Okie doke. howdy! it's tuesday just like i promised! if you haven't read part one A Haunted Past, please do! it's not that long and i think it's really good! but if you don't want to i understand.
basically Amity and Willow enter an everlasting oath not to romantically pursue Luz in any way. if you break an unbreakable oath your magic is lost and transferred to the other person. both parties must agree to disband an everlasting oath, both parties must also touch. Got it? Got it? good.
the timeline: it's a bit confusing but this story takes place a week after the events of young blood old souls. part one of the story took place one week before Young Blood Old Souls. Part one also took place one week after Wing it like Witches. Got it? got it? good.
Also i changed some stuff from when A haunted past was first posted. most importantly the only thing that works differently now is the everlasting oath. Eda still has her curse etc etc. i talk about why i did this in my end notes.
Please enjoy!
It was the week after Luz got Eda back. A week since her pathway home was destroyed. A week since they had all gained a new housemate. A week since Luz's life had irrevocably changed. A week where nothing had happened.
Eda had called this business meeting. Luz was glad they were all going to gather around and finally discuss what was going to happen. Luz had still been going to school, but it wasn't the same. It felt like Hell. People looked at her with pity, or disgust, or contempt, or worry, or confusion, or hope. She didn't know which of these was the worst but she hated it all. Amity still wasn't back and the only people who really talked to Luz at all were Willow, Gus, and occasionally the other multi-track students. Luz tried to be her usual chipper self but the vibes were off. The air seemed more electric, thicker and more viscous. Luz was genuinely afraid that if she tried to greet someone who turned out to be an emperor loyalist she might get decked there and then. Luz had felt this before though.
Back on earth, a few years ago, she'd felt this. Everyone was eyeing each other, sizing each other up, trying to figure out where everyone else stood. She was still in elementary school at the time but the kids she went to school with already had their opinions shaped by their parents. Some of the teachers even, she noticed, eyed her and her mother differently. But that hadn't stopped Luz then, not all the kids knew what was going on. Not all the kids cared. But the air wherever she went, carried the scent of hostility. The scent that reminded Luz at least some people were still thinking about it.
Luz had enjoyed the anonymity afforded to her on the boiling Isles. Nobody knew she was different. She was human, sure, but that was the only thing she was. Most folk here didn't think humans were real, and those that did mostly didn't recognize her as one. Even when she was recognized, it was different. There was no animosity, no fear of the other, just curiosity if even that. Most people didn't care. With most people she felt safe being herself. Her outgoing, weird, enthusiastic self.
That was gone. Ever since she and her friends had gone on what was essentially national television and defied the emperor, she no longer had the freedom of anonymity. Everyone knew her face and name. People had already decided what had happened there on that stage, and off it. Optically, it could've gone worse. The fact that they locked Lilith in there with Eda had helped Luz's case that she was in fact a liberator, not the anarchic force of chaos and destruction some seemed desperate to paint her. That's what they were saying when Luz occasionally overheard the talks and whispers of the hardcore loyalists at Hexide. Those that felt the whole thing was a hoax, that Luz had thrown Lilith in there to save her image or that Lilith was never there at all, just an illusion spell. That even if it had looked bad the Titan's will was the Titan's will and that nobody should ever defy it. That Luz was a traitor to the islands, a traitor to her classmates.
This all hurt and angered Luz in a tragically familiar way. The gazes, the disrespect, the accusations. Luz had already had a couple of confrontations on school grounds and one more would probably get her suspended even though principal Bump was on her side. Luz felt she was really lucky Gus and Willow were so supportive. Willow had even begun teaching Luz breathing techniques to control her anger. Something Willow had to do to control her plant magic before switching tracks. It didn't really work well yet with Luz but Luz was perfectly happy to indulge her friend. Both in the hopes that it might work and just as a distraction from everything.
It was just Luz and Lilith at the table. King asleep in Luz's lap. King really didn't trust Lilith enough to hold him yet. Eda, true to form, was nowhere to be seen. Even though she had set the meeting, even though she needed it, Eda liked to be fashionably late. Luz didn't quite trust the witch sitting across from her who had tried to kill her last week. Though, after seeing the healing spell and being privy to the difficulties Lilith has been experiencing living with half a curse and reduced magic potential Luz did respect Lilith.
Luz didn't trust Lilith. Lilith, after all, had still refused to listen to Eda, chained her, and refused to admit her wrongdoing until it was too late, so trust was out of the question for now, even for Luz. But Luz could still be pleasant, still try and make an effort to smooth things over.
Luz almost tried to make small talk with Lilith. She even cleared her throat in preparation to speak. Luz made brief eye contact with Lilith and she looked like she was scowling at the human. It might've just been a resting bitch face but somehow Luz got the feeling that the witch didn't like her at all.
This feeling of Luz's was a consequence of Lillith being quite difficult in general over the past week. In truth Lilith was ashamed of living with her sister, of losing her magic, of relying on a human to teach her spells. Lilith felt it was humiliating, falling from a position respected by society to a position that lived off of society's scraps. Lilith didn't hate Luz, or even dislike her. Lilith was just ashamed to be seen so vulnerable in front of a child. Especially one with a relationship with Amity.
Just when the awkwardness of the silence between Lilith and Luz was getting to be completely unbearable for the sociable human Eda walked into the room and sat at the table.
"Good!" Eda cried willingly ignoring the tension in the room, a trick she'd picked up from her eclectic apprentice. "You're both here! Now it's time to get to business"
Eda's presence was calming and reassuring to Luz. Luz was immediately put in a better mood by Eda's entrance. In fact when Eda wasn't there Luz found herself worrying for the witches' safety. Which she knew was ridiculous, the owl lady could certainly take care of herself. Luz still worried about how Eda's lack of magic was impacting her mentor. Luz had never felt that Eda relied too much on magic in the past, but it was certainly a daily part of life at the owl house. At least it was until last week. Luz had actually been impressed how well Eda was handling it, sure she was on a much shorter fuse generally but Luz appreciated the effort Eda put into keeping everything relatively normal. Eda had mostly been dealing by overeating and walking the woods, which all things considered isn't the most unhealthy thing Eda could be doing.
Luz really admired Eda for her perseverance, and was completely confident that this meeting was going to address all of her concerns. Luz didn't, however, have faith in Eda to keep a schedule, unconcerned with time as she was. Not wanting to wait at all for answers Luz spoke up. "Okay so what's our game plan?" Luz said confidently.
The two elder witches looked at her uncomprehendingly.
"Our game plan," Luz repeated, slightly less confident. "Y'know for taking out Belos?" Luz got out of her seat and punched the air in front of her a couple of times. "Are we going for a full frontal assault?" She asked. Then she changed the target of her punching to the air above her head "or social revolution?" Luz gasped and then pulled her cape to her nose invoking the imagery of a sneaking criminal. "Or are we going to plan an assasination?"
The silence in the room was deafening. Lilith looked toward her elder sister in disbelief and Eda placed her head in her hands. "Look kid," Eda looked down to the table "you may be as powerful as ever, and we both thank and recognize all that you've done but…" Eda looked at her hands and at Lilith's gray streak of hair. "We're not up to it, we've got other stuff to worry about" seas voice sounded like it was on the edge of breaking.
"I can train you! We can all start using glyphs and then-!" Luz protested.
Lilith scoffed and dismissed Luz with a wave of her hand. "Parlor tricks!" she murmured audibly scornful, desperate to keep up a guise of superiority.
Luz glared at Lilith angrily. "It was good enough to-"
"Enough!" Eda yelled "that was uncalled for sister, dear" Eda said sarcastically. "Glyphs are our best chance of fixing everything, of fixing anything. Please try not to be insulting to my apprentice while living under my roof" Eda said sternly.
"MY ROOF HOOT HOOT" Hooty corrected from outside the window.
Eda sighed, and rolled her eyes. "my demon's roof" she corrected herself
Lilith nodded stiffly and shut her mouth. Lilith was clearly upset about being called out. The younger Clawthorne was grateful for Eda's charity but her pride prevented her from truly showing her gratitude. Eda understood this, for she too was a prideful Clawthorne who was ashamed of her own recent loss of magic.
Luz took her seat, slightly embarrassed but glad Eda had come to her aid. "What's the other stuff you have to worry about?" she asked, not bothering to hide her hurt and worry.
Eda sighed, "Well we've still got to make money, this is a business meeting after all" she looked at Lilith wondering if she'd not been descriptive enough when she planned the meeting. Lilith curtly nodded her head in affirmation of the fact that the meeting had been billed as a business event.
"We've got to get enough human trash to sell in the next month or so to last us about 8 months." Eda said as if it were obvious. "We need enough money for potions, food, and other necessities. We have a bit of a nest egg due to the recent increase of profit since our human consultant joined the company ." Eda said, winking at Luz.
Luz nodded, she supposed it did make sense that Eda needed to keep up her business for those sorts of things. Living another day probably did take precedence over revolution. No matter how many profits they made by selling knick knacks that Luz restored or renovated or showed the inhabitants of the boiling isles how to use properly, the funds would run out eventually. Though this being a real business meeting was a sort of shock, Luz had only attended one of these 'business meetings' about Eda's actual business once. she had assumed that was the only business meeting Eda ever held or intended to hold. The serious look on Eda's face however told Luz that this wasn't a joke or something that could be taken lightly.
Luz looked up to her mentor. "So how are we going to get more trash? Without" Luz gulped, thinking about the portal she lit on fire last week. "Y'know a portal" Luz said, interested in the answer. "And why do we only have one month to do it?" Luz asked without allowing time for an answer to the first question, thinking they might somehow be related.
Eda looked at Luz quizzically for a second then answered. "I guess i never told you huh? I can just make another portal. It's not that big of a project- Though without all my magic it'd probably be much more difficult-" Eda added as if it were an afterthought. She turned to Lilith and told her "you'll have to help me with that." Lilith didn't look happy at that instruction as she nodded in a curt polite fashion. "As to why it has to be within a month, the planes that contain the demon and the human realm are only close enough to travel between during a short three month period during the summer. Outside of that travel between the two realms is impossible"
Luz couldn't believe her ears. Luz stared at the Owl lady for a few seconds processing the new information. Luz could go back to the human realm soon! Eda had hinted that it wouldn't even be a big deal. After Luz had burned the portal she assumed there wasn't an easy way back, especially since Belos seemed to want it so bad. Eda had just off-handedly told her that her mother and her home were much closer than she thought.
Her mother! Her home! Earth! Regular trees! Her cousins and aunts and uncles even maybe! Normal rain! Zero talking owls!
Luz had begun to cry just thinking about it all. Luz was not able to contain her tears. She'd lived the past week under the assumption that she was stranded on the boiling Isles. That the portal she burned was irreplaceable. That she'd have to work hard to find another portal to see her mother again. Luz missed her mother for months, she now had to miss the nightly texts they sent each other. She couldn't believe her ears. With tears streaming down her face she asked Eda to confirm this verbally. "Y-you mean I can go back home?" Luz sniffed and tears streamed down her face. "And see my mom?"
Eda just noticed the tears when Luz started talking. She got up and hugged the girl. "Yeah of course kid, I'm not keeping you prisoner here or anything. " she said stroking Luz's back. Eda's heart hurt that she didn't consider the owl house her home but she also understood that with everything that had just happened the poor kid probably just wanted to see her mother. A couple of weird adopted aunts aren't a replacement.
Luz hugged Eda tight, crying and trying to get her emotions under control again. It'd been such a stressful week. She and her friends had been threatened. Eda kidnapped and almost killed. She'd been so on guard with Lilith in the house. She'd been trying to delicately control her emotions in front of Eda, not wanting to show her mentor how much everything hurt. Luz had been trying to do so much, she hadn't even realized the stress she was under. Thinking about her mother however broke that veneer of stoicism briefly. It felt good to cry, to show that she was sad. Just as suddenly as she started crying, after a few minutes she stopped. She stopped hugging Eda and looked up at her mentor, smiling. "Thanks Eda" Luz said.
Eda cleared her throat. "No problem kid, any time" Eda said, stealing a glance at her straight faced sister. "We'll get you back to your mom" Eda added. Though nobody saw it, Lilith nodded in agreement.
And the meeting went on. Eda prattled on about locations and what sort of trash Lilith needed to be looking for in the ocean until the portal was up and running. Luz's leg was bouncing uncontrollably. Lilith asked about budgets and the two adults hashed out the details. Luz's leg was shaking. Eda told Lilith which shopping stands and congregations were safe, what she couldn't do anymore now that she was a criminal. Luz's ankle began to grow sore. Eda told Lilith the basics of running the human oddity stand, what Luz's contributions had allowed them to do and her plans of expanding in the future.
Luz paid attention to none of it.
During the entirety of the meeting Luz was drawing glyphs of her own design hoping to discover a spell. Her attention wasn't even on her doodling however, she was lost in her head. Strolling down memory lane, visiting all the things that she loved most about home. She remembered her mom, her hugs, her cooking, her love, her aroma even. Luz was daydreaming about the relative normalcy of her previous life, where she had dreamed of the excitement of the fantasy world. She knew she was living her dream in a fantasy world but that didn't mean she didn't like her old life too. She liked the old routine to some extent, she liked the relative safety that her mother provided.
"What are we going to do?" Luz accidentally said aloud interrupting what was probably a very important matter being discussed by the results.
The two witches looked at Luz with an eyebrow raised. "I mean like with safety, it's probably not safe for any of us to be alone at any time," Luz said, quickly recovering.
"HOOT HOOT, NONE OF YOU ARE ALONE AS LONG AS YOU'RE HERE!" Hooty said from outside.
Eda nodded thinking. "Nah you're right kid, even though we don't have to worry about anything here- and I'm sure Lilith can attest to that" Eda teased, and Lilith scowled. "But we shouldn't leave the house without a partner."
"Like the buddy system" Luz couldn't help but say.
Eda didn't know what Luz was talking about but agreed anyways. "Yeah exactly" Eda said "nobody goes out on their own, it's not safe"
"What about school?" Luz asked fearing the answer.
"You can still go for the rest of this semester but this whole buddy system thing should probably apply to your friends too" Eda said off the cuff. "Bump seems to be on our side but anything can happen, so either Lilith or I walk you to school, or your friends come here to pick you up."
Luz nodded "I'll tell them monday when I see them at school"
Eda agreed "I'll walk you there in a couple days then."
Luz nodded and waited while the adults went back to talking. Luz looked around, the sun was setting and she was getting tired. She decided to retire to her sleeping bag early. As she left nobody stopped her going but Eda waved her an implied good night. Luz waved back.
Before Luz went to sleep she decided against recording another vlog for her mother, there wasn't a point anymore. They were going to see eachother soon anyways. Instead she reached for a book she'd gotten from the human trash collected before the portal burned. A futuristic sci-fi thriller called "lord of the pings". Sci-fi wasn't really her thing typically but it was still a solid distraction.
The next morning Gus and Willow paid an unexpected visit to the owl house. They each brought baked goods from their respective households. The Park family sent a plain but very large cake, made of the typical flavor of most baked goods on the boiling isles: Vinegar. The Porter family sent Gus with a box of bug leg cookies. Between the two Luz vastly preferred the cookies.
The Clawthorne sisters, mostly Eda, lightly interrogate Luz's two friends about their role in the week's previous uprising. Once satisfied with the answers they provided, both sisters sincerely thanked the two Hexide students for their support on that day.
Willow could tell Luz was especially glad when Gus threw in the detail that his dad was still employed. After the shenanigan He and Willow pulled, Luz was probably really afraid that their families would suffer. But since Belos said that what had happened was the Titan's will, a claim that nobody currently present at the owl house believed, nothing punishable actually happened.
As Luz's friends told their side of the story to Eda and Lilith her heart swelled with pride. She had chosen correctly in her first ever friends.
When the sisters dismissed them the group of three went to a different room to talk. Luz was the first, bringing them into a tight hug. "I'm so glad you guys are safe!" she said loudly in a slightly higher octave than how she usually spoke. "I know we saw each other all week but hearing you guys tell them everything that happened-" Luz's voice broke. She looked at Gus and hugged him individually, lifting him off the ground "I'm so glad your dad is still employed" she yelled overcome with joy. Then she looked at Willow, who was beginning to feel a little awkward at all the platonic hugging. Luz unhugged Gus and hugged Willow again "and the way you riled up the crowd! Willow you were amazing!"
Her cheeks tinged slightly, too shy really to even hug back even, though looking back on it she desperately wished she had. Willow stammered out a response "I-It was nothing really" She said quietly.
Willow's heart had quickened slightly and her cheeks tinged red ever so slightly. She was glad to see her friend but the everlasting oath she'd made with Amity those couple of weeks ago weighed on her mind. Luz was officially off limits to Willow as anything more than a friend. One wrong move and Willow would lose her magic, probably forever. With how dangerous her life had gotten recently, losing her magic was not an option. Willow sighed wistfully as Luz let go of her.
How could things have gone different? Willow wondered. She did feel bad about blocking off Amity in that way, though it was Amity who had suggested the oath. Then again it was Willow who accepted it. Willow wondered how Amity was doing. Willow had finally decided she'd misjudged the witch about two weeks ago. Willow had apologized in her dms on Penstagram, only for Amity to have read the message but not responded. Willow supposed that was to be expected, Willow herself might've had a difficult time forgiving someone if they showed up out of nowhere and put demands on their life. Willow fancied herself a nice girl and the fact that she'd messed things up between her and Amity so bad sometimes made Willow want to cry. Maybe Amity didn't even really have a crush on Luz. if that were the case Willow just messed up her own life for no reason. Willow couldn't seriously think that way for long. Amity was just so obvious.
Luz knew her friend was just being humble but even so she couldn't let her off that easy. "No way!" Luz said oblivious to Willow's inner turmoil. "That was super cool!"
Willow rolled her eyes at her enthusiastic friend and grinned. "Yeah i guess it was pretty cool. I felt really powerful"
Luz encouraged the young witch "you are really powerful Willow!" Luz said. "Everybody knows it!"
Willow didn't know it. She might suspect it on occasion but she wasn't blessed with the confidence of the human. But she also knew it was pointless to argue with Luz. not that Willow was much for arguing with anyone at all. "Thanks Luz," Willow said smiling.
"Have either of you heard from Amity?" Luz asked. "I've been missing her at our book club meetings the past few weeks and I don't have a scroll so i can't contact her and I'm honestly a little worried"
Both young witches shook their heads. Willow's heart dropped into her stomach. Amity could pretty easily tell Luz what had happened that fateful afternoon, and that might permanently negatively impact Luz's view of her. The. There would be no more signature Luz pep talks or compliments, Worst of all, no more patented Luz hugs. Willow had even more reason to keep Amity away from Luz now. Willow sighed, chiding herself for thinking that way, she had decided to not try and play anymore games with Amity. Willow wasn't going to try another stunt like the last one she pulled, it might blow up even worse than the last time. Like that was possible.
Luz sighed, "that's a shame, I was hoping to talk and hang with her sometime." Luz said that in a tone That was slightly more longful than Willow was super comfortable with. "Anyways you guys have to stay safe. We all do." Luz introduced the idea she had talked to Eda and Lilith about the day before. "We can't be caught alone, that'd be too dangerous. We should always be near people we trust."
Gus nodded "that makes sense, but who are we trusting?"
Luz beamed glad the idea was being so well received. "Us obviously, your families, Eda and Lilith"
Willow's eyebrow shot up on that last name. Sure she'd just got done having a conversation with the witch but they'd all fought her just over a week ago. When she kidnapped Luz and sent Gus and Willow to the owl house with her staff. Willow wasn't typically so distrustful but she definitely didn't want to be alone with Lilith. Willow didn't figure she was at risk for that though.
"And Amity" Luz finished.
Willow's eyebrow crept higher still at the mention of the youngest Blight. Willow was pretty sure that Amity wanted to be in the emperor's coven which seemed like a conflict of interest to her. Willow wasn't a distrustful person, so Willow shook the doubts from her mind, confident she could trust Luz even if she wasn't sure she could trust Amity.
Willow was secretly glad when Gus spoke up. "Umm Luz? Doesn't Amity want to join the Emperor's Coven?"
Luz shook her head stubbornly. "Amity is my friend, I trust her with my life. I understand if you guys don't like her-" Luz stole a glance at Willow. "But I do. I trust her."
Willow felt like she should speak up. "That's good enough for me," Willow said simply, though to hear Luz speak so highly of Amity made her jealous. Which was weird. Willow didn't typically get jealous.
Luz looked between her two friends and decided to ask about something that seemed to be looming over her for a while. "Has it always been like this?"
Luz didn't need to specify which 'this' she was talking about. Willow shook her head. "Definitely not, but I think this is good!" Willow said putting her own, unique, positive spin on the situation.
Luz looked at Willow skeptically. "You don't hate the energy in the air at school?" she asked in disbelief.
Willow responded "well I do hate it but I also think it's productive, before nobody knew anything was really wrong. I mean some people knew it was wrong, like Eda obviously, but this has people talking. What we did really showed folks that the emperor isn't infallible." Willow said with a touch of confidence. "I mean I think so anyways" Willow said backtracking that confidence.
Luz smiled in understanding "Yeah! That's a good point! I guess it is good folks know it's so bad" then her expression darkened slightly. "But it's not good that it's so bad. Lilith and Eda both said not to do anything. It's so frustrating."
Willow sympathized "well we still have our magic!" Willow said "we could help!"
Gus interjected. "Woah there- I hate to be a downer but Lilith and Eda have a point. If we had like an army maybe but us? We're three students! If we want to do something drastic we have to do it correctly."
Luz sighed, she didn't like it but Gus was probably right. "Yeah the emperor is powerful. I may have gotten the best of him for a second but he was toying with me, holding back." Luz shook her head. "It's just so… cultish. He claims to speak for the titan but changes his messages! He has so much control over everyone and nobody even notices!"
"Cultish?" Willow and Gus ask in unison.
"Nevermind, basically creepy," Luz explained.
Luz took a huge breath. Willow could see something was weighing on her friend. The silence hung in the air for a long while but it was a comfortable silence. The type of silence you fall asleep to on lazy afternoons. Luz started to say something but decided against it.
" I want to throw a picnic," Luz said decisively.
"A picnic?" Gus and Willow ask in unison.
Luz nods "Like where we gather people and eat outside-" Luz noticed a grin on Gus's face. "Wait do you guys really not have picnics?"
Willow shook her head with a sly grin on her face "No we're messing with you" she said.
Luz put her hands on her hips and gave her friends a whimsical look. "You guys!" She said lovingly. "Anyways I want to throw a picnic in a few weeks for everybody at hexide to celebrate Eda getting free."
Willow looked towards Luz skeptically. "Is that a safe idea?" Willow asked worriedly.
"It'll be fine, there's strength in numbers" Luz said. "Let's do it in a few weeks so we have time to plan and stuff," Luz continued.
Willow shrugged, she liked cooking enough. "Sure" She said. The two girls turned to Gus.
"Alright I might as well" He responded. Gus looked outside "it's getting kinda late my folks want me home for lunch"
"Me too" Willow said getting up.
"Alright guys it was good seeing you!" Luz said, pulling them all together in a hug.
"It-was-good-seeing-you-too" Willow said while getting squished.
"By Luz!" Gus said as the pair left together.
Willow couldn't stop thinking about Luz's hugs all the way home.
Luz joined the Clawthorne sisters in the dining room just after her two friends left, a sullen look on her face and a heavy heart. Luz sat at the table where they had all sat the day before. "Hey Eda?" Luz asked mournfully.
Eda's ears perked up as she noticed Luz's tone of voice. She quickly abandoned the potion she was working on and came to sit down next to Luz. "What's up kid?" She asked, her heart full of dread.
Luz wasn't happy about it, that much Eda could tell, but it also seemed whatever had to be said had to be said. On the verge of tears Luz spoke up her voice strained. "Eda, I, I want to move back with my mom" Luz said ashamed.
"Awww Luz that's okay!" Eda said, trying to understand. "Amazing you lasted this long really" Eda said with attempted admiration in her voice.
Luz shook her head afraid that Eda was misunderstanding her. "I want to come back next year!" She said quickly "if you'll have me that is" Luz amended.
Apprehension dawned in Eda's mind. "Kid you're always welcome here" Eda consoled. "But you miss your mom, I get it kid. 8 months is a long time but I'll handle it without you" Eda stroked Luz's hair as she talked. "I'll look forward to your return, the whole island will."
"Thanks Eda" Luz said grateful Eda understood. Luz then took a big breath sharing her idea with Eda "I want to have a big picnic and invite everyone from hexide! To say goodbye. They can see me through the portal." Luz explained quickly.
"Everyone?" Eda said skeptically.
"Most people won't come, I think but I want to give everyone the opportunity." Luz said with a hopeful smile on her mouth and forgotten tears on her cheeks.
Eda pretended to give it thought. "Of course you want everyone to have a chance" Eda said chuckling "Alright kid but all that's up to you, I'll be busy selling trash." Eda said.
Luz nodded excitedly. That small meeting seemed to have gone better than the apprentice anticipated.
Amity hovered over the send button for ages. This wasn't the first time she'd tried to text Willow. Should she apologize? Should she be angry? Did she even want to try and patch things over with Willow? Part of her was fine never talking with her again. Then another part of her was sorry for what had happened all those years ago. She wanted to have her old best friend back. Then a third part of her wanted to patch things over with Willow just because she was Luz's friend. The latter two parts would eventually win over.
Titan's Bones! Luz! Amity had seen all those awful things on the ball screen, she wanted desperately to know that she was alright. Desperate enough to text Half-A-Witch-Willow even. Amity scowled at herself. That was low. Just another tally in the 'Willow was right about Amity not having changed' Column. Amity sighed and typed out what could've been the thousandth message she typed out to Willow in the past two weeks. Not like she had a lot else to do sitting at home on her bed. This one read 'Sorry, how's Luz'. Amity deleted it, she couldn't text Willow just to ask about Luz that was far to gauche for a Blight.
Amity had to text Willow back. She had to. She couldn't let the apology sit in the air for much longer. Two weeks was a long time; the message got harder and harder to send the longer Amity waited.
'Sorry about confronting you like that the other day. I still want to try and be friends.'
Amity figured she should apologize too. But for what? For blowing up at Willow? For making an unbreakable vow? For leaving Willow out to dry when they were kids? That last one might seem a little late but it was still very much on the table.
Amity was going to do it. She was going to text Willow by the end of the hour. Amity typed out a message. Too sentimental. Amity deleted the message. Amity typed out another message. That one was too long. Amity deleted the message. Amity typed out another message. It was fine. She could do worse. She was trying to be friendly after all. Amity hit the send button and placed her scroll on the bed beside her.
'Hey, i saw the news last week. Are you ok?'
It wasn't much and it was about a week too late, but Amity was going back to school tomorrow, and it would just be easier if she could chill with Luz and her crew. Boscha had kicked her out of her old friend group, not that Amity was shedding any tears over that of course. But it's not like she could hang out with anyone that was still friends with Boscha and Amity didn't really want to sit alone.
Amity's scroll buzzed. It was Willow.
'Went to the owl house today, Everyone's fine, thanks for checking.'
Amity's eyebrows drew together. Was Willow being sarcastic? Dismissive? Could she be serious? Amity didn't know what to make of the short text. Willow was definitely answering the question she hadn't yet asked. Was Luz ok? Amity could see perfectly well that Willow did not want to talk about the human with her. Like that was going to stop Amity from asking. Whatever, she was probably overthinking it anyways. Amity started typing, then seeing the three dots that signified that Willow was typing too she stopped. But it was too late, Willow must've seen her own set of dots because Amity's set disappeared from her screen.
What had she been about to say? It didn't matter. Amity continued typing, took a deep breath and hit send.
'Lilith?'
Amity wasn't really that worried about her old mentor, ever since that convention business a month ago their relationship had been a little strained. Lilith was the most competent witch Amity knew, if anybody was fine it was her. But Amity didn't want to jump straight into asking about Luz. she didn't want to seem desperate. The news had reported that Lilith was the sister of eda so if Willow had been to the owl house, she might know something about her.
'She's unharmed living with her sister at the owl house.'
Willow's response was a bit cryptic. Unharmed? Amity figured Lilith was upset about losing her place in the emperor's coven. Which was understandable, Amity always knew Lilith to be very proud of her achievements.
It was time for the true inquiry of Amity's interest.
'And Luz?'
Amity watched dots appear and reappear on her screen. It took five minutes for Willow to respond. Minutes that crawled as slow as dripping asphalt but a response finally appeared on Amity's scroll.
'She's Fine too'
Amity scowled. Five minutes for that? Another message rolled in.
'She asked about you today, I didn't have anything to tell her.'
Amity kicked herself mentally. If she'd swallowed her pride earlier and just texted Willow, Luz wouldn't have to worry about her. Wait maybe Luz wasn't worried about her, and just asked about her in like a casual way. Amity sighed, this was all way too complicated for her taste. Amity started typing, deleted what she was typing and then screamed into a pillow. If she really wanted Willow to be her friend she should probably act like it. Amity texted something innocuous.
'I'll be at school tomorrow'
Amity stared at her scroll for minutes. No response. She didn't blame Willow for that, what was she supposed to respond to there? Amity decided to text again, ignoring the common stigma around double texting. She typed up something, deleted it. That was way too vague.
'I want to sit with Luz and you tomorrow at lunch? Is that ok?'
Amity breathed out. Why had that been so difficult to type out? Amity raised her eyebrow as the ominous dots appeared on her screen. They stayed there for a long time. Minutes and minutes.
'You don't have to ask permission of me to hang with Luz, or me. Luz trusts you so i'm going to trust you too. I'm sorry about confronting you the other day. I was way out of line, I was just worried and I made a mistake.'
Amity scoffed, did Willow expect her to believe that? Willow probably only felt sorry because she entered that everlasting oath. If Willow really trusted her so much why not just release them both from the oath? Why have that meeting in the first place.
Amity took a breath, she was getting irrationally angry. if Willow was trying to make amends Amity should do the same. Willow made a good point about trusting Luz's friends. If Luz trusted Willow then Amity could trust Willow too. Willow was probably more trustworthy than Amity was, Amity thought bitterly.
Another text came through on her scroll.
'Luz wants to hang out with you, something about a book club'
Amity began nervously sweating. A Blight hanging out with a human before the events of last week was certainly scandalous, but if they were discovered after all that had happened… Amity didn't know what would happen, it was dangerous, certainly, but for who? The human? Probably. For Amity? She didn't know, but she didn't want to make decisions for Luz based on her own safety, that felt too selfish.
Besides maybe Luz is better off hanging with Amity less. I mean after all, Amity was still just a few weeks out from being a bully. Amity wasn't there to help Luz and Eda or even Gus and Willow last week. Amity felt like a bad friend. The knots in her stomach spread to her chest. Did Luz resent her from being absent? Nevermind the fact that she had a broken ankle should she have done something anyways? Helped somehow?
Amity felt worse and worse and the sun got lower and lower. She sighed and decided to call it an early night, the cast would magically fall off at midnight and she needed to get up early for school anyways. Amity texted Willow one last thing before staying awake, alone with her thoughts for hours.
'See you tomorrow'
Though Amity didn't see it until morning, having thrown her phone across her room. Willow responded.
'See you tomorrow'
"Kid!" eda called frantically putting on a coat.
Luz looked up from her Azura book. "What's up"
"You gotta come with me to the night market." Eda said in an urgent tone of voice.
Luz closed her book, she was finding it difficult to concentrate anyways. "What are we getting? And why me?"
Eda pulled Luz to her feet "the dealer for the materials we need for the portal should be in town tonight, it'll be another week we can't get started if we can't get his stuff tonight."
Eda tossed Luz a snail pouch. "Make sure you keep track of that, just in case" Eda said, tucking her own snail pouch in her hair. "And you need to come with me because Lilith is basically a cop and King isn't powerful enough for the both of us"
King and Lilith simultaneously stuck their tongues out at the owl Lady.
Luz nodded, made sense. "It's a school night" Luz reminded Eda as she pulled on a coat herself.
"In, out, one booth. I promise" Eda responded quickly.
Luz relented "alright!" she said, sounding jazzed about spending the evening with her mentor.
As the pair walked through the night, the moon shone bright in the sky
"I don't think most people know i can't do magic but if they figure it out they're gonna raise prices on us" Eda said, prepping her apprentice for the night market.
"If they try and swindle us too much I'm gonna give you a signal and I want you to try and strong arm them into a more reasonable price. You got that kid?" Eda asked
Luz gulped, this was not going to be a fun shopping trip.
Eda didn't hear a response and prompted her student again "you got that kid?" she repeated.
"Yeah, I got it" Luz said, sounding decidedly not jazzed.
The pair walked into the night market, the air a bit more excited than the last time Eda had been there. But that was of no concern, they were here for one shop, an old friend of Eda's.
"Var-Gas!" Eda said loudly as she approached the familiar tent. Expecting to be quickly shut-up Eda pulled Luz back from the danger zone.
Sure enough Var-Gas turned around to face his customer with an angry look on his face. "You tryna get me arrested?" the purple humanoid with four arms said. Seeing his customers his face completely changed. "E-da Clawthorne!" he said in amazement. "And your protege too! Now this is a treat!"
Luz squeaked out of fear or excitement, Eda could never tell which. Eda figured her human 'protege' could handle herself so she didn't look back. Eda got into haggling mode, expecting to be upsold. "We need that magic wood and finish i got from you a few years back"
Var-Gas laughed and slapped his bony, three pronged headcrest with one of his four fingered meaty hands. "For you? Of course Honey!" he said jovially.
Eda was uncomfortable. Not just at the pet name but at Var-Gas' demeanor. She figured something was up. If Var-Gas was in a good mood though she wasn't about to question that. More likely the merchant would give them a good price. Haggling mode, time to completely undersell the merchant. "Alright then friend, enough chit chat. You'll give me a few planks and the varnish for, say… 50 snails?" Eda said with her game smile on.
Var-Gas laughed again.
Eda expected it, time for him to counter with a ridiculously high price.
"For you? Alright sure take it!" Var-Gas said with the friendliest smile on his face.
Eda raised an eyebrow, that was too good to be true. She stacked up 50 snails skeptically.
"Just make sure you talk good about me around the market!" Var-Gas said with a wink.
"You know I have nothing but good things to say about my suppliers" Eda said, a little thrown off her banter game.
"Man we all respect the hell out of you for showing it to the emperor like that!" Var-Gas said, sensing that Eda probably didn't know what was happening.
Eda raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
Var-Gas nodded enthusiastically handing the owl lady planks of wood. "Yeah we don't believe a word of what that belos fellow says round here." Var-Gas then shrugged which was sort of amusing granted that he had four arms. "You could probably get a lot very cheap around here for a while"
Eda immediately looked at Luz for permission, poker face be damned.
Luz shook her head.
Eda sighed internally and took the magic wood varnish from Var-Gas. School be damned.
"Thanks Var-Gas" Eda said as she and Luz turned to go home.
"Hey come back soon! You here? I'm gonna charge you extra next time after this revolution dies off!" Var-Gas yelled after the pair.
Eda scoffs but bites back a retort. If she was going to be some sort of figurehead of the underground she was going to be a mysterious and dignified one.
The two walked towards the owl house through the woods, every single sound making the pair of them jump.
When the owl house was in sight Luz spoke up. "Eda, you guys use snails as currency right?" Luz said as if she were having difficulty figuring out a problem.
Eda nodded "yeah that's right kid."
"Why don't you just farm snails to make money?" Luz asks innocently
Eda chuckles, "Snails are extinct kid. Belos made sure of that a long time ago. Makes for a reliable currency with no inflation apparently."
Luz chuckles back, "you know snails aren't extinct on earth right?"
Eda raises an eye at the human. "You serious?" She says skeptically.
"Seriously!" Luz says enthusiastically. "If we could- mmmfph!" Luz was cut off by eda stuffing a hand in her mouth.
"You might be onto something big there, think you could work on it during…. Your off season?" Eda said referring to Luz's time on earth euphemistically.
Luz nodded.
"Good" Eda muttered.
Luz sat on the couch in the school library. She'd raced there after classes ended. She was eagerly awaiting some alone time with her favorite sour lemon drop. Ready to poke at that sweet center until it overpowered the sour. Luz straightened the books on the table in anticipation.
Luz had seen Amity the previous two days at lunch and occasionally in classes. It was truly a joy to have her back in Luz's life. Amity though seemed different. She seemed distant. Luz guessed spending weeks apart hadn't been great for their friendship but she was confident that with enough willpower and determination they could pick up where they left off somehow. Luz thought about how Amity was acting the past few days, and realized there was a tension in the air that intensified whenever Amity and Willow were in the same room. At lunch you could practically taste it. Luz loved that taste. It tasted like human food.
Luz could smell the drama, she had assumed that Amity had meant to ask Luz out to Grom but due to this recent development the possibility that it was Willow seemed more likely. Luz figured that Amity wanted to make up for what had happened all those years ago.
"Ahem" a light, broken voice broke through Luz's thoughts.
A clearing of the throat brought her back to reality. She'd been staring off into the distance again, drowning out the real world around her. That hadn't been happening as often since she was in the boiling isles.
"Amity!" Luz said startled. Luz stood up and gave Amity a short hug. The witch never looked comfortable when getting hugged, but the witches' smile told Luz that it was fine.
"So I take it you didn't hear anything i said?" Amity said slightly annoyed.
Luz blushed in embarrassment. "Sorry, i spaced out. It happens sometimes." Luz apologized.
Amity waved her hand dismissively. "Guess it happens to all of us" She said.
"So how long were you there?" Luz asked sheepishly.
"5 minutes?" Amity said. "Or thereabout."
Luz tugged at her own shirt. "Sorry about that again, What were you saying?"
The broken-ness returned to Amity's voice. "I uhh I was saying that with finals coming up and with all the Belos stuff I've been having trouble focusing and" Amity sighed and looked toward the floor. "Basically I don't think I can do the Azura book club. At least not for the rest of the semester." Amity looked up with her eyes, head still down to see Luz thinking hard.
"Ok so what about a study session?" Luz asked almost immediately.
"What?" Amity asked, expecting Luz to take this much worse than how she did.
"I could use tutoring and helping explain things to someone who's new at the material is a good way to review," Luz explained. "Besides if you're worried about getting distracted, having someone hold you accountable to studying is a great way to stay focused." Luz said.
Amity raised an eyebrow and kept from giggling. "And you can help me stay focused?" Amity asked.
Luz tossed her hair. "I can be serious!" Luz said, pulling on her best poker face.
That broke Amity, she began to laugh. Then continuing to laugh she fell onto the couch next to Luz. then the laughing turned to crying, it was Amity's turn to hug Luz. They were lucky the library tended to be devoid of students after school.
Luz, pleasantly confused and surprised, hugged her friend back. Luz was trying to work out whether she was being made fun of or if her friend needed emotional support when Luz clutched her chest, stopped crying and cleared her throat.
"I'd like that. Study sessions." Amity said
Luz beamed. "Same bat time same bat channel?" Luz asked.
Amity stared at Luz like she grew another head. "Uhhh sure?"
Luz slapped her head. "Just like same time same place as the book club would be"
"Ah" Amity said and nodded her head.
The rest of the meeting had continued like all the previous ones had gone. They read some, they talked some, they laughed some.
The weekly book club had gone much better than Amity anticipated. She got to continue to hang out with Luz while still doing her due diligence in trying to separate herself from the girls' life.
A study group? Amity had heard of that but never really participated in one. Boshca and Skara's gang were good students but not wholly dedicated to learning. Not Like AMity was. In fact nobody was quite like what Amity was. Not at hexide at least.
Amity was glad she got to keep looking forward to Wednesdays after school. For the most part anyways. The last Azura book club meeting had ended quite awkwardly for the youngest Blight. Luz had explained to Amity the importance of not being alone in these dangerous times and recommended Amity try and do something similar. Amity was touched at the sentiment but there weren't enough people on the boiling isles concerned enough about Amity's safety to implement a buddy system, as Luz had called it.
Before Amity could say so however, the Clawthorne sisters rode in on Eda's staff. Amity made eye contact with her former mentor for just a few seconds but it felt like time had stopped. Lilith had developed heterochromia. It could've been Amity's imagination but it almost looked like Lilith wanted to cry when they locked eyes.
Amity replayed the scene a thousand times in her head.
Lilith's uncharacteristic small voice. Whispering "hello Amity"
Amity's stupid small awkward wave.
Amity clutched her head over her homework. The light was going dim. She'd have to replace the candle soon.
Amity couldn't stop beating herself up over the short interaction with her former mentor. She looked back on her memories and scrutinized every single thing. She was blushing from spending so much time with Luz. she wasn't standing up straight. Her hair was probably a mess and she couldn't even say a single word to the witch she looked up to the most.
Amity felt her heart racing and tried to calm herself to little avail. It was difficult when these sorts of things happened but Amity always got through it. She went over to her bed and laid down. She couldn't freak out over nothing if she was asleep she reasoned.
While that was solid reasoning, Amity had to first get asleep. Amity's recursive thoughts were not helping her fall asleep. Amity felt like she needed to scream into a pillow, a familiar urge. Amity rolled over onto her stomach and prepared to scream.
Amity screamed.
It felt good.
Amity was now acutely aware of the sensation on her mouth caused her to blush and roll back over to her back.
Now intrusive thoughts of another kind were bouncing in her mind. Thoughts that made her smile. The pressure on her lips, she could imagine it were Luz's lips. She could imagine her cheerful happy face as they got close together. As they laid on a couch somewhere talking for hours. Amity shielded her face with her hands from the ceiling, her heart feeling like it was alive for the first time in a while.
Amity quickly fell asleep, thoughts of Luz's smile comforting her through the night.
Amity dreamed that night that sometime the next fall Amity, Luz, and Willow were all going on a hike up some unfamiliar mountain.
It could've been worse. The labor, more back-breaking, The detailing, more fine, The magic, more taxing, The spells, more complex, The sun more hot, Hooty more annoying.
Okay maybe not that last one, but Lilith was glad to have a task to complete. Something to set her body to while her mind wandered a bit. Making the door was simple enough sort of. Eda still kept much of the finer details to herself but Lilith got the concept behind the magic pretty quickly.
Eda said it was much easier this time since they could essentially reuse the key. Lilith didn't know much about that but it made sense to her that that would be the case. She and Eda had been working on the door throughout the entire week while Eda's apprentice went to school. They were still only about halfway done. The frame was completed and some of the spells laid down. But it was definitely taxing work. Eda's potions were only so helpful. Sure they kept the curse at bay and eda's homebrew potions helped replenish her magic quickly but her stores were not what they were two weeks ago.
Lilith found it hard not to curse her luck. She knew however, luck had little to do with it. She'd thrown in her lot with the wrong people plain and simple. She'd spend her entire adult life struggling with a mistake she made when she was a kid. Sure, in hindsight it was the complete wrong way to go about it.
Lilith finished a coat of magic veneer on the door.
Lilith Went inside the owl house and read some more old scrolls. Scrolls she and Eda had stolen from obscure archives in the Boonesborough Library.
Notes:ok first of all thank you so much for reading that is the longest thing i've ever written.
I legit poured my soul into this trying to get it up early today. I had to redo my outline and rewrite a lot of it because of the finale. at first i didn't want to then i realized the story i want to tell is so much more interesting if i include stuff from the finale. So i included stuff from the finale. You can expect me to post part three in two or three weeks, definitely on a Tuesday (because i think that's funny) until then I'll post random one-shots and the like as i think of them.
also this series is going to be long. this is like part one of three arcs i have planned and arc one has twenty or so parts planned. i might combine stuff though so we'll see what happens. basically i just started outlining the story i wanted to tell and more and more and more and more ideas came to my head.
It would mean a lot to me if you reviewed and told me what (if anything) you liked and what (if anything) you didn't like