I had just made a big mistake. I had only been living in the Owl House for three days and I had already messed things up.
On the outside I looked un-bothered but the inside of me ached. It was an odd kind of ache; it wasn't intolerable, but it was strong enough to make me feel like utter garbage. The analytical side of me was caught in a sea of guilty feelings. It tried to justify the wrong things I said but instead ended up reeling like a top.
Perhaps that was a good thing. My analytical side is what caused the screw up.
When the Owl Lady, who insisted I call her Eda, and Luz took me in, it baffled me. They were willing to help me, the smug and cocky youngest Blight whose talents included: screwing witches over, being a Grade A hellhound, and acting overall heartless and uncaring to everyone unless I was kissing their ass.
They selflessly let me into their home without ever expecting to get anything in return for it. I already felt that alone was a big deal but then they even made me my own bed of blankets and constantly asked me if I wanted anything.
And how did I repay them? I took the dreams of one of my solacers and shattered it right in front of her. I didn't mean to, really, but then perhaps that was worse. If I had done it on purpose, then I'd know at the time that I was being cruel. The first step to breaking a bad habit is to recognize that you're doing it, when you're doing it, after all.
But no. Apparently belittling people came as easy as breathing to me; it happened without me even realizing it.
It all started when Luz brought a bag from a local bakery up to me.
"Hiya, Amity" she greeted cheerfully.
I turned away from the view I was partially lost in. The sight of the boiling sea outside had become all too familiar to me. Sulking besides the beautiful stained-glass window was the only thing I had done since I settled down at the Owl lad- I mean Eda's place. Well, that and talk to Luz which was actually more Luz blabbing on about something and me patiently waiting for her to get to the point.
It wasn't as annoying as it sounds, surprisingly. Luz's passion while speaking was quite interesting.
"Hey, Luz. What's that?" I questioned without any curiosity. I couldn't care less about whatever she had. I just wanted to do something that wasn't wallowing in my own misery on top of the windowsill. I had been doing that for hours straight at that point.
"Well,". Oh Titan, here we go. "While at the market today, Eda sent me to get lunch at the not-dog stand a few minutes up the way, and I found this really cool bakery called High Spirits. And I'm like, "cool a magic bakery. I wonder if they have anything that won't kill me". So, I walked in, and everyone was just staring at me like I was nuts. Turns out the bakery had what they called "ghost foods" which are the ghosts of regular food, I guess. Only ghosts could eat it and I remember you telling your siblings you didn't get to eat a lot, which actually makes a lot of sense since you're so thin. But, not in, like, a scrawny way! I meant more in, like, an elegant way but, you know, thin is still thin so I got you some cookies".
Luz gasped for air. I didn't comment on it, but I was truly impressed with how long she could talk without breathing.
Luz gave me a sheepish smile as she handed the bag to me. I curiously reach into it and pull out one of the dozen green cookies. In it were tiny bits of macholate, a candy that gave the consumer astounding, but uncontrollable, speed. Luckily for me, or more for Eda, Luz, and king, the ghost version of the food didn't have the same effect.
"They… um, reminded me of you. You know because your hair is green but also brown," Luz explained. "I hope you like them".
I should've told her, "Thank you" or, "I appreciate it" but something stupid came out of my mouth instead.
"Are… all humans like this?". Luz's nervous grin fell.
"Like what?" she asked. I internally kicked myself. Why did I have to make everything sound so pretentious?
"Oh. No. I didn't mean it in a bad way. It's just, you've been really hospitable which is odd since I had, just a couple days ago, held you at knife point" I elaborated in way too calm of a manner. If the idea of always staying confident wasn't drilled into me by my parents, I would have both profusely apologized and chided myself at the same time. "It's sort of customary on the Isles to hold a grudge against someone for as long as you can".
"But doesn't that just make people all angry and bitter?" Luz asked as I finally took a bite of the cookie.
I wasn't one to enjoy food too much, though I was fascinated by its creation. Yes, I had my favorites, mostly sweets, but I mostly ate out of necessity. So, since I didn't get hungry anymore, I hadn't eaten anything at all since the day I had died.
But, great Titan, maybe I should have! I never realized how good food could taste until I went days without it! Not indulging my sweet tooth more while I was alive became one of my biggest regrets, next to being awful to almost all of Hexside for a career path I cared nothing about.
"If you haven't noticed, most of the witches and demons here are either angry, bitter, or both" I explained after I swallowed my bite. I quickly spoke so I could go back to snacking. "Or some are just downright petty. In fact, being petty runs in the Blight family".
Luz tilted her head and gave me a look that was somewhere in between confused, mildly frightened, and disgusted. Her brown eyes slightly twitched to the side like she was scanning through her own thoughts, trying to place puzzle pieces that only she could see.
"And… you're okay with this?" she finally asked.
I stayed silent. I wasn't sure. I knew it wasn't right from a moral standpoint. There were times where witches' reactions to the awful things I'd said kept me from looking in the mirror for days afterwards.
Yet, part of me felt that being petty and spiteful was the only way to show everyone I was powerful. But then, why was being feared so important to me to begin with? Sure, there was the whole, be the best so the emperor will notice you, but I felt like it went deeper than that.
As much as I acted like my awful behavior was all just some act, I knew that wasn't entirely true. Sure, the starting flame wars on Penstagram or "accidently" hitting a dork with a grubby ball was all shit I did to stay on "my friends'' good sides, but the constant smug flaunting of my talent and biting the head off of anyone who dared question me felt…safer. It felt like each time I did it, I was adding to a defensive wall that kept anyone who wanted to beat me down out.
But there was a difference between picking on someone because they were a nerd and rubbing your power in some kid's face to show how strong you really were, right? Er… when I actually thought about it, I felt like a stupid brat.
"I… don't know. I should say no but I would be lying if I said I like making witches who wronged me hurt".
She thought I didn't notice, but I could see Luz glance at my abdomen when I finished. Though it no longer hurt, the deep gash in my stomach peeked through a tear in my uniform and glanced back at the human. I saw it as a form of punishment really, a painful reminder of what happens when you trust Hexside's best with deadly weapon.
Luz seemed to see something else. Her facial expression softened into a look of pure optimism. Her bright brown eyes shone with hope and assurance. I could see her slightly shake; determination practically radiated off of her.
The human looked like she could climb to the top of the knee after just one look at me. The fatal wound of a witch you watched die seemed like an odd thing to be inspired by, but I couldn't blame her. Nothing filled the public with more willpower than seeing a Blight be shoved off their throne. If someone that powerful could fall from grace, then it was possible for some average witch to rise to the top, right?
"Go ahead, human. Go show us pathetic rich assholes what you're made of" I thought, slightly bitter and self-loathing. "You haven't stabbed yourself so far so you're clearly doing a better job at life then I did".
"Well, that's not the kind of witch I'm gonna be! And you don't have to be that way either, not anymore. We here at the Owl House pride ourselves in being different from the norm and you said you wanted to learn to be nicer. Maybe I could teach you! After all, being high spirited is my specialty". As she said the last sentence, she pointed finger guns at me and shimmied her eyebrows up and down.
I only responded by giving the human a confused stare. To start, I was not expecting Luz to be so encouraging. Wasn't she all disgusted by my pettiness just a few seconds ago? But it was mainly what the human had started her response with that puzzled me.
"But...you're a human… not a witch" I stated slowly. It was Luz's turn to be confused.
"What… where did that come from?".
"You said that you weren't going to be a bitter grudge holding witch. But you're not a witch. You're a human, aren't you?". There was a slight pause before Luz started to understand what I was saying.
"Oh, right. Witch isn't just what you call someone practicing magic. It's also a species. Yeesh, bet that gets super confusing.
No. I'm a human alright! But I'm a human practicing magic so I guess that makes me a witch… well more like a witch in training at this rate" Luz rambled.
"You're... practicing magic?". I shook my head like I was trying to shake the idea away. "You must be mistaken. Humans can't perform magic, so there's no way you could be practicing it".
I should have stopped once I saw a spark of furry light up in Luz's eyes. In fact, I shouldn't've said anything at all.
"Who says humans can't perform magic? Last time I checked, I was the first human to stay on the isles so what do you guys know?" she huffed back determinedly.
"Well, witches perform magic by pulling magic bile from a bile sack attached to our hearts. Do humans have bile sacks?". Luz's scowl faltered but she recovered quickly.
"No…but there's gotta be another way to do magic".
"Good luck finding it then".
"Thank you" Luz wryly hmphed with a little stomp of her foot. "It feels good to feel supported, despite you not believing me".
There was yet another chance to leave the conversation. Yes, Luz would still be angry with me, but the damage done would've been minimal. But no. I had to keep going. I had to get my say in no matter how unwanted it was.
With a sigh, I leapt down from the windowsill and floated up to Luz. I shoved down my irritation as much as I could so I could level with her.
"Look. Every being on the isles contains magic from the titan, and so does every plant and rock, and the rain and snow. But, since you haven't lived here for your entire life, you don't have any magic within you. That means you have nothing to manipulate. So, a human, like you, will never be able to do magic. It's just impossible".
I wasn't wrong about all that; it was all the truth. But the way I broke the news to the excited human wasn't delicate in the slightest. And I'd been in her spot before for titan's sake. I used to have dreams that weren't forced on me. But any dream that entered Blight manor would be obliterated on site. According to mom, hope was something commoners used to distract themselves of how ordinary they were. Blights were above that.
Looking back, I may not have sounded as pompous as her, but I was acting just like my mother. Shattering someone's dreams before life had the chance to.
The thought made me shudder. The person who locked me inside an amulet and physically abused me was the last person I wanted to be acting like.
"So, you're saying I'll never become a witch?". The ache in Luz's voice hurt me just as bad. It made me finally realize what I had done.
What was I supposed to say? I didn't want to lie to her, give her back the hope I just beat down. But I needed to say something.
"There's more to the isles than just magic. So, what if you can't do spells?" I argued just a little too late.
"The whole reason I stayed here was so I could become a witch, but instead all I've done is gotten someone killed". Luz completely sank. I'm surprised she didn't fall over from how slouched she was.
"I don't blame you for that, Luz. I was the dumbass with the knife, not you".
"That doesn't matter. If I'd never come here, you would still be alive, wouldn't you?".
Before I had time to respond, Luz turned around and headed for the door. "Thanks for letting me know, Amity" she uttered, then trudged away.
Hours later, I still felt just as shitty. I hadn't seen Luz since then, but I doubted that she would want to talk to me anyways. So, I just sat there, soaking in my own regret. I supposed I was destined to make people miserable. Hell, my parents made weapons for Titan's sake. I guess being petty wasn't the only thing that ran in our family. Hurting people was passed down to me too.
Wait…My parents made weapons…That's it!
You see, the whole gimmick of Blight Industries was that any witch of any coven could harness the power of my father's abominations. No matter if you knew how to summon and control abominations or not, you could still use their weapons.
I'm sure Luz had no interest in purchasing anything from Blight Industries, what with the head of the company abusing her children. But that didn't mean there weren't other things out there. Luz would never be able to summon a spell circle like most witches do, but she could summon one with a training wand. Or she could mix potions. Those in the potions coven were as much of witches as any other coven, and her mentor sold them.
Perhaps Luz's dream of becoming a witch could be revived… and…and… when did it get so dark?
My gaze traveled to the house demon outside, who was now collapsed on the ground along with the door. As obnoxious as the damn thing was, I felt kind of bad for him. Heat exhaustion was quite the problem during boiling rainstorms, and it was raining cats and cerberi out there. In spite of the magic barrier, the downpour made it feel like a dessert in the summertime.
I flew into the hallway, hollering out for the Owl La– Eda (I'll get it right eventually). She'd be able to help her house demon wake up, which would, in turn, get the lights back on. In fifteen confusing minutes, I ended up looping the house a few times. I constantly heard people running around everywhere like they were on a mission, but the ruckus would always stop before I tracked down where it was coming from.
Despite my sharpening worry, I decided to return back to the windowsill. Eda had to have known what was going on by now. She'd fix it.
On my way back was when I saw it. I had finally found Luz, but she was under a beast with giant talons.
Its shoulder nearly touched the ceiling. Its yellow eyes shone in the dark, piercing and crazed like a rabid animal. The gray fur on its back stood straight up while the down feathers on its chest puffed out like a mane on a rugged manticore.
The human curled up into a ball. She squeezed her eyes closed and grimaced as she waited for the fangs hovering above her to tear into her.
"Hey!" I called out to the savage creature before it finished the shivering girl off. I caught both the beast and Luz's attention.
"Amity!" she howled in dismay. "Run!".
I ignored her cries. The beast's appearance may have given me chills, but I was not afraid of that thing killing me. I'd been there, done that.
"Let her go, you flea-ridden feather duster!".
The bird demon's bat-like ears flattened like an angry liger's. It leapt towards me with a piercing cry that Luz echoed.
Right before its giant claw snagged me, I rolled out of the way. Quickly rebounding, it reached around itself, spinning in a flurry of sporadic paw strikes. Its long-toed paws were almost as big as I was, and the strength of the forelegs behind them could smash a witch's bones to shards. The shrill shrieks it let out were as sharp as its talons and fangs.
"Don't worry about me!" I growled commandingly to Luz, who was just standing there gawking. "I can't die again!".
Luz finally fled into Eda's room. As she did so, I threw flames all around me. The creature cried out in pain, the heat driving it backwards. After rubbing at its face, it let out a furious screech then fled into a different hallway.
I had lost all of the abomination magic I had learned over the years, but that didn't mean I was powerless. I was as strong of a ghost as I was a witch.
Pushing down my inner burst of pride, I took no extra time returning to Luz. I had a feeling that the strange ravenous beast would be back sooner rather than later. When I entered Eda's room, I found the human hugging King as if he was about to be torn from her arms.
"I thought you were dead!" the small cat-like demon cried. "I found your shoe and I thought you'd been eaten!".
"I almost was!" Luz scaredly exclaimed while putting said shoe back on. "But then Amity saved me! You should've seen her! She was fearless!".
"Yes, yes. Hooray for me" I spat sardonically. "Now can you both be a little quieter?".
"Sorry," Luz whispered, the gravity of the situation catching up with her. "What do we do now?".
"Why are you asking me?".
"You're the one with magic. We've made it clear I'm just a human".
"You're not–". I stopped myself with a growl. Now wasn't time for a grand apology speech! "King! You got anything?".
I turned to the little demon to find his attention stapled on a small sheet of paper. He read it a few times over before his large yellow eyes went wide. In a panic he grabbed a similar slip from under his red collar. He stuck the two papers together before reading them aloud.
"An elixir a day keeps the curse at bay!".
"You mean that potion doesn't enhance her magic?" Luz squeaked.
"Of course not!" I spat incredulously. "Elixirs are only for hexes and curses!".
"Then that means… Luz, that things no snaggleback. That beast is–".
A large bang interrupted King's realization. Throwing the door across the room and into the wall, a large paw broke in. The giant beast wriggled into the room, making the door frame crumble. It spotted us immediately and let out a cry.
"Eda!" the younger human howled.
While the beast reared back to leap, I threw more purple flames at the creature's face. It squeezed its eyes shut, letting out a pained growl, but the beast continued his assault as if it was barely bothered.
It shot towards us like a flying arrow. its mouth gaped as it prepared to scoop the three of us and chew us into bloody bits.
"Amity, cower!" Luz suddenly shouted while she winced. She braced herself to be torn to shreds but the beast slid to a halt.
The fire that engulfed me made the beast shriek in agony. As it clawed at its eyes, desperate to knock the pain out of them like dust, Luz grabbed King by the scruff and shot past it.
The two terrified kids scrambled downstairs to the kitchen. King began to rummage through the kitchen to try and find anything they could use to defend themselves. Luz, on the other hand, was stuck behind the counter.
"Amity" she panted. "Please tell me you have a plan".
"I don't know!" I snapped back from my purple prison. "Why am I the one who has to come up with one?!".
"How many times am I gonna have to say it? I'm just a human!".
"No, Luz" I thundered. "You are a human, but you are not just a human! You snuck into Hexide, almost completely unnoticed, all to help Willow. You took me in, despite me almost getting you sliced open. You saved King's life just now by sending me into the amulet.
Who cares if you can't cast a spell? You've already done some incredible stuff without it, and you're capable of doing so much more! So tell us, Luz. What's the plan?".
Luz took a moment to swallow the lump of joy hung in her throat. Her bright brown eyes were a stark contrast from the blurry darkness in the air. She then turned towards King, totally rejuvenated.
"Alright, Mr. demon expert. What can you tell us about the owl beast?". Her question made King perk up. In spite of all our terror, he seemed happy to share his knowledge.
"Well, it has large black eyes, which means it's sensitive to light. If we find a big enough light source, then we should be able to stun it for a little while".
Luz rested her hand on her chin and absentmindedly rubbed it. Her gaze was stuck to the ground as if her thoughts were lying there.
"I think I have an idea," she finally said.
"Good, because here she comes," King warned while jumping down to the floor.
Luz stood up and grabbed one of the utensils King had strung out across the island. The human gasped as if she were excited about the fork she was holding.
"Look what I found," she taunted. "it's sooo shiny, isn't it?".
The beast stared at the silverware, mesmerized as it swung back and forth.
"Go to Eda's room and find more of the elixir. We'll meet you up there".
Both King and Luz moved towards the dangerous creature, King slipping under it while Luz tried to keep its full attention. The latter and the owl beast were thrown into a dance around the first floor. Luz would run across it with the large demon right on her heels. Then she'd hop over the furniture all the way to the other side of the room. In the meanwhile, she kept her ears on the stairs.
"I've found it!" a voice finally called out. At the top of the staircase King held up the bottle in his tiny paws.
"Then it's time for phase two".
The human shot to the right and nearly flew up the stairs. The ravenous beast raced up right behind her, getting as close to its prey as it could. Its snarls bounced back and forth in the narrow hallway just adding to the current commotion.
The four of us scampered into Luz's room. While King raced up to the back wall, the aforementioned human slid to a stop. The monster behind her did the same, the sudden end of the chase stunning it for a moment.
Luz turned around and locked eyes with her cursed mentor. Without visible fear, she crept up to her. The beast let out a low growl, flashing its pointed jagged fangs. In response, Luz smiled and grabbed the amulet around her neck.
"Amity!" she boomed. "Rise!".
With a massive burst of magenta flames, I arose from my jewel case. My flashy arrival made our foe rear back like a startled horse, its mouth opened as wide as its jaw allowed.
"Now, King!".
King rushed towards the beast as fast as he could and hurtled jars of elixir into the bird demon's open maw. It attempted to spit them out, but I shoved its head upwards with a storm of ignited blows.
Once it stubbornly swallowed the couple of bottles in its mouth, the beast began to shrink back into the witch it used to be. She wasn't fully back to normal, feathers still clung to her face and arms, but the owl lady was now more lady than she was an owl demon.
"Luz" I cheered, not even trying to hold my excitement back. "That was incredible!".
Luz didn't respond at first. She delicately grabbed her now unconscious teacher and dragged her over to her sleep cocoon. After she propped her up with a few pillows and tucked her in, she slowly poured more elixir down her throat.
"I shouldn't have pressed her to teach me magic so hard. I shouldn't have bothered her at all".
"No, Luz," King stepped in. "I'm the one who stole her elixir".
"Did you two seriously not know Eda's cursed?" I asked, my elation falling back a little. By the way the two stared back at me, the answer was a "no".
"Doesn't matter," I said after a sigh. "What matters is that we're all still alive… er…well… you know what I mean".
"Yeah," Luz murmured. "I guess you're right".
"Hey," I said while floating up to her. "That plan was pretty smart. You really saved us back there".
"Us?" she echoed.
"I may not be able to die again, but, if that amulet would've broken, I could've gotten really hurt". I explained. I forced my glowing eyes to lock with Luz's vivid one. "Now may not be a good time to bring it up again, but I'm sorry".
"Sorry? For what?".
"For this morning. I didn't mean to make you feel inconsequential".
Luz was covered by a guilt of her own. Her eyes widened and she raised her hands out in front of her.
"You didn't, Amity! You just told me the truth". Her apology stung like a bee.
"Not entirely" I admitted. I was tempted to look towards the ground, but I forced myself to keep eye contact with Luz. "You will never be able to cast spells, but there's other ways to do magic. There are tools you could use, or you could be a potionist. I should've never said you couldn't be a witch, but, at that moment, I was too focused on being right… Are you even listening to me?".
My last sentence snapped her out of some sort of trance. She went back to frantically apologizing but she still seemed somewhat focused on whatever she was distracted by.
"Sorry! I was paying attention. It's just, I've never noticed that weird symbol in your eyes before".
"Weird symbol? What a weird symbol?".
The teen took a break from tending to her mentor to pull out a small strange looking box from her purple hoodie. She tapped and swiped at it a few times, before facing it towards me. It appeared to be some sort of weird mirror with buttons.
We both stared down at my distorted reflection. It was very grainy and blurred like a smudged faded portrait. The only clear you could see was my eyes, and I saw no symbol in them.
Luz grimaced at the odd-looking sight before pulling out a small notepad and a pencil.
"Here," she said while drawing a titandamn perfect circle (What the hell! How did she do that?!). She drew a few more shapes inside the freakishly neat ring before pointing at the paper with her pen.
"I saw that inside of both of your eyes" she explained while giving the drawing a little tap with her pen.
The paper reacted to the touch. It curled into a crumpled ball like a dry wilting flower; the tighter and tighter it got, the brighter it became. Finally, the piece of paper fully disappeared, and nothing remained but all of the light.
"Hey, Amity? Does paper usually do that in the demon realm?". It took me a while to respond. The orb of light had struck me with awe.
"No, Luz. I've never seen a piece of paper turn into a light spell before".
The excitable human's jaw drop.
"Spell"?! Does that mean…". She turned towards me, holding her breath.
I couldn't help but gawk at her back. She had just cast her first spell! And she didn't even draw a spell circle! She just used a simple piece of paper!
"You just cast a spell" I gasped, confirming my friend's hope. "You just did magic".
"I just did magic?" Luz asked again, still baffled by the whole thing. After looking at the magic fueled light one more time, it finally hit her. "I just did magic. I just did magic!".