In the Human World:
Chasm
"Okay, let's try this again." Edric said, clapping his hands before rubbing them swiftly together as if to warm them. Emira crossed her arms and looked at what they were now privately calling Mittens 2.0. The Illusion of Amity was visually perfect, right down to the cast on her right leg and the healing patches attached to it.
"Amity, where do we go to school?" Emira asked. This wasn't the first attempt at this, they had been working on the voice of the illusion because it was terribly inaccurate in their first attempt. Mittens 2.0 gave Emira the kind of withering stare her actual sister would have offered to those bothering her with nonsense.
"We are all students at Hexside, Em." She responded in the perfect, if slightly prissy tone the twins had often heard Amity use around Boscha and her gang. Edric whooped and jumped before doing a short victory dance, however Emira chewed her lip as she debated and Edric deflated slightly. They'd easily perfected Amity's appearance, after all they had known her as long as she'd been alive. The voice was another matter though because Amity had softened recently.
"Real Mittens isn't as snarky or biting of late." Emira commented and her brother sighed heavily.
"We can't make her more approachable, we both know that we need her to give people the cold shoulder." He reminded her, though he couldn't hide the hint of sadness in his voice. "We aren't making her bully anyone, just be standoffish, and she is most often at school."
"You're right." Emira still felt like Mittens 2.0 could be made closer to the real Amity, but then it could also be that she already missed her sister. Edric, as usual, must have known what she was thinking because he hugged his twin in a comforting manner.
"Hey, this is one of the best illusions we've ever made. We can touch it, talk to it, it will take notes. . ." He freed a hand and held it up, looking to Mittens 2.0 and holding his hand palm out. "Give me five!" She slapped his hand and he chuckled. "We even taught her the human greeting Luz likes."
"Let's not do that at school, she'll kill us when she gets back if we do." Emira reminded him and Edric nodded his agreement. They almost relaxed when they heard the door downstairs and shared a more cautious expression. "Here comes the next test."
"Good thing we got her talking." Edric moved and opened the door for the two. "Come on Mittens, we need to say hello to our parents."
The twins matched pace with Mittens 2.0, helping her down the stairs before giving her back her crutches. They found Mr. and Mrs. Blight in the sitting room, both clearly waiting for their three children to appear. The Blight parents were, as always, dressed immaculately with not a hair out of place and not a wrinkle to be found. Mr. Blight watched the teenagers silently even as his wife let out a disappointed sigh, her eyes roving over the three with clear disapproval.
"Have you become savages in our short absence?" She asked them, crossing her arms and fixing her stare on the three. They stood in their school uniforms, hours after school had ended, and slightly rumpled after a full day of wear.
"No, Mother." Emira made herself the spokesperson first, bowing her head apologetically. "We were preoccupied working on our homework together."
"That is no excuse, Emira Blight." Mrs. Blight shook her head and waved a hand as if to discard that excuse by wave of hand alone. "We expect you to change out of your school uniforms each day, regardless, even when we are not present to ensure you do so. You are not children and shall conduct yourselves as the young gentleman and ladies you are."
"Yes, Mother." That was Edric, giving his best respectful son impersonation. "We promise it will not happen again."
"See that it does not." She moved to take a seat on one of the couches in the room, though the three teens did not move to sit. "Has anything of note happened at school?"
"No, Mother." Emira, Edric, and Mittens 2.0 responded in near unison. Mr. Blight cleared his throat and the three moved their attention to their father. He watched them as he spoke, his eyes intent on all three.
"Nothing?" He asked again and only the twins' years of experience prevented them from squirming as he gave them that knowing gaze.
"Nothing, Father." Edric replied and did not miss the look his parents exchanged briefly. Something had happened they'd heard about, but he wasn't sure what and he doubted Emira knew either. He wanted to look to his sister, but that could have seemed like a sign of guilt to their parents.
"Your Father and I have urgent business for the Emperor's Coven." Mrs. Blight broke the silence finally and Edric didn't need to look to know his sister was as surprised as he was. "We shall be away until this business is complete, and you will conduct yourselves as is befitting members of the Blight family in our absence. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Mother." Again, the three responded in near perfect unison.
"Emira, Edric, we expect you to take care of your sister." There was something in Mrs. Blight's tone that made them both even more uncomfortable. "Also, Amity will need to have her cast removed in a few days' time. I will leave the information and payment for that on the dining table before we leave tonight."
"Tonight?" Emira asked, feeling shock wash across her face openly. The eyebrow her mother raised was enough to make her school her face back to normal. "I apologize Mother, must you leave so soon."
"Our work is important." Mr. Blight answered, though he at least stepped forward and offered his children a look that seemed mildly apologetic. "We trust the three of you can function properly in our absence."
"Now, go change. We will have dinner in an hour, and I expect all of you to be properly dressed." Mrs. Blight dismissed them, but as they turned Mr. Blight spoke again.
"Amity, we need to speak with you alone." He said, Edric and Emira both had to force themselves not to react. Mittens 2.0 settled back to face their parents on her crutches, they had to trust they'd cast the illusion perfectly. The twins were halfway up the stairs when Edric chanced a look at his sister. Emira returned an uneasy look, and watched her brother mouth a word their mother definitely wouldn't have approved of.
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Amity could have stayed inside the house, and frankly it was more comfortable inside, but she'd opted to follow Luz into the backyard and watch her human friend. King had disappeared, and after a brief search Luz had determined the little demon was napping next to her mother who was sleeping before a night shift at the hospital. Luz had shown Amity a picture, King curled up by her mother's feet, and they'd shared a quick giggle at the cute image. Now Amity watched Luz pull a thing with two wheels and a metal frame onto a patch of concrete, knocking a spider web off as she grumbled something. Amity herself lounged in borrowed shorts and a borrowed t-shirt, sitting on a lawn chair because Luz insisted she shouldn't spend so long leaning on her crutches.
"And what is that?" Amity asked, causing Luz to shoot her a smile. The teen witch ignored the warmth that smile inspired as Luz turned and went to retrieve the garden hose.
"It's a bike, lots of humans use these to get around or just to ride for fun or exercise." The human explained as she was fighting with the hose. Amity's gold eyes shifted between Luz and the bike, considering that explanation. The human equivalent of a staff then? At least in transportation, though she highly doubted it could go as fast. "I need to clean it because it's been out here all summer."
"You need the dirt and webs off?" Amity asked, and Luz hummed a sort of affirmative sound. The young witch glanced about, ensured no one was near them, and drew a quick spell circle with her hand. Luz turned as the spell took effect and watched the magic pass over her bike. The effect was remarkably interesting, dirt, a little rust, and spider webs just sort of fell off as if the bike shook them off. Luz turned surprised and awed eyes toward Amity and the witch felt her ears and face burn with another blush. 'I am going to die from blushing if we don't get back soon.' She thought to herself.
"You have to teach me that." Luz said, then frowned in mild disappointment. "Only you can't at the moment." She sighed heavily but dropped the hose and shook it off with another smile.
"I'll show you again sometime, it's a pretty useful spell." Amity said as she watched Luz sort of bounce over toward her chair. The human teen surprised her, pausing by her chair and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. If Amity thought she was blushing before, now she was almost lightheaded from how hard she was blushing.
"Thanks, that saved me so much time." Brown eyes met gold eyes, and Luz gave her a very concerned look. "I'm getting you some cold water, and a hat. You look really red; I hope you aren't getting a sun burn. Do you get sun burns?"
"I uh. . ." Amity really needed Luz to move away so she could breathe, and thankfully she did almost as the green haired witch thought that. Once Luz had darted through the backdoor of the house, Amity sort of crumpled forward. She buried her face in her hands, her hair swinging forward as she had left it down to hide her ears. She could feel the sun on the back of her neck, warming the skin where her undercut left her neck exposed. "Friends, you are friends. She doesn't mean anything by that." She mumbled to herself softly. The mantra had become a habit during her stay at the Noceda home, it was hard to share a room with your crush and not need to remind yourself.
When Luz returned a few minutes later Amity had managed to pull herself back together. She chuckled in amusement as the human presented her with a bucket hat that had little cat ears on top. Luz gave a bright smile when she heard Amity chuckle, then took the time to carefully place the hat on her friend's green haired head.
"Just how many clothes with cat ears do you have?" Amity asked as they shared a smile again.
"You'll just have to wait and see." Luz said with a wink, drawing another laugh from Amity. The human's smile turned soft, as she pressed a cold bottle of water into Amity's hands. Her tone was just a little shy when she spoke again. "I really like hearing you laugh."
"Uh, thanks." Amity managed to fight off the blush that time, maybe she was getting better at not becoming a flustered mess. Luz turned, grabbed a spray can, and moved to go sit on the ground near her bike. Amity sipped her water, watching as Luz carefully sprayed oil on all the places that could turn or move in any manner. They talked, and Luz told her about the times when her mother was teaching her to ride a bike.
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This summer had been such a whirlwind of events for Willow Park and her friends. The first day she noticed Luz was absent she thought perhaps she needed a day's rest after everything which happened with Eda, the Emperor, and Lilith. Honestly even when Luz had explained it to Gus and herself, or rather told her what happened on her end of things, it had seemed so overwhelming. The second day she started to wonder if Eda had kept her home for safety reasons, but on the third day when their history teacher called her name and she wasn't there, Willow became a bit scared. At lunch she whispered back and forth with Gus, quietly, discussing what could be the reason for their friend's continued absence. That night they even tried calling the Owl House, but only Hooty answered. They couldn't make much sense of what the house demon said, but they did manage to ascertain that no one else was home.
"Where do you think they went?" Gus asked, and Willow chewed her lip a bit as she really considered that. "Do you think they're in hiding?"
"I really think Luz would have found a way to say goodbye, even if it was just by letter." Even as Willow said this, she realized it was more that she hoped their friend would be able to say goodbye. "Besides, the Emperor canceled the bounty on Eda and we haven't seen one for Lilith or Luz yet."
"Unless there's a secret one." Gus said this in a tone that was somehow a mix of excited and scared. "What if the Coven came for them in the night?"
"I don't know, why not just openly place a bounty on them if he was going to do that?" Willow sighed and fidgeted with her scroll. The two were silent for long moments, sitting on the floor of Willow's bedroom with their schoolbooks spread about them.
"Wait." Gus's expression lit up and he all but bounced where he sat. "What about Amity? We haven't asked her, maybe she knows where Luz is."
"Maybe." Willow bit back a smile, she knew Gus hadn't caught on to Amity's crush. Willow saw it though; it was impossible not to after that conversation in the green house. She didn't want to worry Amity if the other witch didn't know, but if she didn't how long would it really be before she became concerned too. "I'll send her a message." She finally said, pulling up the correct contact and starting to tap at her scroll.
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"Amity." Mr. Blight's tone was stern as he eyed what he thought was his youngest child. "It has come to our attention that your grades have declined." He sighed. "If you were not still the top student enrolled in your track we would be having a very different discussion right now."
"Be that as it may." Mrs. Blight spoke up, and Mittens 2.0's eyes shifted to her as she spoke. "It is quite clear you have become distracted and need to refocus. Normally we'd contact Ms. Clawthorne about the possibility of more private lessons, however due to certain recent events that is simply not an option. For the time being you will be expected to spend your free time on self-directed study, and you may ask the twins for help if you would like."
"Until your grades return to where they were you will not waste your time with friends or classmates." Mr. Blight redirected. "Are we clear, young lady?"
"Yes, Father." Mittens 2.0 agreed calmly, and the elder Blights watched her carefully for long moments.
"There is one other matter of importance." Mrs. Blight said and waited for those gold eyes to meet hers again. "It has also come to our attention you have been spending time with the human student. That ends today, and we will not entertain any debate on this topic. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Mother." Mittens 2.0 was dismissed shortly after. As soon as she reached the bottom of the stairs Edric all but bounded down to help her climb them again. Mittens 2.0 dutifully told them everything which had been said and watched the twins pale as she explained the last portion. "Is that bad?" Mittens 2.0 asked them.
"It's complicated." Edric told the illusion but offered her a comforting smile. "But don't worry about it, you did exactly the right thing."
"Go get changed for dinner." Emira told her kindly and waited until the illusion clone had departed. She looked to Edric and grimaced. "We have to find a way to fix this. They did this with Willow, and it changed Amity so much, I don't think she'll be able to handle it with Luz."
"Do you think she'd obey them about Luz?" Edric asked and they shared a look that spoke volumes. "Okay, okay. Right now, Luz isn't even here, and Mother and Father will be leaving for who knows how long."
"Possibly to hunt Lilith and Eda." Emira said and tried to roll some tension from her neck.
"Why don't we get through dinner and take it from there?" Edric suggested, his sister did not miss a slightly overwhelmed tone in his voice.
"I don't see that we have any other choice right now." Emira agreed.
"Well, I mean, we could take Mittens 2.0, sneak out a window, and go live with the Owl Lady." He suggested and Emira twitched. Neither was sure how to feel about that idea, and even Edric wasn't sure how serious he was about it. He considered for a moment before regarding his sister with concerned eyes. "Should we explain to Mittens 2.0 who Luz is and why she's important?"
"I don't think that information would help anything right now."
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Amity woke when Luz's phone beeped to wake her friend and current roommate. The green haired teen pretended to still be asleep, she didn't want Luz to feel guilty about waking her before sunrise. She still did not understand why Luz had a delivery job at this hour, the human had been evasive when she'd mentioned it. Slitted gold eyes watched Luz stumble around in the dark, grab some clothes, and exit the room to go change in the restroom. Amity had almost fallen asleep again when King suddenly hopped up onto the end of her bed. The little demon was unconcerned when Amity jolted upright in surprise, instead he just walked a circle near her feet before curling up and dropping back to sleep. She watched him, really not used to his antics yet, and far too awake to go back to sleep now.
"Did I wake you?" That was Luz, her voice filled with concern, who was just coming back in now that she was fully changed. Amity shook her head and gestured toward King, causing Luz to squint before she was able to make him out in the dark. Luz chuckled and Amity couldn't help but smile at the sound.
"Can you turn the light on?" Amity asked, then tilted her head in thought. "Or will that wake King?"
"Oh no, once he's out not much wakes him." Luz said, before flicking the ceiling light on and momentarily blinding them both. As Amity's vision adjusted, she was greeted with Luz looking at her with a sort of dazed look. She cocked an eyebrow at her friend, and Luz shook herself slightly. She seemed more awake than anyone should be at this hour. Amity gave in to a yawn as she pulled out her scroll to see if there were any new messages. There were several, and she frowned as she read through them.
{Hey Amity, have you heard from or seen Luz recently? Gus and I haven't seen her at school and no one was home at the Owl House.} From Willow Park.
{So, good news and bad news, Mittens.} From Edric.
{Mother and Father came home, and they left again the same night on more business.} From Emira.
{They didn't notice a thing, but they did have a talk with "you" about your grades slipping. You are basically grounded until your grades go back to A+s.} From Edric.
{They also brought up Luz, but please don't worry about that for right now. Ed and I will figure something out about that. "You" are taking great class notes, by the way.} From Emira.
"News from home?" Luz asked quietly, sitting on the edge of her own bed as she pulled her socks and shoes on. Amity quietly groaned and brown eyes were watching her again. "That bad?"
"I'm grounded when we get back, and Ed and Em are being vague about something." Amity huffed slightly as she tapped a few return messages to her siblings. "It's never good when the twins are vague."
"I can only imagine." Luz agreed, giggling to spite herself as she considered things like the library incident were probably what made the twins "vague".
"I also have a message from Willow, she and Gus are looking for you." They each quietly mulled over that for a moment, Luz finally stood with a sigh.
"Maybe tell them to see Ed and Em and ask the twins to explain. I mean we don't know what's going on in the Isles, they might be helpful." Luz's tone was a little uncertain. "But I also don't want them to get into trouble, they already risked a lot to help Eda."
"We're your friends Luz, and Eda has been kind to all of us." Amity gave the most reassuring smile she could. "Let the twins explain and they can figure out what they will or will not do on that side of things."
"I just feel a little guilty." Luz confided, moving to sit on the edge of Amity's bed and facing the other teen. "If you hadn't insisted on helping me you'd be home right now."
"And you'd have no contact with any of us." Amity realized there was a hint of panic in her voice when she said that, but she couldn't fully suppress it. The idea of Luz having been thrown back through the portal, with out even being able to say goodbye was heartbreaking. She was pulled from that thought when Luz hugged her, oh there she went again. Amity felt like butterflies had filled her stomach, her face was hot, her pulse had gone nuts. She also felt pained because. . . Well she didn't want to think about that right now. Titan bless it she was going to just enjoy the hug while she could.
"I have to go, you should try to get some more sleep." Luz whispered, squeezing the other teen slightly before disengaging the hug to stand. Amity shot Luz a shaky smile and a wave, before the human slipped out the bedroom door, shutting it softly behind her.
"You two are sickeningly cute." King's voice scared the teen girl again, and this time she threw a pillow at the little demon, but he just laughed and ignored her otherwise.
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Few things caused Amity Blight to lose her cool: The twins teasing pranks, Luz being too close, and now she could add being alone with her crush's mother. Amity needed her cast off and knew that Camila had arranged an appointment to get it removed today, but originally Luz was supposed to come as well. When it came time to leave though neither Amity nor Camila wanted to wake Luz, who'd dozed off probably from her new early morning job. Camila had just left a note, and cheerfully declared it would give her a chance to get to know Amity better. So here she was, sitting on an exam table, waiting for someone to come in as Camila smiled at her from a nearby chair.
"How did you meet Luz, mija?" Camila's smile as she asked this was so kind and welcoming it was impossible not to be disarmed by it.
"Well, uh, Mrs. Noceda, you see. . ." Amity fumbled with her words, partly from nerves and partly trying to think of a mostly truthful answer that didn't include the words Abomination or Dissection.
"Please call me Camila." And somehow that offer made Amity ten times more nervous. She never called her friends parents by their first names. She adjusted the beanie she wore as if to ensure it still covered her ears.
"Um, Luz befriended someone in my group at camp." Amity basically imagined the tracks as different groups at a camp somewhere, that should work. "And they tried to sneak her into our group. I, uh, I caught them and . . . I got a little angry, I respect the rules a lot, so I tried to turn them in to the adult in charge. There was a lot of confusion and we all got in a little trouble, but it worked out in the end." The teen laughed, not because she was amused, in fact that memory made her want to cringe. No, she laughed because she was nervous, feeling as if they'd both be in trouble even with the censored tale. "We weren't on good terms right away."
"Amity, my daughter sometimes has a hard time fitting in." Her gold eyes met the warm brown that looked so much like a younger set of eyes. Camila sighed and her tone was fond, but also a bit tired. "No need to be embarrassed, Luz is a very unique girl and I know it."
"Yeah. . ." Amity wanted to kick herself when she caught her own dreamy tone. She refocused and stared at her cast, missing an amused and knowing expression on Camila's face. They were silent for a few moments, but the teen was too nervous to take the silence. She began to talk, to fill the silence, and of course a certain person was the most relatable topic for the two. "Luz is over whelming." Amity admitted, not raising her eyes from her cast. "She's so full of energy, and she has this tendency to rush into things with out thinking. At first it seemed like no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't avoid her, and every time she showed up so did trouble."
"That certainly sounds like Luz." Camila laughed and it made some of the nervous tension in Amity unwind.
"The more I was around her though, the more I realized how intense and kindhearted she is. Before I knew it, I started looking forward to seeing her, and I didn't mind the mishaps as long as we worked together to get through them." Her voice was soft, and she gestured to the cast. "I actually hurt my leg helping Luz out of a weird sports mishap. I know I should regret getting hurt, but I don't. Meeting Luz has made me really consider who I am, and I think I'm better for that." There it was, the moment that brought all the nerves back. "I, um, she's a really great friend."
Camila didn't say anything to that, because the door of the exam room opened and interrupted them. Amity had never been so thankful for an interruption in her life, she was sure if she spoke any longer, she'd find herself spilling all of the feelings she was trying not to expose. Of course, she wished she had the courage to tell Luz, but then she worried if that would make things awkward. More awkward really, and even if it didn't Luz wasn't coming back to the Boiling Isles with her. Even if she wanted to do so, how would she explain that to Camila with out telling her what was going on? Cold dread filled Amity as she realized the finality of that line of thought. There was no way this ended with Luz returning with her, was there? There was also a real chance that whatever way back was found wouldn't be something stable enough to even consider visits to either side later.
Amity shut her eyes tightly, forcing her mind to focus on the sound of the power tool the human was using to cut the cast carefully from her leg. She focused on that sound, willing herself to be in the moment. She couldn't focus on the future right now, because she did not want to cry. She hated crying, and she also had too much pride in herself to feel comfortable with the idea of crying in front of Camila. The tool made a whirring sound, the pitch of that sound changed as it worked on the cast. Amity felt a hand on her shoulder, Camila probably thought she was scared. She wasn't wrong exactly, but it wasn't the tool that scared her.
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Luz and King were walking around the block again, with King on a leash needlessly for appearances. The small demon shot her looks every so often, but he didn't speak because there were just a few too many humans about at this hour of the day. The human teen was restless, worried, and nervous. She'd woken up to find a note, and that Camila and Amity had gone to the doctor's office with out her. She regretted taking a nap so much right now. It wasn't that she didn't trust her Mom to take care of Amity, it was just that she felt like she needed to protect Amity. That thought was ridiculous in so many ways, Amity was a powerful witchling and far more athletic than most would guess. Memories of the grudgby match which caused the injury floated through her mind. More than once Amity had tugged Luz out of the way of the weird traps on the field, or just done something insanely athletic that momentarily distracted Luz that day.
Someone stopped Luz about King's skull again, and she rattled off some excuse about it being a cosplay thing they were trying out. She didn't know if the person believed her, and she couldn't be bothered to remember anything about the person once they parted ways. Right now, her stomach was squirming, like it had just before Grom. At least this time she knew why, even if the effect it had on her didn't fully make sense. She was worried about Amity, interacting with the human world, with out Luz at her side. Knowing the intelligent, green haired, pretty. . . Wait, what was Luz thinking about again? She grumbled to herself, and she and King completed a fifth circle of the block. King didn't try to stop her from continuing, if she needed to walk let her walk. He was a little restless staying inside so much anyway.
Luz and King didn't know how many laps they'd done when they turned the corner to see her Mother's car had just parked outside the house. Luz scooped King up, the little demon made a small surprised sound, and then she bolted the rest of the way to the side of the car as the passenger door opened. Camila had been coming around the front of the car, but just stopped to watch with an amused grin as Luz rushed over. King was swiftly set down, and Luz absentmindedly released the leash as she turned to Amity. The green haired teen bit her lip as she found herself suddenly looking up at Luz who was offering her help out of the car. Camila squatted down and clapped, looking at King. Apparently, he had adapted because he rushed over, jumped in her arms, and gladly accepted the scratches he was rewarded with for the dog like behavior.
"How are you feeling? Did it hurt to get the cast off? Are you okay?" Luz was asking rapid fire questions as she helped Amity to stand, and Amity was trying to focus on the quick questions, but they were face to face again and it was hard. A throat cleared, and they both glanced over to Camila who nodded toward the car again.
"Get Amity's cane and help her inside, Luz." She told the teen with an amused smile. "You can question her in the air conditioning."
"Sí mami." Luz agreed, and then looked at Amity again with a shy smile. "Sorry, got carried away."