Chapter 2
Amity went down to the basement. "Okay, not as messy as I thought it would be, which is good," she said before hearing something and turning fast, aiming her flashlight and getting ready to call up an Abomination. "Who's there?!" She asked sternly.
She thought she heard sniffling and followed it, looking behind some crates and gasping in shock at what she found. "Oh, my," she said in shock.
Before her were two little girls. One looked to be no older than six years with brown hair and green eyes. She was hiding behind a child who was slightly taller and had black hair with purple eyes. Amity guessed the taller child was a year older than the younger child. "Where did you two come from?" Amity asked, relaxing her stance to appear less threatening to the girls, who she noticed were looking at her in fear.
The two didn't say anything, but the young woman noticed the children's clothes were filthy, as if they hadn't been washed for a while. She also noticed they looked like they hadn't had a bath in a long time too. "Do you two have a home?" She asked gently.
The two shook their heads and Amity lifted her flashlight to see the area behind the boxes was like a small camp and there was even a box full of snacks.
Snacks she recognized had gone missing over the past month.
She chuckled. "I was wondering how we kept running out of snacks so fast," she said, realizing the two girls in front of her were homeless and no doubt hungry.
The youngest child tried to run and the other child followed, but Amity quickly called up two Abominations to catch the two girls. "Gentle now," she said firmly. "They're just kids."
The two Abominations held the children in inescapable hugs. "Let us go! Don't eat us, please!" The younger child pleaded.
Amity would have laughed if the child wasn't looking absolutely terrified. "Shh, hush now, mija," she soothed, gently brushing her hand over the child's head in comfort. "My partner and I don't eat children."
The older child looked at her in surprise. "But...I thought all witches ate children," she said.
"That's not true," Amity said soothingly. She knew some storybooks had some tales of witches, though some of them were not entirely correct, she saw they had served as warnings.
The young woman now accepted the youngest child from the Abomination. "Why don't we get you two upstairs and into a bath while I find you both some clean clothes?" She said.
The child in her arms looked up at her pensively. "W-Will we be brought back down here?" She asked.
"No," Amity said. "My partner and I will not make you two sleep in the basement. It's too cold down here for you two."
The other Abomination handed her the other child and the purple-haired woman smiled. "Come on, let's get upstairs," she said, carrying the two with ease.
Luz was in the living room putting up some decorations for Halloween as it was coming up soon when she heard footsteps. "Hey, Sweet Potato, should we put up the purple lights in here and the orange lights outside? Or should we do the orange lights in here and the purple ones outside?" She asked.
"I think purple on the inside and orange on the outside," Amity replied. "By the way, Luz, look who I found in the basement."
The brown-haired woman turned around and gasped as she saw the girls, noting they looked a bit unkempt and like they had been rolling around in the dirt. "Hi, sweeties. Where did you two come from?" She asked with a smile.
"They've been in our basement for the past month. They're actually the reason why we kept running out of snacks," the purple-haired woman said.
Luz froze as she heard that. "They've...been sleeping in the cold basement for how long?!" She exclaimed. "Oh, my word! Are you two okay? Are you hurt?"
She approached the children and gently took the youngest one in her arms. "Well, you seem to be in one piece," she said in relief before noticing how thin the child was. "But you're too thin."
Amity looked at the child in her arms. "How long have you two been homeless?" She asked.
The child looked afraid. "Please don't send us back," she said. "No one would pick us on adoption day."
"You two are from an orphanage?" Luz asked.
The child in her arms nodded. "We never got picked to be adopted though," she said. "They said our eyes were weird."
"What?!" Amity said. "But you two have such pretty eyes."
Luz nodded and looked at the older child. "Your eyes remind me of my Sweet Potato's hair," she said, pointing to Amity, who chuckled and looked at the child in Luz's arms.
"Your eyes remind me of my brother and sister's hair," she said.
The two children looked a bit stunned that the two women said something nice about their eyes. The older child looked worried. "What's going to happen to us?" She asked softly.
"Well first off, what are your names?" Luz asked.
"Mila," the child in her arms said. "I'm six." She held up six fingers.
"Solana," the older child said. "I'm seven."
Luz's eyes lit up at hearing their names and Amity smiled. "Luz?" She asked curiously.
"Oh, you two have beautiful names!" She said before looking at the purple-haired woman. "Mila means 'miracle' and Solana means 'sunshine'."
The children both looked a bit bashful now and Amity smiled. "Alright, how about that bath?" She said. "I'm sure you two want to get cleaned up."
"Let me go ask Mama if she still has some of my old clothes," Luz said, handing Mila back to her partner. "I'll be right back."
As Luz headed to her mother's house, Amity took the girls to the bathroom, putting two towels on the kitchen sink and laying down a bath mat. "Okay, you two wash up," she said. "I'll be right outside the door if you need me."
The girls looked pensive, but nodded. True to her word, Amity waited outside the door while the two girls got into the bath. One thing the orphanage director had made them do was share baths to conserve water. The tubs at the orphanage had been really small too.
This tub was bigger and the two girls were soon clean and wrapped up in towels. Solana opened the door and Amity smiled, seeing both girls come out wrapped in the towels. "How do you feel?" She asked.
"A lot better," Solana said.
"The tub is bigger than the other one," Mila said. "It was hard for us to fit in the other one."
Amity felt shock hit her as she realized what the child meant. "You mean, you two were made to share a bath?" She asked.
The two nodded and the purple-haired woman took a deep breath. "Okay," she said calmly. "Well, from now on, you don't have to take baths together. You are allowed to have privacy when taking a bath."
"But...what if we need help with something?" Solana asked.
The young woman nodded. "Then you can call on the other to help," she said.
Mila looked curious. "Can you help us with our hair?" She asked.
Amity nodded. "When Luz comes back with your clothes, then yes, I can help you with your hair," she said.
Luz soon returned with the clothes and the girls went into the bathroom, getting dressed before Amity placed a towel over Solana's shoulders and guided her to kneel by the tub, grabbing the showerhead and turning on the water to be warm. "Okay, I'll be quick," she promised.
True to her word, Solana's hair was soon washed and as Luz was brushing it for the child, Amity helped Mila with washing her hair, brushing it afterwards. Solana looked at Luz and looked anxious. "Thank you," she said softly.
"You're welcome, mija," Luz said with a smile, gently kissing the girl's forehead in affection. "Now, let's get you girls some dinner. My mama sent over some of her beef stew."
Amity noticed both girls perked up at the mention of food and she smiled. "I'm starving too," she said. "Let's go eat."
The two little ones were surprised when they were served large bowls of the soup. "This is for me?" Solana asked, stunned.
"And me?" Mila asked, her eyes hopeful.
"Yes," Luz said before looking concerned. "Is it too much? If you can't finish it, that's okay."
"No, it's just that...we've never gotten a full bowl before," Solana said.
"Only one scoop," Mila said, nodding.
Amity and Luz were stunned. "Oh, not in this house," Amity said. "You girls are getting full bowls and plates here."
"No one goes hungry here," Luz said with a nod. "Especially two growing little girls."
The two children were in disbelief and ate hungrily, to which Luz gave them second servings. Amity finished her soup and noticed it was nighttime, so she got the couch bed ready for the girls. "I'll have to ask Mom if her friend has a couple of beds," she said to herself.
Luz came in, carrying both girls. "They fell asleep," she said softly.
"Here, I made the bed up for them," Amity said, gesturing to it. "I'm going to ask Mom in the morning if her friend who gave us furniture has a couple beds to spare."
"Should we give them their own rooms?" Luz asked as she set both girls down on the bed and she and Amity tucked them in. "It sounds like they've always shared a room, but I think they might like having their own space."
"We do have those spare rooms we were wondering what to do with," her partner said.
The brown-haired woman smiled. "Are we going to adopt them?" She asked.
The purple-haired woman smiled. "I thought that was obvious," she said teasingly before looking serious. "They need a home. I don't want them to feel...like they don't deserve a home or parents."
Luz hugged her. "I know, Sweet Potato," she said, smiling. "We'll give them all the love they deserve. Mama was thrilled to hear about the girls and called them her granddaughters right away."
That filled Amity with relief, then again, she knew Camilla had a soft spot for kids, as she proved when they all ended up on Earth after escaping Belos all that time ago and Camilla had taken them all in, treating them all like her kids. "She'll be a fantastic grandmother," she said. "I know Dad will be happy to be a grandpa."
Luz smiled and nodded. "I'll make some calls in the morning about getting the girls adopted," she said. "Hopefully the adoption will be granted."
Amity nodded as they left the two little girls to sleep peacefully, going to bed themselves to be ready for the next day.
Looks like two little ones have joined the family. :)
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GoldGuardian2418