1st Day

Luz felt uneasy walking in the Conformation again. It hasn't changed at all in the past decade. She made a mental note to renovate it; anything to brighten up the dingy dungeon. She had nearly forgotten about this place until last night when she and her wife had an intruder arrested.

Luz paused beside the occupied jail cell to take a breath. This will be the strangest conversation she would ever have and it's the first one this week. She walked in front of it, eyes locked on the woman in the corner. She was wearing a high-ranking Emperor's Coven uniform and kept her head down resting on her knees. Her bright green hair reminded Luz of someone. The woman glanced up, scowled at her, and asked, "What are you doing here, Human?"

There was no questioning it anymore. This woman is Amity, but not the Amity she married. Luz's wife is with Willow, Gus, and Hunter trying to figure out how this Amity came here. This Amity doesn't know her name.

"Are you just going to stand there?" she snarled. "Leave, I don't need your pity."

Luz took sighed and replied, "I do feel bad about last night."

"Don't!" a surge of anger went thru her. "I said leave me alone."

She picked up a plate of food and lunged it at Luz's head. She didn't flinch. The plate was stopped by an invisible field in the bars. The display only saddened her. She closed her eyes, turned her back to her to sit down, and continued, "We could have handled it a little better."

"How?" Amity coldly asked.

"Well, we could have all calm down and explained ourselves," Luz said with a hopeful smile.

"Huh," she just realized it. "You're that kind of person?"

Luz glanced over her shoulder. "I'm a what kind of person?" she enthusiastically asked.

"Nevermind."

It was hard enough to believe that another version of herself married a human. It's more unbelievable now that she realized that the human is one of the upbeat and cheerful types. Wouldn't she be annoying to be around? Amity thought to herself.

"Don't feel bad; you acted appropriately last night," Amity hoped to end the pity party.

"My wife said something similar," Luz stated. "But I still yelled at an Amity and threw her in jail."

Amity chuckled to herself, "You call, 'You have a lot of nerve' yelling?"

"I raised my voice," Luz retorted back. "It doesn't help that you have the same hairstyle and hair color my wife did when we first met."

Amity grabbed her hair in response. If the other Amity had the same hairstyle, they probably had similar upbringings. Her only dream was the be the strongest witch in the emperor's coven, but over here the emperor was dethroned and all of the covens were disbanded. She wasn't interested in how their lives differed, with the biggest example sitting right in front of her.

"Did your wife approve of this?" Amity asked; honestly, she wouldn't.

"Actually no; she was very against it," Luz quickly admitted.

"Are you going behind your wife's back to talk to me?"

"No," Luz exaggerated that word. She didn't appreciate the accusatory tone. She held up a finger and stated, "We talked it out and compromised, but there is a long list of things I can't do."

Thinking about the list reminded Luz of one of the conditions. She stood up, dusted herself off, and continued, "One of the things is that I only talk to you for five minutes a day and times up; same time tomorrow?"

"No," Amity responded.

Amity calmed down when the human was out of the hallway. Her presence alone makes her uncomfortable. At least, the encounters will be short. She's dealt with worse in basic training.

It's been hours since anyone visited her and the sun was starting to set. It wouldn't be long before the Conformation would be pitch black. Just like clockwork, the warden came down the hall to check on her. This time he was carrying a large cardboard box. "You have a care package, Fake Amity," he stated.

Snapping at him for calling her fake is pointless. Amity was way more curious about the package that was shoved into the cell. She expected the box as the warden relocked it and strolled away. The first two things she pulled out were a sleeping bag and a pillow.

Amity sighed in relief; at least now she doesn't have to sleep on the floor again. The jailbird rummaged thru the rest of the box. There were water bottles, a towel, toiletries, a sweater, sweatpants, socks, apple blood, chocolates, strips of paper, a hairbrush, and hair ties.

She was surprised to find a hardcover book at bottom of the box. Amity held it up to the limited light to inspect it. It was about abomination mechanics and was written by herself. No, the other Amity. Another reminder about the bizarre situation she's in.

Her attention was drawn to a piece of paper that was sticking out of the book. It had a strange symbol on it and the words tap me written in the corner. She did as she instructed and watched in astonishment as the symbol lit up, crumbled the paper, and turned into a little ball of warm light.