The next week consisted of stories of an attack on Bonesborough by a pair of giant creatures that seemed to have a rivalry. Everyone was talking about it. A massive, black, bird-like creature with a pale face, long ears, and wings that was terrorizing a smaller, but similar, white feathered monster. They had come out of nowhere, had nearly killed Prentiss on his way to delivering the book for Ms. Dialen. They destroyed several houses before vanishing in an explosion of golden light. Or so the story went.
The only person not taking part in the gossip seemed to be Luz, who was suspiciously quiet since she helped get Vir to safety. She had her attention buried in a notebook for the entirety of the school week, and Amity found her sitting in the hall at the base of her locker after lunch while on her way to her Magical Defence Techniques class. "Big project?" she asked, looking down at Luz and nervously holding her texts to her chest.
Her question startled the human girl and she slapped her notebook closed before realizing Amity was even there. "Oh, uh, hey, uh, Amity." she stammered, looking back down at her notebook. "Heading to class?"
"Yeah. I'm hoping the afternoon goes better than my morning. Professor Orobas didn't appreciate my essay about legalizing sentient abominations." Amity said with a frown, unable to help feeling embarrassed by the poor grade she received.
"No one likes challenges to the status quo, huh?" Luz replied.
"I guess not." Amity said. "Did you hear about the attack on Bonesborough last weekend?"
"Hmm? Oh, sorry. I know I said I would come back, but we kind of had a crisis at the Owl House. Eda's mom showed up, trying to heal her curse and took all her elixirs so Lilith turned into some kind of raven beast. It was a whole thing."
"Wait, so The Owl Lady is actually an Owl Lady?" Amity asked in surprise, then smiled. "Let me guess, you saved the day?"
"Well, it was more Mrs. Clawthorne, really. Once she realized Lilith was cursed too, and saw that she was getting swindled, she had a real heart to heart with her daughters."
Nothing of what Luz said was making any sense to Amity, but she spoke of the events like they had become just another day. "Wow. So after all that, what's got your attention?"
"Well, Mrs. Clawthorne said I haven't been the only human in Bonesborough, but I haven't been able to find any info on anyone else." she said, pausing out of frustration as she opened up her notebook again. "It's weird. I would have thought a human would have made an impact on this world, y'know? Been remembered. But it's like they didn't want to be."
"Well, I'm guessing not all humans are like you, right?" Amity suggested. "And you will definitely be remembered…" The next period bell screamed, cutting her off and Amity pressed her lips together. "I've gotta get to class. I'll see you later, Luz."
As Amity walked away, Luz began scrambling to her feet. "Are you working at the library again this weekend?"
"Yeah."
"Maybe… maybe I can stop by again? Maybe the library would have something on that human?"
Amity continued walking away, feeling her skin flush and tingle excitedly as she pretended not to hear over the roar of students that suddenly began filling the hall on their way from lunch. Her reddening complexion was drawing attention from several of them and she shrunk into herself, hiding behind her books until she was far enough away that she could breath again. Ever since Grom Night, she knew Luz wasn't interested in her, and that was fine. But why did she keep acting strange? It was as though she sometimes wanted nothing to do with her, and other times Luz was almost flirtatious, and it was just confusing.
The word 'pixie' suddenly caught her attention, as a pair of students brushed by. "They found a bunch of them in the plant homeroom again. They must have been hiding in the soil since last semester."
"I hope they don't infest the school again. Was anyone hurt?"
Amity's ears perked up.
"That one girl they used to call half-a-witch. I guess she almost had them calm but then someone conjured up an illusion that got them riled up."
Amity raced toward the Plant Homeroom, riding the banister down the stairs to the main floor and completely heedless of her impending tardiness. Despite the door's reinforcement for keeping the various carnivorous plants inside, Amity kicked the door open, making the room's occupants jump. "Where's Willow?!"
The three remaining students in the room, Jerbo, Amelia, and Toddric stared at her a moment, surrounded by a handful of dazed pixies that they were cleaning up and feeding to the plants. "Viney took her to the infirmary, but…" Amelia said before Amity bolted again. She had been trying so hard to be friends with Willow again, and now she was hurt because Amity hadn't been thorough enough when she burned the pixies out of the greenhouse. She should have made sure they were gone, but then Grom happened, and then Jinn, and her dislocated knee… she hadn't even thought…
Her heeled boots slid across the floor, nearly sending her slipping past the infirmary door. Viney, one of only a few students that had been allowed to study more than one track, Healing and Beastkeeping, was speaking to the nurses while Willow sat on a cot with scrapes, bruises, and an arm in a sling. Quietly, Amity entered the room and approached her. "Hey Willow. I heard something happened with some pixies in the Plant Homeroom. Are you okay?"
Willow looked up in surprise. "Amity!? What are you doing here?"
Amity smiled and sat down next to her. "Trying to be better." she said, looking down while trying to avert her eyes from Willow's injuries. "I should have said something earlier. I-I'm the one that burned the greenhouse during the infestation. I was trying to rescue everyone and they had collected in there. It was dumb. I should have found another way."
"Thanks for telling me, but Mr. Horti let us present our theory for our grade and gave us more time for the practicum due to… extenuating circumstances."
"That's good." Amity said, a smile touching her lips before fading. "Still, I guess I didn't get them all, and I'm sorry. I don't want you getting hurt because of me."
Willow let out a soft snort and a chuckle before wincing. "I didn't get hurt because of you, and I don't need you to feel like you need to be my guardian angel either."
"What happened, anyway?"
"I was trying to move my project to a larger pot, but when it stepped out, I noticed it had a few pixies sleeping around its roots. Jerbo, well, I don't think he's quite over being trapped during the infestation and he kinda panicked. He ran from the room, waking them."
"You should have used sleeping nettle. It works great on them."
Willow pressed her lips together in clear frustration. "I know. I managed to almost get them asleep again, but the Illusion homeroom is next door and Gus came rushing over when he heard Jerbo's screams."
"Oh. Yeah. I heard something about that too."
"He meant well, but an illusion of a faerie only sent them into a rage."
Amity grimaced. Faeries and pixies were bitter enemies, and tended to control each other's populations in the wild. She wasn't surprised that the pixies fought off the sleeping nettle. "It's a good thing there were only a few. They were everywhere when I had to go through them."
"I'm aware." Willow said flatly.
Viney approached in her blue and orange Hexside, multitrack uniform. She was stocky of build, standing a few inches shorter than Amity with substantially more muscle from growing up on a spider farm outside of Bonesborough. She had pretty, pale green eyes, brown hair tied back into a rough ponytail, and a barbed hook piercing one ear that gave her an even greater 'bad girl' look than just formerly being a Detention Track student. "The nurses say you should head home, Willow. Get some rest. Relax. You should be good by next week."
"Well, at least you only miss half a day." Amity said, earning her an impatient look from Willow. "Is one of your dad's coming to pick you up? I could…"
"I'm good, Amity." Willow insisted with a reluctant smile. "It's a nice day. I can make it home on my own."
Viney handed Willow a small stack of Healing sigils to get her through the weekend and saw her off through the external doors. Amity stood and moved toward the doors as well, watching Willow walk away from the school before being met by Luz. They talked for a bit before a careful hug ended the conversation and Willow continued, a bit more cheerful now despite the pain she must still be in, with Luz looking on.
"Don't you have class?" Viney asked, shaking Amity from her contemplative stare out the window.
"Hmm? Oh!" she gasped, turning on her heel and charging back to her Magical Defence Techniques class.
Amity had spent the night catching up on homework that Mrs. Jenkinmeyer and Professor Homonculus had assigned her. Fortunately, Abomination magic and Magical Defence were two subjects that were easy to combine and with her parents away until the following night, and her brother and sister being less than eager to be target practice, she settled on creating a number of extra abominations.
She practiced manipulating her usual little abomination; the same recipe she had used while crawling through Hexside's vents, thinning it out and hurling it like a blade, or condensing and expanding it over and over like she had the previous weekend with Vir, her family's former abomibutler. She had even learned to block and absorb energy, using one of Edric's famed firecrackers to spray sparks in every direction in the yard and catching them. It wasn't the safest method of practice, but she wasn't about to let the lacklustre enthusiasm of her siblings keep her from advancing.
After putting a number of burn holes in her shirt and leggings, she had decided to wind down by writing in her diary after a shower. As much as she had tried to convince herself that she had given up on being anything more than friends with Luz, she still found herself doodling in the margins of her notes. They were becoming embarrassingly adorable, some borderline graphic if she allowed her thoughts to wander, and she had to promise herself not to let it fall into anyone else's grasp. Especially during the next Wailing Star.
Now, however, she was in the Kid's Corner of the library with witchlings playing with various toys, coloring in books, or running about. Mlogros wiped his incessantly runny nose on the feline shaped carpet before crawling away. Chuck was quietly cuddling his eldritch plushie contentedly as his three eyes surveyed the room, and Oni, a blue skinned demon child with ivory horns played with wooden rune blocks beneath the window.
Amity counted them off to make sure none had escaped, noting that Braxas wasn't present. She hoped that her encounter with Osran, the Head Witch of the Oracle Coven, hadn't gotten to Warden Wrath. She'd hate for him to take his son out of the library's reading program.
All of the witchlings were doing so well, and she had received compliments from all of the parents that had come in to pick them up. There was one other missing though…
She felt her hair tie slip from its place as Zuzan giggled and backed away. Amity spun reflexively and smiled. "Hey, you! What are you doing?"
The little blonde girl giggled again. "I want another stowey!" she demanded, hiding the hair tie behind her back. "About Azuwa!"
"I would love another story." Amity replied, kneeling down to Zuzan's level. "But your parents will be here soon to pick you up and I'll need that back before you go."
"I don't want to go! I want another stowey!"
"Come on, give it back." she smiled, offering her hand.
"No!" Zuzan exclaimed.
Amity let out a sigh, spotting the various parents begin to appear outside the window on their way into the building. She couldn't help but feel some amount of admiration that the witchlings were eager for her reading and stories. She laughed at the little girl's antics, trying a different approach. "If you give me back my hairband, I'll read you whatever book you want tomorrow."
Zuzan's eyes lit up and she gasped in excitement. "Finally!" she shouted, throwing the hair tie back at Amity. "I can learn to summon the dark lord!" she exclaimed, running toward the voices of her parents.
Running her fingers through her green hair, Amity tied it back into its usual foxtail tuft and began helping the other witchlings clean up as their parents arrived. It didn't take long, and as she saw the last child off, she found herself standing behind Luz, who was speaking to Edric and Emira. "Are they bothering you again?" she asked, causing Luz to jump in surprise.
She was holding the notebook from the day before to her chest, her already dark skin reddening suspiciously. "Oh! No, I just came to see you…" she said, suddenly looking surprised at her own words. "And, uh, heeeeere you are." she noted, her following laugh far more awkward than usual.
Amity felt her own skin flush and she looked away, crossing her arms over her chest in discomfort for a long quiet moment.
"Edric! Your face!" Emira suddenly blurted out, grabbing her brother's cheeks in her hands. "It's exploding with horrific pustules!" she said, a bit too dramatically.
"Oh no!" Edric replied, even more unbelievably, putting a hand to his forehead as though he was feeling faint. The thought then seemed to occur to him that his twin may be telling the truth. "Wait, is it really?"
Emira crossed between Luz and Edric, pushing her brother away. "We have to fix it before your date or you'll get dumped!"
"What?! I will?!" Edric asked, now seeming to panic.
Emira continued to push her brother away from the pair of girls, growing annoyed. "Ugh, c'mon Ed!"
As they disappeared into the aisles of the library, Luz nervously turned back to Amity and flipped through her notebook, opening it to some odd pictures she had drawn inside. "I was actually wondering if you could help me find this book?" On one page was a door and a key, decorated with a wide, slit pupil eye that felt oddly familiar. On the other was a rough sketch of an old book with excited doodles surrounding it and some notes jotted down at the bottom. None of it made any sense to Amity, and Luz pointed at the pages, explaining. "Hundreds of years ago, there was a human named Philip Wittebane living in Bonesborough, and he donated his diary to this library!"
Amity looked up from the pages, intrigued. "And this might tell you how to travel between realms, right?"
"Yes!" Luz replied excitedly. "My mom probably thinks I'm missing right now. I have to get back to her as soon as possible."
"Well, something this old would be kept in the Forbidden Stacks." Amity handed the notebook back to Luz, pressing a finger to her lips to signal Luz to be quiet before gesturing for her to follow. There were no rules about walking past the section, after all. She was due for a break after handling the witchlings, and helping Luz get back home was certainly something worth doing. Right?
As Amity lead the way to the back of the library, as far back as the public were allowed to go, Luz seemed suddenly talkative again. "Sorry I'm so late. Those demon hunters were in town again, and they lost control of a slitherbeast. I was actually coming with Gus to get him to help me look for information on this human, but he kinda got sidetracked by some Glandus students and an existential crisis."
"Glandus students?" Amity asked, recalling her encounter with Bria and her horrible friends. "I hope he has a better time than I did last time I dealt with Glandus."
"Are they that bad?"
"It's a… different philosophy there." she replied, stopping in front of the gargantuan double doors. The doors of the Forbidden Stacks were flanked by a stone pillar on either side, and giant fangs that decorated the archway. Single eyed Ocugoyles made of stone sat atop each pillar and the archway, ready to come to life should anyone without access try to enter. Luz cried out in surprise as a tiny echo mouse scurried out from a crack beneath the doors and ran across her shoe with a squeak.
"Only Malphas, the master librarian, is allowed in here."
"No te preocupes. Todo va a salir bien." Luz said, forcing a smile. "Like my mom always said. I'm sure I can find another way." she added, looking back at Amity with a worried frown.
"Hey, wait." Amity couldn't help but feel Luz's disappointed gaze. It wasn't directed at her specifically, but it felt like Luz's energy had just been sapped away. This had been her only lead since she had lost the portal during the petrification, and Amity wasn't going to be the one to tell her no when she was so close. Besides, she had just evaded a master of Oracle magic. She knew they could get in and out. She smiled, showing her Staff card to Luz. "I never said I wasn't gonna help. My staff card should be able to open these doors." Amity looked her in the eye and pleaded. "But once we're inside, you have to listen to everything I say. If we're caught, I could lose my job."
Luz reached out, taking Amity's hand in hers as she grinned hopefully. "You won't lose your job. I promise."
Amity looked down at her pale hand entwined in Luz's, larger light brown hands and felt her blood run to her face. Her ears began to throb and her body felt warm. Slowly, she looked up at Luz, noticing a confusing expression on her face as well. Her grin faded, and she retracted her hands before clenching her fists at her sides nervously. "Well… let's not waste any time." If they could find the diary and get out again before her break was over, no one would be the wiser. She stepped away and touched her staff card to the door's lock, causing both to glow before they shook. The rumble echoed through the library, and a cloud of dust poured out as the doors slid open. The pair looked at each other and swallowed hard before stepping through the open archway, the stone slabs closing behind them.