"What?!". My howl in surprise filled the air. Words couldn't describe the rush of terror shooting through me. "How?!".
"He doesn't know about you being inside of it" Emira explained, her voice sharp in urgency. "But he knows Luz has it".
"I thought you said he would think it was a regular piece of jewelry?" the human beside me cried.
"He should've. It's not as if anything about it is different from any other necklace" I argued while begging my sister to explain with my glance.
"That charm is made from the same stuff oracles use. Put that together with someone who suddenly became protective of Amity once she watched her die and, well, he painted a close enough picture to what's really going on".
I was rendered speechless. This wasn't good. Out of everyone who could've found out, it had to be someone who hated my guts. What he would do with that information was beyond me, but if he said anything, it wouldn't take long for the word to get back to my mother.
My gaze moved over to Luz, desperate to take in her reaction. She was just as stricken as I was, her brown eyes stuck wide open. Though, unlike me, she was ridden with guilt. Her mouth gaped open while she struggled to hold in the lump of remorse that caught her throat.
"I've managed to keep him away for now, but he's determined to speak with mom. If we don't find a way to silence him, you two are gonna be in grave danger".
He wanted to tell my mother up front?! Titan! This was horrible! What was I going to do? What could I do?! I was dead and bound to an amulet!
"So he thinks Luz is communicating with her via the amulet?" Eda piped in from behind us.
"He didn't say that exactly when he showed up to Blight manor this evening, but from what he said, yes".
"Well" The Owl Lady sighed "We've just got to make him think he's wrong".
"And how exactly are we supposed to do that?" I snapped, my fear making my non-existent blood boil.
"Why don't you show him you're not connected to the amulet?". King's suggestion surprised me. Until then, I had forgotten that the small demon was in the room.
"But she is connected to the amulet" Luz contered.
"He doesn't need to know that. He just has to believe that she's a vengeful spirit who Katif angered by talking bad about" King insisted. "A ghost who's going to get her OWN revenge on him".
"Are you saying we should break into Katif's house in the middle of the night?" I asked incredulously. I wanted to believe they weren't being serious, but I knew they were.
Eda let out ha. She leaned over the back of the couch so she could face me.
"I told yah we should break into someone's place".
"That sounds risky," my sister uttered. "What if he finds out you're there?".
"Maybe we don't have to be there". Luz suggested. "Amity can only stray so far from the amulet, but she can stray far enough for her to break inside while we hide across the way".
Emira paused for a moment and soaked in her worry. She didn't look convinced that our master plan of breaking and entering would work.
"Amity talking to him still might not be enough. We can't just rely on intimidating him when the stakes are this big". My sister cleared her mind with a deep breath out. "You said one of the things you can do is walk in dreams, right. What if you scare him off with a nightmare?".
"That might just be the edge we need to keep him away. Tell him that if he messes with you again you'll keep showing up in his dreams" Eda hmmed.
"In the meantime, Ed and I will do everything we can to keep him away". Emira held my gaze with her own. "Good luck, Mittens. And be careful".
With that, my older siblings hung up. No one spoke for a few seconds, despite having a plan Luz and I were still pretty stunned by the news. Eda then clapped her hands, hollering, "welp. Better get dinner started". She left the room as quickly as she could, King scurrying behind her. Both knew the two of us needed a moment to recover.
"Amity," Luz cried once we were alone. "I'm so sorry".
"Luz," I sighed back. "It's okay".
"It's not okay. If your mom finds out–".
"I'm aware of the stakes, Luz". My growl only made the young human flinch. I let some of my stress out with a deep breath before continuing. "None of us knew that Katif was going to start a fight, and none of us knew he'd think the amulet was anything more than a piece of jewelry. The whole conspiring with a witch you watch die thing would be outlandish if it wasn't true".
"I still shouldn't've ever got so worked up about what he said. I should've just walked away".
"What exactly did he say?".
"Other than the stuff about his eye, he said no one misses you and your whole family deserved to die" Luz answered as she nervously rubbed her arms.
"That's…yeesh". No wonder my friend got so offended. I would've stubbornly held it in, but I would've gotten angry too (it wasn't really hard to make me angry, but still).
"Would you believe it if I say I've heard worse?" Luz murmured.
"What have you heard that's worse than that?".
"My mom should abandon me like my dad did, people might start actually liking me if I were dead, that kinda stuff".
My heart ached like an open wound. Those weren't just shitty things to say, those things were personal. How could anyone say something like that, to Luz of all people! She was the sweetest thing in this entire realm!
"And you almost got her killed" I silently reminded myself.
Yeah, okay, you got me…er…I got me? But that was back when I thought she was nothing but a dirty cheater. After I got to know her a little better, I realized that she's much more than the intruder I busted that day.
"Holy titan" I murmured while anger bubbled inside of me. "And they didn't get in trouble?".
"No. Honestly, I kind of think all the adults agree with them. The only person who actually likes me is my mom. I'd like to think papi still loves me too, but I haven't seen him in a while".
"I'm so sorry, Luz. That's awful".
"Don't be. I'm just glad I'm finally making friends.". The forced smile Luz gave me could break even the toughest demon's heart. "Now let's talk nightmares".
I could see the human's jaw tense as she gnashed her teeth together, her rushed change of subject saying enough about how hurt she felt. I decided to let the topic go despite not wanting Luz to keep how she was really feeling on the inside.
…
The sun fell faster than normal, at least that's how it felt. Soon the nearly full moon hung in the sky and we set off into the night. The owl lady and Luz donned pitch black clothes, the former's yellow eyes glowed in the moonlight. I followed behind invisible to the naked eye. All of our footsteps were light and quiet.
The streets were empty near Katif's home. It wasn't too hard to find. We just used a scrying spell to show us exactly where he was.
Across the way, the neighbor had a bundle of tall shrubs in the corner of their yard. Eda and Luz both dove into it, the red bundle of leaves swallowing them whole.
"Remember what we talked about," Eda whispered. "Don't be afraid to get creative".
"Good luck, Amity. See you on the other side" Luz added with a wave. I gave my two solicitors a small wave back, totally forgetting that neither could see me.
"I'll let you know how it goes when I come back" I said before crossing the dirt road.
Getting in was just as simple as it was with the Ovises. I simply flowed under the front door and flew around until I found where he was sleeping. His room was small but packed with things of all different shapes and sizes. The shelves were filled with trinkets and a few awards. Cramped in the corner was a writing desk littered with papers and books.
And in the full-sized bed near the window, my old rival slept soundly. He made no noise whatsoever. If it weren't for his chest rising and falling, you wouldn't've been able to tell if he was alive or not.
I slowly crept up to the witchling, silently hoping I remembered how to enter his dreams. Before I was sent to the Ovises estate, my mother had a phantom demonstrate everything a ghost like me could do. I learned how to use fire and sparks of energy, change shapes, and how to leave hellish scratch marks on people without them noticing. We covered walking in dreams but the phantom didn't spend that much time on it. It was useful to know but it wasn't something I could use to kill like my mother wanted.
I very delicately touched my palm to his forehead. I concentrated on reading his thoughts, peaking into what he was dreaming about. From what I could tell, he wasn't dreaming at that moment, making it easier for me to warp his dream into whatever I wanted.
The two of us arrived back in the auditorium. Katif stood confusedly in the middle of the arena while I stood at the very edge. The stab wound in my abdomen was now a lot bigger and extra gory. Black tears flowed from my bloodshot eyes (which was Luz's idea).
"Katif!". My howl rang through the air like bells. Our eyes locked as I stalked up to him.
"Amity" he gasped. "Is that you?".
"Shut it!" I snarled.
I made the gravity around Katif heavier. It shoved him onto his hands and knees, pinning him down despite all his struggling.
"Thanking the human for killing me?! Really?!".
"The human tattled on me, didn't she?" he scoffed back.
I struck the side of his face, my jagged nails snagging on his cheek. A red mark appeared. Blood trickled from it like tears.
"I saw the entire thing! Did you really think you'd get away with talking shit about me?!".
"I've done it before". His smile made anger well in my chest. It took a lot of restraint not to explode at him.
"Your eye says otherwise".
Katif's grin instantly turned into him baring his fangs like a savage cerberus. A vengeance hungry fury swam in his sharp blue eyes.
"What I said isn't why you're here, though. You're mad I upset your little human friend" he gnarled.
I struck the witchling again after making my nails a lot sharper, this time across his nose. Unlike last time, I left multiple deeper cuts that sent blood dripping down his face. Meanwhile I flashed my fangs, which I had also made bigger, back at my rival.
"Friend?!" I spat as if the word was rotten. "She's the reason I'm like this! She broke into our school! She cheated on an assignment I worked for hours on! And then she got me killed!".
"Then why are you chatting with her then?".
"I'm not. The only reason I would be talking with her is to make her pay for what she did to me".
"Cut the griffinshit, Blight. We all know she's talking with you through that amulet she's got".
I shot forwards and grabbed the spotted witch by his neck. Despite how tightly I held it, I didn't cause him any actual pain. I made it a bit hard for him to breathe, but that was all.
"I don't know what she's doing with an amulet like that" I dishonestly admitted. "But she's definitely not contacting me with it. She knows that, if she did, there'd be consequences".
With my other hand, I dug my fingers into his bad eye. He flinched, his breath growing shallow and panicked. He once again couldn't feel any physical pain, but he was reminded of horrible memories.
"What are you doing?" he asked through his rising alarm. I tightened my hold on his eye as I spoke.
"I'm not here because of the human. If this were about her then I would be satisfied by her humiliating you". My voice was low and icy. All emotion I'd let show before was swiftly hidden away. "I'm here to teach you a lesson of my own".
With a few tugs, his eye tore out of his eye socket. Threw it to the ground, right in front of him. His other eye shot as wide as it could go. The pupil inside was so small it looked like it would collapse in on itself.
Katif let out a pitiful whimper. He began to violently rock back and forth in attempts to move away from me, yet he barely moved.
"Now let's see what we can do about this other eye" I went on. My hand hovered over his face which was now deathly pale.
"No!" he cried beggingly. "Please! Stop!".
The two of us once again locked eyes. The pain reflected in his remaining eye stabbed me like the dagger that killed me. Bad memories of my own began to swarm back to me. I could feel all over again the raw terror that attacked me as I writhed on the ground. I could hear my screams, my cries for help. I could see my blood stain the ground, it's sickly smell overwhelming my senses.
I tried to push through it all. I was supposed to make this nightmare as awful as possible so he would stay away from Blight manor. But the longer I stood over him the more his fear made my stomach squirm.
This wasn't right. Katif wasn't mad at me for no reason. The thing I was using to traumatize him was my fault to begin with. I hurt his eye. No matter if I meant to or not, it was still my fault. And I didn't even give the witch an apology afterwards.
I let go of the witch's neck and let him fall to the floor. All of the force pushing him down disappeared, along with all the wounds and gashes. After Katif blinked a few times, his right eye returned to its socket as if it had never been removed.
"Is that it?" Katif asked, slightly baffled. "You're not going to tear out my other eye?".
"Do you want me to?"I huffed. He went quiet. "Look, I know I wasn't exactly pleasant back when I was alive. A lot of things you told Luz were true, including what happened to your eye. And I… I'm sorry".
It was a hard thing to admit. My shame aside, I was showing weakness to someone I was constantly told not to show weakness to. But I had kept in my remorse long enough.
"You're sorry?" he repeated. "It's a little too late for that".
"I know. I should've told you before, but I couldn't have done it with Miss Lilith around".
"If you were so sorry about it, then why are you here? Why did you tear out my eye?".
"Because what you said is still really shitty".
Katif looked at me as if I'd just told him pigs couldn't fly. His ear flicked as his irritation continued to grow.
"Are you mad at me or not?".
Was I mad? At first I was, but at the same time I understood why he did it. He shouldn't have said what he said but I also knew how hard it is to be kind to someone who's rarely kind back.
"I'm dead" I simply replied. "I need to move on, and I hope you can do the same".
The world around us started to fade as I began to exit Katifs dream. My old peer's eyes fluttered like he was struggling to stay awake, but he was actually slowly waking up.
"Don't waste your time being angry at me, cause unlike me, you have life left. And for titan's sake don't give me a reason to come back".
The walk back to the bushes felt awful. I felt proud and scared at the same time. I was glad I'd finally apologized to Katif, but I was also horrified. If that nightmare wasn't enough to scare him, he would go tell my mother about Luz and then the both of us would be in danger.
I couldn't help but imagine what my mother would say about all of this. I wasted Luz and Eda's time. I let everyone down because I was too afraid to do what I was supposed to do. I was a coward that deserved to be properly punished.
"How'd it go?" Luz asked once she heard me push into the bushes. I reappeared with a deep breath out. "Not good?".
"It started out okay, but then I stopped".
"What exactly did you stop?" Eda pressed.
"Well, I started by tearing his eye out–".
"You what?!". The owl lady shoved her hand over her apprentice's mouth and gave her a sharp shush.
"And then?".
"And then, I apologized to him".
"You what?!" Luz repeated, her mouth still being held shut.
"I told him I was sorry about his eye and we both should move on". I couldn't face the two people in front of me. My eyes were stuck on the grass underneath me. "I'm sorry".
I braced myself for the owl lady's scorn, for Luz's disappointment. It's what I deserved. I had made a mistake, and I needed to take whatever punishment was waiting for me.
"That's alright, Minty". What? "The eye might just be enough to keep him away".
"Or maybe he'll accept your apology and forgive you" Luz added after finally moving Eda's hand away.
"That's a nice thought, kiddo, but that won't happen".
"You guys aren't mad at me?" I questioned, my ears nearly pointed straight down.
"About what?" the human beside me uttered.
"I was supposed to give him a terrible enough nightmare and then threaten him to stay away from my mom. But I didn't do that. I apologized, which is the opposite of threatening".
"You did what you could," Eda argued.
"But "what I could" wasn't good enough".
"You tore his eye out," Luz reminded incredulously. "Why are we acting like that's not a huge deal?"
"Besides" Eda continued? completely ignoring her apprentice. She reached out her hand and touched my shoulder (after it phased through it a few times). "I took some extra precautions".
A small rustle brought my attention to the tiny owl hopping towards the three of us. Eda's palisman, Olwbert, fluttered into his owner's hand and climbed up to the nook of her neck. The older woman scratched under his chin as if she were rewording him for something.
"What did you do?" I prodded, not hiding my suspicion in the slightest.
"Don't you worry about that" Eda rushed. "Let's just head home. I'm beat".
"Me too," Luz yawned. "Being a criminal's exhausting".
"Speaking of which, welcome to the dark side, Blight. You're now a criminal like the rest of us".
Luz instantly stopped being tired. Her eyes lit up as energy brought a second wind. She began to chant, "One of us! One of us!", until her mentor shut her up again.
The human saying it once was enough to chase all of my shame away. Now that she mentioned it, yeah! I hadn't known any of them for long but Eda, Luz, and King were basically a second family to me. And, unlike my first one, they didn't ask too much of me. They weren't ashamed of me. They didn't think I had to do a bunch of garish things to get a piece of their attention. I was just one of them.
Nobody noticed it, but I smiled the entire way back to the owl house. Just like Luz and Eda, I was heading back home, a home much better than the manor I'd left behind.
