Odalia and Amity landed in front of the entrance to Bonesborough's prison. As soon as they were there the magic broom transformed back into Ghost and from his look he seemed furious; he mewed something intensely to Odalia, and she seemed very annoyed by it, so she snapped her fingers and the cat immediately closed his eyes and became as still as a statue; she picked him up and put him in her pocket. "Why did you do that?" Amity asked her.

"He was furious because I forced him to fly at this time of night, without even having fed him yet. If I hadn't stopped him he would have run off on his own to look for a mouse to catch and who knows when he would have returned. Ghost is still a cat and as such he is very... independent of his owner, let's say" her mother replied. "Don't worry, when we get home I'll wake him up and give him all the ham that he can eat. Now let's think about finishing the reason we're here"

And having said this she moved her left hand and the gate opened by itself. The guards rushed in immediately, but before they could do anything Odalia wrapped them in green ethereal chains and then struck them one after another on the forehead; as soon as she did so, the guards turned and went back to their duties. "What did you do to them?" Amity asked her.

"A simple hypnosis spell" Odalia replied as she poked another guard with two fingers right in the forehead. "Simply put, I'm taking control of their minds. The order I gave them is only one: go back to their tasks and forget we're here. For the whole night they won't even realize we exist"

"And they won't remember anything?" Amity asked again.

"Not a single detail" Odalia replied.

Another guard was rushing towards them, but with him she only smiled and barely moved her eyes, and he was immediately hypnotized. Amity was surprised. "Why did you have to hit the others, but it was so easy for him?"

"Because I have a contract with him" Odalia told her. At her daughter's stunned look, she explained herself better: "Some time ago he asked me for a favor, a recommendation to be hired, and I granted it to him in exchange for due payment, and consequently we are bound by a contract. Therefore a part of the my essence is in him, and therefore I can take control of his mind as easily as I could take control of my own, without the need for further magic"

Amity's eyes widened. "You didn't tell me this characteristic of the contract"

"Actually, yes. I told you that making a contract means being bound for life and having part of your essence in the other person. It was implied that this means that you can exploit that essence if necessary" Odalia answered her. "But this can only be done when the contract is completed by both parties. First the essence is not stable and therefore trying to control it risks short-circuiting your magic, so it is better to avoid it"

"So, when the time thst I have to spend with you will be over over and we both will complete our contracts, I could control your mind?" Amity asked a little fearfully.

"Oh oh! It will take you a few years of training before you can do it. Maybe even a few decades" her mother replied. "A witch's mind is fortified by magic. While having someone else's essence inside you is certainly not nice, you can still counteract it. If you are skilled enough, you can even imprison it and create defenses for yourself. I will teach you how to do it as soon as you unlock your magic". A smirk formed on her face: "But if your concern is that I might use our contract to control you, well, you can rest assured. I don't intend to use certain means with you. Furthermore, unlike that guard, you wouldn't forget about my actions: the mind of a witch is stronger than that of a human, and it is not possible to control it completely. You would realize it immediately if I tried to use such an unfair method to make you do what I want, and if I were so mean I'm pretty sure you wouldn't hesitate to ask your fairy godmother for help, so don't be afraid, it would be foolish of me to do so, as well as really incorrect"

Amity felt calmer. Even though she trusted her mother and was sure that she would never try to control her mind using their contract, she still preferred to have a logical explanation that assured her that she could never do so. She felt safer, and also a little guilty for having felt such fear towards her mother, who had shown up until that moment that she only wanted to help her, even if in her own way.

The two thus entered the prison. Amity felt uncomfortable walking in the corridor between the cells where the Bonesborough criminals were held. Fortunately, most of them were asleep, but one of them, a guy who was quite tall and so hairy he looked like a cat, looked through the bars of her door and looked at her with a grin: "Hey, little girl, what are you doing here? This isn't exactly the place for people like you. Did mom bring you to entertain us?"

Amity made an indignant noise, but she didn't have time to say anything because her mother went into full witch form and grabbed the guy by the scruff of the neck. "I'm afraid you're wrong. You're our entertainment, not the other way around" she hissed at him, clicking her forked tongue. "I really think I'm going to rip your ears off and sew your mouth shut, you know?"

"No, no, wait!" the prisoner exclaimed in terror. "I was only joking! I had no intention of doing anything to your daughter, ma'am! I'm certainly not one of those mental deviants, I'm a simple scammer! I would never do things like that!". His voice was becoming shrill: "Please... I assure you, I am a good man!"

"Oh, really?" Odalia sneered, which combined with her sharp teeth, silky eyes and hair, and green scales made her look quite scary. "What do you think, Mittens? Do you think this is a good man?"

Amity clutched her right arm tightly, somewhat unsure of how to respond. She was pretty disgusted by the guy, but she felt pretty conflicted seeing him held like that by her mother. At the same time, however, she couldn't deny that he deserved it. Remembering what her mother had told her as they flew on the broom, she asked: "Why are you in there?"

"I told you, I scammed people!" the prisoner hastened to say. "I convinced them to go look for a fake flower capable of healing any disease... it was just a lie to steal their money for the map!"

Amity raised an eyebrow. Such a scam wasn't very efficient... unless the person being scammed was exactly capable of judging the situation well. "The one you cheated was desperate, right?"

The prisoner swallowed. "Well... his mother was dying of cancer... I think he was willing to follow any possibility to save her..."

Amity felt anger rising inside her. What creep could be so slimy as to take advantage of another person's pain? Suddenly she felt her fingers tremble. "Did you know it?"

The prisoner fell silent and seemed somewhat undecided about what to answer, but Odalia pulled him: "What are you waiting for? She asked you a question. Come on, answer. And don't try to lie". Her tone became deeper and more threatening than ever. "I can smell the lies, I'll know if you'll try"

The prisoner had become pale as a sheet. "Yes... yes, I knew it!" he admitted.

"So you just didn't care, hm?" Amity growled angrily. Her hands felt tingling; she absolutely wanted to cast a spell on that wretch... but then she met his gaze and saw his eyes full of fear, and her heart seemed to turn to stone. Almost instinctively Amity closed her fists as if she was afraid that something would emerge from them, and she stammered: "M-Mom... can we go now? Leave him alone"

She expected her mother to refuse and tell her to take action, perhaps call her a coward, but instead Odalia simply nodded. "As you wish, Mittens" she said, and finally released her grip on the prisoner's neck, who fell to the floor of his cell and crawled to a trembling crawl under his cot. "Come on, let's continue"

Amity was quite surprised. "Shouldn't you... well... wipe his memory or something?"

"And why on earth? Do you think anyone will believe him if he tells around that he saw two witches walking down the prison corridor and was attacked by them, even if no one else saw them?" Odalia responded with a laugh. "I'm pretty sure if he did that they'd take him to a shrink within a week. Just let him remember, so he'll learn not to address women in such a vulgar manner, especially if one of them is underage"

Amity had to admit that that reasoning made a lot of sense. In fact, she totally approved of it. "Um… aren't you mad that I let him go?"

"No, Mittens. It was your choice" Odalia replied. "As long as we are in this prison, everything will be your choice. I don't care whether you punish someone or not; what I want is for you to understand the importance of your choices. Nothing more. You can even walk out of here without having done absolutely nothing, and I'll be fine anyway"

Amity was a little relieved by that statement: it meant that she didn't have to do anything she didn't want to do or that she considered amoral. At the same time, however, she felt a little bitter in her mouth as she thought about that prisoner and how she had taken advantage of someone else's desperation. "I wanted to punish him" she admitted. "I really wanted it, but... I couldn't"

"I know. As I told you, it's never easy the first time" Odalia replied. "That's why I chose those two marauders you and your new girlfriend captured as a test run. Trust me, when the people you love are involved it's a lot easier. That's how I performed my first curse"

"Really?" Amity asked her. "How did it go?"

"Oh, there was this asshole who was taking advantage of your father's meek nature to pay him a pittance for the inventions he created, and then I cursed him. That's how your father discovered..." She stopped to an instant as if she had just realized she was saying something she shouldn't have said. "... how much I cared for him; he didn't understand that I was a witch obviously, but he was intelligent enough to understand that I had a hand in it. We got together after that time"

Amity had heard her mother's voice tremble slightly as she spoke, as if she were a little unsure of what to say, but after all perhaps her question had awakened memories that she preferred to keep buried. She decided not to bother her any further about it, because it was clear that she didn't like talking about such things.

The two continued calmly through the corridor, fortunately without encountering any further obstacles; finally they arrived in a wing of the prison where the Titan Trappers were being held, many of whom, unlike the other prisoners, were still awake and intent on staring blankly into space, and they didn't even seem to notice their presence; the few who turned their heads towards them made a strangled noise as soon as they saw Odalia and threw themselves on the ground as if to pretend to be dead. Odalia completely ignored them and led Amity to the last cell. "Here, this is where the two marauders are. Adrian and Terra, those are their names, right?"

"Um… yeah" Amity replied.

"Now it will be up to you to judge them for their actions and then act accordingly" Odalia told her with a smile that widened more and more. "If you want to leave here leaving them unharmed in this cell, you can do so. If you want to punish them, you can do so. Either way, it will be your choice"

Amity didn't know if it was due to her mother being in witch form, but her smile was becoming more terrifying with each passing second; just looking at those lips full of sharp teeth curved upwards made her feel an icy shiver throughout her body. But what scared her most was what she knew she would have to face once she entered that cell. Despite this, however, she didn't even think for a moment about asking her mother to leave; she had now reached that point, and she wanted to go through with it.

Odalia barely moved her fingers and the latch was surrounded by a greenish light, and it melted as if it were made of water; the door opened with a click as if to welcome them, and a flame lit up on the ceiling of the cell, illuminating it like day. Adrian and Terra, who were lying on their cots, suddenly woke up. "Urgh! What the fuck..."

"Language, please" Odalia told them. "You are in the presence of a young lady, don't use such vulgar words"

Adrian and Terra gulped as soon as they saw her; it didn't take them long to recognize the witch they had already seen when they had been led tied to Raine's camp and then to prison, but seeing her so close was still quite scary, especially with the grin she had on her face. It took them both a moment before they even noticed Amity's presence. "What... what do you want?" Adrian exclaimed worriedly. "You've already thrown us in prison, isn't that enough for you?"

"Oh, I want nothing from you. In my eyes you are as relevant as a flea on a dog's fur" Odalia answered them. "It's my daughter who wants to have a word with you. You're welcome, Mittens: I'll leave the conversation to you"

Amity didn't know exactly what to do; she actually didn't have a clue. She didn't know how to move or what to say. In the end, remembering the conversation she had had shortly before with the other prisoner, she decided again to understand their crimes first: "Listen... I know that you scammed Luz... but tell me, did you scam others too?"

"Of course not, she was the first!" Adrian was quick to respond.

"Yeah! I mean, she was the only person enough stup... er, pure of heart to fall into such a trap! Anyone else would have chased us away right away, how could we scam them?" Terra supported him in a cold sweat; both her eyes and those of her friend didn't leave Odalia even for a second, who seemed to have become as still as a statue and observed the scene with an omnipresent smile. That sight would have sent shivers down anyone's spine, and Adrian and Terra were no exception.

Amity raised an eyebrow. It wasn't difficult for him to understand that those two were lying; they were surely telling her those things just to save their own lives. "How do I know you're telling me the truth?"

"We would never lie to you!" Adrian said immediately.

"Yeah! We'd be crazy not to be honest with you!" Terra said back.

Amity wasn't convinced at all, but just at that moment ethereal green chains appeared in the room and wrapped themselves around Adrian and Terra, imprisoning them and forcing them to get on their knees. Amity turned to her mother, who looked at her amused and said: "Mittens... why don't you find out for yourself whether they're lying to you or not? You've seen my mind control magic, right? A clever girl like you won't have problems replicating it. Come on, give it a try"

Amity hadn't thought of that option; in fact, everything would have been easier if she had taken control of their actions and forced them to always tell her the truth. She tried to remember how her mother had done it, and then ignoring the protests of the two scoundrels she hit them with two fingers in the forehead. Their gazes wavered and seemed to blur, but in any case they didn't become as stupid as those of the guards; she obviously hadn't performed the magic in a perfect way, after all she was her first try, but she hoped it was powerful enough. "From now on, you must answer only with the truth" she ordered. "How many people have you scammed?"

They both tried to hold back, even biting their tongues in the process, but then the words came out of Adrian's mouth on their own: "T-Too many to remember. Every time we f-found someone s-stupid enough, we s-scammed them. W-We've been doing this for a-almost all of our lives"

"Yeah, like I figured" Amity muttered with disgust in her voice. "How did you scam Luz?"

"S-She had g-got five gold coins, and she w-wanted to bring them to her m-mother. S-She was so happy that she could m-make her rich, and it was o-obvious that she would have d-done anything to m-make her even richer" Terra replied. "We made her b-believe that by sowing those c-coins in a magical field they would m-multiply and then we took them away from her. T-That idiot thought we were her friends"

Amity felt anger rising inside her; she knew how much Luz loved her mother, and the thought that someone had taken advantage of her love made her furious. She also remembered well, with a hint of guilt, how Luz had reacted when she had deceived her; if she really thought that Adrian and Terra were her friends, then that betrayal must have hurt her a lot. However, there was another issue that was pressing her: "While we were fighting, I didn't hear your dialogue very well, but I could clearly understand that you also tried to hurt her. Is that true?"

Adrian and Terra sweatdropped; they had evidently hoped to avoid that part. "Y-Yes"

Amity's eyelid quivered. "What did you do to her?" whisper.

The two rogues turned pale, but they could not resist her control. "W-We lured her into a-a forest and there we t-tried to... k... k... kill her"

Amity's eyes flashed; her teeth gnashed and she clenched her fists so hard her knuckles turned white. She could feel the magic inside her activate and almost release out of her body, and perhaps it actually happened because her hair lifted slightly as if stirred by a wind. A part of her was still trying to block herself, but that voice had become almost nonexistent in the face of all that anger. "How dare you... how could you hurt my... my... my Luz! She is a wonderful person! What monster would ever think of killing her!? Do you at least feel a little remorse for what you did?"

Adrian and Terra trembled and tried to hold back, but it was impossible: "N-No. It was r-really fun"

That was the last straw for Amity. That part of her that had been holding her disappeared, and she felt like she'd just smashed a window; her hands rose up and vortices of magical energy formed in her palms, sending purple flashes. "You... are monsters! You don't deserve a sentence as light as prison!" she growled angrily. "You will never hurt anyone again!"

Adrian and Terra turned pale as sheets. Amity had a murderous look on her face, and her eyes shone with a sinister light; despite the sweet appearance he usually had, at that moment she looked exactly like an executioner. But the thing that scared the two criminals the most wasn't her, but the person behind her: Odalia was in fact staring at that scene in a way that to describe as terrifying would be an understatement. Her smile had widened so much that it covered half her face, fully showing her razor-sharp teeth that even had a little drool dripping from them. She was like a predator who was eyeing a juicy prey in front of her... and her eyes were focused on Amity, and her gaze seemed to explode with pure sense of victory. Adrian almost fainted at the sight, while Terra instead pointed at the witch trembling with her finger: "W-Wait!" she said to Amity. "D-Don't listen to anything she told you! Can't you understand that she's manipulating you? You don't have to do this if you don't want to…!"

"Manipulating? Do you, of all people, accuse my mother of manipulating me?" Amity laughed, a laugh that had nothing amusing about it but which indeed undoubtedly contained an evil note, and she herself was a little surprised when it left her lips. "And then... I want to do it, I really want it!"

And having said this, the magical energy in her hands exploded and hit Adrian and Terra squarely, and the room was invaded by a glow; when it vanished, the cell returned to normal as before, with the difference that now instead of the two criminals there were a cat and a fox who looked at each other confused and frightened. Amity took a deep breath as she felt the tension drain from her body and her limbs relax, and she suddenly felt like laughing again; and this time the laughter was decidedly louder and crueler, and resounded throughout the cell; she laughed for a good two minutes, and then she seemed to realize what she was doing and her eyes widened, and instantly she stopped and put her hands over her mouth. "W-Wait... was that me?" she murmured with a bit of fear in her voice.

Just then a scaly hand rested on her shoulder; Amity barely turned her head to find her mother's face inches from hers, staring at her with a gaze so piercing it seemed to be able to see even through her skin. And when Odalia finally opened her mouth, Amity felt a shiver run down her spine as she heard her mother's words: "Your first curse, Mittens. Oh, I'm so proud of you, sweety"

Normal person: "My daughter got the highest grade on her test yesterday! I'm so proud of her!"

Odalia: "Ah, I can understand you. My daughter cursed her first victims yesterday, and she hasn't even unlocked her magic yet! Sniff, I almost want to cry! She's becoming a marvelous cruel dictatorial witch, just like her mom!"

Normal person: "... she did what?"

Anyway, for those who didn't understand, the other prisoner who appeared in this chapter is the scammer merchant who appears in episode 11 of the first season of Owl House, the one who takes advantage of the fact that Eda and Lilith are looking for a cure for the curse to deceive them