In the Human World:
Lastly:
Special thanks to all reviewers for keeping me motivated these last 3 months.
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Amity rarely found it hard to focus on class. She strove for Top Student because it seemed the only way to make her parents express anything close to pride in her, but she loved learning just because it was learning. She liked a challenge, she enjoyed learning new spells (even if the twins teased her about the training wand). As early as her first morning class on Friday she found herself restless in her seat. She'd spent most of her waking hours since returning getting caught up on what she'd missed, but now her mind wanted badly to skip ahead a few hours. She focused, mostly, by sheer will power as the professors all seemed to drone on throughout the day.
Lunch with Willow and Gus had at least been a welcome break from the mental effort. Gus filled the conversation for all three of them, babbling about all the human objects he hoped to see. Willow smiled indulgently at her younger friend, agreeing now and then but mostly listening to his excitement. Amity finished her lunch and began to doodle in a small sketch book. She set out to draw Azura, instead she drew Luzra. With an amused smile, she simply added a sketch of herself in a matching costume to the drawing. Willow peaked over her shoulder and complemented the drawing shortly before the bell screamed at the end of lunch.
By the time Amity reached her locker Friday afternoon, she found the twins and Viney waiting for her there. Amity gave them a suspicious look, before opening her locker to retrieve the small overnight bag she had stowed there this morning. She had not needed to pack much, there were still clothes for her at Luz's house after all. The youngest Blight looked at the three upperclassmen again as she shut her locker.
"We're walking with you." Emira said, slipping her arm through Viney's as they all started down the hallway together.
"Where are Willow and Gus?" Viney asked.
"I'm meeting them in front of school." Amity looked at Viney, and her tone filled with suspicion. "Are the twins planning to prank me?"
"No." Viney smiled as both Edric and Emira acted scandalized that Amity would even ask. "Actually, we need to talk to Eda and Lilith, plus Mittens 2.0 is at the Owl House."
"How long has she been there?"
"Since that day you came back to school." Edric answered with a shrug. "Just her, Lilith, and Hooty."
"Why would you do that to your masterpiece?" Amity asked and Viney laughed at the surprised look the twins shared.
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"How are you this good?" Luz asked as she watched Mittens 2.0 beat Eda at another game of Hexas Hold'em. "Who taught you to play?"
"Edric, then I arrived here, and Madam Lilith started teaching me." The illusion clone watched Eda glare at a smirking Lilith.
"You have done very well, 2.0." Lilith told the clone before looking directly at Eda. "You deserve every loss she serves you for trying to leave me alone with the infernal house demon."
"Well you. . ." Eda didn't finish what she was about to say as Hooty slammed the door open violently.
"Guests!" Hooty basically bellowed causing all those gathered in the living room to wince. Willow, Gus, Amity, Edric, Emira, and Viney stepped inside, and Amity slammed the door closed as Willow and Gus rushed over to hug Luz.
"You're here!" Willow exclaimed as the three shared a group hug.
"We thought you were meeting us in your world." Gus said before they broke the hug.
"Surprise!" Luz said, pulling some confetti from her pockets and making her two friends laugh. She shifted her eyes to the others, waved a quick hello to the older Hexside students, and then spotted Amity standing a bit to the side. "Ami!"
Amity braced herself as Luz practically slammed into her as she rushed to pull the other girl into a tight hug. She blushed, feeling a bit self-conscious knowing the whole room was watching them, but tightened her own arms around Luz regardless. Willow gave Amity a thumbs up and turned to distract the others. The green-haired witch gratefully turned her own attention fully to Luz.
"I missed you so much." Luz whispered to her.
"I missed you too."
"Viney won, pay up." Edric's voice interrupted the touching moment and caused them both to turn to watch Lilith and Eda counting out snails to hand to Viney.
"What did you bet on?" Amity growled at them and the twins turned to give her identical, playful, innocent looks. "Ed, Em, what did you bet on?"
"They started a betting pool on if you'd woman up and tell Luz how you feel." Eda said as she passed snails to Viney, before patting the Duel Track student on the head. "Congrats on your win."
"Wait, who bet what exactly?" Luz asked, confusion and curiosity filling her tone.
"And how many of you were involved?" Amity's voice was more suspicious than her girlfriend's. She glanced about and saw that both Willow and Gus were steadfastly shaking their heads no. Mittens 2.0 and King were just watching the conversation, as King chuckled.
"Viney bet you two would officially be a couple and have been on at least one date by the time you came back." Edric provided as he read from the notes he had taken about the bet. "Eda thought you'd confess but not act on it. Lilith thought neither of you would have said anything and that Luz still wouldn't have noticed."
"And what were your bets?" Amity gave her siblings a dangerous look and they looked away from her.
"So, how was your trip Eda?" Emira tried to divert their attention and it backfired.
"Oh, it was fine." She grinned evilly at the twins. "Boy twin said neither of you would confess and that Little Blight can't think straight around Luz. Girl twin thought Luz would figure it out but that you two wouldn't do anything about it yet."
"Why would you tell her?" Edric asked in a betrayed tone as Emira tried to hide behind Viney. Amity started to stalk toward her siblings, no one was sure what she intended to do, but Luz grabbed her arm and held her back. Amity turned her gold eyes back to her girlfriend, who moved closer and gave Amity a shy peck on the lips.
"Cut them some slack, Ami, it's kind of funny." Luz told her and everyone watched the youngest Blight defuse under Luz's attention. Amity mumbled something too quietly for anyone other than Luz to hear, and the Latina leaned closer to whisper something back in Amity's ear.
"Awwwww!" The Blight twins started cooing at the two, causing Amity to twitch and take to ignoring them entirely.
"I think the cute banter actually got worse." Eda commented with an expression of mock disgust and Lilith slapped her arm.
"Can we go now?" Gus grinned when they looked at him. He was restlessly fidgeting. "Human World." He elaborated as if that explained life itself.
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"This is amazing!" Gus was clearly in pure, unadulterated joy as he fiddled with a fidget cube. They were sitting in Luz's room; Gus was on the floor surrounded by random objects of all kinds and a notepad. When Camila had seen Gus's reaction to things the humans took for granted, she had gathered a box of assorted objects and handed them to the gleeful young witch. "And this!" Now he held a penlight, marveling at the tiny beam of light it produced.
Luz was teaching Amity and Willow Jenga at the small desk in her room. Every so often she would turn to answer a question from Gus, then return her focus to the game. Luz played with her left hand, having captured Amity's hand with her right. Willow seemed to have the advantage out of the three, as she was the only one fully focused on her task. It surprised no one when Amity lost, toppling the tower suddenly when Luz distracted her. Willow giggled at her friends, before pulling her scroll and managing to get a picture of Luz giving Amity a consolatory hug.
Amity Blight realized, a few hours later, that she really should have seen how cuddly Luz would be coming. Luz was not shy about hugging her friends, and now she was extremely attached to her girlfriend. The green-haired witch could not stop smiling, and frankly blushing, as the Latina gave her so much attention. When they had passed through the portal, they had done so with their fingers intertwined. When the four had played a few human board games earlier, Luz had spent the time between turns resting her head on Amity. Now as they were all settled in, watching a movie, Amity was not even sure what movie they were watching.
The four teens were gathered on the couch, Willow at one end, Gus in the middle, and Luz and Amity at the other end. Luz had playfully lifted Amity's arm and leaned into her side at the start of the movie. Amity's arm had wrapped around the other girl's shoulders without her really willing it to, but she had no complaints about that. As they watched the movie, Luz would turn to whisper in Amity's ear about one thing or another. The witch prayed to the Titan Luz didn't ask her for any response beyond a sort of hum, because she was a bit overwhelmed by having her so close for so long. Amity was just overwhelmed with contentment at the moment. She vaguely heard Camila call, and thought she heard her girlfriend's name, but she really did not catch what was said.
"Stay right here, mi corazón, I'll be back soon." Luz whispered into her ear, before Amity felt a light peck against that same ear. Her gold eyes followed the human teen who bounded from the room cheerfully. She snapped out of her stupor when a piece of popcorn bounced off her head. She turned to look to the other side of the couch, Gus was still fully focused on the human movie. Willow, on the other hand, was grinning at her and holding the bowl of popcorn she shared with Gus.
"Oh wow, sports." Willow silently mouthed and Amity giggled quietly. The green-haired witch gave a helpless shrug and turned her eyes toward the movie.
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"Luz, come help me in the kitchen, mija." Camila called and Luz smiled at her friends. She whispered something and pecked Amity on the ear, before bounding away to the kitchen, leaving the others to finish watching the movie.
"Okay, Mami, Luz has arrived!" She announced as she found her mother waiting by the sink. Camila nodded toward a dish towel.
"Come dry the dishes for me, I want to talk." They worked quietly for a few moments, before the elder Noceda brought up what was on her mind. "I have been thinking about this school and the Boiling Isles."
"You, you have?" The teen tried not to sound too hopeful as she accepted another dish and began drying it. She was making little stacks of dry plates, bowls, and silverware to the side. "Do you have more questions?"
"No, Cariño, creo que he preguntado lo que necesito saber. (No, Sweety, I think I've asked what I need to know.)" She let that sentence hang for a few moments. "No puedo ignorar tu necesidad de tener una educación humana. (I can't ignore your need to have a human education.)" From the corner of her eye she noticed Luz's shoulders sag a little. "I've looked into how and if it could be possible for you to complete high school if I let you go to Hexside."
"Mami, I will do anything it takes." The teen stopped drying, until her mother gently elbowed her arm. Luz bit her lip and returned to her task as they spoke.
"Cariño, I'm not sure you know how much work it will take to balance two educations. I can't just let you not finish high school." Camila kept her eyes on the remaining dishes. "Por lo tanto, si estás haciendo esto significa que los fines de semana, tendrás que volver a casa y trabajar más duro en la educación en línea, así como durante el verano. (So, if you're doing this it means on the weekends, you'll need to come home and work extra hard on online schooling, as well as over the summer.)"
"Really?" She asked in a thunderstruck tone, staring slack jawed at her mother's profile as the elder Noceda nodded.
"Yes, I found an accredited online high school that should work, but it will be a lot of work and you'll need your summers to keep up with credits." Camila let out a huff of air as Luz suddenly squeezed her in a tight hug. The teen was squealing and speaking incomprehensively in her excitement. Three heads soon poked through the doorway. Green, brown and gold eyes gazed at them with curiosity as Luz broke her hug to dance happily in the center of the kitchen.
"Yes, yes, yes!" Luz danced over to the door, tugged Amity into the room with them, and started dancing some sort of waltz with her around the kitchen.
"Luz, what happened?" The green-haired teen managed to stop Luz, holding her at arm's length and locking their eyes on each other. Amity was blushing so red she looked like a living stop sign.
"I can go back to Hexside!" Luz exclaimed, throwing her arms around Amity and pulling her into a tight hug. It only took a few seconds for Gus and Willow to come hug the two, turning it into a group hug. Camila was forgotten for the moment and took the chance to record the moment on her camera phone.
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"Mrs. Noceda?" Amity asked softly, standing nervously in the open door of Camila's room. Camila looked up from the book she had been reading and offered the teen a kind smile. Amity glanced over her shoulder, and almost whispered. "Can I talk to you privately?"
"Come in, dear, and shut the door." Camila set aside her book and moved so she was sitting on the edge of her bed. She patted a space beside her and watched the extremely nervous girl sit down. "Amity, please take a deep, slow breath. You look ready to faint, mija."
"Uh." Amity's knee bounced, but she shut her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly and repeating the process a few times. She felt Camila gently rub her shoulders, and the comforting gesture helped ease her nerves a bit.
"Did that help?" The human woman asked, seeming to notice that Amity no longer seemed as tense as she had been moments before. She was still nervous, but not overwhelmingly so.
"Yes." She shyly admitted, glancing over with a weak smile. Camila grinned back, and the teen chewed her lip for a moment. Finally, she straightened up where she sat and spoke with as much confidence as she could. "I really, really care about Luz."
"I can see that dear." Camila said it kindly, which helped Amity feel less panic.
"You know that we want to date, I mean we sort of are dating." Amity felt her panic increase a bit again, but Camila patted her shoulder and it helped. When she spoke though, it came out in a jumble. "CanIhaveyourpermissiontodateyourdaughterplease?I thinkImightbefallinginlovewithher!"
"Amity." Camila's tone was calming, but the girl's pointed ears twitched. She was almost certain there was a hint of laughter in the elder Noceda's voice. "Dear, I am going to need you to say that at least half as quickly as you just did."
"I. . ." She took a few more calming breaths. "Can I, I mean I wanted to know if you'll give your permission for Luz and I to date. I really care about her, and I want to do things right."
"Amity, Luz doesn't need my permission to date you." Camila had a playful look on her face. "Unless she gets grounded, then she needs my permission for pretty much everything." She joked as she moved and hugged Amity to her side. "But since this is so important to you, of course you two have my permission."
"Thank you." The teen felt almost lightheaded from her relief.
"I want to tell you something." Camila's voice was very warm as she spoke. "I want to make it clear; you are always welcome in this house. Even if you just need to come talk, you tell Eda to open that portal and send you through."
"Thank you." Amity really did not know how to respond to that.
"Now, how did you manage to shake Luz long enough to come talk?"
"I told her I was going to the bathroom and Willow distracted her, so she didn't see me go the other way." Amity admitted and they shared a laugh.
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Blight Manor felt too quiet, and too large in the days after Odalia and Alador returned. Amity and the twins would walk home together each day, and then congregate in one of the siblings' rooms. It took over a week before Alador and Odalia called for Amity, and instead all three siblings entered their parents' home office. Alador frowned at the unexpected audience, and Odalia told the twins they were not needed.
"Yes." Edric said in a falsely cheerful tone.
"We are." Emira finished. They stood on either side of their sister and just a touch behind her, supporting their younger sibling.
"Very well." Alador said with only a slight hesitation. He focused his brown eyes on his youngest child. "Your recent progress report showed acceptable improvement, especially in the absence of your former tutor."
"Thank you, Father." Amity responded calmly and in the exact manner expected of her. Her parents practically had a script they wished their children to adhere to. Most times they spoke at their children, rather than to them. Occasionally they would ask the siblings to explain something, otherwise they expected little to be said in return.
"We are concerned, however, to hear that you have chosen to continue associating with that human." Odalia's displeasure was clear in both her tone and her expression. "We were very clear that you are not to continue associating with that creature."
"I am still associating with Luz, and I have no intention to stop associating with her." Amity told them, keeping her head held high and her expression determined.
"Amity, darling. . ." Odalia folded her hands primly as Amity verbally cut her off.
"No, Mother, I will not back down this time. If you threaten her, or try to prevent me from seeing her, or anyone else, I see no reason to continue striving to live up to your expectations." Her gold eyes did not miss how both her parents stiffened. She almost felt her siblings shift just a bit closer on either side of her. They had discussed this before their parents had returned from their mysterious trip.
"Amity." Alador stood from where he had been sitting behind his desk and directed a stern glare toward his daughter. "So long as you live under this roof you will do as we say."
"I can, and will, go elsewhere." She replied and saw her father's eyebrows tick slightly upwards.
"To be clear." Edric spoke as he crossed his arms.
"If she leaves, we all leave." Emira informed them as she mirrored her brother's stance.
"And we can be ever so attention getting." Edric reminded their parents.
"You will do no such thing." Odalia was so angry by this point she was shaking slightly where she stood. She did not normally tolerate any form of disagreement from her children.
"Odalia, dear, perhaps we are being rash." Alador's words surprised all four of the other Blights in the office. Eight golden eyes turned to watch him as he brushed non-existent wrinkles from his coat. He focused entirely on Amity, his brown eyes locking with the youngest Blight's eyes. "You may continue to choose who you will associate with, so long as your status as Top Student remains intact. If you lose your place as top of your track, you will go to school and to a tutor with no social concerns whatsoever. Am I understood, young lady?"
"Yes, Father." Amity did not dare let her relief leak into her face or voice.
"I believe all three of you have other things to attend to." Alador said and the teens did not hesitate to leave, closing the door behind them. Alador resumed his seat, as his wife stared at him.
"Why would you allow her to associate with the human?" Odalia asked in a cold tone. "The human is beneath any of us."
"She isn't a little girl anymore; we cannot always make her choices for her."
"That does not mean we should allow her to consort with criminals."
"She will tire of the human in time, and we will have avoided an embarrassing scene made by all three of our children."
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The clearing in which the Owl House rested was calm today. A gentle breeze blew through occasionally, pushing along a dry leaf on the ground. Edric, Emira, Lilith, and Mittens 2.0 gathered near the back door.
"Are you sure we should do this? It seems wrong." Edric said, looking sad as he shifted his gaze between the advanced illusion clone and the two witches beside him.
"Be reasonable, Edric, we cannot continue to have two Amity Blights running about the Isles." Lilith reminded him, and both twins sighed.
"Are you ready, Mittens 2.0?" Emira asked the clone in a kind voice.
"Ready." The clone agreed and crossed her arms as she waited. The twins exchanged a quick look, before they shifted to stand closer together. They drew a large circle between the two of them, and soon a large puff of smoke engulfed the clone and the space around her. They stood there silently as the smoke hung in the air, waiting for a new breeze to blow it away.
"This really is for the best." Lilith assured them, though neither looked convinced.
"We know." Edric said with a frown, as a gust of wind finally swept the slowly dissipating smoke out over the cliff side.
"You know, it's actually a good look." Emira commented as the figure in the smoke was revealed again. A figure stood there, waving the last traces of smoke away from her face. The figure still bore Amity's facial features, and her height and build, however there were differences now. Her black hair was braided, coming to rest halfway down her back, cool gray eyes watched them beneath dark bangs, and her skin was now a few shades darker giving her a very slight tan. She would not be mistaken for Amity anymore, though she might be mistaken for a cousin.
"We really can't call you Mittens 2.0 anymore." Edric commented, rubbing his chin as he considered that thought in his mind.
"If I might make a suggestion, perhaps we should call her Tracy." Lilith's comment caused the twins to look to her with raised brows.
"Why Tracy?" Emira asked with a tilt of her head.
"Because I am a trace of who I once was." The illusion clone actually smiled as she nodded. "I think I like it."
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Author's Note:
Though this is the end of this story I've decided to turn this into a series of stories. If you'd like to catch future updates as they are posted please subscribe to author alerts, follow the series (this story has been added to it), or follow me on Twitter Dayfiction83 . I post the links on Twitter every time I add a new chapter to a story.
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