Grr! Why did being hungry have to suck so bad? You get all cranky. You have a hard time sleeping because of the unsatisfied feeling in your belly. And don't forget how it makes you feel sluggish and just plain uncomfortable.
There were a million and one reasons why being hungry sucked. But, for me, the worst one was how many people bugged you when they heard your stomach growl.
"Amity?". Here we go. "Your stomach is-".
"Luz," I exhaled tiredly. "I know you're worried but, please, not this conversation again. I already know how this is gonna go. You're gonna say I sound hungry and I'm gonna make the mistake of admitting that I'm hungry. I'm gonna start making a fuss, like I am right now, about how I'm fine and I'm taking better care of myself than you think. Then you'd say me being hungry makes you "upsetti spaghetti" to try to get me to want spaghetti. I get all buttered up by how much of a dork you are and, after you look at me with your best puppy dog eyes, I finally agree to eat something, usually spaghetti". Luz opened her mouth to respond but I held my hand up.
"Stop fretting, Luz," I begged. "I was planning on eating something soon. I just skip meals when I'm busy, that's all".
Luz stared blankly at me for a second causing a chill to run down my spine. Dread coursed through me, my twitching heart making me feel sick.
I didn't hurt her feelings, did I? I didn't mean to! I was just trying to be firm with her!
It was like my palismen Ghost, who wasn't allowed to come just in case the owner of the hotel wanted to hand them over to Emperor Belos. They would give little nips to say they didn't want to be bothered at the moment. That's what it was, a nip.
Well, based on Luz's reaction, it must have been more of a bite.
A small snicker caused my thoughts to come to a screeching halt. Luz's bright brown eyes lit up even more as she began to fight off a laugh. After she let out a small "pft", the laugh won and bursted out of her mouth.
"Sorry, Amity. It's just… I should've known the super smart top student of hexside wouldn't fall for the spaghetti, puppy dog eyes combo for too long" she smiled. I couldn't hold in my giggle either. She was just so loveable.
"Don't give me your flattery, Noceda. I already know I'm awesome". I huffed while I jokingly waved her off. My heart was calm again and the swarm of worrying thoughts had been swept away by my girlfriend's laugh. Despite my stomach throwing a temper tantrum, confident but friendly Amity was back.
"That's good. I was afraid I'd have to give you yet another reminder" Luz purred. My face lit ablaze, and my eyes shot open wide again. So much for acting smug.
"But I do need a reminder! I need one, like, every day because I have a very serious girlfriend flattery deficiency" I corrected with a rushed chuckle. Why did I tell her not to give me praise? I loved it when Luz praised me.
"Are you two done, or should we leave you alone for a few more minutes" a voice giggled from the other queen-sized bed. There patiently sat Willow and Gus. They were both watching the moment Luz and I just had unfolded with the most complacent grins on their faces.
It was truly amazing. All Willow and Gus needed to do to make me feel totally embarrassed was sit there.
"Almost. Just give me like two more seconds" Luz answered back, almost immediately. She turned to me, holding my delicate hands with her warm calloused ones. The intense gaze she was giving me held my attention with the strength of a griffin.
"Amity?" she said sternly. "I don't mean to annoy you".
"You're not, Luz. I find it really sweet that you care about me so much" I admitted before Luz jumped back in.
"Exactly! I do care about you so much! And look, I know you're very hard working, Amity, we all do. You're the most responsible witch I know. Er…No offense Willow". Willow gave her human friend a, "none taken".
"Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, I know your work is important to you but you know what's more important? You. You being happy and healthy is way more important than what you're trying to get done, no matter what that is".
My golden eyes lit up in grateful astonishment. How was Luz so good at being so… amazing? Her beautifully optimistic speeches always made the world seem brighter, even at the darkest of times. Did all humans have this natural instinct that made them so inspiring?
I couldn't hold back my joy any longer. I crashed into Luz's arms, my smile as bright as fresh snow in the sun. I took in Luz's warmth for a moment before also noticing Willow and Gus's wide supportive smiles.
"Thank you, all of you. It's honestly really nice to hear that I make you guys' half as happy as you've made me".
It was relieving to hear that I was able to give back to the only real friends I'd ever had. Of course, it didn't make up for being so awful for many years before but the fact that they saw me as something that somehow made their lives better meant I was finally starting to become the witch I truly wanted to be.
The good feeling didn't last forever, as much as I wished it did. My good mood vanished when Gus's smile did. He turned ashen when our eyes met. He opened his mouth and tried to push out the words he wanted to say but nothing was coming out.
Before I asked him about what was wrong, I caught a glimpse of grief in his gray eyes. Oh...all this time everyone was worried about how I felt but what about Gus and Luz? Luz had almost died, and Gus's friend did die. They should've been the ones receiving the comfort, not me.
"Are you ok, Gus?" I questioned. Luz released me from our hug, wasting no time to turn towards Gus.
Willow's ear flicked gently prompting me to flick one of my ears too. Luz didn't understand why we were all flicking our ears but she decided to join in by wiggling her shorter round ones.
Gus relaxed after receiving our silent promise to listen. Unfortunately, melancholy still lingered in his stare.
"Uh, while we're talking about favors, Amity. Can you do me one? You too Luz, Willow?". That caused Willow to shift to face Gus more. She grew somewhat rigid, anticipating that she wasn't going to like whatever Gus was gonna ask. Luz, on the other hand, answered with an enthusiastic, "of course".
"Er… yeah. What do you need, Gus?" I answered after our other friends agreed.
I could hear my mother screaming in my head. As a businesswitch, the first thing she taught me was to not agree to do something without knowing all the details about what that something was. It was good advice. There was always a chance that what you agreed to had some catch or unknown consequence.
But this was Gus for Titans sake! He had shown me nothing but kindness since I began to mollify my rocky past with Willow. Hell, I even stood up to my parents after my mom got him, Willow, and Luz expelled! Let me tell you, there were very few witches that I was willing to do that for. I could trust the Illusionist. I knew that for sure.
"So, you know how there's a killer? And how they tried to kill Luz just now?". Gus grew more hesitant as he spoke but not hesitant enough to stop speaking altogether.
"Don't worry, Gus. Anyone who wants to hurt Luz will have to go through me first" I promised.
But... Why would Gus think he would need to ask us that? Everyone who knew Luz knew I would give up my very soul to keep her safe and there wasn't much Willow wouldn't do to protect her, too. Then there was Luz herself. She wasn't as soft as everyone made her out to be. She was great with glyph magic but what really kept her alive was a mix of courage and quick thinking (and really dumb luck I suppose).
"That's exactly it" Gus insisted. " I don't want Luz to die. She's one of the best friends I've ever had. But, Willow, Amity, I don't want either of you to throw your lives away to protect her. You matter just as much as she does".
"And your life matters, too, Gus," I reminded, slightly miffed. If I had to sit here and think about my own well-being, so did he.
The younger witch gave me a tooth filled grin. "Now you're getting it," he laughed. I let out an unamused huff. My stare was all I needed to silently tell Gus to "watch it".
It seemed like he got the message pretty quickly. His wily smile ungracefully turned into a nervous one.
I then sighed. My intimidating stare dissolved into a sorrowful but comforting one. I honestly shared Gus's worry when It came to him, Willow, and Luz. I didn't really know what I would do with myself if I lost any of them, especially if they were killed to keep me safe.
And to be one-hundred percent honest, I didn't want to die. My life had finally started to get better. I fixed my relationship with my siblings, I made peace with Willow, I had a job I both excelled at and felt happy doing, I fell in love with Luz… Let's just say I wasn't too keen on losing all of that.
"Don't worry about me, Gus," I replied as I gave him an assuring smile. "A Blight doesn't give a shit about death, let alone some stupid hotel killer".
That got a chuckle from my younger peer, along with a smile from Willow and a squeal from Luz. The latter stared at me, wide eyed, with a smile that silently said, "you are a legend!". I lightly smiled back, silently telling my girlfriend, "Of course I am".
"Do I know you Amity, or what?" Gus said proudly.
"I'll admit, "A Blight doesn't give a shit about death" is something I really wished I had come up with" I chuckled back gently.
It was true, really. Considering how much we threw the Blight name around, I'm surprised Ed, Em, or I had never said anything like that.
Ruining the fun, my stomach let out a snarl.
"Ugh. Alright. I'm getting to it" I growled back at it, still with a smile on my face. Luz dug through the drawer and handed out the menus the killer mentioned. Everything on them were different foods from the human realm, though the ingredients were human safe substitutes.
Surprisingly, I recognized some of the dishes like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and spaghetti. I would've gotten the spaghetti but instead of eyeballs it had "meat" balls. That sounded disgusting, which was a shame because Luz, once again, made me want spaghetti. Maybe Luz-
Luz let out a loud howl causing me to leap off of the bed and instinctively grabbed the lamp off the bed stand. I wanted to use it as a makeshift weapon, but the lamp was strangely attached to the wall by a cord.
I didn't need a weapon anyway. Instead of on the ground, pained by the result of a sudden attack, Luz was beaming at her menu.
"They have Sancocho! Oh, Mami made the best sancocho! I usually only eat it when I'm sick, but I haven't had it for sooooo long!".
"Luz!" I snapped while trying to calm my poor heart down. "Don't do that! You scared the ever-living shit out of me!". I felt bad for shouting before I even finished shouting. I wasn't angry, well I was a little, but that's how it came across. It just came out. I was scared, okay?
But poor Luz couldn't help but be excited. I knew that. Even with the circumstances, it must've been nice to have so many reminders of her home realm. And the "sancocho" was a reminder of her mother for Titan's sake. The poor human missed her so much that any reminder of her mother, big or small, brought her a joy that I don't think I'll ever know.
"Er… sorry, guys" she laughed nervously.
"It's ok, Luz" I responded remorsefully. "I'm sorry for yelling".
"It's fine, Agriducle. It's really sweet how protective you are". Luz's soft and sweet voice made my cheeks go red. I earnestly smiled.
"What's Sancocho?" Gus asked excitedly.
"It's a broth that's loaded with meat and vegetables. My mom used to make it all the time, especially when I got sick. It really helps when your nose is all stuffed up" Luz answered just as excitedly.
Willow gave Luz a confused look.
"Why didn't you tell me about this when you had the common mold? I could have made that instead".
"Because I was excited to try your family recipe and I'm glad I did. Anyways, you guys should all try it. It might calm your nerves after… all of today".
I took a moment to think about Luz's suggestion. Soup was the easiest to check for poison and I was expecting at least some of the dishes to be tainted. We all knew the killer wanted to murder as many of us as possible so it made sense that he would go after our most valuable resource.
Not to mention, I was kinda paranoid about my food being poisoned to begin with. As the daughter of a powerful family of assholes, I had had my fair share of assassination attempts (even when we had dad's abominations guard our house day and night, people still found ways to try and kill us). Not surprisingly, witches tried to kill me the most out of everyone in my family. What a tragedy it would be for the Blights to lose their young and most promising daughter.
"That sounds like a great idea but, before you guys start eating, I want to check to make sure it hasn't been contaminated" I stated.
"We were hoping you would," Willow admitted, prompting Gus to nod in agreement.
"Amity, Agridulce? Please don't tell me checking for poison is something you learned from experience" my girlfriend nervously chuckled.
"I'm rich, Luz" I shrugged. "And I'm kind of gigantic hellhound".
When Luz didn't relax, I quickly added, "Don't worry, unlike Ed and Em, I've only had to stay overnight at a healers center a few times".
Luz still didn't say anything in response. She just turned to what she called a phone earlier and ordered four bowls of sancocho. I wish there was more I could say to comfort her, but my girlfriend had a right to be worried.
…
As I reached the hotel lobby I was welcomed by a familiar sight. A mob of terrified students crowded the area. Cries of anger filled the air, all of them directed towards a single witch. A frail, yet pudgy, old woman weaved through the many tables in the makeshift dining area. As if she weren't being screamed at, she swiftly laid all the prepared orders down for the hotel guests to grab.
Said guests were frantically urging the older witch to reveal what was done to their meals only to be met with a patient kind of apathy. The woman was deeply focused on her job lest she let something slip by addressing her aggressors.
"How can you do this to us!?".
"What did you put in our food!?".
"You've poisoned it, haven't you!?".
"You can't be ok with this" I jumped in. Unlike everyone else around me, I tried to sound as understanding as I could. I knew this witch had some sort of rational side. They had to have been more than the villain everyone was making them out to be and antagonizing them was just going to prevent any useful conversation.
A bit of kindness was all I needed to turn my angry ass around and the shouting obviously wasn't working. It was worth a shot.
"Don't you get what you're doing?" I continued. "You know we all can't go long without food, yet you won't give us any that's not poisoned somehow. We need to eat and it's impossible for us to go into the kitchen without you or the hotel owner seeing us–".
"You shouldn't be going into my kitchen anyways. Only the staff are allowed in there". The chef's raspy voice made the lobby go still. Everyone was just left shocked for the moment.
After all the pushing and prodding, the witch finally spoke. That meant we might've been able to get some information out of her if we pushed a little more.
"And we'll stay out of the kitchen, but you need to stop poisoning our food first. Please. We'll all die if you don't". I still tried to sound strong, assured, but my pleading was genuinely desperate.
The hotel owner truly had the upper hand in the situation. He could see us everywhere we went with his strange human surveillance system, he seemed to own potions that only criminals could get their hands on, and he indirectly had a way to contaminate our only source of food. We needed any form of help we could get.
My vulnerability caused the whitening witch to soften. She stopped what she was doing so she could properly face me. Her mouth opened and closed a few times as she thought about what to say. The deeply stained fangs inside were a stark contrast to her pale gray skin.
"I can't risk angering my partner" she finally said. Her slightly torn ears folded down while she slightly bowed her head in shame.
"Ever since…". The witch stalled, trying her best not to say anything she shouldn't've. "... he lost his mind, Mortimer has become a danger to those around him".
"Well, you seem to still have your mind. Why help him?".
"If it were easier for me to leave, I would. But, until there's somewhere else, I can go, all I can do is keep his murderous intent away from me". My breath hitched as she finished. The hopelessness that shone in her pale-yellow eyes was all too familiar to me.
I was in no danger of being murdered, by my family at least, but I still felt I was trapped inside my home with them. And, until recently, it felt my entire family was only there to make me feel miserable. I was just a punchline to my brother and sister. I didn't even think my dad knew I existed half the time.
And my mom? I don't think she had ever seen me as her daughter. No. She saw me as a witch with "a ton of potential" yet not enough potential to waste by having nice friends or taking a night off from studying every once and a while. She saw me as a means to heighten her status, something she could reap the achievements of. She saw me as some sort of powerful peon. I was more of a puppet then I was a daughter to her.
Though, I don't think I should've compared my situation to the weathered down witch in front of me. I had to admit, despite how awfully my family had treated me in the past, they had never even joked about threatening my life.
Ok, yeah, there was that one time where my mom tried to kill my future girlfriend in front of a bunch of people but even, she thought filicide crossed a line.
"But…". My ears twitched as my attention was brought back to the killer's spouse. "I think I can tell you this: the draught of poison in your meals will not kill you directly. It's the side effects you need to be worried about".
With that, the witch headed back into the kitchen to grab more meals. As she walked away everyone, very reluctantly, chose to go back to waiting for their suppers to be served. Since our room's order was already ready, I picked up the four bowls of soup and cautiously made my way back to the others.
Shutting the door behind me, I placed the tray onto a table next to the human crystal ball. My other peers swarmed like flies but were easily shooed away by a couple waves and a scoff.
"The food is poisoned but the hotel's cook said the poison won't kill us if we can withstand the side effects of it. If we can find out what poison she used, we might be ok" I explained.
Once I was sure I had my space, I instantly got to work. I grabbed the spoon in one of the bowls and bent closer to it. It required a good eye and sharp focus but a slight change in color or parts of the poison clumping at the bottom of the bowl were clues as to what was tainting it. I didn't notice either but maybe that was because I didn't get to stir that long. The sour smell that came from the sancocho… I knew that smell.
Oh, Titan no! I knew what was in the soup! That old witch had laced the broth with a highly dangerous hallucinogen, one that could take full effect just by smelling it!
"Everyone stays away! This food has savagescent in it and I've just been poisoned by it!" I shouted, my golden eyes wide with panic.
Luz's eyes shone with emerging tears while she let out a dismayed gasp. Unlike Gus and Willow, she had no idea what savagescent was.
"It's ok. I'll be ok. Just, stay away from me and try not to act threatening. If you do-". I couldn't speak any longer. I could only grunt through my clenched fangs.
The ache was painfully familiar. After all this wasn't the first time, I had inhaled savagescent and the last time I did was disastrous. My dad's leg was broken, my mom's nose and a few of her ribs were broken, and Emeria's left eye was swollen shut for weeks. The worst of the injuries belonged to me and my brother Edric. I may have ripped off one of Edric's big toes and Emeria got revenge by cracking my head open.
My horrified reminiscing was cut short since I suddenly collapsed back into the table behind me. My vision had gone blurry and then disappeared entirely as my mind went blank.