Amity rematerialized normally, crossing her arms casually after the experience and looking over at Luz as she stumbled and shouted out in surprise. A circle of white light was beneath their feet again, but it was the only feature within the void where they found themselves. Luz steadied herself, and their featureless black surroundings swirled into a miasma of color before a blinding flash of light forced the two girls to shield their eyes. After a moment of nauseating motion later, the light dimmed, and Amity and Luz stood alone in between a row of tall, thick trees. The forest beyond the trees seemed to go on forever, each one with a hollow in its trunk that contained a large, simple picture frame with an image that was now darkened.
Amity stepped forward first, walking through the trees that were all around them in neatly organized rows that resembled a professional orchard. "Where's her Inner Willow?" she began searching for any clues to the assistance that Eda recommended. "Do you really think it'll help?" She asked, choosing one of the picture frames to approach. She had never paid much attention to the various plant life around her like Willow always had, but the tall trees here looked… sad, somehow, even though unlike the forests on the Boiling Isles, they had no eyes or other features to express any sort of grief.
The frame of the picture was ornately carved from a darker wood of the tree, though the image itself was blacked out. Amity reached out to it, paying little attention to Luz's rambling going on behind her, and feeling raw magic tickle her fingertips. She began to slide her hand across the surface of the picture, seeing light burst from it wherever her skin passed through the surface and black soot started to slough off, revealing the damaged image underneath. Despite the subdued colors and burn spots, she began to see a young, grinning Willow in Amity's room, her glasses being pushed out of the way and her cheek being squished against Amity's eight year old face in a tight hug. She grimaced and pulled her hand away, looking around to be sure that Luz hadn't seen it. "Luz?" she called, when it was clear that the human was no longer with her. Backtracking, Amity found another picture that was now clear; a smokey beach with a small makeshift tent. "Luz!" she called again.
Without warning, Luz's head protruded from the framed beach picture with a grin. "I think I found the memories!" she said, grabbing Amity's hand again. "Let's go!" she ordered, dragging her into the portrait before she had a chance to refuse, and she shouted out in surprise. Amity had teleported on occasion before, but this was a new sensation that was disorienting. It felt as though she was falling up, with gravity rebelling against whatever force was also pulling them through, and the pair landed face first into dull grey sand. Luz sat up and shook the sand from her hair and face, still grinning brightly and letting out a cheer as Amity sat up beside her, spitting out foul tasting debris and fixing her hair. "Welcome to Willow's beautiful… memory?" Luz announced, though her enthusiasm dropped off as the contents of the picture became far more real now that they found themselves in a manifestation of the memory.
The beach looked lifeless and grey, and Amity stood, holding out a hand. It hadn't been Boiling Isles sand she had tasted in the turf when they entered. It was ash. The air felt cold despite the wind coming off of the warm water. Amity's attention was grabbed by a sign in the distance, reading 'LAKE LACUNA' and her face brightened for a moment. "Lake Lacuna! This is where Willow and I took swimming lessons!" She smiled, giving a sniff. "The ash must be from the fires." She added regretfully, waving away the flakes that were now lingering in the air from being disturbed by their arrival. Her own memories of the event began to well up, and she found herself reminiscing. She recalled hating the idea that she had to learn how to swim when they lived on an island surrounded by boiling water. She'd only been afraid of the monsters that Ed and Em had insisted were in the water ready to snatch little witchlings. They were right of course, but once her magic began to manifest, her fears of fresh water monsters began to subside and she came to love the water.
As they neared the beach, what had appeared to be a dilapidated tent was a small fort made of sticks and an old tarp that she recognized instantly. "Our fort! In the dunes!" she exclaimed, charging forward with Luz behind her. The supports that were holding it up had fallen, and garbage that had blown across the lake had begun to make its home in the gaps. "One time Willow wanted to play hooky from our swim lessons, so we built this!" she said, moving branches and planks around to better support the angled walls. She placed a plank in Luz's hands to hold until she was ready for it, paying close attention to where the damage to the fort was.
"Forts, hooky, Willow?" Luz said, dreamily looking off into the distance. "Can words get any cuter?"
Amity let out a chuckle. "We knew the swim teacher would be on the prowl, but Willow said she'd protect us with an illusion spell." Taking the plank back from Luz and putting it in place, Amity took a step back and put her hands on her hips with satisfaction. It looked just like she remembered it, and she beamed with nostalgic pride.
Luz gasped. "It's like a dog house for angels!"
"Wait." Amity said, looking around at their feet. "Something's missing." She kicked around in the sand for a moment and found a tiny, straight stick that was pointing out of the ground. Digging around it, she pulled the stick out, with its attached flag that had the initials 'A+W' scribbled on it. Amity watched the little triangular flag wave in the wind for a moment, smiling at it fondly before standing again. She reached up, planting it in a small wooden basket above the entryway of the fort. "There."
Instantly, the grey ash vanished from the sky and color returned to the sand, water, and nearby forest before Amity and Luz reappeared in the orchard, standing before the now pristine portrait of Lake Lacuna. "We're back!" Amity said in surprise, checking her surroundings again.
Luz pointed at the portrait in awe, drawing Amity's attention. "I think fixing the fort fixed the memory!" she said, as the now bright and multi colored image began to play out.
Amity was following close behind Willow as they ran across the beach to the fort they had built out of driftwood, old rope, and a torn tarp that they had found washed up on the shore of Lake Lacuna. The swim teacher would be looking for them before too long and they needed a place to hide. Neither of them wanted to go swimming, but she knew she would get in trouble if she just simply refused. Going missing for the length of the class and being forgotten by the teacher was the best alternative she could think of.
Willow guided her into the fort where they sat down and began whispering between giggles, playing with the seashells that they had collected the last time they had visited the lake. Amity drew a tiny spell circle, magically drawing a grid pattern in the sand as she held her tongue out the side of her mouth in concentration. She set up a few of the sea shells as playing pieces, and looked up at Willow. "Okay, you go first!"
"What is this?" Willow asked, picking up and inspecting one of the seashells.
"I read about it in one of the human books I got! Azura plays a game like this against Hecate to save her friends!"
"Neat! How do you play?" Willow asked, looking at the game intently.
"Uhm. I'm not sure…" Amity replied, looking at the grid. "It described Azura winning by getting her pieces to the other side of the board, but it was a little vague on the rules." she said, frowning. She jumped back as a small spat of bird excrement dropped onto the seashells from a hole in the ceiling. "Ugh! The sea gulls are back again!"
Willow smiled. "Don't worry, I'll get rid of them!" she said, drawing a small blue spell circle that shimmered brilliantly in the darkness of the fort. But instead of the spiral shelled birds that continued to squawk out their possessive cries, the fort began to disappear, causing the demon birds to panic. The seagulls dropped, extending their wings from the sides of their shells and fluttered around the girls' faces, breaking Willow's concentration. The fort rematerialized, trapping the creatures inside with the pair. The girls began to shout and flail their arms at the birds in an attempt to keep them away.
"Willow!" Amity cried in irritation. One of the gulls was tangled in her hair now, pulling at her with its webbed talons and trying to defend itself by pecking at her hands that were attempting to shoo it away.
Willow was trying to fend off the seagull that was attacking Amity while being assaulted herself. "I'm sorry! I thought I was getting better!" she shouted. The swim teacher, an aging pink demon with a single eye in the center of his face and devoid of hair other than a thick, bushy moustache appeared at the entrance of the fort with a stern but tired look. He wore a near full body, blue and white striped swimsuit that the witchlings often teased him about behind his back, but at the moment, he was looking very intimidating.
"You girls are in trouble. I'll be calling your parents!" he said, reaching in to pull them out by an arm.
Willow hung her head, voluntarily going along with the teacher but Amity dug the heels of her shoes into the sand. "No, wait! You don't have to call my parents!"
Amity turned to Luz once the picture began to replay the memory. "Willow was a… late bloomer." she said hesitantly. While that event had lead to a string of poor ones, watching it replay before her reminded her of how much fun getting in trouble with Willow could be.
"I know, but now she's more like a great bloomer!" Luz replied with a mischievous grin, though the pun resulted in an annoyed frown from Amity. "This place is like a theater showing her most important moments! Now let's fix some more!" she exclaimed, running across the path to the picture that Amity had uncovered earlier. "The photo that started it all!" she continued, holding out her hands as though she was unveiling a presentation in an art gallery. "Let's do it next."
Amity's eyes went wide as Luz began to climb into the picture frame. "Uh, wait!" she called, grabbing the human's attention. She moved to the next picture beside the Lacuna Beach fort and wiped the soot off of its surface to reveal a young Willow sitting in a chair, her hair dishevelled and wearing an assortment of terribly out of fashion clothes, smiling embarrassingly for a school picture. "You want important moments? This one might be about a crush!" she lied. She knew she wouldn't be involved in this event as the Blight family always had professional picture portraits painted, including for school. Her mother had been quite angry when penstagram scrolls were developed, relinquishing her control of her children always looking perfect.
Fortunately, her gambit was super effective on the easily distractible human, and Luz crawled out of the picture frame again to run across the path. "Hmm, don't mind if I do!" she admitted, climbing into the awkward hair portrait behind Amity. While Amity had prepared herself for a hard landing this time, falling into a roll and ending in a crouch, Luz skidded on the hard floor of Hexside's gymnasium with a loud squeak. She stood up and straightened her multicolored Hexside uniform, and gasped. "Whoa…" she whispered with glittering eyes when the environment came into focus. Again, the space around them was dull, grey, and seemingly abandoned. The smell of ash was in the air, and it appeared as though a fire had damaged the walls and ceiling, leaving black scorch marks that dotted the area.
There were markings on the floor designed to corral witchlings into lines for picture day, with a single chair and a camera set up in front of it that lay shattered on the floor. "Uh oh." Amity said, walking over to the broken creature. "I don't imagine you know how to fix a broken camera?"
Luz stepped up beside her. "Sometimes I forget that almost everything on the Boiling Isles is something living. I kinda wish my mom was here. As a Veterinarian, she might have some clue."
"A what?" Amity asked, unfamiliar with the word. She hadn't spent enough time around Luz to get to really know her at all, and the thought that Eda wasn't somehow her mother actually took her by surprise.
"Uh, an animal doctor. It's like a Healing Coven member that specializes in non humans?" she explained, then rubbed her chin. "No, that doesn't sound right either. Anyway, it kinda looks like this little guy is half machine too, just like the pile of alarm clock parts beside Eda's nest."
My dad could probably fix it too. He's always working on new ways to combine abominations with machines." she said absently, kneeling down to poke through the debris. She could identify the creature's heart, central eye, and processing organ where photographs were developed before being spat out.
"Great! Maybe between the two of us, enough experience has rubbed off that we can put Humpty back together again!"
"Who?"
"Humpty? Big wall sitter?" Luz explained. "It was a nursery rhyme about an egg that fell off a wall and broke."
"You mean Hümpter and Dümpter. They live on Sinew avenue. Nice family." Amity said, reaching over and standing the camera's three legs up. "I was sorry to hear about Hümpter's fall."
Luz tugged at the collar of her uniform. "Uhm, right. Boiling Isles. I will have to be more careful with my human references. Eda said that a lot of the Human Realm's myths come from here." she added, crouching down across from Amity. "What do you think? Can we fix it?"
"I-I'm not sure." Amity said, trying to hold back the overwhelming urge to just run away again. Magic and school was easy. She had every opportunity and the best teachers to help her through her studies, but lately these adventures that she was being forced into were situations she simply couldn't prepare for.
Luz closed her eyes, suddenly looking very serious as she held up a finger. "The correct answer is, 'Yes we can!'" she exclaimed, then suddenly looked worried. "Please tell me the Construction Coven head isn't named Bob…"
"Er, no…" Amity replied, looking confused before turning her attention back to the broken camera. "Look, this place is just like Lake Lacuna. It's like we're stuck in a moment in time."
"So maybe if we just put him back together, the memory will do the rest?" Luz asked. "Just remember, you still owe me a crush moment if this doesn't pan out."
Amity looked up at Luz again to discover that she had drawn too close for comfort and she backed away nervously. "Right. Well, let's worry about that when it's done. Hopefully, this will be just like a puzzle." She couldn't help but be grateful for the health class she had been taking this semester so far, and she dug into her memory of demon physiology. Luz was surprisingly not as squeamish as she was expecting, and intelligent when focused. Amity had never had so much fun putting together a demon corpse before, and as they placed the camera back on its legs, they found themselves back in the orchard with the familiar flash of light.
Willow was fidgeting nervously as she stood in line, trying to flatten her orange corduroy pants, straighten her green sweater and red bolo tie, scratch at one of her many bandaids, and fix her hair. She watched as other groups of kids laughed and chatted with each other, and her heart sank. This was her first year at Hexside School of Magic and Demonics, and she missed her friend Amity terribly. But, her fathers said to put on a smile for picture day, so that's what she was going to do, even if she didn't feel like it. She buried the hurt of her past deep down, out of her mind, and sniffed. Unfortunately, she failed miserably, and could feel tears beginning to sprout in her eyes.
"Hey, are you crying?" the new kid she had met the day before said from the next spot in line.
Willow turned back to looked down at him. "No! I wasn't…" she insisted, drying her eyes on her sleeve. "No!"
The boy frowned, but remained persistent. "Don't forget that trick you showed me, okay?" he said, looking around them at the small groups of cliquey freshmen. "Wanna be friends?"
Willow calmed herself with a five second breath before slowly letting it out again before speaking. "Really?" she asked suspiciously. "Why me?"
Augustus shrugged. "Because you seem like the coolest person here! And you look like you could use one." he smiled. "Here, let me help." he added, drawing a light blue spell circle around Amity's waist. Willow's attire transformed into a beautiful green dress with a black sweater overtop of a red blouse. Her black hair was instantly styled, and her bandaids and correlating blemishes vanished. "I can't fix what the camera will see, but maybe if you see yourself different, you'll be able to smile for real." Willow looked at herself, feeling the tears she was shedding for herself change to ones of gratitude.
"Next!" the camera demon called.
"That's you!" Augustus said, giving a shooing motion to Willow.
She smiled at him, and gave him a hug. "Thank you, Augustus. I'm Willow." she said, catching the jaw dropped expressions from the mean girls that were congregating on the other side of the gym. She took a seat, folding her hands in her lap, and smiled. Confidently, for the first time in years.
"Nice big smile." The camera ordered, then blinked with a loud snapping sound and a flash of light. The photo that slid out of its mouth dried quickly and the picture of Willow in her mismatched clothes and unruly hair was suddenly of little concern when paired with the genuinely happy smile she showed. "Wow! I can't say I've seen many photos change that drastically!" Willow ignored the camera's banter, satisfied with her photo.
"Aw! I always love a good character meet backstory!" Luz exclaimed as she wiped away a tear. "You still owe me a crush though."
"There's a picture of Willow and her dads!" Amity said, pointing to a photo. An odd wind had picked up while they were in the last portrait, blowing the ash off of the rest of the pictures hanging in the trees. "We can't let her forget them, right?" she asked, drawing Luz's attention away from the memory of Willow at her birthday party.
Luz eyed her suspiciously for a moment before flashing a smile. "Of course not." she said, taking a slight bow and gesturing for Amity to take the lead. "After you." she laughed, and Amity passed her with a sideways glance before she found herself blushing at the unexpected gesture.
The photograph in question was of Willow sitting on a swing, with one of her father's; a dark skinned, balding man with a heavy physique and a thick beard, pushing her from behind, and the other man; with a more pale complexion, small square glasses, and raven hair that was cut short and brushed back, standing in front of her. Amity knew that she had only met Willow's parents once or twice, and never at the slayground, so the chances that she would be in here were slim. She couldn't deny that this particular problem that she had created had made her feel terrible, but having to not fix it alone for a change was nice. Luz had a way of making her feel awkwardly comfortable in a way that she couldn't explain, even to herself.
She climbed into the picture frame, readying herself for a rough landing again as her sense of direction went awry. As she moved through the image, she suddenly felt herself be pulled backward again, and she was shot out onto the grass in a roll that brought her back to her feet. She spun, expecting Luz to come shooting through as well and the girl came stumbling out backward, falling into Amity's grasp with a grunt. "Oof! My hero!" she said, causing Amity to push her back onto her feet as her cheeks reddened.
Amity cleared her throat and looked away from Luz's concerned face. "Uh, we should get started."
Luz smiled softly at her and held up her hands in surrender. "Okay, I get it. You're not a big hugger, and I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable. It's just kind of a habit, I guess."
Amity paused for a moment, looking at the broken swing in the center of the slayground. "No, it's… I'm just not used to it, I guess. My family isn't exactly what you'd consider close." she said, crossing her arms.
Luz stepped up beside her and smiled. "I will try to keep that in mind. Now, let's get to work."She dived head first into the task, and Amity couldn't help but find herself laughing freely as they set upon rebuilding the swing. It was constructed from the bones of some large creature long dead, with strong vines that connected the seat to the frame. The work was actually easy, and even fun with both of them cooperating to put it back together, and before long they were watching the memory play out from the orchard.
"Push me, Papa!" Willow called out, already swinging high. She was pumping her legs as hard as she could and laughing, feeling the warm wind of the Boiling Isles blow through her hair.
Willow's Papa stood behind her, a seemingly perpetual look of concern on his face. "I think that's high enough, sweetie!"
"No it's not! Dad will catch me!" Willow assured him, giggling wildly as she neared a level that was horizontal with the top of the swing set.
"That's right, I've got you…" her Dad assured her, giving his husband a wink and stepping closer to be certain. As Willow flew forward again, she pumped her legs and leaned back with her Papa's push, catching her Dad in the chest with her feet and knocking him down. Willow's Papa caught her as she rebounded, then moved toward his husband with concern. Willow wore a frown for a moment until her Dad sat up and shook his head. He straitened his glasses and laughed, showing that he was okay.
Next, Amity and Luz found themselves in Willow's memory of the Bonesborough library, and Amity could swear she felt physical pain at seeing the burn damaged stacks of books; her home away from home. "Wow." was all she could find to say.
"You really love this place, huh?" Luz asked, placing a hand on Amity's shoulder.
Amity suppressed her reflex to shrug her off, and wiped a cheek as she surveyed the room. "It's been kind of a sanctuary for a long time. Willow and I met in the Kid's Corner, and as we grew up, we'd often sneak around the Librarians to read the Young Adult Romance Novels." she explained, picking up a book that had been knocked onto the floor and wiped off its cover. It's title was one she recognized instantly; 'Weapon of Love', and she opened up its cover to see the little heart shaped doodles that her and Willow had drawn in it. "This was Willow's favorite."
Luz let out a quiet laugh. "I guess I never pictured you as the romantic type."
"I'm not like you, Luz. I can't just show my inner self to everyone."
"How long has it been since you tried?" Luz asked with an unexpected smile that seemed to show that maybe she did know what Amity felt. Rather than answer, Amity placed the book on the shelf where it belonged, resulting in the familiar flash of light again.
Amity giggled as she looked either direction in the Bonesborough Library, watching out for Prentiss, the Librarian. "Okay, the coast is clear." she whispered, looking back at Willow. Her friend was pulling a book off of the Romance Section for ages thirteen and up, her eyes lighting up as she did. She cracked the book open as Amity stepped up beside her. "I was expecting more pictures…" she said, flipping through the pages.
"It's a grown up book. They don't use pictures any more." Amity explained. "Let's find somewhere that we can read it together…"
"Hey!" Prentiss shouted from down the aisle, pointing at the two girls. "You're not supposed to be reading that!"
Willow and Amity gasped, and started to run as the Librarian charged toward them, still shouting at them to stop, as though reading the book might summon something dangerous.
Soon, Luz and Amity found themselves at the carnival at the base of the Roller Ghoster ride. The train of cars had fallen off of the track, the sign had fallen off of its stand, and flames continued to smolder everywhere. "How are we going to fix this one?" Luz asked, picking herself up and walking over to the linked cars. She was rubbing her rear end after another hard landing, but continued on despite the struggle.
Amity found herself overtly averting her eyes after the motion caught her attention, and she circled the cars to inspect the damage from the other side. "Uh, hmm. I… it does look pretty heavy."
"The Bonesborough Carnival was some of the most fun I've had at a fair in a long time." Luz said, giving a minor effort into lifting the heavy contraption. "Eda, King, Willow, and Gus… we all went. Until we all got shrunk and almost fed to some unicorns, we were having a blast!"
"That must have been last week?" Amity asked, feeling a twinge of envy after she'd had to spend that day recovering from cleaning up Boscha's mess. From the sounds of it it though, there was plenty of adventure going on there as well.
"Yeah! Willow said the school had closed for the day from a pixie infestation? I'm glad I wasn't there for that. It sounds like it was a mess!" she said, still exploring the cars. "I think if we disconnected these from each other, we might be able to move them one at a time."
"Let me try something." Amity said, drawing a spell circle to summon an abomination. The circle formed momentarily, but then quickly faded with a sad note of sound. She frowned. "I guess because we're in Willow's mind, my magic won't work here."
Luz let out an exaggerated "Hmmmm…" as she rubbed her chin in thought. She bent down, burying her index finger in the black soot and began drawing a series of circles of various sizes on the floor, bending herself into an odd shape in order to continue drawing under the roller ghoster cars. With her head between the cars and her legs dangling in the air, Luz flexed a hand toward Amity and let out a pleaing "Help."
Amity couldn't help but let out a laugh as she took Luz's hand and pulled her out of her compromising position. "What exactly are you doing?"
Luz inspected her handiwork once she was back on her feet. "I've gotten pretty good at drawing out glyphs. If I'm right, these patterns should lift the cars up enough and let them slide across the ice back onto the tracks, but we'll have to activate them at just the right time. Ready?"
"Ready? Me?" Amity asked, a quick surge of apprehension going through her. She had never used glyphs before. What if they didn't work for normal witches? What if she messed them up?
"Sure!" Luz said. "I'll just need you to tap that last one when I say so." With a stretch of her fingers, Luz shook her hands and ran in place for a moment. "Let's gooooo!" She tapped the first circle, and the lead car began to slowly rise on a column of ice. She then tapped the next glyph that started to rise, stopping just short of the height of the first one. "Now, Amity!" Luz cheered, nodding toward her. Amity flattened her hand on the third circle, closing her eyes and facing away as she did, and the last car began to rise as well. The string of cars began to slide backward finally, slamming into place as they fell onto the track.
Once everything stopped moving, the girls hefted the sign back into place and a flash of light returned the pair back to the orchard where they watched a young Amity wave Willow over to the Roller Ghoster to join her and the train of cars took off along the looping track. A terrified scream could be heard emanating from the portrait, and Willow shouting "I don't feel so good!"
Luz turned the picture around to block their view of the rest of the memory. "I don't think we need to see how this one ends."
"Yeah." Amity said with a laugh. "Willow threw up a lot that day. That's how you knew she was having fun."
"Eugh." Luz said in disgust before smiling. "I mean, aww!" Amity let out a sigh and cast her eyes downward in shame. "Hey, are you okay?"
Amity lifted her eyes again. Someone genuinely asking if she was okay without an ulterior motive or expecting her to push herself harder if she said 'yes' was such a foreign feeling. "Yeah. I just…" she began, trying to arrange her thoughts. "I can't believe I almost erased all of this. I really messed things up."
Luz smiled at her, balling her hands into fists excitedly. "Don't worry. We've gotten really good at fixing memories! I won't rest until we've got this all sorted out. Repeat after me: 'We can fix this together!'" she said. After waiting a moment for Amity to reply, she lowered her voice to coax her. "Come on!"
Amity smiled, tucking her hair behind an ear in a moment of shyness. "We can fix this together…" she repeated, feeling warmth in her cheeks again at the encouragement.
"Heck yeah, we can!" Luz replied, her cheerful tone fading to one of concern. "I know some of these memories must be painful for you, but what happened to you guys? And why are you trying to hide it?"
"I just…" Amity began, feeling herself growing defensive. When she tried to match Luz's gaze however, she caught sight of what she thought was a new flame down the path between the trees. Then it looked at her with dark, angry eyes. "What's that?!" she gasped, pointing as the flame disappeared.