, and there is no one coming for you. Your family cares nothing for you; your friends are fake and have abandoned you." it said before pausing. Amity could feel her knees and hands grow cold as thick purple abomination ooze crawled up her arms and thighs. "They only seek to control you. There is no one for you here…" it said, and she could feel her arms and legs go numb and weak, as though her bones were transforming into mud.

"No! I'm… I'm not afraid!"

"Of course you are, Mittens." Odalia spoke into her other ear, causing her to flinch. "Your father and I tried to teach you that you needed to take care of yourself. Instead, you insist on believing you can atone to gain favor with friends you've tormented for years. You are alone if not for us, and you are our puppet. We will make use of you until you are incapable of being of anymore benefit to the Blight Family."

"No! Please!"

"Please?" Odalia asked, her voice circling around Amity. "The strong do not ask, they take. You are a disappointment to everyone, but…" the voice stopped and Amity raised her tear stained face. "You hold out hope for… SCREEEEEEE!"

The squeal of agony from the creature knocked Amity off of her knees and a blast of flame shot past her, singeing her uniform and tearing her cowl away from her face. "C'mon, kid!" Viscous shouted. She was carrying the drake thrower that she had left behind when she had been taken. "We're on our way out!"

"What? How?!" Amity asked, unable to believe that she was being rescued. "No! You're just another illusion!" she shouted, backing away.

"Wow, this thing did a number on you, didn't it?" the demon hunter said, squeezing the drake thrower again to send a bout of flame at Grometheus and forcing it away. "I saw your fear, kid! I'm not going to mention it to anyone. Now does that sound like something a fearbringer would promise?"

Amity bit her lip, still confused by what was real or not, but the witch was right. "Abomination, rise!" she shouted, gesturing with a throw to form a wall of purple goo between the two of them and Grom. Viscous held out a hand to help Amity to her feet and they were met by Goreman, Tom, Mudson, and Pawn.

Goreman was directing his group to the sides, clearly in an attempt to capture Grometheus, though Mudson seemed to be more emotional than he had been earlier. "Come on, you monster!" he shouted at Grom before the abomination wall was fully formed. He charged forward while swinging his large sword. "You want a piece? Huh?!"

Grometheus; now that Amity could get a clear look at the creature, appeared to be an amorphous black being that filled the hallway with an indeterminate number of white eyes that shined in the darkness and blinked independently of each other. Its jagged mouth stretched from one side of its body to the other, and long thin limbs that ended with terrifying, opposable claws scraped at the stone floor. It casually retreated from Mudson's swings with his weapon, seemingly allowing Amity's abomination wall to continue building up to the ceiling.

"What do you think you're doing, girl?!" Goreman shouted at Amity. "We need to capture that…"

"Forget it, Goreman!" Viscous shouted back. "This job is a scrub. We're already down one man, we can't do it!" she continued as Grom pushed through the wall, causing the purple goop to explode outward. Without further warning, Grometheus lunged and swallowed Mudson whole from behind, spitting the demon hunter's large sword out from the side of its mouth and letting out a roar. "Make that three we're down." she said as Pawn immediately dissolved into the floor.

Goreman growled, but conceded. "Fine! Retreat back to the gym. Double time!" he ordered, drawing a quick spell circle and launching a series of firebolts at the monster, causing it to wince before letting out a frustrated roar again.

The creature was eyeing each of them individually, and long snake-like tendrils began to protrude from its body and worm their way toward them. Viscous squeezed the drake thrower again to halt the progress of one while Goreman and Tom each began slashing at the tendrils that were approaching them. Amity broke free of her frozen state, kicking away a tendril and finally turning to run. A trail of light had been left in the dark hall to lead the way back to Grom's nest and Hexside's gymnasium above, and Amity was putting her Grudgeby running skills to use, staying well ahead of the demon hunters that were between her and Grometheus.

Amity could begin to hear her fellow students shout and cry from around the corner and suddenly found herself running through a swarm of pixies, waving her arms and closing her eyes as they were as taken by surprise as she was. "Ugh! I've had it with pixies!" she shouted, continuing to run and pull the flying vermin out of her hair and off of her uniform; looking back to see them gathering together again to get their bearings just as the demon hunters collided with them as well.

Grom's nest was little more than a large, temple-like room with ornate square pillars that supported Hexside's gymnasium above, embossed with gold trim. In its corners however, were piles of bones of various witches and demons from years past that had been chosen poorly to defend the Boiling Isles from the monster. "Amity! Run!" Skara shouted from the top of the ramp that lead up into the gym above.

She couldn't help but look back as the demon hunters spit and sputtered the pixies from their faces, pulling the feral rodents from their armor. "You think you can get rid of us that easy?!" Boscha's pixie chided, beginning a dance to command his companions to chase after them. Before he could complete the little number however, Grom rounded the corner as well, its jaws hanging open and swallowing the swarm of bug demons in a single gulp, undeterred in its pursuit.

Amity reached the bottom of the ramp and charged up, taking Skara and Mattholomule's hands to lift herself up onto the gym floor. The moment Goreman touched the bottom of the ramp, Principal Bump dropped a fist down on the large red button that was installed in the top of a pedestal with clawed feet. Tom and Viscous dived for the ramp as it began to lift, and the terrifying roar of Grometheus the Fearbringer was cut off by the doorway to its nest closing.

Students, demon hunters, and instructors alike were breathing heavily in an attempt to gather their composure. Principal Bump stepped over to Goreman, looking down at the biped demon as the he rolled over onto his back. "You still have a few pixies to clean up, and I'll be docking your pay for the danger you put my students in, as well as the damage to my school." he said, unintimidated by the demon's tired growl. "As for the rest of you, I suggest you all get home. It's gotten quite late, and it would seem that the school will be closed tomorrow for clean up."

Struggling to get to her feet, Amity shakily raised her hand. "Principal Bump, sir?" she said, gaining his attention. "We found the students were being held in the furnace room under the greenhouse. We weren't able to rescue all of them."

"Not to worry, Ms. Blight. With Grom distracted, I've put a plan in motion to extract them." he said, approaching her with his hands hidden inside their opposing sleeves of his robe. When the rest of the crowd had exited the gymnasium, Principal Bump placed a hand on Amity's shoulder and allowed a proud smile to show. "I am very proud of you, Ms. Blight. Whatever your reasons for facing that infestation and attempting to rescue your fellow students, you showed true courage facing Grometheus tonight. I think I have just the reward for you."

Amity's mouth curled up in the corner. She could only imagine how she looked with her hair tie having broken, her face and clothes covered in dust, soot and tears, with small cuts and bite marks from pixies, and her uniform and eyebrows being singed from numerous encounters with fire. "Uhm, thank you sir." she said with a nod, then began walking toward the exit before pausing and turning back for a moment. "I have a question though… did you know my brother and sister had left the school early?"

Principal Bump took an inordinate amount of time to say anything, and Amity was dissatisfied by his words. "I suggest you get some rest, Ms. Blight. I look forward to a more uneventful school week in a few days."

The light squeak of the front door of Blight Manor made Amity wince as she opened it and passed through, trying to close it again as quietly as possible. It had been a long walk home despite the manor only being on the edge of Bonesborough. She had purposely avoided the Night Market on Rot Street, causing her to take the long way around to Bruegel Boulevard. She was still shaking and exhausted from the day's events, fuelled by little more than fear and rage at Edric, Emira, and Boscha.

With the click of the door's latch, the abomibutler groaned, offering a thick hand out of habit to take the cowl that she no longer had on her. She sighed, knowing what was coming next. A series of lamps turned on, and her mother stood at the end of the hall while her father could be seen sitting in one of the large chairs in the greeting room; another piece of furniture created from abomination mud. "Amity!" Odalia shouted, not even attempting to lower her voice for the sake of anyone else in the house. Alador was startled to consciousness and yawned, pulling himself up to his typical hunched posture. "Where have you been? Skara's parents called us hours ago wondering if their daughter was with you."

Amity closed her eyes and hesitantly turned to face her parents, stepping into the light. "I'm sorry, mom. I was at school…"

Odalia's gasp caught Amity off guard, and even Alador reacted to her appearance as he stood up straight and followed Odalia to Amity's side. "My Titan! What have you gotten yourself into?!" her mother asked. "Alador, call the Healing Coven! Amity, what happened to you?"

Amity turned away, looking at herself in the mirror hanging on the closet in the entryway. She could feel the small cuts and scrapes, and the odd black soot that covered her hair and eyes that hadn't been covered by her makeshift mask. The purple of her abomination track uniform was black as well, and she looked down to see that she was leaving footprints on the floor. Odalia reached her and hesitated a moment, looking down at the mess her daughter was in before gingerly leaning forward and embracing her. The woman's white blouse and purple slacks were instantly ruined by the powder covering Amity.

"Are you alright, Amity?" Alador asked. "When your brother and sister came home and hadn't heard from you, we were worried." he said, taking a Calling Raven from its perch, presumably to call the Healing Coven as instructed.

"You were?" Amity asked, her eyes growing wide.

"Of course, Mittens. How could you ask such a thing? We want you to be safe, after all." Odalia said, brushing her hands off.

Footfalls on the steps caught Amity's attention as Ed and Em appeared on the staircase above. "What's going on?" Edric asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"You two!" Amity shouted, pointing a finger up at them. "There was a pixie infestation at school, and I thought you two had been taken so I went into their nest to look for you!"

"Uh…" Emira began, looking nervously at their parents.

"And Boscha was supposed to go check on her pet pixie that she left in the Beast Keeping homeroom that started it all, but instead she was with you two! Since when do you take my friends to parties?! I almost died down there, running from Grom!"

"Grom?" Odalia asked. "You fought Grom?"

Amity turned back to her mother, her tears flowing freely again. "The pixies were under the school!" she cried, her arms wanting to reach out to her mother but felt locked in place. "It got to all of us! I only got out because…"

"Calm down, Amity." Odalia said as Alador let go of the calling raven to watch it fly off. "The Healing Coven will be here soon to deal with these marks. We can't have you return to school as a hero looking like this. If you're sure that you're okay, go get yourself washed up and presentable. Your father and I will be having some strong words with your principal about all of this."

"Mom, I'm not… You don't have to…" Amity began, then sighed. She was… okay. She would live. She sniffed and rubbed her dirty sleeve across her dirty, wet cheeks and began climbing the stairs to her room, hoping that her parents weren't going to somehow make things worse.