Skara was worried about Amity. She did not get worried easily. She'd always found it easy to go with the flow, to just let life's little peaks and valleys not get to her. Of course, she was quite cognizant of the fact that she'd been luckier than most. Her parents may have been wealthy and very concerned about their social status, but at least they loved her deeply and cared about her welfare.

Amity had not been that lucky. Everyone knew what horrible people the Blights were. Mrs. Blight had been a sadistic, manipulative social-climbing jerk, and Mr. Blight was so consumed in his research that Skara was half-convinced that he had forgotten that he even had a daughter. But now they were in prison for rebelling against the government and would stay there for the rest of their natural lives.

At least, that's what Amity had assumed. But upon returning from the human realm, she had revealed to Skara that she had encountered a human who knew her mother and now she was absolutely terrified that this human would bust Mrs. Blight out of prison. It seemed to be consuming Amity's every thought now. Amity was working on some humungous and radical new bard spell that she was certain would be able to incapacitate Mrs. Blight if need be, but she refused to tell Skara any details.

Not that Skara blamed her very much for that. The two of them had been more or less forced to hang out with each other in the past. Skara had wanted to tell Amity that they didn't need to be friends, but the fear of what Mrs. Blight would have done to Amity stayed her hand. She didn't want Amity to do anything she wasn't comfortable with, but unfortunately, that boat sailed a long time ago.

But with Boscha now at Glandus High thanks to her snooty parents who hated the fact that Amity was "copulating" with a human (though in a very panicky tone, Amity had assured Skara that no actual copulation was occurring), Skara had made an effort to become real friends with Amity. She'd like to think she was succeeding, but the truth was that she feared that Amity really didn't want to be friends with her, and was just pretending out of engrained habits.

Still, even though Skara was unsure about the actual status of their friendship, she couldn't help but be worried about Amity. She hadn't been getting nearly as much sleep as she used to, judging by the bags under her eyes, and she had even returned to dyeing her hair green. It was a shame too. Purple was definitely Amity's color. The fear of her mother returning seemed to be causing her to fall apart.

"I am very disappointed in these scores!" Mr. Piccolo shouted at the class, bringing Skara's attention back to the present. They had all just taken what must have been the most harrowing test that Skara could remember. Skara would have honestly been very surprised if she herself had passed.

It was completely Mr. Piccolo's fault, in Skara's opinion. He had bombarded them with material that was simply too advanced for them, and now he had the audacity to blame them for it. They may have had a more just government, but teachers being unfair never changed.

Amity let out a horrifying rusty sound that made Skara's ears hurt to hear as Mr. Piccolo handed her test back to her. "No, no, no, no," she kept repeating under her breath. Her eyes were wide with horror, sheer and unrelenting terror. Skara felt that she could fall into them and drown. "This isn't real, this can't be happening…"

"Miss Blight, do you have something that you want to share with the class?" Mr. Piccolo said archly. "I'm sure we're all quite eager to hear it."

Amity took a deep breath. It was honestly a miracle that she wasn't hyperventilating. "There must be some mistake here, sir. You must have mixed up my test with someone else's. There's no way I could have gotten this grade. It's not possible!"

Mr. Piccolo strode over to her and grabbed her test out of her hands. He scoured through it carefully. "There is no mistake. This is your handwriting, and it is your grade."

"But Mr. Piccolo, please!" Amity begged. "I've never gotten a grade like this before! My parents will be so disappointed in me! They'll –"

"Do nothing given the fact that they are in prison, Miss Blight." Amity blinked. Skara realized that Amity had genuinely forgotten this fact in her panic. "You will not be able to guilt me into giving you a better grade, especially with such a bald-faced lie."

"Please," Amity started, but Mr. Piccolo growled at her and she whimpered. "Another word out of you and you'll go into detention!" he shouted.

Amity started rocking back and forth in her seat. Skara had been around her long enough to recognize the symptoms of an imminent meltdown, as Luz had put it, when she saw one. "Mr. Piccolo, I think that Amity needs to go to the healer's office. May I please escort her?"

"Oh, very well," Mr. Piccolo said with a dismissive gesture, looking like it was less because he cared about Amity's health and more because he wanted to have her out of the classroom and not bothering him.

Skara did not take Amity to the nurse. Instead, she took her out of the school and led her to her favorite spot on campus, the tree that Amity and Luz had created when they had defeated Grom. Amity just fell down and leaned against the tree, looking like all the fight had gone out of her. "It's okay, Amity. You're safe now. It's going to be okay."

"It's not going to be okay, Skara!" Amity screamed at her. "It can't be okay! I've never gotten anything other than an A+ in my life! NEVER! I am Amity Blight, top student, and I have to be that!"

"Why?" Skara asked, regretting saying the word the instant that it had left her mouth. This wasn't the right time to be poking holes in Amity's arguments!

"I JUST DO!" she shouted. "If I'm not, then who am I?"

"The most awesome girl I know," Skara retorted. She started counting on her fingers. "Luz Noceda's girlfriend. The witch who went toe to toe with the emperor and made him bleed. A good person. A kind person, who deserves a better friend than me."

"Don't say that," Amity said softly. "You're a good friend. I'm sorry I'm…like I am."

"Can I touch you?" Skara asked. Amity considered the question, and then nodded. Skara wrapped her arm around Amity's shoulders. "It's okay to freak out. Hey, I probably failed too, so we've got that in common, right? It's not the end of the world."

Amity nodded, that sadly familiar stoic look appearing on her face once more. Skara had really hoped she'd seen the last of that expression. "Of course it's not."

But Skara knew that she was lying.

Raine was worried about Amity. When Eda had asked them to tutor her in bard magic, they had gratefully acquiesced. They'd heard great things about Amity's magical potential, and they were pleased to see that, if anything, the reports had underestimated her. She never ever gave up. When faced with a problem, she hacked away at it until it was in shards at her feet.

This was, of course, a problem in of itself. Amity refused to allow herself to fail, and that refusal had been serving her well. But it made the consequences when she inevitably did fail – as everyone did every once in a while – all the more severe. Though she was trying her best to hide it, the poor girl was a nervous wreck when she arrived for her tutoring session. Apparently, she had failed a test. That'd be enough to ruin anyone's day, but to Amity, it was the disappointment of a lifetime.

"You know, it's okay to get a bad grade occasionally," Raine offered to Amity.

"Not for me," Amity said stiffly.

Raine offered her a gentle smile. "It really is, Amity. I bombed a test or two in my time. Or three. Or four. And look where I am now. Head of the Bard Coven." Amity actually did look encouraged by those words, so Raine pressed on. "And look at the work that we're doing together. The Empathy Spell is one of the most extraordinary pieces of magic that I've ever seen, and you created it on your own!"

Actually, if Raine was going to be honest with themself, it was not only one of the most extraordinary pieces of magic they'd ever seen, it was easily the most terrifying one. It didn't seem terrifying at first glance, but that was precisely one of the things that made it so dangerous. In the hands of a witch that was using it for evil, it could easily be used for things so nefarious that it made Raine shudder to even think of it.

If they had thought for the slightest moment that Amity would actually succeed in her insanely expansive ambition, they never would have allowed her to do it. They had expected her to fail, and to learn a lesson from that. It was not a slight on Amity's magical prowess. Anyone would have failed at such an epic feat of magic.

Anyone, that is, except Amity Blight. She refused to fail, and so she did not. It had nearly caused her to fall into a coma from sleep deprivation, but she succeeded. It was honestly one of the most extraordinary things that Raine had ever seen.

"Thank you, Mx. Whispers," Amity said, with absolutely no passion in her voice whatsoever. "Shall we continue where we left off from last session?"

Raine opened the textbook to do just that, but then they closed it again. "No. Amity, I am very concerned about your health recently, both physically and mentally. The threats that were made to you in the Human Realm are most serious, but there is no danger of your mother escaping from prison. Eda – that is to say, Prime Minister Clawthorne," they really hoped that Amity wasn't looking at the blush on their face right now, "has quadrupled the number of guards on her. I assure you, Odalia Blight will remain locked in that prison until the day she dies."

Amity wiped a tear away from her face. "You really think that's true?"

"If I didn't, I wouldn't have said it," Raine assured her. "I am not in the habit of lying. So you can also know that it's true when I say that you are an exceptionally talented individual. Flunking one test doesn't change that. But it's not just your power that makes you an incredible person. It's also your abundant compassion, and your willingness to look at your own faults and become someone better."

Amity sighed. "Yeah. I guess so. It feels like I have so far to go sometimes. Maybe once this threat is stopped, I can rest easier. But for now…I just can't. Now can we please resume our lesson?"

Raine was seriously considering saying no, just so Amity could get some rest, but there was no way that she'd take that well. She'd consider it to be a punishment for her failure, and it would lead her mind down paths that they very much wanted her not to go down. Perhaps some sort of compromise was in order. "Well, it's such a beautiful day. It seems a waste to do our lesson in this stuffy house. Perhaps we could go to Bonesborough Central Park and do it there."

A smile flittered across Amity's face. According to Eda, Amity loved spending time outdoors, especially during times of stress. She found being in nature soothing. "It is pretty outside. Okay. Let's do it!"

Lilith was worried about Amity. And with good reason, unfortunately, as she had just discovered. She had been training members of the Law Enforcement Coven to be able to infiltrate the Human Realm if need be. Recently, she had sent one of her top operatives to Earth to investigate the man who had threatened Amity. The operative had lived up to his reputation. Disguised as a police officer, he managed to obtain surveillance footage of the encounter. From there, it was a simple matter to do a reverse image source on the internet and find out the man's identity.

His name was Arend Havik and he was the CEO of the Morningstar Corporation, a private military company. Or, to put it more plainly, a mercenary corporation. Havik's father, Gaius Soleb, had been an American diplomat stationed in South Africa before his mysterious disappearance in 1962, just days before Havik's mother gave birth. Havik's mother remarried and Havik took his stepfather's last name. He was educated in South Africa's top schools, and when he became an adult, he joined the South African Special Forces, the most elite combatants in South Africa. When the apartheid regime fell, Havik formed the Morningstar Corporation. His company had a reputation for wanton brutality and committing war crimes on a regular basis, and Havik himself was no slouch in that department, having been accused of personally participating in massacring a village in Sierra Leone. Of course, it was never proven, but Lilith believed it.

What her operatives were not able to find was any connection to the Boiling Isles in any way whatsoever. This was not all that surprising, of course. If Havik did have a connection to the Boiling Isles, he would have kept it to himself. If he had admitted to believing in the existence of other dimensions or in magic, he would have become a laughingstock.

It was strange, but Amity looked almost relieved to hear this news when Lilith told her. "So he's just someone that Mother hired then," Amity said.

Lilith tilted her head. "It would appear that way. Did you have another theory?"

"I was worried that he was my father," Amity admitted. Lilith could not help but let out a gasp. It would have made a perverse amount of sense. Odalia was not noted for her commitment to fidelity, despite her public contempt of those who were disloyal to their partners.

But it was not likely, in Lilith's opinion. Odalia may have cheated on Alador with another witch, but she never would have done so with a human, much less decided to carry the child of said human to term. The fact that Amity existed at all was proof enough that Havik was not her father.

"Well, a simple spell should be enough to dissuade you of that notion," Lilith pointed out. "I know this is very unsettling for you, dear, but I assure you that we are working hard to neutralize this threat. Our best agents are trying to uncover dirt that we can pass along to the human justice system in order to get Havik locked up. We've also put out a warrant for his arrest – if he puts one foot into the Boiling Isles, he'll be taken into custody."

Amity did not look like this reassured her one iota. "How many soldiers does he have under his command?"

"Morningstar keeps its assets a closely guarded secret, but our best guess is somewhere around the region of five thousand. If Havik wants a fight, he'll get it. He may have guns on his side, but we have magic. This is our home. We will fight for it."

Lilith gave Amity the most reassuring smile in her arsenal. It wasn't a very good one, but it still appeared to comfort Amity slightly. "Let us handle this matter, Amity. We have matters completely under control. Now, Raine tells me that your studies are proceeding excellently. I am very proud of you for that."

She had been expecting this to cheer up Amity, but it just appeared to make her feel worse. "I guess they didn't tell you about the grade I got today?"

"Well, yes, but I didn't feel that it was relevant," Lilith said. She meant it too. Everyone makes mistakes every once in a while. Even Lilith had gotten a bad grade from time to time in school.

Amity looked befuddled. "Not relevant? How can it not be relevant? I'm a Blight! We always get the best grades possible."

"And that's precisely what you did," Lilith argued. "No one can be perfect all the time. It's simply not possible. I know you, Amity. If you did badly on a test, it's not for lack of trying. This has been a stressful time for you. You should cut yourself some slack."

"You're wrong," Amity said bitterly. "My mother was perfect academically. I have to fulfill that legacy."

Lilith couldn't help it. She burst out laughing. "Is that what Odalia told you? Amity, your mother did terribly in school. She barely passed all of her classes! If Alador hadn't started tutoring her, she'd probably have dropped out, and even then, I'm pretty sure that she only succeeded through cheating!"

Amity looked like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. And no wonder. Lilith had probably flipped the entirety of her worldview on its head. "You're telling me that she was lying to me this whole time?! What about Dad?"

"Alador was indeed as brilliant as he presented himself, but he was just as absentminded as a teenager as he was as an adult. He regularly forgot to turn in homework assignments, and thus received a zero on them."

Amity burst out laughing, and a huge smile formed on her face. "You're kidding me! Oh, Titan, this is the most hilarious thing I've ever heard! I wish I'd known this ages ago."

Lilith couldn't help but wince. She felt so guilty about not doing more to help Amity back when she was a member of the Emperor's Coven. She was unaware of the specific details of how Odalia and Alador had treated her – which was, itself, a failing – but she should have been able to guess based on their behavior in school that they were not exactly loving individuals. "Well, now you know. Does that make you feel better?"

"It does, actually," Amity said. "Thank you."

She stood up and pointed at the file folder containing Havik's dossier on Lilith's desk. "So what's the connection between Havik and the emperor?"

Lilith blinked. "We've not been able to ascertain that."

"Then why is Belos' name in the dossier?"

Lilith poured over the dossier carefully, but could find no mention of the emperor. "I don't see anything like that."

"But it's right here," Amity said, and pointed at the name of Havik's father. "Spelled backwards, yeah, but it's his name."

Lilith gasped. She had completely failed to realize it, but Amity was right. Soleb was indeed Belos spelled backwards. An idea suddenly occurred to her. She very much hoped it was wrong. "May I borrow your scroll, dear? You have access to the human internet from it still, right?"

"Yeah," Amity said, and handed over the scroll. Lilith ran the name Gaius through the search engine called Google, and her hypothesis was confirmed. The most famous human to be named Gaius had been Gaius Julius Caesar, a notorious tyrant. And Julius sounded uncannily like Julian.

Arend Havik was Emperor Belos' son.

Emira was worried about Amity. This was nothing new, of course. As her older sister and, aside from Edric, the only biological family member who gave a crap about her, worrying was practically her job. But things had gotten a lot worse since Amity had returned from the Human Realm and become consumed with the fear that Odalia (she refused to dignify that woman with the title of mother) would return.

But what could she really do? Years of pulling pranks on Amity had disintegrated much of the trust they had once had. Things had gotten better since they'd finally severed themselves from their parents, and even better since their parents' imprisonment, but Amity would still see ulterior motives whenever Emira tried to have a heart to heart with her.

The truth was that Emira felt incredibly guilty about how their parents had treated Amity. She and Edric had gone out of the way to "disgrace" themselves (read: express actual individuality) in public, in an effort to get their parents to throw in the towel. It had worked. But not for Amity, as Odalia had simply thrown all the pressure that she had shown her twin children at Amity, and then thrown a ton more at her for good measure.

Amity certainly hadn't bothered to confide in Emira very much. It was sad, but they rarely interacted these days. She was actually slightly closer to Edric, but not much more so. In fact, until Eda had looped her in on what had happened in the Human Realm, Emira hadn't even known about the incident involving the man they now knew to be Arend Havik.

Instead, Amity's next interaction with her after her return was asking her to put her signature on a betrothal contract, of all the bizarre things, between her and Luz. Emira had tried her best to talk her out of it, as she was entirely certain that neither of them were emotionally mature enough to be married at that point, but Amity was adamant, and eventually Emira had been so worried about the psychological consequences that Amity would experience by her not signing it that she had reluctantly given in.

Amity had gone to the Human Realm to get Camila to sign the contract. (Camila had insisted the first time they met that everyone refer to her by her first name, which was thoroughly bizarre to Emira, but not unwelcome either.) Evidently, Camila must have talked some sense into her, because no more had been said about it after that.

And now Skara had just informed her that Amity had flunked a test. And no wonder! Was that poor girl even getting any sleep these days? No, a serious talk had to be done. Emira hated being serious, but Amity needed family to talk some sense into her, and she was the best candidate for the job.

"Hi, Amy!" Emira said as Amity walked through the front door of Blight Manor. After Amity had told her how much she hated being called Mittens, Emira had come up with the new nickname for her. Amity claimed she hated it, but she could never hide the smile on her face whenever Emira called her Amy. "How's things been going lately?"

Amity scowled at her. "Don't pretend as if you don't know what's going on in my life. I'm prepared to accept whatever punishment you intend to levy."

Emira blinked. Punishing Amity had been the last thing on her mind. "Sweetie, why would you think I wanted to punish you?"

Amity looked puzzled. "Because of the bad grade I got?"

Emira rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. Come on into the living room. We'll have a chat, sister to sister."

Amity followed her into the living room, her every movement one of stiffness and rigid formality. Titan, she was messed up. But who could blame her? After all, she was back in Blight Manor. Maybe having this conversation there was a mistake. She should have done it in the Owl House. Emira had thoroughly and completely redecorated the entire house after her parents' imprisonment, but at the end of the day, it was still Blight Manor.

"We don't have to talk here if you want," Emira said. "We can go to the Owl House. Or anywhere you want to go, Amy."

Amity let out a resigned sigh. At least she wasn't tense as a board anymore, but weary resignation wasn't much better. "No, let's just get this over with."

Emira sat down on a couch and motioned for Amity to sit next to her. After a moment of hesitation, Amity did so. Emira looked over at Amity and studied her facial features carefully. They might as well be carved from stone. Not one bit of it, from the tips of her green hair to her chin, gave away any sort of indication as to how she was feeling. It was the standard expression one used for face-to-face time with Odalia.

Hang on a second, her green hair?! Since when had she changed it back?

Emira had been delighted when Amity had come back from the Human Realm with purple hair. It looked amazing on her, and it had inspired her and Edric to dye their own hair. Emira's hair was now a radiant shade of orange that Viney said was kissable as hell, and Edric's was a shade of hot pink that he swore would get all the boys interested, though none appeared so yet.

But now, Amity had returned to her roots – quite literally – and it just made Emira feel so sad.

"So why'd you dye your hair back to what it was before?" Emira asked her gently.

"I…I just…" Amity's explanation fizzled out into nothing, but Emira already knew the answer. She was just trying to figure out if Amity knew.

Emira squeezed Amity's hand gently. "Listen to me, Amity. You can fail. It's okay. So you got a bad grade on a test. Let's look at this logically. What are the consequences? Well, maybe someone will surpass you in the school ranking. Maybe. Though I doubt it, cause no one works as hard as you do. You're going to do super well in the next tests to make up for it. Heck, if Mr. Piccolo gives extra credit, you may get back to 100%!"

"Mr. Piccolo would die before giving extra credit," Amity said bitterly.

"And so what if you aren't the best student? What if your GPA isn't precisely 4.0? You've still got an astonishingly bright future ahead of you. Mx. Whispers is pretty much ready to name you their apprentice and heir, you're so good at what you do!" Amity seemed to perk up at that news. Maybe it just hadn't gotten down the grapevine to her yet?

Amity looked like she was at war with herself. "Mother…if she returns…she's going to expect excellence…"

Emira looked Amity straight in the eyes. "If Odalia returns, she's going to order you to break up with Luz. Can you do that?"

"NO!" Amity shouted. "Never. I may have failed Willow, but I'm stronger and better now. I won't let her keep us apart."

"Our mother is an all or nothing person," Emira pointed out. "You've already failed her in your love life. A perfect academic career isn't going to matter to her. If she returns, it ends in blood. Hers or ours. And I intend for it to be hers. So who the hell cares if you got a C on a test? I sure as hell don't!"

She stood up and walked over to the wet bar in the corner of the room and poured them both a glass of apple blood. "I won't tell anyone if you won't, Amy," she said with a wink. Amity looked hesitant, but she grabbed the drink anyway, and both of them started taking sips.

"I…um, I didn't get a C," Amity mumbled.

"A D, then? Yeah, I can see how that'd suck, but Skara told me that the test was super hard. She flunked it, and she's really talented! Your grade will still recover."

"I didn't get a D, either," Amity said, looking at the floor. Was that embarrassment on her face?

Emira took a step towards Amity, putting a sympathetic expression on her face. "Okay. Well, getting an F, yeah, I can see how that would seem really bad. But with a more sensible sleep schedule, I'm sure you can do much better on the next test."

"I didn't get an F," Amity muttered. "I got a B."

Emira, who had taken the unwise step of taking a sip of her drink at this time, spit it all over Amity's face. At least that seemed to shock her out of her stupor. "What the hell?! Amity, that's not a bad grade, that's a good one!"

"No, it's not! Anything below an A+ is a bad grade!"

It took all of Emira's self-control, much more than she actually thought she had, in order to not burst out laughing at this point. She had done that when Amity had told her that she wanted to marry Luz. It had not ended well. "Look, Skara said that half the class flunked that test. Amity, I'll bet you anything that you had the highest grade in the class!"

Amity perked up at that. "You really think so?"

Emira set down her drink on a coaster on the coffee table and crossed her arms. It was time to "break out the big guns," as the human aphorism went. "You think Luz never got a B on a test?"

"I…um, well, I guess I never thought about it," Amity mumbled.

"Well, I bet she did. You know why? Because that's a perfectly normal, respectable grade to get. I bet if you told her right now that you got a B on a super difficult test, you know what she'd say? She'd say, 'That's great, Amity!' And she'd mean it."

Amity put her head in her hands. "Titan, I'm so embarrassed right now. You're right about all of it. I'm making a fool of myself."

Emira sat down next to her again. "Remember what that weird looking green thing said in one of those movies Luz got us to watch? 'You must unlearn what you have learned.' A B isn't a bad grade, and even if you get a bad grade, it doesn't mean you are bad."

Amity did the last thing that Emira was expecting. She reached out and hugged her. "You're the best sister ever, Emira. I'll try to be less hard on myself."

"And get a sensible amount of sleep," Emira added sternly.

Amity looked like saying the words was costing her something, but she nonetheless echoed, "And get a sensible amount of sleep." She wringed her hands nervously and was silent for a few seconds. "Would you help me dye my hair back to purple? Luz is coming back in a few weeks, and I want to look like…like myself for her."

Emira kissed Amity on the forehead. "I'd like nothing better, sis."