Part 2 - One step forward, two steps back
Amity entered through the front gates of the manor and walked up the path to the front doors. As she reached them, she slowed to a stop, reluctant to go any further. There had been plenty of occasions where she had been hesitant to return home before, but this was on an entirely different level. She could already sense her mother's anger from the other side of the femurian dreadwood. A little voice in her head was telling her to just hurry up and get it over with, but she was far too apprehensive.
Eventually her reasoning won out over her feeling of dread and Amity reached for the door handle. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she turned it and opened the door. There wasn't anyone in sight as she stepped across the threshold. But as she closed the door, she could hear someone's rapidly approaching footsteps and soon saw the intimidating form of her mother advancing on her.
"Amity Blight! You are in a world of trouble, young lady! To the parlor, NOW!"
The shrill, angry tone of her mother's voice made Amity wince. She had seen her angry plenty of times, but this time was significantly worse. Keeping her head down, Amity quietly made her way to the manor's parlor. The room was spacious, with a large bay window that gave a view of the vast back yard. Pieces of lavish, antique furniture sat facing the window, a gramophone standing in the corner beside a tall shelf with numerous vinyl records categorized by their genre of music and titles. The room was meant to be a place to entertain company or to unwind after a long day in a relaxing atmosphere.
That was a luxury which Amity was certain she would not be permitted. The only reason she could imagine her mother wanted her in there was so she could scold her while in the comfort of her favorite armchair. Something which could only mean that Amity was in store for a very long lecture before being given her punishment.
Amity went to stand in the middle of the room, keeping her hands folded in front of her and her eyes toward the floor. Her mother strutted past her and as expected, seated herself in the armchair nearest the gramophone. She crossed one leg over the other and pointed at the spot directly in front of her. Amity walked closer and knelt on the floor, familiar with how things were meant to go. She had seen her siblings be scolded like this before. It was meant to be humbling for the one being scolded, or more accurately for their mother to enjoy a little power trip.
"Look at me, young lady." Odalia ordered. "And please explain just what in the world you were thinking this morning."
"I… I wasn't thinking." Amity admitted. "My actions were completely impulsive."
"Unacceptable!" Her mother barked. "You are far too smart to be making such irresponsible, as well as irrational, choices! And I suppose you hadn't thought of the consequences of your actions had you not managed to keep yourself from hitting the ground. Do you think Mama would want to see your broken body lying in the yard?"
"No…" Amity answered, mildly surprised by the concern.
"Well, I can tell you right now that would be the last thing I'd want. What would I even tell the Healing Coven when I called them? That I let my child leap from her bedroom window? Can you even begin to imagine the bad publicity that would cause for our family business?"
There it was. Amity had almost believed that her mother was purely concerned for her safety. But true to her nature, Odalia Blight thought about Blight Industries first, her children second. It was more than enough to make Amity's feeling of resentment for her mother rise. She kept it hidden however as she knew she couldn't risk giving her mother any reason to increase the severity of her punishment. Especially not with her need to get the permission slip signed so she could check out a book from the Forbidden Stacks. There were no doubts in her mind that her mother would quickly use that as leverage, so she needed to proceed through this ordeal carefully.
"Mom, I know I upset you. But I was only acting that way because I was upset myself." Amity explained. "This morning, I was trying to avoid you and when you saw me about to go out the window… I guess I just…"
"You guess?" Odalia interrupted. "Mittens, my dear, a Blight does not guess. That's the sort of thing a fool does, and you are no fool. I don't appreciate you trying to make up such half-hearted excuses. Tell me the truth."
Amity inhaled slowly through her nose and exhaled out of her mouth. This was going to be the tricky part. The truth would undoubtedly fuel the fire of her mother's anger if she didn't word it carefully. Fortunately, she had thought this over while she was at work and had prepared a way to say it that would hopefully appease the strict woman.
"I don't like how you need to control me so much." She finally said. "I'm coming of age; I cannot be letting my mother continue to make all my decisions for me. It makes me feel, and most likely look, like I'm still dependent on you. I need to be allowed to start doing things my way, otherwise I'll never feel like I'll truly be successful in life."
"Go on…" Odalia said, a trace of interest in her voice.
"Look at Dad." Amity continued. "What if he never branched off from traditional abomination magic and just learned the same things all the other members of the Abomination Coven did? Blight Industries wouldn't even exist. Our family is where it is today because he found something knew he could do with his abominations and made something amazing from all the hard work that it required. That's what I want to do with my studies, find something new that I can do with my magic and make a name for myself. I want to create or discover something that will secure my chance to join the Emperor's Coven."
Odalia's brow rose in surprise and Amity had to try hard not to smirk. She knew that mentioning the Emperor's Coven as a part of her incentives would catch her mother's attention. While she had been on board with the idea since a young age, it had been mainly her mother's goal ever since Amity's magic had begun manifesting. Amity had developed reservations about the idea of joining them now, but that little detail would be something she'd keep to herself.
"Well, I can't say that I'm not still disappointed with you, Amity. However, I am quite intrigued by this. Have you found anything that you can do with your studies to advance your abomination magic?"
"Not as of yet, but I'm hoping to begin planning out something soon. Today I saw some books at the library which could be useful. If I may, I'd like your permission to have some additional study time after I finish my shift tomorrow."
A scowl appeared on Odalia's face. She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, glowering over her daughter. Amity looked down to the floor again, knowing she had made a fatal error. Her mother placed a finger beneath her chin and tilted her head up to make eye contact with her again.
"Absolutely not. You are grounded, young lady. The fact that you stayed late today without even mentioning it to myself or your father violated that punishment and I am very unhappy about it. I will not permit you to leave your room without someone keeping an eye on you until further notice. You will do all of your studying in your room and that is final. Am I clear?"
"Yes, very clear." Amity said softly. "I'm sorry."
"I'm not entirely sure that I believe you, Amity." Odalia said. "I want you to repeat after me: I'm sorry I was a bad girl, Mama. It won't happen again."
"I'm sorry I was a bad girl, Mama. It won't happen again." Amity repeated, struggling to keep a bitterness out of her voice.
"Please, Mittens, that wasn't even the slightest bit convincing. Try saying it again."
"I'm sorry I was a bad girl, Mama. It won't happen again."
"Once more and try to sound sincere this time, would you?" Odalia requested, almost mockingly.
Amity recited the apology over and over and over. Her mother never seemed satisfied and kept insisting she repeat herself. After having had to say it so many times, Amity began to feel her self-esteem degrading. Eventually her voice became meek, downright pitiful in fact. It was only at this point that Odalia was finally convinced and stood back up.
"Much better. Now, you will go up to your room and get to work. Your father and I took the liberty of arranging some extra credit assignments for you. If you do not finish them before you go to bed, then there will be even more for you to do in the morning." She stated, walking past Amity towards the door. "Also, you'll be going without supper tonight. Let that teach you to stay out late without notifying me first."
Odalia left the room, very pleased with herself. Amity stayed in place for a while longer, waiting until her mother had enough time to get a good distance from the parlor before rising to her feet. The urge to scream rose up and Amity struggled to suppress it, not wanting to give her mother reason to add to her punishment. She began taking deep breaths, her body trembling with each one.
Amity left the parlor and rushed up to her room. Her anger had yet to subside and she desperately wanted to try and vent the rest of it as quickly as possible. She practically slammed the door open on her way in, throwing herself onto her bed and grabbing her pillow. After burying her face into it and letting her ire flow out for the better part of a minute, Amity rolled onto her backside and let out a heavy sigh.
Minutes passed by, Amity staring at the ceiling and trying to find the motivation to get up. She knew that the extra work her mother had oh so generously gotten assigned to her could not be left to sit. Odds were that at any given moment she could expect to be checked in on by someone to make sure she was doing as she had been told.
Letting out another sigh and getting off her bed, Amity went to her desk where a stack of books had been placed for her. She got her notebook and pen out from her bag and sat down. Picking up the first book on the stack, Advanced Thaumaturgy, she set to work. Despite her dislike on having been given so much, she wasn't going to argue about the material she was getting to cover. At least it wouldn't be boring to get through it all in one night.
The sound of her pen scratching on the pages of her notebook, accompanied with the occasional turning of a page, was all Amity heard for a good while. Eventually she moved onto the next book in the stack, her history textbook. She switched to a different notebook and resumed her studies. This one took a bit more time for her as she had been putting off the subject for a little while. Although she had been ahead by a couple chapters, so it wasn't as though she had fallen behind. Her mother just preferred that she be ahead of the curriculum when possible.
By the time Amity moved onto her third book, a knock sounded at the door. Considering that her mother and her siblings always just let themselves in, Amity deduced it had to be her father. She set down her pen and went to open the door, finding him waiting on the other side with a tray in his hands. Amity was pleasantly surprised to find that there was food on the tray. It wasn't anything special, just a sandwich, an apple blood box, and a bag of scorn chips on the side.
"I thought I was supposed to go without any dinner tonight." Amity said, looking up to meet her father's eyes.
"Well, I spoke with your mother about that. She didn't change her mind, but I couldn't bring myself to go along with denying you dinner." Alador explained. "You won't be able to focus too well if you're hungry. You're very much like me that way."
He held out the tray to her, Amity more than happy to accept, thanking him as she took it in her hands. She always worked up a bit of an appetite when she studied and was only just realizing how hungry she was at the moment. Clearing a little space on her desk for the tray, she sat back down and took a bite from her sandwich. It was clearly made with some leftovers from their dinner the other night, but Amity wouldn't complain. The roasted chickalisk was just as delicious after being reheated, especially with the additions of shredded lettuce and sliced tomatoes.
While she enjoyed her food, Alador took note of the progress she had made with her assignments. He wasn't surprised to see that Amity was already working on her mathematics. If anything, he was pleased that she had bothered with starting on the workload at all. Given her recent changes in behavior, he was beginning to become concerned that she was going to follow in her older siblings' footsteps and shirk her studies. It was an immense relief to see that wasn't the case, at least not yet.
"Your mother mentioned that you said you plan to start your own, more independent studies in abomination magic?" He asked.
Amity swallowed her current bite of food and nodded. "Yes, I feel like I'm ready to start looking into just what I could do as I continue to develop my skills. But I'm not sure just what to do yet. I was hoping to do some research to start figuring out my options."
"Just remember, if you ever want advice, you can join me my workshop." Alador told her. "If it's for your studies, I'm sure you mother will make an exception to your punishment. At least for a short while."
"Really?" Amity asked, astonished by the offer. Her father almost never allowed anyone to bother him while he was working, her mother being the only exception. "You would let me work with you?"
"I'd allow you to observe me while I work and to read through my notes." Alador clarified. "We can discuss the idea further in the morning. I'll let you get back to your assignments for now."
He took his leave, allowing Amity to finish her meal and return to her work. With something in her stomach, she was able to get back into her mathematics with renewed energy. It didn't take very long for her to wrap that up and get ready to tackle the next subject. But as she reached for the book she was reading for Common Literature, Amity paused as something occurred to her.
A window of opportunity had just opened for her. If anyone else were to check in on her, it wouldn't be for a while yet. This would be a great chance to start practicing the new spells she had intended to learn. She retrieved the instructions that she had gotten from Gus and looked them over. From what he had written down for her, it seemed like the key to any illusion spell was the ability to envision the illusion clearly in your mind.
Amity took a moment to consider what she could create for her first attempt at an illusion spell. She picked out an item she had in front of her for a reference, her bag of scorn chips. It was small and the packaging wasn't anything that would be difficult to replicate so it seemed like a good option. Amity focused on the bag and drew a magic circle. A second bag appeared by the first and Amity smiled a little at her success. But then she noticed that she had made a mistake as the bag she had created was lacking the logo and other tidbits of information that were usually on the front.
After dispelling the illusion, Amity studied the bag more closely and tried again. Her next try had better results, but she still hadn't gotten all the little details, this time missing the ones on the backside of the bag. But she considered it good enough to give herself a pass and then decided to try simpler things as she continued to practice the spell.
For the next several minutes, Amity conjured an empty bowl. Then she created illusions of candied eyeballs inside of it, but found difficulty in trying to do many at once. She also made an illusion of a flower, another of a shushroom. After a moment's thought, she created a tiny abomination, no taller than a pixie. With a twirl of her finger, she gave the abomination a bow tie and top hat. The sight of the dapper little golem made her smirk and she couldn't help but think of how Luz would love the sight as well.
The thought of the human quickly occupied her mind. Amity found herself longing to see Luz, to talk with her and just forget about everything awful in her life. Her eyes went to the remaining schoolwork on her desk and she let out a sad sigh. There was just no way she could bring herself to complete all of it in one sitting. She needed a break, even if only a few minutes.
Setting her book aside, Amity opened a drawer and took out her sketchbook instead. She set it down and flipped it open to a blank page, getting out her colored pencils next. Closing her eyes, she let her mind return to Luz, a tiny smile and heavy blush gracing her features. In the span of a few seconds, she had the inspirations he needed to put pencil to paper and begin creating her newest drawing.
It was amazingly easy for her to draw Luz from memory. And therapeutic too, the simple motion of tracing the features of Luz's face helping Amity forget about her frustrations. She smiled serenely as her pencil moved over the paper, a happy sigh escaping her lips.
Little by little, the drawing became more detailed. Amity impressed herself a little with how much she made it look like the real deal. She had captured the life in Luz's eyes, the unique style of her human clothing and even the errant strands of hair on Luz's head. As a finishing touch, Amity drew a large heart around the image of Luz and then finished it up with her signature.
Amity took some time to admire her work, letting out a dreamy sigh. Then she set her drawing to the side and returned to her assignments. She picked up the copy of "Death of a Salesdemon" her class was reading and continued from where they had left off the day before. Her plan was to just get through another two chapters and make some notes about them for class.
The reading sadly went by too quickly for Amity. It was so relaxing to just get to enjoy a good book that she hated having to put it down. It wasn't as engaging a read as "Lord of the Fire Bees" but she liked it far more than "The Old Witch and the Boiling Sea". That one had been well written, but just didn't hold her attention the way her current reading did.
With reluctance, she set the bookmark into place and moved on to her Advanced Abomination Magic textbook. She discovered a note had been left inside, right on the next chapter she was supposed to work through. A tiny frown came to her face as she read it, finding it in Professor Hermonculus's handwriting.
He expected her to not only read through the next chapter of the textbook, but to think up personalized pop quizzes for the all her classmates. On top of that, she also needed to do a presentation on the magic behind perfectly synchronizing your movements with your abominations and her partner for that was Diodon, the worst student on the track since Willow had started learning plant magic at school.
Unable to contain her frustration, Amity groaned and buried her face in her hands. She regretted doing her reading for Common Lit so soon. Had she known the headache awaiting her from Professor Hermonculus, she'd have waited to read her book until afterwards. So that she could unwind at the end of her long list of homework assignments.
With a heavy sigh, Amity set to work. She put off reading the next chapter in the textbook so she could focus on planning out the presentation. Getting that started was in her best interest as she'd need to plan out how to get Diodon to catch up enough to achieve the level of mastery required. It had been an arduous task for her to synchronize her abomination's movements with her own, taking her weeks of study and practice. If she recreated how she had done that, she believed she could make it easy for Diodon to learn the same way.
For the next two hours, Amity went through her notes on abomination manipulation. She went back as far as the beginning of the semester, taking any little thing that seemed of benefit into account. After double checking to ensure she found everything she could use, she moved on to organizing it all into an outline. Amity finishing it up by making notes in the margins of her notebook for which parts of the presentation to have handled by Diodon when the time came.
Amity took a minute to review her work and then sat back, satisfied yet drained. She planned to move onto preparing the quizzes for her classmates next. That would be a welcome change of pace, albeit a very tedious one.
When she got back to work, she allowed herself a little time to think up how she could personalize the pop quizzes. She came with an approach where she thought up as many different questions as she could, listing them all on a blank page in her notebook. Then she started to decide which questions would be best suited for each quiz, trying to avoid using the same one more than once.
She finished the quizzes nice and quick, stacking them neatly on her desk. It had proven to be a more taxing task than expected and she let out a small yawn. A peek over at her window showed it was already dark outside, the moon creeping up over the horizon.
"It's gotten this late already?" She wondered aloud, stretching her arms upwards. "I can't believe how long that took me to do. I don't think I'd want to be a teacher."
"Good, because I'd never allow it."
The sudden sound of her mother's voice startled Amity. She turned to face the door to her room, finding Odalia letting herself inside. Amity returned her attention to her desk, realizing she still had the tray her father had brought in earlier, as well as her drawing of Luz. If her mother saw either of those, let alone both of them…
Knowing it would be too obvious if she used her magic on the tray, Amity had to accept she'd be caught defying her mother's 'no dinner' constraint. Instead, she tried to subtly cast an illusion spell on her drawing of Luz to at least keep her mother from seeing that and piecing together that Amity had feelings for the human.
Odalia reached Amity's side, her eyes locking onto the tray with the plate and empty bag of scorn chips. Her brow furrowed in annoyance and she put her hands on her hips, clucking her tongue. Amity felt the disapproving glare from her mother and pretended to still be doing her assignments.
"Yes, I know I wasn't supposed to eat anything for dinner. But I can only focus so well if my stomach is growling."
"Excuses." Odalia stated condescendingly. "Honestly, I shouldn't be surprised that your father went easy on you. He really isn't cut out for discipline. I'll have a word with him after I'm done speaking with you. Are you at least nearly done with your school work?"
"Yes, Mom." Amity replied, struggling not to sound spiteful. "After this, I only need to read my textbook for Advanced Abominations class."
"Well, look at that. You can do what is expected of you. If only you hadn't wasted time by breaking my rules and eating, you could have been finished by now. Keep that in mind from now on. And what is this?"
She reached down to grab the paper on which Amity had done her drawing of Luz. Only now the drawing was disguised with an illusion, one of a message in Amity's handwriting. A message for herself which read: You are a Blight; you can always do better.
"It's for self-motivation." Amity said simply, continuing to pretend she was studying. "With all the work I had to do, it felt appropriate."
"Please, Mittens, dear…" Odalia sighed, crumpling the paper up and dropping it into the little wastebin by Amity's desk. "If you need anything as sorry as that to inspire yourself, you really have fallen behind. But I suppose I can let it pass considering you've managed to do what I asked of you. At least for the most part. Finish up your assignments and then go to bed. And there is to be no reading for fun or anything like that, you are going to sleep early. Understood?"
"Yes, I understand. I'm fine with that. I want to be up early for school tomorrow."
Odalia let out a half-hearted laugh. "And just what makes you think I'll allow that? You are being punished, young lady."
"But I have to go." Amity calmly replied. "I need to bring Professor Hermonculus the quizzes I prepared for him and I really should begin working with Diodon on our presentation together. It would be shameful of me to not work together with my partner, after all. Of course, I intend to make efforts with developing my plans for the independent study I mentioned earlier."
"Is that so? Go on, I'm listening…"
"When I see Professor Hermonculus tomorrow, I want to discuss possible options which I can look into for my study. Maybe he can tell me about how Dad made his choice back when he was a student. And of course, I can conduct more research while at the library, where I plan to begin tutoring other students for extra credit. It will also improve my standing with Malphas, who says I could be given a rare opportunity."
"And what exactly does that mean?" Odalia queried, stepping closer to Amity. "What sort of rare opportunity could a library offer to you, a Blight?"
"Malphas has told me that if I continue with the excellent work I have been doing, that I could be allowed to borrow a book from the Forbidden Stacks."
Amity saw her mother's eyes widen in surprise. It was just the sort of reaction she had been hoping for, piquing her mother's interest so she could grant herself some leverage. She kept an impassive expression on her face, something she had learned to do over the years, and waited to see if Odalia would say anything in response. The gears in the woman's head were clearly turning, with who knew what sort of ideas coming to mind. But she kept quiet and only stared expectantly at Amity, wanting more details.
"I can't say for certain what I may find in there. But I should be able to find something of use for my education. Something to truly make my magic unique among the others studying abomination magic, not only at Hexside, but across the whole island."
"Something which could make you stand out at coven tryouts." Odalia noted softly, the tiniest of smiles then coming to her face. "Amity, that is wonderful! To think that you would find a chance to realize your potential in that musty old building! And to think I doubted you'd get anything worthwhile out of all the time you spend there. I am slightly less disappointed with you."
Odalia made her way to the door, stopping just at the threshold. "This is what I expect of you, Mittens. Do your reading and get right into bed. You'll need your rest for school tomorrow."
She left, closing the door behind her. Amity sat quietly at her desk, waiting until she was certain that her mother had gotten far enough away that she would be out of earshot. Then she got up and stepped away from her seat to hop and silently cheer to herself. It was a small victory, but it was more than she had ever gotten in the past.
Feeling substantially more upbeat, Amity closed her textbook and went to her bed. She paused and quickly dug into the wastebin for the paper Odalia had crumpled up. After smoothing it out as best she could, Amity undid the illusion and changed it back to her drawing of Luz.
Climbing into her bed, Amity made herself comfortable and just stared at her drawing for a short while. Then she levitated her little keepsake box over from the top of her dresser. She opened it and placed the drawing of Luz in beside her Grom tiara and photos, then levitating the box back over. Her gaze went over to her bedroom window, a tiny scowl forming when she saw the bars that had been installed while she was at work.
"Oh, right. Almost forgot about that." She muttered bitterly to herself before letting out a sigh. "Guess that is never opening again."
Turning over in her bed, Amity closed her eyes for some well-earned rest. After such an eventful day, sleep came to her easily, albeit without any dreams. When she next opened her eyes, she felt as though she had only been resting for a minute or so. She noticed she had been sleeping on top of the comforter and took a moment to nestle herself beneath it instead before trying for a little more rest.
Amity wasn't sure how much longer she slept after that, if at all. There was a sudden ringing noise. It was shrill and loud, jarring Amity wide awake. She let out a cry and wound up falling from her bed with a grunt, tangled in her comforter on the floor.
The ringing continued, from where Amity had no idea. She struggled to get out from her comforter, managing to get her legs out first and wriggling backwards. When she finally pulled her head out, she had wound up making an absolute mess of her hair. Then she finally found the source of the noise; an abomination with some sort of speaker built into its face, where the mouth would normally be, along with some other mechanical components in the torso. Standing beside it was her mother, who was looking down at her condescendingly.
"How graceful." She dryly commented. "And did you really go to sleep without changing your clothes first? You're starting to get lazy, like your father. Your hair is even looking like his."
Odalia knelt and started running her fingers through Amity's hair, not bothering to be gentle. Amity grimaced and shoved away from her mother, taking over fixing her hair herself. She smoothed it out as best she could, but knew some of the bedhead was persisting due to the judgmental look in Odalia's eyes.
"May I ask what that is about?" Amity inquired, pointing to the abomination. "Please tell me that thing isn't going to be following me around today."
"Good news, it won't." Odalia replied. "This prototype hasn't been announced yet, so we're keeping it under wraps for the time being. You'll be helping us test how effective it is until we feel it's ready to go public. And you've already inspired me with a few new ideas for features. The alarm is one, as for the other… well, I want it to be a surprise. Mittens, try to manipulate it, even just a little bit."
"Why? What is going to happen?"
"If everything goes as planned, then you'll fail. Now try."
Amity hesitated a moment longer, her common sense telling her that it was a terrible idea. Knowing her mother however, there would be severe repercussions for not doing as told and Amity was left trying to guess which option was the lesser of two evils. And when she considered that she needed to stay on her mother's good side for the foreseeable future… Amity reluctantly went with obeying the order.
She drew a spell circle with each hand, focusing on the abomination. Nothing seemed off at first, she could feel her will seizing control of the construct. But that lasted barely a second before the connection was severed severely.
It sounded like something snapped at first, then an intense pain filled Amity's head. The pain was so terrible she couldn't even scream and simply sank to her knees, clutching her head with both hands. She then fell onto her side as the pain persisted, finally beginning to fade seconds later.
Slowly and shakily, Amity sat up. Her head still ached mildly, but it was a vast improvement over the head splitting nightmare she had just endured. She felt someone grab her by the arms and pull her up to her feet, her face bumping into the cold metal of the abomination's chest plate. A startled cry escaped her and she freed herself from its grasp, backing away quickly.
"Honestly, Mittens, there's no need to be so dramatic." Odalia chided. "As long as you don't cause trouble, your new babysitter will leave you be."
"You cannot be serious!" Amity snapped, sounding as scared as she did angry. "That was unbearable! You cannot let that thing hurt me like that!"
"It only happened because you tried to manipulate it, dear. And it will do it again, if you ever try to tamper with it in any way. So be a smart girl and don't. Now behave yourself for Titan's sake and go get ready for school. And be sure to wear this as well."
Odalia pulled something out of her pocket. It was something which Amity recognized and loathed. An anima stone, an enchanted gem which allowed the wearer to be contacted via a mental link. Her mother had made her wear one before, resulting in her hearing her mother's voice in her subconscious whenever the woman felt like making contact. The very idea of having to wear one again made infuriated her beyond words. But… she knew she had to comply.
Without a word in response, Amity accepted the cursed thing from her mother and reluctantly put it on. She let her head hang after that, unable to keep herself from grimacing. There was nothing she wanted to do more than to just take the darn thing off and crush it under the heel of her foot out of spite. It was very difficult for her to resist such temptation in the moment.
"There, that looks so nice." Odalia commented. "Now let's see if it works properly."
She reached up to her own pendant, gently clasping it in her hand. The gem around her neck glowed as Odalia channeled her magic into it, connecting to Amity's. There was an unpleasantly familiar feeling, almost like an itch in the back of Amity's head as her mother's voice sounded within.
'Can you hear me clearly, Mittens?'
"Yes ma'am. I can hear you."
"Good. Now let's see if the feature I had added works too. Tell me, did you really finish all of your assignments last night?"
"No, I skipped reading my abomination text book." Amity answered immediately.
Amity gasped and clapped both hands over her mouth. She hadn't intended to say that, her mouth had just moved on its own. There was no question as to why, the smug look on her mother's face told Amity exactly what had happened.
"That's an honest girl." Odalia remarked. "A pity I had to resort to this just because you cannot be trusted. And there will be consequences for procrastinating your homework, young lady. I'll be sure to discuss it with your teacher once we get you to school. Now hurry along, unless you'd rather stay home instead."
Odalia turned and left, leaving Amity alone with the new abomination. She went to her bed, collapsing onto it and grabbing her pillow. Pressing it to her face, Amity let out a loud, frustrated groan, kicking her legs until she finished. Her mood only grew worse when the abomination stepped over and lifted her up, setting her onto her feet again. And then, her mother's voice sounded over the speaker in its face.
'Enough fooling around. Your mother gave you an order.'
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me." Amity griped. "Did she really record herself so she could tell me what to do even when she's not around?!"
'No squabbling, young lady. Now do as you're told.'
"Fine! I'll get ready!" Amity exclaimed, storming over to her dresser. "Stupid thing."
'Mind your tone.'
Amity gritted her teeth and held back another groan. The new abomination was grating on her last nerve and it took all her self-control not to lash out. She took a deep breath and began picking out a change of clothing for the day, turning to look at her unwanted guest.
"You're going to follow me all over the manor, aren't you? Well, you are staying outside the bathroom while I shower and get dressed. I can have that much, right?"
'Of course. You are still a lady, after all. Just don't take longer than necessary.'
The abomination went to her bedroom door, waiting beside it for Amity. She left her room, making her way down the hall with the abomination one step right behind her all the way to the bathroom. Amity felt a small wave of relief when she stepped in and shut the door, finally separating herself from her follower. As she went to start the shower, a heavy sigh escaped her. Something told her that the rude awakening she had just gotten was the start of a very long day.
End of part 2.
A/N: Just wanted to apologize for the horrendously long wait on this story's update. Between being caught off guard with how things went in season 2 and just being distracted by far too many new ideas popping into my head, I just never got far with it until recently. This story will remain top of my list, just like Strange Alliances. But like Strange Alliances, I will most likely not be updating it as quickly as I'd like. Be sure to keep an eye on my profile for notice one when the next update is coming alongside my other in progress stories.