(Author's Note: Tales Of Light And Blight is being written as part of Lumity Week! This story, and all the other stories featured in this work, are part of an anthology, and unlike my other anthology stories, most of these are loosely connected to each other, with 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 able to be enjoyed in sequential order. They're not, however, connected to any of my other Owl House stories. Thanks for reading!)
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Day 2 – Alternate Universe Swap ("Rich Girl")
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Truth be told, Amity Blight's life thus far had been pretty nice. Her family was quite wealthy, and she'd never had to struggle for anything, and even though she sometimes got into fights with her twin siblings, or had to deal with school drama, she could take comfort in the fact that she'd never have to go without nice things, like her brand new phone or her trendy clothes, or the awesome new car she'd surely be getting in a couple of years for her Sweet Sixteen.
And yet... her life was totally over! Ruined by her overbearing mother and pushover father, both of whom had agreed to send her to Goldstar Academy for an entire summer! No friends, no beach parties, no fun in the sun... just a whole summer of uniforms and studying and not knowing anyone, and then having to go right back to normal school when she got back home in August.
"Cheer up," Em and Ed had told her. "Goldstar's not so bad. We had to go two summers ago, and it sucked for a while, but we got through it. It's just something us rich kids have to do."
Well, I shouldn't have to do it, thought Amity, trudging across a long, grassy field on her way to the bus stop, awaiting the bus that would take her to Goldstar... and a summer of misery and boredom. Why can't I just have a normal summer before heading off to high school? Haven't I earned it? I've studied my butt off for nine years, and now you're shipping me off to cram school?
The only solace Amity had left was her phone, a Universal X20. Top of the line, state of the art, very expensive... and was, at the moment, streaming one of her favorite songs into her ears.
At least I'll get to talk to my friends on the phone... thought Amity with a sigh. She held out her phone and got ready to text one of them... when suddenly, it was snatched away! "HEY!"
A wayward owl had flown off with Amity's phone and was now carrying it deep into the nearby forest. Amity gave chase, running as fast as her feet would carry her, away from the bus stop and into the woods, desperate to get back the only thing that would keep her summer from becoming a living hell.
"Give that back, that phone cost my parents $1,300!" Amity shouted, suddenly swearing as her music got intolerably loud, caused by one of the owl's talons mashing the volume button. "Aaaagh, dammit!"
Amity pocketed her earbuds and continued to run, just in time to see the owl disappear into some kind of glowing door. She stopped in her tracks, not believing what she was seeing. It looked like a door from one of her video games, or perhaps something out of her favorite novel series, The Good Witch Azora.
Wait a minute, am I dreaming? thought Amity, blinking her eyes as she stepped up to the door and reached for the handle. No... no way am I doing this. Who knows where that door could lead?
Amity let out a long sigh. She must be dreaming. And, if she was dreaming, she was safe. Nothing beyond that door could hurt her... if it did, she'd just wake up in her own bed! Who knows, maybe this whole Goldstar thing was just a long, terrible nightmare, and once she awoke, she'd have her summer back!
Here goes nothing...
She reached for the door and gripped the handle, opening it up and emerging into a vibrant town... full of mystical creatures and incredibly strange sights.
"Now I know I'm dreaming..." Amity whispered to herself, looking around for any sign of the owl who'd stolen her phone. "Has anyone here seen an owl? Anyone?"
The people milling about seemed to ignore her, though a few did stop for a moment to look at her strange, rounded ears, which were so unlike their pointy ones. She tried to get their attention, but they walked away from her, and she found herself paying more attention to the strangeness around her than she did to the people on the street.
"This place is strangely horrifying..." said Amity as she continued to look around, observing weird bugs that tipped their hats to everyone passing by, fountains of a substance that looked like blood, houses that swayed as if they'd fall over at any moment, only to collect themselves, let out something that sounded like a drunken apology, sprout legs and walk away. "I've got to get out of here... but not until I get my-"
Suddenly, Amity slammed into someone, and found herself falling to the ground, landing on her bottom and letting out a pained grunt. As she started to pick herself back up, she looked up and could see a pale woman with long, black hair looking directly at her.
"A human...?" said the woman, blinking in surprise. "Been a long time since there's been a human on the Boiling Isles..."
"The Boiling... what? Wait a second, did you just call me a human? What exactly are you...?" Amity stammered, looking the mysterious person up and down. They too resembled a human, save for the pointed ears sticking out the sides of their head. "You look human to me..."
The woman laughed and put her hand to her mouth for a moment to stifle herself.
"Me? A human? My dear, you're the only human here, and the first one to be here in a very long time. I know some people who would find you quite fascinating, but first let me ask you, how did you even get here?"
"Well, I came through a door, and... wait a minute, aren't you going to ask my name?"
"I suppose that would be appropriate, though the fact that you're a human is far more significant than what your name is," said the woman.
"My name's Amity... Amity Blight, and I'm looking for my cell phone... do you know what a cell phone is?"
The woman just continued to observe Amity, before extending a hand to her.
"I'd like you to come with me," she said, calmly but firmly. "My name is Lilith, and I can take you somewhere where you can learn all the answers you seek."
Amity looked at Lilith's outstretched hand with some suspicion, and began to recoil.
"I'm not sure I should be going with you," said Amity. "I just came here to get my phone, and if you don't know where it is, I need to look somewhere else."
"It's not safe here for a human," said Lilith. "I won't force you to come along, but I'm warning you-"
A bright light overtook both Lilith and Amity, and the witch let out a loud scream as she was temporarily blinded.
"What the...?" Amity stammered, turning to look for the source of the light. As she did, a girl emerged, clad in a cloak with a cat ear hood, and waving a small wand up in the air. Lilith let out another cry of pain, and pointed at the girl when she could finally see.
"You little brat!" shouted Lilith, who started to pull a staff from her cloak. "How many times have I told you two not to come around here?!"
"You don't wanna go with her, trust me!" said the cloaked girl, smiling at Amity. "Why not follow me, huh?"
Before Amity could protest, the mysterious girl took her by the hand and began to run as Lilith fired a powerful spell from her staff. The spell missed the hooded girl completely and instead blew up a nearby market stall, prompting its owner to shout 'hey!' in an upset voice.
"Where are you taking me?!" said Amity, unsure of whether or not she wanted to be dragged along like this, but not really having much of a choice considering how upset their pursuer was.
"Somewhere fun!"
The two were soon able to evade the still partially blinded Lilith, and Amity found herself standing in front of another stall, one fully stocked with many items she recognized from her own world... while behind the counter stood a taller, older looking witch with wild grey hair and pointed ears much like Lilith's. The cloaked girl pulled down her hood, revealing ears that were just as pointy as the cat ears on her hood.
"Eda, I found us a customer!" said the pointy-eared girl, finally releasing Amity's hand.
"Welcome to Eda's Human Collectibles!" said the older witch, excitedly displaying her latest wares. Amity gazed at the assembled curios, and though she was certainly surprised, and reeling from her impromptu run through the market, she wasn't exactly impressed.
"This is all junk," said Amity, placing her hands on her hips. "And now I'm no closer to finding my cell phone!"
Eda just glared at Amity, not sure whether to punish her for her insult or to just sigh and move on to the next potential mark. Meanwhile, the girl who'd brought Amity over had a hurt look on her face, her eyes conveying a deep sadness.
"Aw Luz, don't worry about it, she's not the first person who's called this stuff junk," said Eda.
"But I thought she'd like this human stuff, since, you know, she's a human," said the girl, still pouting as she looked over at Amity. "And did you say you lost something?"
"I lost my phone," said Amity. "An owl snatched it up and brought it through a door, and when I followed it, I wound up in... this creepy place!"
As Amity continued to rant, a small owl passed overhead with a sack full of items. She dropped the sack into Luz's hands, and Luz began sorting through it, while Amity, oblivious to what had just happened, kept on with her spiel, getting increasingly emotional.
"I've already bumped into a really scary lady who's powerful enough to blow up a cart just like this one, and then you showed up and grabbed me, and now I don't know what's going on, and nothing makes sense, and I don't even have my phone, and-"
"What's this thing?" said Luz suddenly, holding up Amity's prized Universal X20.
"My phone!" shouted Amity, snatching it out of Luz's hands only for her hand to be immediately surrounded by a sphere of magic. "Hey!"
"Uh-bup-bup, hands off my property, human," said Eda, reaching over to take Amity's phone from her magically immobilized hand. "If you want this thing, you can buy it, and since I can see you really want it, I'll let it go for exactly 5,000 shells!"
"But it's mine!" shouted Amity, trying to pry her hand free from its magical imprisonment. "You can't just steal people's stuff!"
"Owlbert found it, so yeah, I can."
"He stole it right out of my hand!"
"Aw Eda, don't be mean," said Luz suddenly, grabbing the phone from Eda and handing it back to Amity.
"Oh come on, you know she was about to break down and buy it!"
"Eda..." said Luz, glaring at Eda and putting her hands on her hips. Eda sighed, rolled her eyes, and relented, while also freeing Amity's hand. Amity immediately cupped both hands around her phone and held onto it tightly.
"Oh, I'm so glad I've got you again, you have no idea how worried sick I was..."
While Eda raised an eyebrow and looked at Amity like she was insane, Luz just glared at Eda harder.
"That thing is clearly her pet! How would you like it if someone snatched Owlbert away, huh?"
"Like the time you tried to fly my staff and ran him into a tree?"
Luz giggled nervously, while Amity continued to caress her phone and talk sweetly to it. However, she quickly came to her senses and tried to shake it off to regain some of her dignity. She turned away from the two of them and crossed her arms over her chest.
"For your information, it's not my pet, it's a cell phone, and it can do all kinds of things," huffed Amity.
"Like what?" asked Luz curiously, peeking over Amity's shoulder.
"Well..."
Amity didn't know why she wasn't just bolting in the direction of the mysterious door she'd just come through, but this girl had been nice enough to lead her to her phone, if only inadvertently, and she didn't know if the scary black haired lady was still out there looking for her, so she decided instead to show Luz and Eda just why her phone was so special. She began to scroll through various apps, showing off the phone's features, and while Eda wasn't impressed, Luz was intrigued.
"Oh, like my scrolls!" said Luz, pointing out Amity's Instagram app. "I've got something just like that, it's called Penstagram, wanna see?"
"Maybe later," said Amity. Not really.
Amity found her music app and pushed play. "Rich Girl", by Hall and Oates, began emanating from the phone's speakers.
You're a rich girl
And you've gone too far
'Cause you know it don't matter anyway
"Oooh!" squealed Luz, who enjoyed the song enough to start swaying to it. "This is a bop!"
You can rely on the old man's money
You can rely on the old man's money
"It's kind of an old song," said Amity. "I like it, but my friends aren't really into Hall and Oates..."
It's a bitch, girl
But it's gone too far
'Cause you know it don't matter anyway
Say money but it won't get you too far
Get you too far
As the chorus began to play, Luz began dancing back and forth, swaying her hips from side to side, closing her eyes, and rocking to the beat of the music. Eda, who'd gotten used to these spontaneous displays from her young apprentice, just smiled and tapped her hand on the counter to the beat, while Amity couldn't help but smile as well. She'd only just met Luz, and under some of the strangest circumstances of her life, but she couldn't help but find herself wanting to dance along with her, even if she wasn't nearly into the song.
Don't you know, don't you know
That it's wrong to take what is given you
So far gone, on your own
You can get along if you try to be strong
But you'll never be strong
"Wow," said Luz as she finally stopped dancing. "That is way cooler than my scrolls. So... you're a human, huh? I've heard a lot about humans from my friend Gus, but he never told me anything about that phone! Actually, one time, this kid brought in a rock and said it was a phone, but Gus totally shut him down! Oooh, I bet he'd love to meet you! Mind coming to Hexside tomorrow and hanging out with me?"
"Actually, I think I need to get back," said Amity. Back to life, back to reality... back to Goldstar. ...at least at Goldstar, there's no chance of me getting blasted with magic. This place is crazy... like Good Witch Azura level crazy.
"Well, Eda can get you back if you want," said Luz, looking over at Eda.
"Yeah, for 5,000 shells," said Eda with a smirk.
"Eda!"
"Look, kid, this booth's seen better days. This human might be pretty useful..."
"Useful?!" said Amity, pointing across the counter. "You listen here, if you're the one who brought me here, you're the one who's gonna bring me back, right now!"
"Make me," replied Eda, leaning over the counter and raising a single finger. A ring of magic began to form around it, but before she could cast a spell, Luz interjected herself between the two of them.
"Guys, there's no reason to fight over this...! Hey listen, maybe Eda's right... we've been needing some help, maybe you could help us out with one little thing?"
Amity let out a sigh, looking at both Eda and Luz with a mix of annoyance and worry. She then looked down at her phone, seeing that she could still get a signal. Maybe she should call someone? The cops? Her parents?
No... I can't have them finding this weird place too, thought Amity. If somebody got hurt because of me, I couldn't forgive myself.
Luz could see that Amity was unsure, and gently led her away from Eda and the booth. Amity tried to pull away, not wanting to be dragged somewhere else by this weirdly enthusiastic girl, and Luz released her, gesturing toward an empty tent nearby.
"It's okay, I just wanna talk..."
Amity sighed, deciding to trust Luz, walking into the tent with her... but as soon as they were both alone, she wanted to make it clear that she would not be intimidated or pushed around, even with magic.
"So what's the deal with this place, Luz?" asked Amity, gesturing to the strange magical artifacts strewn all over the tent, and pulling up the flap to briefly point out the weirdness outside. "I know it's called the Boiling Isles, but... what's going on here?"
"Well... the Boiling Isles is a place that's parallel to your human dimension, at least I think," said Luz. "All of your human myths and legends are based on this place! We have magic, goblins, elves, witches, anything you humans think of as 'weird' is probably something from here! And in the meantime, a lot of people here carve out a living by selling weird human stuff!"
So that explains some things, but not everything... thought Amity, still wondering whether or not she was in a dream, though if it was a dream, she knew she'd have woken up by now. "And uh, how did you and Eda meet? Is she like your mom or something?"
"Nah, she's just my magical mentor! She teaches me magic and in exchange, I do all the grunt work helping her sell stuff! My real mom's a witch doctor, she works across town!"
"A witch doctor...?" said Amity, conjuring up an image from her human experience.
"You know, a doctor for witches, patching up magical maladies! She thinks Eda's a bad influence, but you can't argue with results...!"
Luz withdrew the wand from her cloak and waved it around, generating dozens of points of light all over the tent. She waved her wand again, and each ball of light exploded into a mini fireworks show as Amity stared open-mouthed in shock at the impressive display.
"I can do all kinds of things with light magic, look...!"
Luz pointed her wand at a box sitting several feet away. A beam of light extended from her wand and pulled the box over to Amity, allowing the young human to sit down on it.
"And check this out!"
Luz extended her wand again, and a beam of light emanated from it, transforming the wand into something else familiar to Amity.
"Whoa... just like Star Wars..." said Amity quietly.
"I have absolutely no idea what that is, but it sounds awesome!"
"Your magic is awesome," said Amity, who couldn't help but be impressed. Luz giggled and dispelled the light saber, pulling up another box and sitting down next to her. "How long have you been training?"
"Under Eda? A couple of years," said Luz. "Before I met Eda, I was kind of a failure at magic... I was always getting in trouble at Hexside, I was at the bottom of my class, and mom insisted I find someone to train me. She asked Lilith to help, but Lilith was too strict and mean... so I found my own tutor! Eda didn't want to help at first, until I mentioned Lilith... did I tell you they were sisters?"
"Uh, you did just now," said Amity. "Wait, was that the lady you blasted in town?"
"Yep! Ooh, which reminds me, I need to tell Eda about that, she'll probably give me a reward, she loves it when I mess with her sister."
Amity giggled, recalling her own 'rivalry' with the twins... though she almost found herself identifying with Lilith, considering that Eda reminded her more of Ed and Em.
"Is Lilith a bad person?"
"Actually... no, not really," said Luz. "She's actually pretty nice to her students, even if she is a bit strict. She probably wasn't gonna hurt you, but Eda doesn't trust the Emperor's Coven and neither do I. Ugh, I'm probably boring you with all this political stuff, huh?"
"No, no, actually... actually it's pretty interesting," said Amity, starting to blush. "It almost reminds me of this book I'm reading called The Good Witch Azura."
Luz gasped, startling Amity.
"Wait, did I say something-"
"YOU READ AZURA TOO?!" Luz shouted, reaching out and grabbing Amity's hands and pulling them close to her chest. Amity, startled by the sudden display of affection, just sat there not knowing what to do as Luz squealed over and over again. "I can't believe it I can't believe it I can't believe it I can't believe it!"
"What's all the yelling, is the human hurting you?" said Eda suddenly, poking her head into the tent and glaring at Amity. "Don't think I haven't forgotten about you threatening me earlier, I'm watching you."
"Eda...! The human girl reads Azura!"
"Well yeah, those books came from the human world, right?"
"No, those books come from the Boiling Isles!"
"Wait, what?" Amity said suddenly, blinking her eyes. "The Azura books are written by a human author, they're printed by a publishing company based out of London!"
"Well... maybe London is part of the Boiling Isles?"
"I can prove to you right now that it's not," said Amity, taking out her phone.
"Okay, while you two argue about London, I'm gonna go back out there and make sure the cops aren't digging through my stuff," said Eda, retreating from the tent as Amity began scrolling through her phone.
"Wait," said Luz, placing her hand on Amity's. "I believe you. If you say the Azura books come from the human world, then that's where they're from. You don't have to prove it to me."
"But-"
"It's okay," said Luz, smiling. "By the way, you never told me your name..."
"It's Amity. And... I still want to show you the proof."
Luz giggled.
"You're kind of a know-it-all, aren'tcha?" she asked playfully.
Amity sighed, putting down her phone.
"You can tell, huh?"
"It's okay, they call me one too," said Luz, pulling back her cloak to reveal her Top Student star from Hexside. "It's not really a big deal, the only reason I got it is because Eda started teaching me... but ever since I got it everybody started calling me stuff like 'dork', or 'know it all', or 'teacher's pet'... I'd blow off class to try and lose it, but my mom was so proud when I got it, I can't bear to see how she'd react if I didn't have it anymore."
"...let me guess, big mansion, rich family?"
"Not really," said Luz. "More like little shack on the outskirts of town. Actually, my mom's not really a witch doctor... more like a witch nurse, but she works really hard and I don't wanna let her down."
The more Amity talked to Luz, the more she felt like she wanted to get to know her more... she could already tell they didn't have a lot in common besides their love for the Good Witch Azura books, but in a strange world filled with strange and scary people, Luz was the only one who made Amity feel like she was safe.
"And I bet your mom wants you to get back home soon too, right?" said Luz, standing up from her box. "I'll go talk to Eda... I don't care how much I have to beg and whine and cry, I'll get her to let you go back home!"
Luz turned to Amity and put on her best pouty face, complete with quivering lip and tear-filled eyes. Amity giggled again, and watched as Luz started to leave... and as she did, she thought about home... and about Goldstar, and about her family...
If I go to Goldstar, I'll have the worst summer of my life. Phone or no phone, being there for the next two and a half months is gonna drive me crazy.
Amity thought about Luz, and Eda, and Azura... and how the Boiling Isles was like nothing she'd ever seen before.
If I stay here, I might get killed. ...or I might have the best summer ever. I don't know what it is about that girl Luz, but she's not like any of my friends back home. She's sweet, she's funny, she doesn't care about people thinking she's weird... she's everything I'm not, and being around her is really fun. ...and she can turn her wand into a freaking lightsaber.
"Luz, wait," said Amity suddenly, reaching over and grabbing Luz's hand.
"Hmm?" said Luz, looking over at Amity. "You don't think my pout is convincing enough?"
"No," said Amity.
"Awww, I knew it! I should be whimpering too! And maybe put on the cat ears for extra-"
"No, I mean... I think I might like to stay. At least a little bit longer."
"Really?"
"I have a question though... do you think I could learn magic?"
"Well, I dunno..." said Luz, putting her finger to her chin. "We're only able to do magic because we have a sac of bile attached to our hearts-"
"Ew," interrupted Amity.
"Yeah, humans don't have that. But... you know, anything's possible if you believe hard enough! I mean, before I met Eda, I could barely do magic even with the bile sac, and look at me now! If you stick around, I can totally help you! And I'm sure Eda can too!"
"Then it's settled," said Amity. "I want to stay here on the Boiling Isles."
"...yay!" squealed Luz suddenly, wrapping her arms around Amity in a tight hug. "I'll go tell Eda! I bet she'll totally let you crash with her! I'd let you crash with me, but I'm pretty sure my mom would say something like 'De ninguna manera estoy dejando que una humana se quede aquí, ¿estás loca?'"
"There's no way I'm letting a human stay here, are you crazy?" came a robotic-sounding voice from Amity's phone a few seconds later. Luz blinked, then laughed loudly.
"Is there anything that phone can't do?!" Luz exclaimed in amazement. "If I help you learn magic, can you show me more cool phone stuff?"
"Sure thing," Amity replied. "C'mon, let's go tell Eda the good news."
As the two girls walked out of the tent together, flashes of an otherworldly summer began to pass through Amity's mind. She was still having second thoughts about staying on the Boiling Isles, but Luz's presence and the prospect of a summer at Goldstar dispelled most of them from her mind.
I have no idea what I've just gotten myself into... but something tells me this is going to be the start of my greatest adventure.