— a day, night, and morning in the life of Amity Blight.

Amity spent a lot of time with Bria after that night. There was a whole side to the Boiling Isles Amity had never even heard about and Bria was like her personal tour guide. Seedy hangouts and back alley deals — it was like an underworld buffet. One night, Bria took her to a ratworm fighting ring. It was more gruesome than Amity had hoped. Most importantly though, she didn't have to spend any time at the house with her mother. She hadn't used the power glyph yet, but she always kept it in her pocket.

Today, Bria hadn't come around the house yet, so Amity sat on the lanai — doodling in her sketchbook — Ghost sleeping beside her. On her current page, she worked on a sketch of Luz. She started with her face, then realized she had most of the page left. She began to draw the body and as the image came out, it grew more sensual, until Amity was red in the face over her rendition. Suddenly, Emira stood behind her.

"Whatcha doin?" she said.

"Eek!" Amity slammed the sketchbook into her chest.

"No, don't put it away!" Emira smirked. "That looked spicy."

Amity glowered at her, then laid across the recamier she was sitting on. "Hey, Em," she said.

"You know, I miss her too," said Em.

"Luz?" said Amity.

"Yeah!" Em continued. "This town isn't the same without that little goofball running around causing chaos."

Amity realized in all her time avoiding her mother, she hadn't really spent time with the rest of her family. "What have you been up to?" she asked.

"Why so curious all of the sudden?" Emira grinned.

Amity shrugged. "You're my sister. I care about you."

Emira sighed. "Not much, really. Studying."

"You, studying?" Amity raised an eyebrow. "I'd expect Ed to be in his room hitting the books over a break, but you? I figured you'd say goblin tipping or something."

"I'm really hoping Bump will let me retake the placement exam for the advanced healing classes after the break," Emira said. "I want to get that experience under my belt before I graduate."

"I guess it is your last year, huh," said Amity.

Emira smiled again. "It's like you said: everything's changing." Amity's face fell. Then she sat up and hugged her sister over the back of the couch. "What's this for?" asked Emira.

"Nothing," said Amity. "I just love you."

Emira returned the hug. "I love you too, Amity."

Emira left her sister to continue her studies. Amity gazed out over the woods surrounding her family's home. She made up her mind to go talk to her family. She searched the large house for Edric or her dad. It took a few minutes, but she found Alador in his workshop tinkering with something. "Hey Dad," said Amity. "Whatcha working on?"

"Oh, Amity!" Alador's expression turned from a focused glare to a pleasant smile. "I didn't hear you come in." Amity pulled a stool up to the workbench. "Are you familiar with abomination stitching?"

"Hm, using slime to sew things into fabric, right?"

"Mhm, but not just fabric. Slime is more versatile than a needle and thread. You can use it to sew things into wood, stone, or even flesh." At this point, Amity realized her father was not tinkering with some device. He had an electric welding pen pressed to his own wrist.

"Dad!" Amity shot up.

"Don't worry, I set the voltage too low to do anything to me. Permanently. Ah!" Alador tensed as the pen sparked up. "Still hurts though," he said, holding his sigil up to his mouth.

"Dad, what are you doing?" Amity asked.

Alador put his arm back down on the table. The skin around his sigil was an angry red and covered in soot. "I've been thinking: in over 50 years, how is it no one has managed to remove a coven sigil? I always thought the sigils were just some kind of glyph."

"Like a power glyph?" Amity felt her pocket.

"Precisely, but they are so much more complicated than that. I believe they are actually multiple kinds of magic layered over top of one another, including…"

"Abomination magic," Amity breathed.

"Yes," said Alador. "And they use an encryption to prevent tampering with the stitching. That's why they are so difficult to remove."

"Wait, wait. We just started on encryptions at school before the Day of Unity. I need a second to remember." Amity sat back down.

"Really? I'm surprised. You were always able to tear straight through mine." Amity thought about the times she'd messed with her father's abominations. She did remember something resisting her, like a kind of mental puzzle, but Amity always found puzzles rather boring. She solved them too easily.

"They're like passwords," said Amity. "To prevent other witches from tampering with an abomination."

"Exactly," said Alador. "They may not be my specialty but in all my years, I've never seen an encryption of this complexity. Even basic encryptions have some capacity to adapt to tampering attempts, but this…" Alador stared at the sigil on his wrist. "It's like it's evolving. Say what you will about Belos, but the man knew his stuff."

They sat in silence for a few moments, Alador sparking up the pen on his wrist, Amity watching with morbid curiosity. Eventually, Alador stopped and put up his goggles.

"Amity," said Alador, the uncertainty palpable in his voice. "I've been talking with your mother." Amity looked away. "She feels bad about dinner the other night." Amity's eyes widened. "She's been meaning to talk to you about it, but she can't seem to find a moment with you." Amity knew why. Every time she had seen her mother in the past week, she bolted in the complete opposite direction. "I know you're not fond of her, but I was wondering, would you talk to her? Give her the chance to apologize? That's all I'm asking. After that, you can go back to ignoring her, if that's what you need to do."

Amity considered. "Did Mom put you up to this?" she asked.

Alador shook his head. "She's been spending a lot of time in our room lately, mulling things over. I think she genuinely feels bad for the way she acted, for the way she treated you. She hasn't been in her usual spirits."

Amity thought about her mother, an image that still welled an anger inside her. She couldn't help but pity her, though: alone in her room, trying to reach out, only to be staunchly avoided. Amity thought about Luz in that moment, the number of enemies she had turned to friends. She wondered where the Boiling Isles would be without her outlook. Amity wondered where she would be if Luz hadn't given her a second chance. Or a third. The thought went places she didn't want to follow. "Okay Dad," Amity stood. "I'll go talk to her." Alador beamed and returned to his work. Amity wandered through the halls of her home. The walk from the workshop to her parents' room took longer than she would have expected. She used the time to mentally prepare herself. Though by the time she got to the door, she didn't feel prepared. What would her mother say? What could she possibly say to make up for everything Odalia'd ever done to her? The abuse, the impossible expectations, the mind games. It was too much. Amity pulled her hand away from the door handle and went to her room. She laid face first on her bed and groaned into her pillow. She stayed like that for a while, until she heard a periodic tapping on her window. Amity looked up to see a rock bouncing off the glass every few moments. She moved to the window. Outside, Bria was picking pebbles off a pillar of sandstone and chucking them at the house. Amity opened the window.

"Hey Amity! You ever tagged a transport worm before?" Bria called up. She wore the same clothes she had worn when they first met and she always kept her hood up. Amity smiled and jumped out the window, catching herself with a slime cushion. Ghost jumped after her, landing on her uplifted hand. Bria looked at the stark cat. "It's so cool you have a palisman. I wish Glandus did that — what did you call it? — palisman adoption day? I'd kill to have my own."

"I guess Bump just has the right connections," said Amity. "Maybe I'll take you to the lady who introduced me to Ghost someday. But what was it you wanted to do? Play tag with a worm?"

"Tag a transport worm," corrected Bria. "Come on. We need to pick up some cursed spray paint."

Back in Amity's room, a knock sounded on the door. "Amity?" said Edric from the other side. "You in there?" After no response, Edric slowly opened the door. He noticed the open window across the room. He approached and looked out. Amity and Bria were already out of sight. Edric shut the window and turned away.

…

Amity and Bria hopped the fence into the transport worm depot between patrols, after dusk. They crept between the slumbering beasts. Bria said the key to tagging was remaining completely silent; transport worms were sensitive to any kind of vibration, but especially sound, so neither spoke. They searched the worms for a clear canvas starting with the ones labeled with the most common routes. No point in tagging if no one ever sees it, Bria told Amity before they hopped the fence. When they found a spot, Bria pointed at the worm and pulled out a spray can. After Amity had paid for it, she told Bria this kinda reminded her of throwing tentacle balloons with Boscha. That's kid stuff, Bria said. This was art; leaving your signature where everyone tells you not to, somewhere they'll see it every day, so they know you don't conform to their rules. Amity liked the sound of that. Bria finished her turquoise signature: Skullcrusher followed by a skull doodle animated by the magic paint to spit little red flames. Then she passed the can to Amity. Amity thought for a moment. Never use your real name, Bria said. Amity looked at her staff, then started on her own violet signature right under Bria's: Ghost followed by an X-ed out heart. The heart beat feebly against the constraints of the X. Then they dipped. Never stay longer than you have too, Bria said, but as Amity climbed the fence, her staff got caught between the links. She pulled it out and lost her balance, falling butt first on the ground. The worms stirred. Amity stood, tapped her staff on the ground, and vaulted over the fence in a violet light. The commotion woke the beasts fully and soon, they were screeching into the night, warning the nearby security guards of delinquent presence. Amity grabbed Bria and pulled her onto her staff. They took off just as the light spells illuminated their position.

"Woohoo!" shouted Bria, hands in the air. "That was awesome! You're a natural, Amity." Bria wrapped her arms around Amity's waist to steady herself. Amity blushed.

In the distance, a giant, shining block of text appeared in the sky. It said "Amity" before fading away. Another one took its place: "Time for a swim lesson." Amity smirked and changed course.

"Where are we going?" asked Bria.

"Lake Lakuna," Amity replied.

"That murky pond in the middle of the woods? Why?"

"Some friends are waiting for us there."

They landed where the dock met the shore. Amity summoned a mote of fire to push back the darkness. Further along the shore, Willow and Gus were running toward the source of light. "Amity!" Willow shouted as she scooped Amity up in a hug and twirled her around before setting her back down on the sand. Amity let go of her oldest friend and turned to give Gus a hug too, fire snuffed. "Who's your friend?" asked Willow.

"Oh, guys," Amity said as Bria removed her hood. "This is—"

"Bria," said Gus.

"Oh." Amity glanced between the two. "You two know each other?"

"You could say that," said Gus. Bria just stared at him, expressionless.

Willow looked between everybody, then held a hand out to Bria. "Well it's nice to meet you, Bria. I'm Willow."

Bria smirked and shook Willow's hand, then held hers out to Gus. Gus eyed the hand suspiciously, but took it, glaring Bria in the eye as he did so.

"How did you meet," said Gus.

"Outside the night market," said Amity. "Bria saved me from some thugs."

"You do like playing the hero, don't you, Bria?" Gus pointed.

"What can I say?" Bria shrugged. "I can't resist helping someone in need."

A long silence followed the exchange. Gus and Bria did not take their eyes off one another. "So Amity," said Willow. "What have you been up to?"

"I've been hanging out with Bria." They spoke between Gus' and Bria's stare. "There's a whole side to Bonesborough and Latissa you'd never see if you're not connected like she is."

"Oh? Like what?" "Well I won't lie, most of it isn't for me, but there are a lot of cool underground clubs and the mural under the Dorsi bridge is spectacular." "Cool, maybe we should all go see it sometime?" Bria provided no more acknowledgement than a glance in Willow's direction. "That sounds great! There's a lot of history behind the art up there and Bria knows a lot of the artists personally. How about you, Willow?"

"I've been spending time with my dads." Willow smiled at the ground. "It's been really good to see them again."

"Glad to hear it." The two locked smiles for a moment. "Gus, what about you?"

Gus glanced at Amity before locking his gaze on Bria again. "Yeah. Family stuff. How about you, Bria? Take any candy from babies not powerful enough to keep it for themselves?"

"Ha. Ha," said Bria. "How are your party tricks coming along, Augustus?"

"Great," said Gus. He tapped the magic amplifier on his ear. "I can really get stuck in people's heads now."

Bria sneered.

Amity broke the next long pause in the conversation. "So, where's Hunter?" she asked.

"He's helping Darius and Eber rebuild the isles," said Willow.

"What about Luz?" asked Gus, remembering himself.

Amity hesitated. "She's… in the Human Realm."

"Oh," said Gus. Amity's tone pulled him away from Bria's gaze. "Well, she'll be back… right?"

"I don't know." Amity stared off across the lake.

Willow and Gus looked at each other. Willow leaned forward. "Amity? Are you okay?"

Amity glanced at Bria, then back at the water. "Yeah. I'm fine." The other three exchanged glances.

"Hey Bria," said Gus. "How about we catch up? It's been awhile."

Bria rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said before heading to the dunes with Augustus.

Amity watched the water lapping up on the sand. It smoothed the shape of the shore into a gentle slope. The moon rose high into the sky now — a thin crescent — but the starlight illuminated the beach well enough for them to see, once their vision adjusted. Willow took a few steps toward Amity from behind. "What happened?"

"What would you do," said Amity. "If Hunter didn't come back?"

"What do you mean?" said Willow.

"I've seen the way you two look at each other." Amity smirked back at her. "You can't hide that from me, Park. We've been friends for too long."

Willow blushed and looked at the ground. She smiled then frowned. "It would be hard. I would be sad — for a long time. Then I guess, life moves on."

Tears welled in Amity's eyes. "I can't imagine moving on from her."

Willow put a hand on Amity's shoulder. "I don't think you'll have to."

"But you don't know." Amity shrugged off the hand, tears falling now. "Nobody knows with her. She's so closed off these days. She thinks she has to handle everything by herself. I thought we were past that." Amity knelt down and drew a plant glyph in the sand, but stayed her hand before she tapped it. "I just want to share it with her."

Willow knelt down beside her. She swallowed. "What if you went to visit her?"

Amity eyed Willow without turning her head. "I'm scared. What if she doesn't come back? What if I push her away?"

Willow smiled. "You couldn't do that." Willow put another hand on Amity's back. "What if she decides to stay, because she thinks you don't want to see her? Gus and I could come too, if that makes you feel better about it. We were planning to see her soon, anyway."

Amity shut her eyes tight, pressing the tears out. They fell on the sand — soaking into the glyph — distorting it. Amity stood and walked down the dock. "No," she said. "I can't. I know you're right, but I just can't do it."

Willow followed her friend down the dock. "It'll be okay, Amity." Willow wrapped her arms around her. Amity tried to escape, but Willow was much more muscular than her. "I know you can't see it right now, but everything's going to be okay. I promise." Amity gave up and laid her face on Willow's shoulder. Willow held her as Amity sobbed into her dress.

Gus and Bria walked through the dunes in silence for a long time, until Gus spoke. "What's your angle, Bria?"

Bria huffed and stopped in her tracks. "Don't act like you know me!"

"I know you well enough." Gus took a few more steps before turning to her. "What do you get out of being friends with Amity?"

"Has it ever occurred to you that I just want to be her friend?"

"Maybe, if you're capable of having real friends. Have you threatened her yet?"

"Stop it!" Bria was red in the face now. "I didn't even want to be her friend; she pushed me!" Bria widened her stance and balled up her fists.

Gus noticed the power glyph on her wrist. "There's the Bria I know." He stepped toward her. "Always hungry for power." He tapped her glyph. "Ready to fight as soon as you get backed into a corner."

"Haaah!" Bria launched a pillar of condensed sand at Augustus, but as soon as it hit his form, he evaporated. He appeared elsewhere but disappeared again at the touch of the next pillar. Pillar after pillar, form after form, Bria grew tired. She slammed her next spell circle on the ground, causing a shockwave of stone to radiate around her. Gus — the real Gus — appeared stumbling over from the force. He disappeared with his next spell just as Bria threw a pillar at his real location, but he was already behind her. He grasped her shoulder and drew a spell circle with his earring. Blue light shone in Bria's eyes. Gus caught glimpses: Anger. Pain. Anguish. So much anguish. He lost his concentration as Bria fell to her knees. Released from his spell, Bria swiped at him with her bare hands. Gus sidestepped the wild blow, then thrust his knee into her face, putting her on the ground.

"Gus!" shouted Amity. Willow and Amity ran toward the commotion. Gus backed away as Amity knelt down to Bria. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm fine." Bria sat up, holding her forehead. "Titan, you have a strong knee."

"Gus, what were you thinking?" Amity shouted.

Gus stared at Bria, expressionless. "Just showing Bria where the power is now."

Amity huffed. "How can you—"

"Amity." Bria held her wrist. "It's fine. We were just sparring, like we used to." Amity helped her to her feet. "I guess I have some catching up to do." She leaned into Amity as she put up her hood. "I wanna go home." Amity pulled out her staff and they mounted.

"Bria," called Gus. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit you so hard." He tapped the side of his head twice with his index.

"Tch." Bria held Amity's waist as they lifted off and mumbled into her ear, "Some friends you got, Blight."

When they cleared the ground, Willow turned to Gus. "What did you see?"

Gus looked out over the lake. "I shouldna been so hard on her. But I still don't trust her."

"How do you know her?"

Gus looked back at Willow. "We met once, a while ago…"

"You live in Latissa, right?" asked Amity as she and Bria soared through the night sky.

"Yeah, that's fine," said Bria.

"I'm so sorry about Gus," said Amity. "He's normally really sweet."

"Yeah. I guess you could say we have history." "What happened between you two?" Bria sighed. "I'm not the kindest witch to walk the isles." Amity smirked back at her. "I knew that. What did you do?" Bria looked sidelong. "I don't want to talk about it." Amity's smirk fell. "Fair enough. I've done things I'm not proud of either. It doesn't make us who we are." Bria smiled. "Thanks, Blight."

"Over there," Bria pointed out as they neared Latissa. Even at night, Latissa buzzed with activity, people going to and fro. It reminded Amity of the Night Market in Bonesborough, but this was city-wide. Even in the suburbs, individuals meandred about. Amity descended over central Latissa. The tall buildings caught up to them quickly. They flew between the buildings until Bria pointed to a stark alleyway. "That's good."

They landed and Bria headed down the alley. Amity looked around. The alleyway grew dark and dingy as it left the street. Loading bays and emergency exits covered every wall. It did not look like a place for people. All the buildings she could see boasted signs for businesses, lined with factory windows. She did not see anything indicating the location of an apartment. "Hey Bria, are you sure this is right? I don't see any apartments around."

"Yeah. It's fine."

"Fine?"

Bria kept walking.

"What do you mean by fine?" she said again.

"It'll do," said Bria

"Bria… do you have a home?" She did not reply. "Do you have somewhere to sleep?"

"A heating vent down here should be good."

"Bria, no," said Amity. "Come home with me."

"I shouldn't." She stopped.

"Why not?" asked Amity. "We have plenty of guestrooms."

"You sure?" she asked.

"Bria, please," Amity pleaded.

Bria turned around. "Thank you, Amity," she said.

They returned to Blight Manor. Most of the lights had turned off except for the parlor. When they entered, Odalia sat on the couch facing away from them but turned as soon as the door opened. "Amity!" Her eyes lit up, then narrowed when she saw Bria. She pursed her lips expectantly. "Who's your friend?"

Amity hesitated. "Mom, this is Bria. Bria… my mother."

Bria waved awkwardly. Odalia looked her up and down. "Bria who?"

Bria's eyelids fluttered. "Brightmoore, Mrs. Blight."

Odalia stood and sauntered over to the pair, then held out a hand. "It's nice to meet you, Bria Brightmoore," said Odalia, rehearsed but restrained. "Welcome to our home."

Bria took the hand and shook. "Thank you. It's good to meet you too."

"Bria doesn't have a place to stay tonight," explained Amity. "So I offered her one of the guestrooms."

Odalia looked Bria over again, eye twitching. "Okay," she said. Amity and Bria made to leave the room. "Amity, may I have a word with you?"

Amity stopped. "I'd really like to spend the rest of the night with Bria."

"Okay." Amity sensed a quiver on her mother's voice. "Amity. Show Bria the guest bath. And find her some new clothes."

Amity held her breath. "Okay, Mom." She left the room.

In the hallway, Bria whispered, "Wow, your mom is intense."

Amity released her breath. "Why do you think I spend all my time out of the house?"

Amity showed Bria to the guestroom, the attached bath, and its workings, then left to find an outfit in her closet. They were probably about the same size. When she returned, the spray of the showerhead sounded through the bathroom door. Amity knocked on the door. "Bria? I have some clothes for you." Bria replied, "Door's unlocked, you can just leave them on the counter." Amity's face turned red. She shielded her eyes and opened the door. The hot shower steam caressed her cheeks, flushing her face even more. She ran across the bathroom, put the clothes on the counter, ran back, slipped on the tile, and hurried out of the room. Then she sat on the guest bed and willed her cheeks to stop flushing.

When Bria left the bathroom, Amity was staring wide-eyed at a random corner of the room. "You okay?" said Bria.

"Wah!" Amity spasmed, then immediately collected herself. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Tsh, okay." Bria smirked. Amity's robes did not fit Bria the same way they fit Amity. Bria was shorter and stockier than Amity, so the robes fit tighter around the chest and fell lower down the legs. In effect, they looked too big for her — aside from the middle — which caused Amity to blush again. "You sure?" Bria stared at Amity quizzically. Amity held her cheeks and nodded. "Okay." Bria plopped onto the bed. She rolled onto her back and picked at the power glyph on her wrist. Once she peeled it off, her body sank low into the bed. Her eyes lulled, jaw slack. She breathed in and out — heavy.

"Why do you use those things?" asked Amity.

Bria's eyes rolled in her head toward Amity. "Opportunity," she said, the word slurred on her tongue. "Opportunity will pass you by your whole life if you're not strong enough to take it. With this," she waved the glyph feebly in the air. "I make my own opportunity." Her hand hit the bed as her snores filled the room. Amity stood carefully so as not to wake her. She turned off the house lamps, quietly shut the door, and went to bed herself. Bria left before Amity woke up that morning. Amity wandered the house, settled on the lanai, looked out over the woods. She hadn't realized how long she'd been there when she heard Odalia's voice from the doorway.

"Amity," Odalia said. "Can we talk?"

Amity's breath caught in her throat. "Um, give me a second." Amity walked past her mother into the house. She found a nearby bathroom. Amity stood over the sink and looked herself in the mirror. Her heart raced. How could her mother make her feel this way? It was easier when she was just angry at her. She felt her pocket, considering. Amity pulled out the glyph and looked it over — such a tiny thing. It seemed to give Bria so much confidence. It gave Amity confidence, once. She needed some of that confidence. Amity raised her arm in the air so that her sweeping sleeve fell to the shoulder. Amity placed the glyph on the inside of her arm, as high up as she could get it. Her pupils dilated. Immediately she felt… free. Amity put her hand back on the sink. Her sleeve fell, covering the glyph. When Amity returned to the lanai, her mother sat on the recamier, head propped up by her fist. Amity sat at the end of the chaise and, without looking at her mother, spoke. "What did you want to talk about?"

Odalia gasped, not realizing she had been there. "Amity." Odalia took a deep breath. "I wanted to talk to you…" Odalia's breath caught in her throat too. "About dinner the other night. I acted rude toward you… and to Luz." Amity's eyes widened. "I'm sorry. I don't understand what you see in that girl but if she makes you happy, then I am happy."

"Okay," said Amity.

"Okay?" repeated Odalia.

"I mean, it would have been nice if you had accepted Luz as a part of my life a long time ago, if you had accepted all of my friends."

Odalia inhaled sharply. "I… know. I was… wrong. I thought if you were happy in the long run, it didn't matter how you felt in the moment. I didn't realize that by making you feel that way, I was actually pushing you away. I'm sorry."

"Were you wrong about Belos then, too?"

Odalia stood. "You know, if you're just going to sit there and pick apart all my shortcomings, I think I'll go back to my room."

"Mom." Odalia stopped at the doorway. "Thank you," Amity said, still not looking at her mother.

Odalia stood silent for a moment. "You're welcome," she said, aria on her voice, and left the room.