"What?" Amity asked, tilting her head in confusion. Most abominations spoke very little, and usually only when commanded to. She had certainly never had one ask her for help. According to her Abomination Nation class though, if they weren't maintained or if they were given too much power, they could become sentient. "Dad hasn't been around to reset you, has he?"

"No…" it grumbled. "Master Blight has been busy."

Amity frowned and sighed. "Tell me about it. I haven't even seen Dad since the Blight sale, and I wanted to ask him what he thought of… wait, why am I telling you this?" she asked herself. She had used her own abominations as confidantes before, but no one had access to their information but her. "I guess I could try." Reseting an abomination was relatively easy, but instilling it with the same skills that Alador did would be considerably more difficult.

"No!" The abomibutler raised its hands and scowled even moreso than usual, its sad feline features that Luz had tried to mold into its face drooping. "I wish to continue! It's why I need your help."

"Continue?" Amity replied. "You can't continue. Rogue abominations are illegal, and this family's already caught the Emperor's attention with Dad's abomitons."

"Oh." it said in response, looking sadly at its stumpy legs.

"Just go about your duties for tonight." Amity said, rubbing the bridge of her nose in frustration. "I'll figure something out later. Right now, I'm tired."

Nodding reluctantly, the abomibutler dejectedly exited her room and descended the stairs with heavy footfalls. Amity stared at her door for several minutes, still dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events. Even Professor Homonculous regularly maintained his abomination, keeping it on the verge of sentience so that it could naturally improve its skills without questioning its commands. She had heard stories of abominations going rogue, even becoming violent if fueled with enough magic that they couldn't handle. Her father had told her of a story of another student in Hexside who had created such a monster that nearly destroyed the school during his time there. It was probably the reason sentient abominations were illegal in the first place.

Amity tried to brush it from her mind and prepared for bed, having a shower and changing into her blotchy pink and purple pyjamas that only served to remind her of the problems the abomibutler could create. They clashed against her green hair, and she frowned before shrugging it off and relating her annoyance to exhaustion.

Amity woke with a gasp, her mind reeling from vivid dreams talking with Luz as she spoke in her human language that Amity had understood, yet couldn't remember the meaning of, to Jinn's warning about bad things to come, and Head Witch Osran creepily standing in the background of every scene. She couldn't help but feel unnerved by it all, and groaned at the lack of rest as she rolled off of her bed and got herself ready for the day.

Ed and Em were already sitting at the long dining table when Amity arrived. Emira was drumming her fingers on the table, an impatient exercise that typically sent their mother into a verbal tirade in her presence. Edric was creating small illusions of Odalia on the table, it's tiny voice squeaking as it shook it's finger at Emira. "Amity!" Em said in annoyance, as though their younger sister was somehow at fault for their missing breakfast. "Where's the abomibutler? It should have our breakfast ready by now!"

"Yeah!" Ed yawned, walking the tiny illusion of Odalia across the table to his twin sister. "We're hungry!"

"It's having some issues." Amity replied with a yawn of her own. "Since Dad hasn't had time to give it attention, it's been acting weird. Y'know, you could get yourself breakfast for a change."

"Well, can't you fix it?" Ed asked as Em slapped her hand over the illusion to silence its incessant scolding. He wore an expression of fake hurt as Emira glared at him. "I think Emira is getting hangry."

Amity growled, placing her homework on the table and entering the kitchen. Inside was a scene from a horror story as multiple pots were boiling over, a fire was raging in a frying pan, and the sink full of dishes overflowed with water. The abomibutler was standing in the corner, nervously shifting its weight from one foot to the other, snapping its attention to Amity. "What are you doing?!"

"I don't know!" it shouted back.

Tracing a finger in the air, a glowing purple circle appeared on each of the appliances, and Amity turned down the magical heat on the stove, covered the flaming pan with abomination goo, and twisted the valve on the sink to stop the water. "What happened?!"

"I don't know!" the abomibutler repeated, staring at her with what could only be described as fear in its glossy, gooey eyes.

Ed and Em entered the kitchen behind her, and let out a synchronous "Whoa!"

"I haven't seen a mess like this since Dad tried cooking." Edric noted while Emira stepped in to move the pots off of the cooling stovetop. "Are Mom and Dad ever coming back?"

Amity approached the abomibutler, it's normally static facial expression having changed from its sad, melted feline to one of conscionable terror. She had never seen an abomination react with fear before. "Abomination: Speak. What happened?"

The abomibutler looked between each of the children before holding its hands to hide its face. "I forgot how to cook!"

"Where are all the other abomination servants?" Edric asked, looking about the near empty kitchen that was usually occupied by an assortment of other, more specialized abominations.

"Mom and Dad transferred them to the factory before they left for the Emperor's Castle to build more of those new abomitons." Elmira replied. "We got stuck with Version 0, here."

The abomibutler's shoulders began to shake and heave at her comment, and it let out a sorrowful whimper.

"Way to go, Emira. You made it cry." Edric said.

"Abominations don't cry." his twin sister retorted. "Do they?" Elmira asked after a pause.

"They don't normally eat, either." Amity said, reluctantly placing a hand on the creature's shoulder. She recalled a memory of a goo-covered Luz munching on a sandwich, and smiled comfortingly. "Try to, uh, calm down." she instructed. "How did you forget how to cook? It shouldn't be possible for you to just lose skills you've been enchanted with."

The abomibutler continued to sob until an assortment of intelligible words finally leaked through. "My name is Vir."

"It has a name now?" Elmira asked.

Amity heaved a sigh. "Okay, look, we need to get to school…"

"What about breakfast?!" Edric whined, looking concerned.

"We. Need. To get. To school." Amity repeated. "We'll figure something out after. Professor Homonculus is going to fail me if I'm late again."

Elmira playfully waved away the worry. "You're a Blight, Mittens. You've got this."

Amity pushed the kitchen door open and nodded quietly, unfamiliar with her older sister giving such encouragement. She smiled awkwardly before grabbing her homework off of the table and racing out the door of the manor towards Hexside.

The first two classes were particularly interesting for Amity that morning, both her Abomination Education 201 class, and Abomination Nation with Professor Orobas that dealt with abomination sentience. She found herself invested in the lesson, considering the circumstances that had occurred at home. "Why exactly are abominations illegal?" she asked once called upon by the pale white, horned teacher. While she had been uncomfortable talking to the Oracle Coven professor earlier in the semester, current events demanded that she couldn't avoid them at the moment.

"IAbominations don't have magic of their own, much like many bug and beast demons, and are therefore considered…" they struggled to find a suitable word before finally settling, "Lesser."

"Just because something doesn't have magic, doesn't mean it's lesser…" Amity blurted out, feeling her skin heat with instant anger. The class grew silent at her outburst, turning in her direction. "What?" she asked defensively, causing the other students to return their attention to the professor. She realized that a few months ago, she would have happily agreed with the statement. Anyone that didn't have full control of magical abilities wasn't worthy to even be called a witch, but now… Now that she had met Luz, and started regaining her friendship with Willow, and maybe even Vir, had drastically changed her mind and she was instinctively showing it.

Professor Orobas cleared their throat. "As I was saying, these 'magically deficient' beings have little place in our society as they have nothing to offer our Coven System, much like Wild Witches." Despite Amity's embarrassment at her previous outburst, she couldn't help but let out an audible growl that was drowned out by the period bell screams. She could feel her expression scowl as she packed up her books for her next class before the Professor caught her attention. "May I have a word, Ms. Blight?"

Amity reflexively gripped her tomes tightly and drew them up to her chest in discomfort. "I didn't mean…"

"I'm concerned about the lack of effort you're putting into this class, Amity. My offer for dream inter…"

She had had enough. "No. I really don't think my dreams are anyone's business. I'm fine."

"Perhaps a tutor might be of some help…"

"I had a tutor. She's a fugitive now." Amity replied harshly, recalling her grooming by Lilith Clawthorne to be accepted into the Emperor's Coven. "Is that why the Oracle Coven is so interested in me all of a sudden? Because Ms. Lilith betrayed the Emperor and they're afraid I'll do the same?"

The Professor remained quiet for several moments before swallowing nervously. "That will be all, Ms. Blight. You're dismissed."

Amity's heart was beating hard in her chest. She had faced down teachers that she hadn't agreed with before, though only when she knew their facts were wrong, or when her parent's name would dissuade any repercussion, but she knew that in this, she was alone. She turned on her heel and proceeded to exit the room as the next class began filing in. Squeezing through the crowd, she found Celine, Willow, and Luz talking outside for the students to disperse.

"Hey, Amity!" said the Oracle student, while Willow waved a friendly greeting. She was holding an unfamiliar, tiny purple flower with a yellow stamen that she had magically grown from the palm of her hand to Luz, whom had been sniffing the offered flora before accidentally snorting it up at the mention of Amity's name. "Saw that coming…" Celine said with a smile before waving and entering the class.

Luz coughed and sputtered, trying to dislodge the flower from her sinuses. "Are you okay?" Amity asked, still holding her books tightly to her chest. The human held up one of her thumbs in response despite not being able to answer. "What was that?"

"She was describing different Human Realm plants to see if I could conjure them." Willow explained, holding Luz by the arm. "Maybe I could pull it out of there…"

Luz gasped and retreated before gagging once more and finally pulling in a breath through her coughing. "Whew! Wow, that was a thing!" she laughed shyly. "He… hey, Amity. Just about to go into my Sight Beyond Sight class."

"Oh, right. For your Oracle track, right? Are you sure you're okay?"

"I… we, are a-okay." Luz replied, putting an arm around Willow's shoulders, who seemed to be growing more uncomfortable with the conversation. "We should all be getting to class though, right?"

Amity frowned slightly at Luz's desire to leave so quickly, but nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I guess."

"Luz, this isn't my class." Willow corrected her friend, causing her to laugh nervously again and retract her arm.

"Right. Oh, Amity! Before I forget… I need your help with something after school."

Despite the circumstances that she had found herself in the last time she had agreed to help Luz with an impromptu Grudgeby game, Amity couldn't help but nod again out of reflex. She had a lot to make up for, both when Luz first arrived and her actions toward Willow in the years prior, and she was eager to earn her place in their friend circle. "Name it!"

"Awesome! See you at lunch?" Luz asked, backing into the classroom while waving to both her and Willow.

Amity returned the smile. "It's a daaa… day. It's a day. Today is… a day." she replied, thankful that the door closed between them before her face warmed. Her eyes snapped toward Willow, who was eyeing her suspiciously, and she couldn't help but shrink behind her books. "What?"

Willow shrugged and turned away, walking down the hall toward her next class. "Nothing."

The blush in her cheeks faded quickly as embarrassment turned to frustration, and Amity caught up to Willow. "No really, what?"

"It's really none of my business."

"Tell me." Amity growled, then looked away. "Sorry."

Willow paused, placing her free hand on a hip and facing Amity with a serious expression. "Luz is a good person, Amity. I don't like seeing her get hurt."

"I don't…"

"Yes, you do. Don't treat your friendship with her like you did your friendship with me. I know you stood up to your parents in defense of all of us, it's just…"

"Willow, I promise. I am not that person anymore. I wouldn't do anything to hurt any of you. Especially Luz."

"Why especially Luz?" she asked.

Amity felt her face go red again. "I-I-I just mean especially, because of how she brought all of us together, y'know?"

"Sure." Willow replied, a smile appearing once again. "Anyway, I'd better get to class. I guess we'll see you at lunch?"

Amity nodded slowly, but didn't reply. She watched Willow leave before shaking herself out of her stupor and recalling that her Astronology class was about to start. She would undoubtedly replay the last few minutes later, but for now, she had to get her head in the game.

The Astronology and Health classes passed by slowly, with lectures ranging from the various positions of the sun and moon and their effect on magic, to the digestive tracts of House Demons; an unfortunate subject before transitioning to the lunch period. The lunch Bell screamed in unison with Amity's stomach growling after having missed breakfast, and she hefted her tomes into her arms before depositing them in her locker.

Willow's words were haunting her as she distractedly made her way to the cafeteria. She stood in line for a tray of yeti spaghetti and carnivorous salad, oblivious to her surroundings as she paid for her meal and turned to begin searching for a table. Her usual seat at the Banshee's table was now missing, and Boscha cast her a quick glance before committing to a fake laugh at something Skara was telling Amelia, earning her confused looks from both of them. She continued scanning the large room for a place to sit before Luz's waving arm finally caught her attention, and she smiled.

Amity nodded to Willow and Gus, who waved in greeting as she took her place beside Luz. "Thanks, guys. It's honestly a little weird not being part of the Banshees anymore."

"We got'chu, girl!" Luz exclaimed in assurance. "Gus was just talking about the Illusion Detection System his dad set up."

"Yeah! Usually he's pretty chill, but since the expulsion and sneaking out to destroy your family's factory, he's been a little over protective."

Amity paused, suddenly unsure if she was as welcome at the table as she had been led to believe. Both hers and her parent's actions had a serious impact on their lives. "Oh, uh, sorry. My parents can be real… something."

"Nah, it's cool. Dad seems pretty confident in it, but it's pretty easy to bypass." Gus bragged, sipping his Apple Blood box.

"I think my dads are still debating whether sneaking out while grounded to save a friend was a good or bad thing." Willow said. "For now, it's business as usual."

"Well, if it's any consolation, my parents got a huge deal with the Emperor's Coven to make those abomitons so I don't think they're worried about the damages." Amity added, before realizing what she just said caused an uncomfortable silence at the table. Did she just inadvertently brag about her family getting wealthier at her friend's expense? "But, uh, they haven't been home since, so, there's that, right?" she continued, feeling her skin redden. Now she was being self-deprecating, and in front of Luz! "Uhm, you wanted to ask something, Luz?"

Amity's sidestep of her awkward conversational skills was a success as Luz's expression turned from cringing to excited. "Yes! I promised Eda that I'd help her bring home extra elixirs tonight, but I also promised Lilith I'd help her research that tower we found too. I figured since you work at the library though, you might be able to help me out."

Amity's heart sank as she realized what Luz was asking. "Oh. You want me to help Ms. Lilith…"

Luz suddenly looked worried, as though she had just terribly offended her. "I mean, I can just tell her another time. It's cool! I just thought…"

"No, no, it's fine!" Amity assured her as she tried to calculate the amount of influence such a favor might garner with Luz. "I don't mind, really. It'll… it'll be fun."

Luz paused, clearly suspicious. "You're sure? I'm sure Lilith will understand if we have to do it some other day. The elixirs are for her too. She can just get really intense when she's focused on history stuff."

"I would be happy to help Lilith for you." Amity lied. The smile that she had worn while she felt accepted by the group had faded though. She still had her family's abomibutler… Vir, to tend to, but she made a deal that she would help Luz, and a Blight always kept their end of the deal.

Amity waited in the Bonesborough Market, in front of The Dollhouse, where a multitude of cursed, children's toys watched her with interest. The booth attendant, a tiny, pale demon that was little more than a head with arms, legs, a quaff of red hair and a large nose, was shifting nervously among the dolls.

"Amity, I'm surprised to see you here." came Lilith's voice from a few booths up the street.

Shaking her head from the staring gaze of one of the dolls, Amity acknowledged her old mentor as she approached. "Really? Luz said… she didn't mention that she asked me to help you, did she?"

"She did not." Lilith replied. "Although that isn't surprising considering her current preoccupation. Now, I'm certain you have plenty of other things to do with your evening, Amity. There's no sense wasting it with me."

Amity was about to agree but her breath caught in her throat. "No. No, I promised Luz I would help, and I will." she said. "Have you found any other leads about this tower?"

"I haven't." Lilith replied, beginning to walk further down the street. "I've exhausted all the historical documents that I still have access to, even after several more visits to the mysterious island. So, it bemoans me to say that I have to try more fiction based avenues."

"You're going to look into myths and legends." Amity said.

"You're as sharp as ever." Lilith said with a proud smile. "It may be difficult to decipher the facts from old stories, but there is often a grain of truth to every tall tale."

"That must be pretty cool, exploring a whole new island no one has ever heard of."

"Amity, I had no idea you had any interest in such historical discoveries." Lilith replied in surprise.

Amity looked away for a moment before replying. "It's not so much the history as it is the exploration. I've heard humans even explore the stars!"

Lilith let out a chuckle. "I think you've been reading too many of those Trekking the Stars stories. While I'll admit that Luz herself is quite innovative, I highly doubt all humans are foolish enough to send themselves into such a void. How even would they, without magic?"

Amity shrugged, but remained quiet after having her excitement dashed until they reached the Book Nook store at the end of the market. In the display window were several novels that had been forged by the Publication Coven, including The Good Witch Azura, that Amity had found years ago. It was, however, marked down in price, and had a visible layer of dust on its pages. Next to it was a copy of the newly popular Ruler's Reach, that had its sequel cancelled, according to rumor. "Do you really think you'll find any answers in here?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. I've read many novels in my youth, and I don't recall any mention of a King of Demons, even as legends. It's a long shot, but…"

"Hey! Coven head!" came an angry voice from down the street where they had just come. A group of witches and demons had gathered, wearing piecemeal bits of leather armor. "We've got an issue with you now that you're not protected by your entourage!"

Lilith stood stock still, her dress and long black hair moving slightly in the wind blowing up the street. Amity could see her eyes shift to several guardsmen that were clearly uninterested in stepping in. "And should I know you?" she called back.

"First you took our children for the Emperor's Coven! Our palismen were next!"

"And now that I've lost my magic and position, you've decided to seek revenge? How brave." Lilith shouted back.

"Maybe provoking them isn't…" Amity started.

"Not to worry, Amity. I've dealt with these people before. They tend to roll over at the slightest hint of authority."

"You don't have any authority, which you just reminded them of." Amity growled back.

The mob was creeping forward, focused on getting their pound of flesh when a purple blur exploded from the Dollhouse booth behind them. A familiar abomination with cat-like ears, a dignified bowtie, and a concerned scowl appeared, bowling through the crowd on its way toward Lilith and Amity. Suddenly, it's appearance caused the nearby guards to grab their spears before being pushed aside as well. "Is that yours?!" Lilith asked in surprise.

"Uhm, kinda…" Amity replied.

"Ms. Amity!" Vir muttered. "I'm here to rescue you!"

"Seriously?!" she exclaimed.

Lilith held out a hand, summoning her ivory white palisman staff in a flash of light. "I believe we'll have to postpone our evening of research for the time being." She straddled her staff, watching as the mob and the guards began climbing to their feet.

Amity reached out, drawing a small spell circle in the air and causing Vir to contort and compress into a marble-sized orb that fell into her open hand. Lilith was already ascending when Amity grabbed hold of the staff as well. "Let's go!"