After waking up from a deep sleep, I only had a small moment of peace before my body realized it was in pain. My head. It felt like it was about to burst! It was throbbing, practically convulsing, so bad it made my mind feel fuzzy.
When I opened my now dull golden eyes, my senses were stunned. The room I was in was fairly dark, the only light being the light coming through the window, yet my eyes stung like they were being blinded. Not to mention I had to fight my eyes to move.
The room was in as bad of shape as I was. The wall was covered in water stains and spider web cracks. The floor was musty and torn just like the king-sized bed I was laying in. And the dust. My Titan, it was amazing I was able to breathe without a ton of dust assaulting my lungs.
Ok, so my surroundings weren't giving me any clue on what was happening. If I wanted to find out what was going on, I had to leave the room.
I attempted to get up only to be thrown back into the pillow. I tried again, and again, and… Okay. Getting up wasn't happening. Every time I tried to move; some imaginary force pushed me in the opposite direction.
The only thing left to do was to retrace my steps. I tried to remember what happened an hour, or however long I was out, ago. My mind was pitifully sluggish, so remembering details took a lot of effort. But I was able to remember that we were looking for my sister, we were attacked by… something or other, and we were now trapped in the hotel said sister was at.
Wait, "we?" Why did I say "we"? Was there somebody with me when I was captured? Damnit, I knew someone was, but I couldn't remember the face or the name.
No, no. I'd figure it out. I just needed a few more moments to think.
Amity? No, we were looking for her. Luz? No, she was with Amity? Willow? No, she was with Amity, too. She was on a school trip with the rest of her year, right? So that's a no on any of Amity's friends.
Now that I covered the three names at the top of my head, I started to think about witches I saw on a daily basis. Mom? No, she would never do anything that would get her hands dirty. And dad was a def—
Oh! I got it! Titan, the answer was so obvious. Why didn't I think of it before? It had to have been Edric. He and I were attached at the hip after all. Well except for that very moment that is.
He wasn't in the room, which was odd. He was with me before I blacked out, right? And now he wasn't with me. That meant he went somewhere else, right? Son of a hellhound, it was as if my head was refusing to work properly.
He didn't leave the hotel without me, that I was sure of. My dipshit brother would want to explore the crumbling hotel all he could. That… and my sibling genuinely cared about me. I was one of the only witches he had.
My mind went so cloudy I completely forgot I was awake for a moment. The only thing I could do was feel confused. I couldn't even feel frightened of being that confused. I could only just not understand.
When I returned to a better state of mind, our main goal came back to the front of my mind… Wait "our"? Was there someone with me?... In any case, the important thing was that we needed to find Amity. I knew that I had to start searching for her. She was going to die if I didn't get to her right away.
Completely forgetting about my other attempts, I raised my head off of the pillow, only to flop back into bed. Right, I couldn't move.
What the hell was I supposed to do, then? I couldn't just lay there. I didn't know if those creatures that kidnapped us would come back. If they did, I was as good as dead. There was no way I could fight or run away when I couldn't even sit up.
The only thing I could do was try to fight my strong case of dizziness and get myself up onto my feet, try to escape while I still could.
Getting up: that was what was important. I'd get up, then I'd find where Amity was.
I ended up rolling off of the bed, instead. Well, at least I knew I wasn't stuck in one place. It was a start, but I was still face down on the dusty, moldy, stained floor. I tried to get up again, yet I was only able to roll onto my back. I needed someone's help desperately but who knew where the next closest witch or demon was?
"Hello?". It was hard to find the energy to speak. Most of the fight in me disappeared when I tried to move. "Can someone hear me? I need help!".
No response. I wasn't really expecting one, but it still hurt not to receive one. The situation would probably end in one of two ways if I didn't get help. I could've either given up and lie on the floor until someone stumbled upon me or kept begging for help until my body couldn't take it anymore.
The former wasn't happening. Trust me, I would've loved just to rest instead of crying out like a little lost witchling. But, whenever I would relax, even for the smallest amount of time, my headache would hit me at full force. I had to be doing something other than rest, if not for any other reason but to use my adrenaline as a painkiller.
The latter it was. For what was only a few minutes but felt like hours, I pleaded for help as loud as I could. My voice grew raspy fast while my speech slurred worse and worse with each word. It was getting harder to fight the urge to curl up and cower in a heap of my own hurt. What's worse was that the headache caused even more pain to appear in my stomach. If it didn't stop soon, I was going to hurl all over myself.
"Oh, mighty Titan! Please make it stop!" I hissed through my clenched fangs. I started shaking fiercely, letting out an occasional whimper every so often.
Who knew when my brother would be back? Who knew if he would be back at all? For all I knew he could've already been dead. Titan, both him and Amity could've already been dead! I would have no hope of escaping before I was murdered, or I starved! I was petrified! I never knew I could feel so scared!
But my quickly rising shame was not going to be overshadowed. There was no use in panicking, I knew that but, son of a hellhound, I didn't know what to do and I was getting too cold and, Titan, my head hurt so bad!
"Help me… Please, help me". Even though my last plea was the quietest thing I had said, someone seemed to have heard it. The sound of the doorknob rattling as someone pushed the door open was not a surprise: It was a Titandamn miracle!
"¡Dios, niña! (God, child)" an unfamiliar voice shouted in alarm. I instantly covered my ears. My savior's cry bounced around in my head before trying to explode through the top of it.
She kneeled down to me and began to look me over. She carefully lifted my bandages and peeked at my wound before her attention moved to one eye then the other. Her face, I didn't like the look of it. Her eyes were slightly widened and were glassy from her feeling of pity. Her frown caused the bags under them to sag downwards.
"¿Qué te pasó? (What happened to you)" the stranger murmured
"What are you doing?" I rasped. The woman stopped her prodding for a moment so she could directly face me. She gave me a weak smile as she lightly touched my arm.
"Hello there, cariño. My name is Camila. What is your name?". Camila's voice was soft like a comfortable wool blanket. My head felt like it was splitting in two with every word, but it was quiet enough to tolerate.
It took my brain a moment to fully process that I was just asked a question, but I soon answered with a simple, "Emira".
"Alright, Emira. Can you tell me your last name" the older witch purred.
The question was thrown into the back of my mind, or at least what was left of it. My attention was stuck on the woman's ears. They looked weird but familiar. They didn't have a pointy tip and didn't flick or flatten. Where had I seen ears like that before… Didn't Luz have ears like that? Yeah. It was because she was human.
So that meant Camila was a human too, right? Ugh. I should stop trying to make things make sense.
"Hey. You're a human. Amity and Luz finally built a new portal, didn't they?".
I didn't even give the human time to answer. My sister's many attempts to help her girlfriend get back home reminded me of why I was there in the first place.
"I have to go find my sister. Can you help me walk out of the room?".
"Querida, no. You are in no shape to be walking around. The best thing for you to do is rest".
Her answer made perfect sense. Her answer was common sense! But I wasn't going to take that or any other form of "no" as an answer. If there was one thing my screwed-up mind knew for absolute sure, it was that I needed to find Amity because she was in danger.
"But I have no time to rest," I spat. "I have to find Amity before the "tragedy"!". Camila didn't flinch. Her eyes shone with sympathy as she stayed grounded and calm.
"What tragedy?" she questioned.
"The "tragedy". The one that mom predicted" I scoffed back like it was the most obvious thing on the Isles.
My mind went blank again and I was lost in another fog. For a moment I completely stopped thinking. The only thing my mind would acknowledge was that I was doing something a minute ago and then stopped. What was I just talking about? And where even was I?
"Hey. She also said that more humans will appear on the isles. Do you know Luz?" I asked once my cloudy head cleared up a bit. Amazingly, all the anger I had a few seconds prior faded as easily as a witchling's first illusion.
"I'm her mother, "Camila answered, rushing so she could ask her question. "Who told you more humans would show up?".
"Mom told us, but the spirits told her. They said the "tragedy" would have something to do with Amity. We're here to help Amity but I can't seem to get up. Can you help me walk out the door?".
The human looked rather conflicted. The lines on her face grew more prominent as it scrunched in thought. She held onto the bridge of her nose for dear life, her thumb fiddling with a part of her red glasses, while she kept taking quiet deep breaths.
"Hang on, querida. I'm going to go talk to your brother, then I will carry you to where Amity is, deal?".
I could tell by the way Camila was talking she wasn't being devious, but the word "deal" still made me shiver. Blights and deals were two things that, when mixed, caused disaster. Granted, it rarely ended badly for the Blight, but the word made me nervous, nonetheless.
"kay" I uttered throatily. Despite my feelings on the word, I didn't hesitate for long to take the human's deal. With the shape that I was in, there was no time to be paranoid. Plus, there was just something about Camila that instantly made me trust her. She was really understanding, and her weird human words made her sound so motherly.
Before the human could walk out of the room, I stopped her with a, "hey". She turned around and walked a little closer to me so she could hear me better.
"Can I see my brother?" I mumbled. "Where is he?".
"I will bring him in. Just wait a moment, ok".
I didn't respond. I had already forgotten I had asked the question and I didn't really pay attention to her answer.
As she left, I began to think about Camila a little more. She was pretty cool. She did something very few adults were able to do. She earned my respect. And she did it instantly. She didn't seem anything like my parents and teachers, pompous pricks who had expectations higher than the clouds. She seemed to get me and, dare I say it, actually seemed interested in my feelings.
"Emira! Are you alright!".
"Be quiet!" I spat. "Why are you guys all being so loud?!".
I looked over to who was shouting so I could yell at him more, but I completely forgot about being mad when I saw who it was.
Camila was back. And Edric was here too. He looked really worried which was odd. I'd found help…er…more like help had found me, but I was going to be fine. Yet dipshit looked like he was watching a baby selkiedomus get clubbed.
Wait… Edric was okay! And he managed to find help for me! I didn't know whether to be more proud or relieved but either way I was so glad to see him.
"Edric!" I croaked, completely forgetting about how I had just yelled at him a minute ago. I tried to sit up again but I was pushed back down, this time by Camila who was squatting beside me again. Fortunately, Edric realized what I wanted. He gently sat down on the other side of me and grabbed my hand.
"Thank Titan, you're alright. I wouldn't've known what to do if you're dumbass had gotten hurt".
I gave my brother the usual sly smile, hoping that the joking around would help us all relax. He tried to give me one back but he couldn't chase away the scared look on his face. My speech was slurred, like I had gotten into our parents' hard appleblood collection, I couldn't sit up on my own, and I was still shaking so violently it looked like I was seizing. Some teasing wasn't going to make that okay.
"Why were you worried about me? You're the one that got hurt" he laughed anxiously.
"I'm your big sister. That means it's my job to make sure you don't get yourself killed, unfortunately". My chuckling sounded more like a dying bird which did nothing to calm everyone's nerves.
"You're older by two minutes" Edric huffed jokingly.
"Older by two minutes is still older" I mocked back.
Without any warning, my ears began to ring. The cracks on the walls started to make me feel sick. The stains on the carpet went from being spots to a disgusting pattern of contorting shapes. I gnashed my fangs as the sight caused unexplained anger to simmer inside of me.
It was the people around me that caused the storm inside of me to break free. It felt like they were crowding me even though they weren't. I couldn't handle being around them anymore.
They weren't doing anything, I know. We were just joking around a second ago. But just them being there made me snap.
"Rah! Get away from me! Don't you know what personal space is!?" I growled with all the might I had left. All the tension in my jaw then sunk into a frown. Since all my anger was let out into the open all that remained was regret. I had no reason to shout at anyone and the hurt that grew in Edric's bright golden eyes after I'd suddenly slapped his hand away made me feel lower than trashslug vomit.
"Hey, I'm sorry. I'm not angry, I swear!" I wheezed frantically.
"It's alright, querida" the witch kneeling next to me cooed. "You're in a lot of pain and it looks like you got a little over stimulated".
She glanced over at Edric. He was silently pleading for her to do something about my sorry condition.
"Let's go see your sister, Emira," she said softly.
The older human walked up to me and put her hand on my back. She told me to bend my knees, which I did with a little struggle, before she put her other arm under my legs.
Camila quietly counted to three then lifted me off the ground. She seemed surprised at how light I was. She whispered, "Dee-ohs" as she pulled me closer slightly. The warmth coming off of Camila felt nice after laying on the cold ground for so long. I wiggled slightly after leaning into the human.
Then we were off. Waiting in the hallway were two younger children and… Woah. Was that a basilisk?
Hmm. She was nowhere near as scary as the basilisk that had snuck into school (supposedly. Luckily, I didn't run into it that day). It appeared to be on our side, calmly talking to… the other people instead of trapping them in its grasp.
The younger children led the way down the stairs while Edric clung to Camila's side. He was talking to her, but I drowned him out. I just focused on fighting my headache instead. Nothing else mattered to me at that moment.
"You can't do this to us!" a faltering voice roared once we entered the first-floor hallway. A little way ahead of us, a blue hog demon leered up at a slim but proud purple haired witch. While the former looked ready to snap, the latter looked cold and cruel, her golden eyes so sharp I could clearly see them despite not being up close.
"Can't do what, stop you from getting yourself killed? There's a reason we're waiting for Willow's party to return with weapons" the witch huffed.
Her voice swirled in my head. Surprisingly, I recognized it! That witchling sounded exactly like Amity, right down to the pissy sarcasm!
Despite how excited I was to find she was ok; I still kept my cool. She didn't need to know how worried her big sister was. All she needed to know was that her big sister was there and that she was going to protect her from… something, I guess.
I went to call out to Amity, but I chose against it. She was pretty ticked at the moment, and I doubted that mad mittens would appreciate the surprise. It was best to let her calm down first.
"But we're all starving and you're telling us that we can't eat unless Willow comes back!" the smaller of the two growled back.
"Razor. If all of Willow's team doesn't return before this evening, then we will come up with a different plan. But, for now, have a little patience!".
That just made the shoat more impatient. He stomped closer to my sister until he was almost pressed against her. Amity didn't flinch. She was not going to let some pig half her size move her.
"We don't have time to "have patience"! My roommates are all injured and need food to help them heal!".
"You think I don't know that!" Amity spat. "Do you know how close to death I was after the savagescent situation? But all raiding the kitchen right now will do is kill some of us much quicker! We must wait for Willow, at least for a little while".
On Top of my light trembling, I let out a shudder. Amity was injured and starving? Sweet Titan! The poor thing was already trapped in a decaying hotel! Did she really need to worry about magic deficiency too?
When her classmate didn't back down Amity snarled, "You know what? Fine. I won't try to stop you. Go and get yourself killed". Then, in one last attempt to make Razor back down, she leaned in slightly and subtly sneered. "Then there will be more food for all the competent people".
There was a moment where neither moved nor said anything. Then Razor let out a defeated snort and turned to stomp back to his room.
"Go to hell" he grumbled before slamming the door.
"Oh. Trust me, bud. I'm already there".
The poor young witch let out a sigh while she mindlessly let her gaze wander. When it passed us, Amity quickly did a double take and jumped back.
"Stay back!" she both yelled and yelped. "I may not have magic, but I can still snap your neck!".
A small smile appeared on my face. It had only been one night but, damn, did I miss the beautiful sound of death threats.
"Wuff. She's the scariest thing I've seen here so far" Camila murmured.
"Woah, Amity. It's just us" Luz… woah. When did Luz get here? Was she also looking for Amity?
Luz's words triggered a "that's Amity?" from my rescuer. That brought my attention back to my sister. It felt like I had re-found her just then. I just couldn't remember the fact that she was right in front of me.
Luz sprang forwards and wrapped her girlfriend in a spine crushing bear hug. It took my sister by surprise, but she soon melted into her human's embrace.
"Luz! Gus! You're okay!" Amity cheered. She then shoved her way out of the hug and began to look her girlfriend over. "Wait. You are ok, right? No one's injured?".
"I am". I couldn't help but cringe a bit. I said that way too slowly.
Amity's Blight golden eyes found me as Camila walked forwards. My sister's jaw gaped wide open, revealing those new fangs of hers.
"Emira? What happened? How did you get here? Did the killer hurt you?".
While she asked question after question, I was carried into what I assumed to be Amity's hotel room. Edric and Amity followed her while Luz and… some other people… Wait. Was that a basilisk? Weird. It didn't look as scary as Amity made it out to be, but I was still glad it wasn't coming into the room with us.
Amity's buzzing felt like someone was throwing rock after rock at my head. My ears started to ring again and, without actually moving, Amity got way too close. My relief to have found her was shoved to the side. All I could feel was anger.
"Amity! Can you, please, shut the hell up!" I snapped.
My younger sister jumped back in surprise. Edric rushed behind her and gently placed a hand on each of her shoulders.
"It's alright, cariño. Do not take what Emira says personally. She has a severe concussion so it's a lot easier for her to get angry right now. Not to mention she's in a lot of pain" Camila whispered to Amity from her left.
The purple haired witch stared back up at her in reprieve though her thoughts were hung up on a single word. "Cariño"? You know Luz?".
Camila softly laughed before she answered, "You could say I do. I am her mother after all". She stretched out her hand. "It's nice to finally meet you, Amity. My mija has told me a lot of good things about you".
Amity's cheeks lit up a light shade of pink. She tried to smile but only ended up nervously showing the human her fangs. It was very subtle but, if you looked hard enough, you could see the witchling quivering.
"Oh! Um, same. Er, Luz talks about you too, I mean. Sh… she says you're very loving… and look, she's right! Anyways, I'm Amity, Luz's, um, girlfriend. But you already knew that so I'm just gonna shut up now if that's ok" the flustered girl stuttered as awkwardly as possibly. That spawned another laugh from Camila.
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to laugh. It's just, Luz told me that you were more scared of me then you were of all the monsters you've fought". The human's smile was as bright as her daughter's light spell. That calmed Amity down… slightly.
"Well, unlike the monsters, I have to make you like me so…" the witchling tried to laugh but it just came out as a squeak. "I'm not doing a very good job of that, am I?".
"No, no, Amity. You've made a very good first impression all things – querida, are you feeling alright?".
Camila broke out of the conversation when she caught a glimpse of me shaking. While her and Amity were talking, I grew more and more frightened by the second. It started when I began to notice the stifling smell of smoke.
Before my mind could even process where the scent was coming from, I reacted. My lip quirked to where I was partially sneering while I gnashed my fangs together. My nails dug into the bed under me, the sheets shifting back and forth as my hands twitched.
Patiently, I waited for the smell to go away. Someone was probably being stupid with a fire spell and caught something on fire. One spell circle would fix everything.
But the more I waited for that to happen the smell slowly grew more suffocating. My hands moved from my sides to my neck. I scratched at my throat like tearing a hole in it would allow more air in.
At that point, Edric was trying his best to comfort me. He tried to do it wordlessly. Usually that would say much more than either of us speaking to each other did. But all he ended up doing was make a hand sized spot on my shoulder feel like it was on fire.
Though the burning sensation running through my body was not the reason I was trembling so bad. Just a few feet away from me, Amity, the little sister I had fought so hard to protect, was slowly being engulfed in flames.
I was stunned by my own terror and confusion. Did Amity also hit her head too hard? She was ON FIRE yet not looking like a loser in front of her girlfriend's mom was all she cared about! How could she not feel her skin searing when I felt the heat from across the room?
She lit herself on fire, didn't she?! After all, everyone knows a witch can't be burnt by their own fire spell. But why in Belos's name did she feel the sudden need to create a fire spell that big? Was she that eager to show off her magic to Camila that she'd risk catching the room on fire?
Who am I kidding? It was Amity for Titan's sake. You know, the witch who literally did an entire magical presentation in front of a magic eating creature.
"Amity, you moron!" I half snapped; half screamed. "Are you trying to kill someone!".
"What? I'm not doing anything!" my sister snarled back.
"You think you can fool an illusionist? I see that giant fire! Put it out! Put it out! It's choking me, damnit!".
Amity didn't move but her expression changed. Instead of a defensive scowl she now had a look of terror plastered onto her face. She glanced over at Edric, trying to meet his gaze, but our brother refused to look anywhere but at me. The sight of me practically seizing was like the sight of a gored beast keeper. It was so horrid you couldn't look away.
Camila walked up to me slowly and carefully grabbed my wrist. She tried to bring my hands away from my neck while she softly told me to focus on her. All that did was cause me to scramble away from her and start digging my nails into the sides of my arms instead. Her hands were so cold, but they made my skin feel even warmer.
And as my sister stood there all dumbfounded, the smoke continued to make my lungs burn. Soon it filled the entire room, painting everything around me pitch black. The sound of it clawed at my ears. Unlike any other smoke I'd ever seen, it was whispering to me.
"Death will give you solace" It mumbled over and over again like it was desperately trying to get me to realize something.
I don't know if you could call what I was feeling "panic". That seemed a bit too basic. It was more a gigantic clump of anger, fear, pain, and most of all: confusion. I had no grasp of my surroundings anymore. My brain couldn't seem to explain what the hell was going on. The only thing I knew was that things were happening, very bad things.
No matter where I looked, all I could see was darkness and tons of fiery amber eyes peeking out of it. In front of me I could barely make out a face. It was what looked to be the silhouette of a younger teen. Her hair was beautifully wavy and completely covered both of her ears. Her skin looked smooth like the finest silk despite being covered in cinder.
The smell of her overtook the smell of smoke. Her scent was bittersweet, like potent mourning lilies growing from a decaying animal.
"I am here now. You are safe now". I froze along with the rest of the world. The sound of the oh so tough Amity Blight singing a lullaby of all things was so rare it was paralyzing.
Amity, while stepping closer to the side of the bed, continued to softly sing.
"Let me shield you from your torment.
You may rest now.
I will stay now.
Until you silence your lament".
By the time Amity finished singing, stray tears rolled down to my chin. I was still trembling, I don't think I could've stopped if I tried, but I felt severely less panicked.
The smoke, the soot, the eyes, the face, all of it faded away. The heat dulled too. It was hard to breathe but at least I could breathe again.
My fear was slowly snuffed out by the peace my sister brought to me. Despite how confusing the last couple minutes had been, Amity was all I cared about at that moment. She was here. She was safe.
"Was that… that was the song I used to sing to you when you were little… whenever you'd have a nightmare. You remembered" I sniffled with a smile.
"Of course, I remember" Amity cooed before she chuckled, "You know, you always did sing it better than Mr. Musically Trained over there".
"Don't listen to her, Em. Amity wouldn't know talent if it bit her in the ass" Edric pipped in.
"I was the best in my dance class".
"Yeah but were you better than the teacher?".
As the two of them bickered, my breathing finally went back to normal. My violent shaking had slowed to an occasional tremor and my skin felt nice and cool.
I thoughtlessly wrapped my arms around Amity. Usually this would result in me being shoved away but instead my baby sister just shifted into a comfortable position.
After Camila quietly left the room to go check on her daughters, Edric sat on the other side of me. He seemed a little nervous to be sitting so close at first but, once he noticed it didn't bother me, he calmed down.
It was an odd scene, my two siblings lovingly comforting me while also cursing each other out, but I couldn't've cared less. It was nice, for once, to be on the other side of the sisterly comfort. It almost made up for the fact that my skull was cracked in 15 different places… almost.
I didn't know what all that fire and smog was about. Who knew who or where that witch I saw staring at me was, or why she believed that someone needed to die for me to be happy. That obviously wasn't true.
But my mind fogging confusion no longer bothered me. My overly sharp irritability and fear had seemed to have taken a break. I could finally get the rest that I needed. I was finally at peace.