Dear Diary,

Sorry I haven't written for a while. Wait, why am I apologizing?

Anyways, I've been busy studying non-stop for the past few days. I had a big exam on the life cycle of common swamp toads for my beastkeeping class. I don't know why I had to take this stupid class, it's way off my track and I have no interest in it whatsoever. I earned an A on it, as per usual, but the class still sucks. Just because I hate it doesn't mean I won't still try to look good.

On top of my school-mandated studying, my parents heard about the little fight that Luz and I had over the weekend, and they made me study how to identify and disarm magic traps like the ones Eda set. Mom was almost proud of me wanting to stomp out the competition, until she heard that I almost won by default ("For a Blight, default is last place. It's first or nothing!", she told me). She became enraged when she heard what Lillith did, though. She almost pulled out of the Emperor's Coven's deal with her business, but soon realized how much they did for us (meaning, how much money they brought her and dad). In the end, she made Lillith apologize to me for making me look dumb in front of everyone. I don't know how she did it, but that's probably for the best. I know mom has her own way of doing things, and she can be very "persuasive". She usually gets whatever she wants, come hell or high water.

Lillith did apologize, but she brought something up about her wanting to get back at Eda for something and bring her into her Coven. So, a stupid sibling squabble is what made me potentially lose my future? That pissed me off to no end. Maybe Luz was right, she didn't know what was going on either. But, Lillith did tell me that she would put in a good word for me with Emperor Belos, so maybe there still is a chance of me getting in.

Because of my studying, my parents almost made me cancel my moonlight conjuring plans with Cat, Amelia, Boscha and Skara. But, I was able to convince them that doing this with them would both give me an opportunity to strengthen my skills and show them why I'm the HWIC (that is, Head Witch In Charge). So, with their okay, I invited them to an exclusive moonlight conjuring at the Manor. This meant no dorks allowed, and a night free of Luz the walking calamity, half-a-witch Willow, and their little illusion coven friend. I thought it would be a quiet yet fun evening, but Titan was I wrong...

The afternoon of the conjuring, I actually saw them in the market. Luz was with Eda and King at Morton's potion stand, and I saw Willow and her other friend walk up to them. They seemed upset, and I knew why. I overheard them talking about how they weren't invited to my party. Boscha must have overheard them too, she told Willow that only "real" witches were allowed. I told Boscha to leave her alone, and said it wasn't her fault that she was born without talent.

You know, I felt kinda bad seeing her get picked on by my friends. And for picking on her myself. She has talent within her, I saw it the day she snuck Luz into Hexisde. She was conjuring some pretty powerful plants, she even sent a huge vine system through the foyer of the school. At times, my abominations and I couldn't keep up with the sheer magnitude and speed she was dealing her blows with. Maybe her new track will end up being better for her after all. I know I underestimate her sometimes, but I can't help it. I have to save face with Boscha, as well as the rest of the crew, lest they catch me slacking and do the same thing to me. I couldn't imagine how my social cred would drop at school if they did that. I would be nothing, just another student. Do I really want that?

I also heard Willow talking about finally having enough friends to have a midnight conjuring. She's never hosted or been to one, but we both know that she almost got to once. We were supposed to have one the night of my birthday party, the one my parents sent her home from. Rather, made *me* send her home from. It was like seven years ago, but I still feel terrible about what happened that day.

Okay, this stays between us, but I wish Willow and I were still friends. She was my best friend, and I really miss having her in my life. Willow was actually nice to me, and we always supported each other no matter what. She wasn't my friend for the benefit of someone else either. She was my friend simply for me. I know it's all my parents' faults, but I still feel guilty for not sticking up for her. But I was a kid, afraid of what mom and dad would do to me, or worse, to her and her family. They even threatened to block her from being admitted into Hexisde if I didn't drop her as my friend. I couldn't say anything to help her, I'm still not sure if I can. Mom would fight back, and dad wouldn't care, if he even heard me talking to him at all.

Okay, that got a little too sappy, lets get back to the moonlight conjuring.

Night finally fell in Bonesborough, and my "friends" started arriving at my house. Excitedly, we all ran up to my bedroom and started our routine of snacks, Penstagram, and gossiping about our classmates. Apparently, Jerbo from the detention track has a crush on Viney, one of the girls in his track. Honestly, I wish I knew what that felt like, to have someone else like me in that way. I've had my fair share of crushes, but I was afraid to bring them home out of fear that either my parents wouldn't deem them worthy enough of my attention or that Edric and Emira would embarrass me in front of them.

Once we ran out of stuff to gossip about, and when the moon was high enough in the sky, I declared it was time to begin our conjuring. The five of us sat in a circle in the corner of my room, and placed my prized Otabin plushie in the middle of us. We had all memorized the short incantation, and we began chanting. We tried our spell once, and to our surprise, nothing happened! We agreed that maybe we weren't focused enough, so we tried it again. And again. And again. Sadly, it never worked, so we decided to give up and just go back onto Penstagram.

I quickly grew bored of staring at my scroll, so I decided to go look out of the window and just reflect on my week. While looking out at the Boiling Sea, the sun started to come up, casting its beautiful first light over the waves crashing on the shore. I began to think about how crazy that night was, and where we might have gone wrong when we were trying to animate Otabin. I also wondered what could have happened if I had went to a conjuring with Willow. I was deep in thought when I swore I saw something moving outside, far away in the woods that surrounded the manor and the sea. It looked kinda like the tail end of a building, but I couldn't be too sure. I summed it up to my mind playing tricks on me, it was tired and so was I. The five of us had just stayed up all night, fueled by determination, adrenaline, and a *lot* of sugar.

While I was once again entranced in my thoughts, Boscha let out a loud gasp, and I walked over to see what was up. She held out her scroll and showed me a few pictures that had shown up on her feed. I knew I saw something out there! It was a building! But not just any building, it was walking freely through the forest, and riding on top of it were none other than Luz, Willow, and their other friend.

My. Jaw. Dropped.

How did they manage to do that?! With only two of them having magical abilities, their energy couldn't have been that strong, right? How did they manage to do that with two witches, when we couldn't even manage to move a toy with the powers of five? Maybe Eda helped them with some of her wild magic. I don't know what she's capable of, since it doesn't seem like she has been marked with any specific coven's sigil.

You know, maybe I should start talking with Eda, Willow, and even Luz. Maybe they could help make me a stronger witch, and teach me some techniques that I would never learn at school. Oh what am I saying? Mom and dad would disown me from the family! No, they'd laugh in my face, get me excommunicated from the abomination coven before I even join it, then disown me. Oh well, I'll find a way to sneak around them and see what happens. I'll go ask Ed and Em how they're so sneaky and can keep things away from mom and dad so easily. Let's see what they say!

Shocked and skeptical,

Amity