"Principal Bump" a raven haired witchling whimpered in surprise. Her green eyes lit in fear as principal Bump took a step forward. The red devil palismin he was wearing on his head flicked his tail back and forth menacingly.
He slowly walked up to his student's "abomination" with a smile. On the outside he looked to be ignorant to the girl's secret, but he was not fooled by the debacle in front of him.
To me, it was obviously another witch, a witch who snuck into the school no less, covered in the purple gooey abomination matter. Why couldn't the rest of the Hexide see it?! I mean, it had hair for Titan's sake! Abominations don't have hair! Or speak in full sentences or eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! Anyone who knew a light spell from a hole in the ground should've been able to see that the thing was a poor excuse for an abomination impersonation!
And let's just pretend for a second that all those things weren't telltale signs of a faker. That "abomination" was way too advanced to be made by any one of the students in my grade (aside from me that is). Not only was the abomination too athletic to be made by a beginner, it having leapt out of the large pot that held it with the grace of a grimnastic, but it was Willow's abomination. It was obviously way too good of an abomination to have been formed by a half a witch like her!
As I silently called the witchling in front of me that name, a conflicting lump of regret hung in my throat. Honestly, I knew the witch was talented, very talented, just not when it came to abominations. Only Titan knew why she was in the abomination track instead of the plant track. She would've been the best student there by far.
But my unfair denial of Willow's skill wasn't the thing that brought on a guilty sting. The witchling was also a great friend. At least, she was to me before I had severed my ties with her to save my parent's-I mean my reputation.
Even though it seemed I had a huge problem with Willow, my cruel displays of dominance were just that: a display of dominance. A way to show my pride and prestige in hopes others will highly respect me. A behavior all the strongest witches practiced with the result of praise.
No matter how hard I tried to deny it, the words I chided Willow with were hollow of any truth. I was no better of a witch than Willow was.
I swallowed my guilt and pushed the tightly bottled-up childhood memories away. I had to get a hold of myself.
It wasn't important what I thought or felt. What was important was that I was a Blight! I had to act like one! A Blight would never be seen in public with someone so weak, in the success category at least. They were too powerful to associate with anyone that wasn't at the top like they were.
"I am the best, so I should only have the best in my entourage" I quietly remind myself.
"You want to believe that don't you?" Something deep inside of me spat in response.
The thought hit me harder than it should have. I sat there for a second, diving deep into a moment of self-reflection, before I snapped back to reality. A familiar feeling of shameful alarm caused my chest to tighten and my heart to pound harder.
"Focus! You're in the middle of something right now" I spat at myself while the world faded back into view.
A smug smile then appeared on my face. The thought that the abomination teacher had just stripped away my rightfully earned top student title, then gave it to someone who cheated on their exam, nonetheless, was just… ugh! But the cheater wouldn't get away with it for long. Willow would be sent to detention to think about how stupid she'd been, and the intruder will be captured and punished accordingly, just like Bump had promise.
I watched the witch's lie crumble in front of me like a badly made pie crust. Her "abomination" had just slipped up and botched the "lie" command.
"Uh, viral fame is a worthy pursuit. Your cat would never eat you if it got the chance. Chemtrails are real‐-". The imposter's ramble was quickly cut off.
"Oh, no, abomination. How strange for it to get the command wrong. I mean lie down." the principle clarified while keeping his fake smile.
The "abomination's" brown eyes grew wide with fear. I could see it tremble a little as it climbed onto the cold metal table principal Bump pointed to. I held in a small "hah" as I waited for Willow to crack. I could practically see principal Bump handing me my top student badge back.
"It's pitiful that you even lost it to begin with, Amity'' my deeper thoughts growled from the back of my mind. Lava hot shame ran through my veins, disappointment covering me like a blanket.
Wait. Why was I upset at myself? This wasn't even my fault!
"So very lifelike" the principle said as he crept up to the table. "When Miss Blight told me about your abomination, I had to come by, see what she's made of". I could feel the nervous dread rise in Willow from across the room.
"Oh, I have her list of ingredients right here" she stammered. The principal's stare went from the table to the student's anxious grimace.
"No, we were hoping for a closer look," principal Bump explained.
As he hovered over her, he reached out to Willow with a jagged dagger in his hand. Instead of being shaped like a normal blade, it was shaped unsettlingly like an upside-down lightning bolt. The light in the room glistened off its many sharp edges.
Willow took the dagger reluctantly before she murmured something to the witch laying on the table. I couldn't hear what she said but I noticed the imposter shake her head in response. She had a look that silently cried for Willow to do something, anything, to get her off the table and away from the entire situation.
"Willow, go ahead and make the first incision" the principle calmly instructed.
She hesitated. The hand with the dagger in it shook as a long moment of silence began. Principle Bump's greenish blue eyes stared at Willow with no sign of anger visible.
He kept amazingly still, trying his best to seem as intimidating but unaggressive as possible. The man wasn't going to break his facade until Willow admitted what she had done. He enjoyed watching misbehaving students squirm with their excuses, scaring them until they absolutely had to confess.
He was patient, I was not. I was still smirking, but on the inside, I grew more and more frustrated. As much as I wanted the cheater to pay for taking away what I had worked so hard for, I did not appreciate him toying with the student like a cat playing with its meal. One, I had other things to be doing. But, most importantly, I wanted my badge back as soon as possible.
"Principal Bump," I called as I walked forward. I whipped my short mint green hair back while my smirk melted away into a more genuine look. "It seems like Willow is nervous to cut into her abomination".
Willow's green eyes locked with mine. She had a small hopeful look on her face. It was like she was cautiously thanking me for cutting Bump's prodding short.
"I could do it for her if you'd like".
And Willow's appreciation was gone, replaced by the panicked look she had been wearing since this conversation with the principal began.
I expected for Willow to object or principal Bump to cut the charade he was putting on, but he instead gestured to the table once again. I grabbed the dagger from Willow's hand, before she had time to pull it away from me and stopped in front of the intruder.
Of course, I wasn't planning on stabbing the intruder. I may have been more ruthless than the average student, but to end someone's life was a line I couldn't even think of crossing. That witchling, no matter how much of a delinquent she was, had a family and a future just like I did. To take that away from someone… forever...
No, I knew the principal or Willow would stop this game as soon as I made the gesture.
As I walked towards the table, a younger illusionist, who had been with Willow before I arrived, was now repeatedly calling out to principal Bump. The older witch told him to silence, then sent my schoolmate out when he soon objected. The witchling was hesitant but did what he was told in the end.
In the meanwhile, I leaned up to the "abomination" and began to brag. "You really thought you could outsmart me, huh?".
The student didn't move. Their eyes kept the same look of utter fear and desperation. I lifted the blade high into the air before pausing. I waited for a cry in protest, but no one made a sound. With that, I quickly shoved the dagger down.
Both Willow and the principal hollered out in alarm, the former burying her face into her raised arms.
Come on. They didn't seriously expect me to perform a dissection on what was obviously some moron covered in goo, did they? I was planning to freeze when the dagger was right above the witch's abdomen. Willow was gonna confess, I would be given my badge back, and then I could forget this whole thing ever happened.
But it didn't end that way. Honestly, it couldn't have ended more differently than that.
"Wait!" an unfamiliar voice hollered. The witchling on the table shot up to a sitting position while I was in mid swing. With the speed of a sea serpent strike, I jerked the dagger away from her before it was able to sink into her abdomen.
I let out an anxious shiver. The image of the blade stabbing through the intruder stained my mind. What was that idiot thinking, launching herself towards the dangerously sharp dagger? She could've died!
"That could've ended so badly" I silently cried.
In their attempt to scurry through the door, the witch shoved me away as hard they could. They then tried to scramble forwards while I flew to the ground, not realizing I would land right into their path. Their feet tangled with my legs and the imposter toppled on top of me with a yelp.
Their crash landing caused an extremely sharp pain to shoot through my stomach. I could feel the flesh on my abdomen violently tear apart.
Something that was never meant to enter my body was driven into my pale delicate skin by the intruder's weight. It drove right through my organs with ease before being stopped by the floor below me. Blood began to run out of the new hole in my body like a smothered witch frantically trying to find air, only for it to be soaked up by my now ruined uniform.
A sharp burning pain shot through me as a form of my body crying out in protest. It screamed for the foreign object inside of me to leave and for my organs to be repaired as soon as magically possible. The agonizing torment made me let out an equally agonizing howl that rang through the room and out into the hallways.
"GAAHH! Titan, please hel-guh-pg ggg!". My horrid baying for help quickly turned into desperate gurgling. A warm runny liquid gushed out of my mouth and nose. Somehow my chest started to hurt even more than my stomach as it began to pool in my throat. The hauntingly bitter iron taste overwhelmed me more and more each second.
I tried to beg for help inaudibly instead, with pleading eyes, a horrified face, and violent writhing. To be honest, I didn't know what was scarier, my body's harsh reaction to the stab wound or the hopeless feeling that began to quickly well inside me.
Principal Bump yelled an order I couldn't hear through my own heavy gasps for air. Willow heard it, though. In response she raced out the door with a frightened, yet determined, look on her face.
In the meanwhile, the witch on top of me had clumsily jumped up before toppling backwards into the table. I could see her chest heaved up and down while she slightly shook.
"¡Ah dios mío! (Oh my God!)" she howled before yelling, "I'm so sorry" over and over again.
I tried to stand up. My stomach screamed in detestation but my desperate need for help allowed me to at least get to my hands and knees.
I began to crawl towards a frantically crouched down principal Bump. As I squirmed the dagger embedded into my torso dropped out of me. Like a plug had been removed from my body, my blood began gushing out even more.
I toppled, belly first, into the warm pool of gore while I began convulsing. Cold. I was so cold! It was like I was covered in snow!
I could see that principal Bump was frantically speaking to me, simultaneously holding a part of his robe to my wound, but I once again couldn't hear him. His voice was muffled and was covered by the loud yelling of my own thoughts.
"It hurts".
"It burns".
"I'm so cold".
"I'm so tired".
"Need to rest".
"Need to sleep".
"No!".
"Need to stay awake!".
"Need to stay alive!". My mind was waging a war against itself!
I could barely see the principal right in front of me anymore. My sight quickly disappeared and reappeared over and over again. The pain slowly started to slip away, before the frozen feeling slipped away too.
A strong peace swindled me like a warm comfortable blanket that had been left in the summer sun. My constant shaking was now an occasional tremble. My muscles grew relaxed, comfortably heavy. I calmly let go of what little consciousness I had left, being quickly lulled to rest by an overwhelming feeling of euphoria.
…
"Mittens" I heard a familiar voice murmur through the darkness. "Are you there?".
I didn't respond. My head was still too fuzzy. I stood there dazed, trying my best to grasp the last thing I remembered.
Willow brought an intruder to school who faked being an abomination, and I tried to get her in trouble for it. I got that part. I then pretended to stab her fake abomination to get Willow to fess up. That I also got. Then the abomination tried to escape. I ended up... being stabbed… and then I presumably died?
That's what I couldn't comprehend. That couldn't have actually... happened, right? I mean, I was stabbed right through the stomach and no witch could survive that. But it would all be fine. I was gonna wake up to find it was all just a stupid nightmare. Or, at the very least, I would wake up at the healer's office all patched up and stuff.
I wasn't really dead. I couldn't be. Not me. Not while I was so young. Everything was completely fine!
"Mittens?" the voice called again. That time I had recognized it. Usually, it would fill me with some sort of exasperation, but, at that moment, I couldn't have been happier to hear that voice in my entire life.
If I was hearing the voice of someone still living, then that meant that I wasn't in the spirit world. Either that or I was summoned by an oracle, which the witch who the voice belonged to was. But surely, I would have seen the spirit world before an oracle was able to summon me from it…surely?
Grr! I didn't know how ghosts worked! I was in the abomination track, not the oracle track!
But a feeling of familiarity pushed my confusion aside. I knew the voice that was trying to pull me out of my muddled thoughts. I'd heard it shout and ramble at me a million times since the day I was born.
Mom! She was here to yell at me for losing the top student badge!
My feeling of reassurance suddenly melted into annoyance. Ugh. She was here to yell at me for losing the top student badge. I rolled my eyes even though they were under closed eyelids.
"I changed my mind. Please be dead".
"Amity Blight! You answer your mother this instance" my mom growled, her patience snapping like a breaking bone.
My golden eyes flew open to see my mom's blue ones. Behind her was a gracefully carved wooden desk, a small but elegant chair with purple cushions, and a tall bookshelf framed by a dull purple wall. Above our heads was a chandelier made from hardened abomination matter. The flames that lit up the room was a strongly bright magenta.
I appeared to be in my mother's office
My focus went back to said witch. I was just a few feet away from her, standing at eye level... Wait.
How was I at eye level? Usually my mother towered over me, but now I was about as tall as she was.
My gaze shifted from my mom to my shoes, which were now a lighter gray instead of the black they usually were. The purple shadows encasing them were twice as thick and, while my feet were flat, they were not on the floor. I was standing on top of the air like it was as solid as the ground beneath it.
I quickly raised my hands in front of my face and stared at them in a panicked shock. Not only were they paler, which I didn't think was possible, and draped in deep purple shadows, but I could also partially see through them. Oh. Oh no, no, no!
"Oh Titan! This can't be happening!" I internally cried. I tried, but failed, to keep my eyes from growing wide. The realization shot through my veins; my fears had just confirmed. I didn't have a heart anymore, yet I could still feel it break.
I stared up desperately at my mother before squeezing my eyes shut, not being able to look at the scene anymore. My head was now bowed down in another measly attempt to hide my panic.
No! This was just some stupid nightmare, some sort of bad dream! I had those a lot and I was having another one! This wasn't real! It couldn't be!
"There you are, Mittens. I'm glad you could join me" mom cooed.
I tried to hold back the tears welling in my eyes, knowing my mother would highly disapprove of my pitiful show of weakness, but a tear ended up streaking down my cheek. My fingers slightly quivered and the sorrowful pain tightened my throat.
"Mom?" I asked with a small shiver. I was afraid to speak further but I pushed the words from my mouth anyways. "What's going on? What happened?".
Before I received an answer, I took a silent deep breath. I looked back up to my mother attentively, though I still had a twinge of dread in my eyes. I had to keep my poise, no matter what.
Yet pain leached onto me like savage book worms. What was I going to do? My future had been laid out for me since before I could talk. I was to graduate from Hexide and be a part of the next generation of talented guards in the emperor's coven, or maybe even be the emperor's second in command. The goal was the only thing driving me forward. I had spent countless hours preparing for my well-earned position.
But now joining the exclusive coven and becoming the coven head was impossible. Could spirits even join covens? Did spirits even use magic?
"Stop your crying, dear. You know you mustn't waste time wallowing in your sadness" my mother ordered calmly. I saw that coming from a mile away, granted the way she spoke was surprisingly soft.
It took all of my willpower not to snap. I had just died! Didn't I deserve to cry even a little bit? I already knew mom's answer, yet I still wanted to argue anyway.
Though, even after my death, my mother's confidence sent an excruciating chill down my spine. I wiped the tears from my cheek and eyes before I took another quiet deep breath.
I had to choose my battles when it came to my mom, and I decided that this was not a battle I should waste my energy on. The shock of my horrifying realization would've gotten in the way of any rational argument I had.
"Of course, mom," I responded dejectedly.
On the one hand I was a bit grateful she was there. I needed someone familiar to help me grasp what was going on. And part of me desperately wanted her to hug me, tell me
I was ok, or do anything motherly.
I quietly snapped at the feeling as soon as I noticed it. That was never going to happen. That kind of comfort was for small children according to mom, though she was not above resting a hand on my shoulder.
I suppose she wasn't completely heartless. She would have an un-purposefully demeaning heart to heart with me every once in a while. They… ranged in level of success.
But my mom and hugs? Yeah, mom didn't do hugs. If I'd received one from her now, I would've re-died, this time from a heart attack. Yet, that stupid feeling of hope clung onto me for dear life.
Now, on the other hand, I wanted to leave the conversation as soon as possible. I had enough to deal with right now. I didn't need my mother's demanding disappointment to be added on top of it.
"Very good, Amity. Now as for what happened, I should be asking you. How did a measly human end the life of a Blight?" she asked while her pity was quickly overshadowed by her irritation. She wore a feigned smile that internally made me want to shrink into nothing.
My eyes slightly widened, breaking my collected deadpanned look. A human? There was a human on the Boiling Isles? And it snuck into Hexside without anyone knowing? And... it killed me? A weak magicless human killed me? Out of all the ways to die that had to be the worst!
"This is a nightmare" I silently whimpered.
"I'm sorry, mom. I shouldn't have been so careless" I murmured. That statement was basically rehearsed. My voice held no remorse. I wasn't that worried about how the family's image had been damaged by my death. I was just saying it because that's what my mom wanted to hear.
Though, as much as I hid it from my mother in defiance, I shared the witch's disappointment. I mean, the top student in all of Hexide, a witch that was the apprentice of the head of the emperor's coven, had just been taken out by something weaker than an echo mouse. How? Why? What did I do to deserve this?!
"Don't worry, Mittens. What happened today was...unfortunate but you still have a future". Did… did I hear that right? It almost sounded like my mother was trying to… soothe me. "Despite the terminal incident, you still have a chance to shine like your father and I know you can. It will be much harder now, but your marvelous capabilities mustn't go unrewarded".
My eyes intensely stared at my mother expecting her to say something to ruin the moment. This comforting/encouraging tone had to come with a catch. I mean, there was no way mom was willing to turn a blind eye to my pitiful cause of death so easily.
"Huh. Apparently, mom thinks dying is a good enough reason to comfort me. Even if I severely embarrassed myself while doing it" I sighed quietly.
"Now, I have found the perfect way for you to make up for this, sweetie. If you don't mess this up, then we can easily put this travesty behind us and start focusing on your future again".
There it was. There was the mom that I knew. I figured she'd want something from me after the disaster at school.
"You do?" I responded, partly curious.
"Yes, Amity. Every tragedy can be an amazing opportunity when properly seized. Now that you can no longer continue your studies, I think your focus should now be on something a bit more lucrative," my mother eagerly explained.
My expression stayed neutral, but I internally grew worried. She had thought of something, something I instinctively knew I wasn't gonna like. She was giving me the same look she gave her investors when she was presenting one of my father's new abomination weapons. Though, unlike her investors, I didn't have the option to refuse whatever deal she was hinting at.
I let out a silent hmph. Wasn't I supposed to be resting in peace? Why would I devote my life to this new "lucrative" goal when I didn't have a life anymore?
Yet I was going to what my mother said. I was going to whether I liked it or not. What else was I to do? Tell my mother no and wait until she summons me again?
"Lucrative"? Do you want me to help with the company?" I asked calmly.
"I see you've already caught on. You always were quite smart" The praise would've been nice if anyone but her had given it. When mom praised me, it seemed less like a complement and more like she was admitting I was adequate.
"You will surely become Blight Industry's greatest weapon" she continued with a large, white-fanged smile. I couldn't hold in my frightened gasp. I was gonna be WHAT?!
"You're going to sell me?!". Was she seriously going to treat me like a one-of-a-kind Blight Industries product?! Was she gonna sell me to the highest bidder like I was some cheap blob of abomination goo?!
The green haired witch in front of me began to laugh. Though it looked like she thought what I just said was amusing, I could tell she was offended. How dare I suggest that my loving and amazing mother would do anything of the sorts. She would never!
"She totally would," I yelped as I tried to stifle the sheer terror rising in me.
"No. No" she tried to reassure. "You will be an employee hired to defend the company, not a product sold by the company".
"What do you mean by "defend the company?" I cautiously ask, thinking what she was suggesting wouldn't be much better than being turned into a sold good.
"Well, Amity. With your help, we will be able to leave a fatal dent in the competition" she answered.
That made me shutter. I didn't like the way she said "fatal" one bit. Part of me hoped that she just meant it would shut down their business, but a stronger part of me felt the idea in my mom's head was more sinister.
"What do you want me to do?" I regretfully prodded.
"That's the spirit, Mittens". Hard as it was, I was surprisingly able to ignore that comment. "Seeing as you are now an apparition, you now have some new features" she explained while grasping at a purple amulet to her neck.
She calmly stroked the smooth oval shaped stone with her thumb as she spoke. Around it was a frame made from lustrous gold much like the chain that held it to my mother's neck.
It looked to be a more eloquent replacement for the other smaller necklace my mother had always worn. I had a similar pendant to it that picked up silent messages sent by oracle magic.
I looked down at my muted school uniform and expected to see a magenta stone hanging from my neck. Instead, there was no sign of the crystal charm. I quickly checked to see if I tucked it underneath the cowl of my school uniform. I did have a habit of doing that after all. But it wasn't there either.
"Mom must have thrown out her old necklace because I lost mine," I concluded silently. The only reason she wore the thing was so she could give me quite "reminders".
"I see that you have noticed my new piece of jewelry. Would you like me to demonstrate what it does?" she questioned. I nervously nodded, completely forgetting about the previous topic of me being a "fatal weapon".
"Alright, Mittens. But first, let's gather your brother and sister".
