"Well," Odalia sniffed as her family settled around the dinner table, "I hope your little excursion up to the mountains was a productive one."
"Uh, yeah." Amity smiled and looked away from her mother as her cheeks turned pink. "It certainly was."
Before getting home, the young Blight trio had all agreed to leave the Owl Lady and her apprentice out of their story, not sure if Mom would approve of their association.
"We had a bit of a rough encounter with a Slitherbeast," said Edric, "but we managed to subdue it."
"Not only that," said Emira, "but when her training wand ran out of juice, Mittens managed a fire spell all by herself!"
The sisters smiled at each other before turning to Odalia, who scrunched her nose and gave an approving smirk.
"Impressive Amity," their mother said. "Most impressive. Keep up with your training, and in no time at all you'll be a...ah..Achoo! Atishoo! Ati-Shew! Eh-Choo! Ahhachoo!" Odalia pulled out a handkerchief as she erupted into a sneezing fit.
"Are you alright, Odalia?" It was the first time Alador had looked up from his plate the whole meal.
"Atchoo! Heechoo! I don't know," Odalia sniffled. "I've have had this stuffed up feeling all afternoon." She paused to blow her nose. "Almost since...At-Chew!...the children got home."
Amity and Emira looked at each other, and then to their brother as the tiny creature under Edric's shirt squirmed around.
"Um, maybe you're just...catching a cold," Emira stammered before faking a sneeze of her own. "Ah-choo! I think we're all coming down with it." She directed that statement towards her siblings.
"Oh, yeah. Ah-choo!" Amity pretended to sneeze before staring sharply at her brother. "It's probably something we brought back from the Knee."
Edric had no idea what his sisters were doing, or why they were staring at him. Nonetheless, he decided to play along and coughed unconvincingly into his hand. "Yep. We all got it."
Fortunately, all three of them had sufficiently finished their supper. "May we be excused?" Emira asked, standing up.
"Ah-Chitoo! Very well," Odalia sniffled and waved them off.
Amity and Emira grabbed Edric and pulled him out of the dining room and into the hallway.
"Hey, what's the big idea?" said Edric once they were sufficiently alone, his new pet poking its head out of his shirt.
"Ed, you have to get rid of the bat," said Emira.
Edric gently grabbed the creature defensively. "What?! Why?"
"AhhaCHOO!" Odalia sneezed loudly from the dining room.
"That's why," said Emira. "I think Mom's allergic to him." Amity nodded in agreement.
"But..." Edric looked at his siblings sadly, and then to the bat in his hands, "but I just got Batric, and he's my friend now. I'll figure something out, just don't tell on me, okay? Do it for Otabun!"
Amity's eyes widened at the mention of that name. Shortly after her falling out with Willow, a young jackalope had followed her home from school one day. After a little bit of begging, Alador said she could keep him, but he was her responsibility. Amity gave him a name derived from Otabin, one of her favorite literary characters. And though Amity was responsible for taking care of him, Edric and Emira were able to form a bond with him too. However, some months later, Amity came home from school to find Otabun's cage empty, and the jackalope nowhere to be found. Odalia assumed Amity must have left the cage open and he just ran away. He was distracting Amity from her school work anyway, so perhaps this was for the best. But Amity was positive she'd locked his cage before leaving, as she had every day since she got him. Edric and Emira tried their best to help Amity look for him, but gave up after a few weeks, and never saw Otabun again. The whole ordeal didn't sit well with any of the siblings, and it certainly wasn't fair to allow Edric to keep his pet while Amity had to lose hers...but it was enough to convince the sisters they couldn't let their new furry friend share the same fate as the last one. Amity sighed, "Fine. We'll cover for you. But if she figures it out herself, you're on your own."
"Fair enough," said Edric, giving his sisters a quick hug.
The twins used their concealment stones and illusion magic to keep Batric hidden while roaming the Manor. It was a necessity to maintain the ruse that Odalia was sick rather than enduring an allergy, and they couldn't help but be a little amused at watching their mom suffer. In the meantime, Edric immersed himself into the Blight family library. Despite specializing in Abominations, Illusions, Oracle magic. They had a selection of reading materials associated with every magic track. It could be justified as needing to know how to counter all types of magic in a witch's duel. Besides, Mittens was going to join the Emperor's Coven some day, and be one of the select few allowed to keep all their magic. She would have to know these things.
Eventually, the moment of truth arrived.
"Good morning, Mom," Emira said as she took her seat at the breakfast table. "Feeling any better today."
Odalia took a deep breath through her nose and contentedly exhaled from her mouth, "Yes dear. Much better. Thank you for asking."
"Morning," said Edric as he walked in, and his sisters froze wide-eyed at the sight of Batric perched on his shoulder with no attempt at concealment.
"And what do we have here?" said Odalia, walking over to him.
"This is Batric," Edric told her nonchalantly, "he's my buddy now."
Odalia looked the creature over suspiciously, taking a few quick sniffs as she circled her son, but otherwise having no reaction. Finally, she said, "Very well. Just make sure to clean up after it. Now, I must be going. It's a big day at the factory, and I can't keep the investors waiting."
Amity and Emira watched their mother leave, then darted over to Edric.
"She stared you down without sneezing once!" said Emira in amazement. "How did you manage that?"
"I managed to figure out a spell and cast it on him," he said, scratching the bat on his chin. "Batric is now officially hypolurge...hyplurgen..." He struggled to find the word.
"Hypoallergenic?" said Amity.
Edric snapped his fingers. "Yes! That!"
"Wow," said Amity. "That's genuinely impressive. I gotta admit it...I'm proud of you Ed." Emira nodded in agreement.
Edric beamed at his sisters, and then the little bat on his shoulder. He'd not only managed to fool his mother, but he'd impressed his siblings by pulling off a spell outside of his Hexside track. Perhaps beast keeping magic was something he was good at, and worth studying further, even if he couldn't do so officially.