"So, any final questions?", Liwin asks everyone present.
"Where's Raine?", Derwin asks, to which Katya and Amber join in.
"They were not in the Conformatorium.", Alsa reports, "Nor in its basement. I checked it myself."
"Look, before our next meeting, I'm trying to find out where Raine is being held. Until then, I'm glad you agreed to stay though.", Liwin says contentedly. As Katya is about to speak up, however, she continues, "And yes, we will hold the vote on our new name at our next meeting."
Katya nods in satisfaction as Liwin rolls her eyes. At that, Amity raises her hand.
"Yes, Amity?"
"If you're about to teleport us all out again with those plant coffins, could you drop Luz and I off together somewhere near Blight Manor?", Amity asks, both standing in a far corner of the room, holding each other's hands. Without wasting much time, Liwin summons a green magic circle, and moments later huge green leaves shoot out of the ground once again, completely enveloping the two girls until they're in total darkness.
"Eeek-", squeezed tightly against Luz, her scream dies away quite quickly.
Only moments later, the leaves surrounding them crumble apart. Just as she did earlier, Amity again rushes out on the cocoon and falls, yet again, to the ground. This time, however, not because of the oppressive narrowness or the lack of light or noise, but because of the close contact with Luz.
Sure, she likes that Luz is so physically affectionate. Be it her hugs, accidental contact, or when she has the opportunity to hold her girlfriend's hand. But being squeezed so tight still makes Amity blush the reddest she's ever been.
Kneeling on all fours on the floor and trying to calm herself down, she looks around her surroundings for the first time. Liwin has dropped her and Luz off somewhere among the trees in a forest.
After this realization, she turns back to the cocoon, her blush subsiding, and observing Luz climbing out and groaning in annoyance.
"That debriefing took foreveeer...", Luz groans. She then takes a few steps towards Amity and offers her a hand to help her stand up.
"But you have to admit, it wasn't all bad.", Amity insists, "You got a lot of credit for freeing all the prisoners from the Conformatorium, and clearing all the prisoners from the Draining Glyph... And for destroying the Galdorstones..."
"And Liwin doesn't refer to you just as 'Blight' anymore...", Luz adds.
"Yeah, that's a good thing too.", Amity agrees with a smile.
"So, which way do we have to go?", Luz eventually asks. Amity briefly looks around in all directions to determine her exact location. In the end, though, she just shrugs her shoulders unknowingly. At that, Amity summons her staff.
"We can check it out...", Amity holds out her hand as an invitation to fly with her. At that, Luz is having a thought, and she pulls out Owlbert.
"Owlbert?", Luz asks kindly, which earns her a gentle hoot, "Do you want to spend the weekend with Amity and I, or would you rather spend some time for yourself at the Owl House...", he looks at her questioningly, "You've done just as incredible today, and I wouldn't blame you if you wanted some time to yourself... You'd more than earn it."
Owlbert, standing on Luz's open palms, turns once between Luz and Amity before letting out a delighted hoot. Somewhat surprised, she then looks at him.
"Oh...", Luz says with a surprised tone, "Okay. I will comply with those terms as soon as possible."
"What's he saying?", Amity asks.
"He wants me to take a shower. Apparently, I smell terrible.", Luz says and Amity chuckles at that strongly, "Do I really smell that bad?"
"Meow.", Ghost speaks up, which silences Amity. Now Amity looks at Luz, who in turn only looks at her with a questioning look.
"Ami?", Luz asks insistently, but Amity hesitates.
"Ghost agrees with him...", Amity admits shamefully, "But I- I'm sure I smell just as bad."
Luz accepts Amity's hand and settles behind her on her staff. On her shoulder Owlbert remains seated while Amity continues.
"But don't worry, when we get there, you can go take a shower."
With that now out of the way, Luz now tightly hugs Amity's waist to secure herself. As she does so, she rests her head on her girlfriend's back in a relaxed position, just before they take off together and break through the sparse tree canopy to catch a glimpse of where they are. And indeed, Liwin has sent them close to Blight Manor. So close, in fact, that had the two girls gone just twenty meters further straight ahead, they would have landed on a gravel path, from which they could have had direct visual contact to the Manor.
Instead, the two of them now fly the really very short distance directly to the front of the huge doors of Blight Manor, where they descend from Amity's staff, and her staff changes back into her palisman form.
"I just realized that I've never actually been here before... But you've been at the Owl House so many times already...", Luz states in amazement, "Although, once I have seen the house, but from a distance..."
"Really?", Amity casually asks as she opens one of the doors.
"Oh yeah. That was on the... Wait, what was it called? ... ... Oh yeah right, the Moonlight Conjuring... We had somehow brought the Owl House to life...", at that, Amity stops dead in her tracks and merely turns around to face her.
"I was here that day... With Skara, Boscha, Cat, and Bo... We had been trying to conjure up a little rag doll like forever, but hadn't been able to do it collectively... Then later we had seen on Penstagram you, Gus, and Willow trudging through Bonesborough with the Owl House...", Amity recalls.
"Well, what can I say? Willow and Gus are some of the strongest witches I know...", Luz brags.
"Yeah...", Amity speaks thoughtlessly to herself as she opens the door, and both of them enter the antechamber together with their palismen.
"You know, you've gotten stronger too. I just remember your Abominations at the Covention, and then what you accomplished today... For next year, you're definitely invited to join Willow, Gus, and me... Skara too, perhaps. We'll see.", Amity chuckles briefly at that before closing the front door behind them again.
"Well, as for now, welcome to Blight Manor.", Amity changes the subject. Luz is only now able to move her attention to the room in front of her. A large room, a little more than half the size of the living room of the Owl House, though just as tall. Immediately to the left of the front door hangs a large portrait of two adult witches, probably Amity's parents. On the floor lies a huge rug which covers most of the hardwood floor, and to the right are some coat- and shoe racks.
"No windows, no furniture... So this is how rich people live...", Luz remarks.
"Yup."
"I kind of imagined the living room to be bigger.", Luz comments, at which begins to chuckle in amusement. "What?"
"This isn't the living room. It's just the antechamber.", she corrects Luz with an amused look. Luz herself just looks genuinely dumbfounded.
"Seriously? I mean, I can fit my whole room in here. Like twice...", she remarks.
"Like you said, this is how rich people live...", Amity points out, "You can take your shoes off here and I'll show you the rest."
Both girls take off their shoes as Amity continues.
"Usually, mother always insists on walking around here in the house with shoes on. She thinks 'higher society people shouldn't touch the same ground as the common folk'... But since she's not here right now..."
"You're really letting your inner rebel out right now, aren't you?", Luz asks in amusement.
"Totally.", Amity counters. At that, Luz turns around.
"I'm assuming that's your mom?", Luz asks, pointing to the large painting. Amity doesn't turn around, but simply nods.
"That painting was done about a year before Ed and Em were born. Mother always said that a first impression is always the most important when it comes to new acquaintances, like when my parents hosted any galas or fancy parties...", Amity explains.
"I notice you don't call her mom. I guess you aren't close...", Luz guesses. Amity merely huffs through her nose.
"She's about as much my mom as Boscha is my best friend. Until I met you, she dictated every aspect of my life, as well as my future."
"I'm sorry for asking.", Luz apologizes.
"I'm just glad right now, that you don't have to meet her. But anyway, come on. I'll give you a quick tour.", Amity walks to the double doors opposite the front doors, opening them both for dramatic effect. "I present to you: The living room."
"Would you mind skipping forward to the shower? I'm pretty exhausted right now, and really just want to shower, and then just sleep for the rest of the month..."
"Humans can sleep that long?", Amity asks, genuinely surprised.
"Heh… no. I was just trying to express that I'm extremely exhausted.", Luz clarifies.
"Oh... Okay, I see.", Amity replies with a sense of slight disappointment, but equally understanding. After today, she herself isn't particularly energetic anymore either. "In that case, up the walkway to the right and all the way down to the end."
Amity leads Luz along the railing to the split-level, from which it is possible to overlook the entire living room.
"Here in front are Ed and Em's rooms, and mine is right behind them. Behind the last door is mine and the twins' bathroom. You can take a shower there.", Amity explains.
"You three have your own bathroom?", Luz wonders, "Nevermind. Rich people, I forgot."
Amity chuckles at that as she leads Luz past the first three doors, to the fourth that ends the walkway, and opens the door.
"Wow...", Luz comments on the sight.
To visually describe the bathroom in just one word: Marble. The floor consists of quite a few two by two-meter white marble tiles, but the walls are also tiled with marble. Two walls covered in one-by-three-meter blue marble tiles, and the other two are more of a light gray. Right next to the door, fittingly on one of the two by two meter floor tiles is a shower, visibly separated from the rest of the room by opaque glass. In addition, the floor plate inside the shower is not marble, but coarse stone, which allows for a firm grip on the floor. In addition, the room is equipped with a golden bathtub on the opposite side of the room, on the other side of the door are cabinets and dressers kept in marble style, as well as a built-in golden sink. And in the last free corner, opposite the golden bathtub, there is a, who would have thought, golden toilet. A raised, opaque window in the wall opposite the door provides bright natural lighting.
"You... do know how the showers work here in the Isles, don't you?", Amity asks, but regrets the question immediately afterwards, as Luz looks at her with a look of disbelief, as if doubtfully asking 'Really?'. "Sorry.", Amity apologizes. "I'll leave you to it then."
Amity turns around, and is almost out the door, when she suddenly remembers something else.
"Oh, by the way, I'm going to look through my things right now to see if I can find you something suitable to wear. You can leave your clothes in here, and Abdel will take them and wash them later. There are fresh towels down here in the cupboard.", Amity explains.
"Abdel?"
"Our Abomination butler. He takes care of almost everything here.", Amity explains. "Oh, and one more thing, do you know where you want to sleep yet?"
Luz isn't sure how to answer that. "Um... In your room...?"
"... I didn't- You know what? You go and enjoy your shower, and I'll figure something out. Have fun.", Amity says hurriedly and closes the bathroom door behind her, before heading to her own room and slamming her bedroom door behind her as well, experiencing a slight panic.
"Stupid question. Stupid question. Stupid question!", Amity mumbles to herself over and over again, banging her head backwards against her door.
'Hmm, maybe I'm just too tired as well...', Amity's gaze slides across her room towards her bed. More precisely to the two mattresses that are stacked on top of each other underneath her purple blanket on her bed. 'This might work...'
Hastily, Amity walks over to her bed and rips down her blanket, as well as her pillows. She summons three Abominations. The first two lift the two mattresses off her bed. The last carefully takes apart her bed frame, which is merely jammed together, and stows it in the dresser immediately to the right of her door. The other two place the two mattresses right next to each other where Amity's bed used to be. From the same dresser, Amity pulls out a second pillow and blanket, both of which she now places on the two mattresses and makes the Abominations disappear again.
"There, perfect.", Amity says, proud of herself, "Sleep problem solved. And now...?"
On the opposite side of her bed, right next to the door onto her balcony, Amity walks over to the dresser on top of which she stores her makeup, and opens the two cabinet doors. She rummages around there a bit and eventually finds a pair of lime-green pyjama pants, along with a light blue t-shirt with a dark blue cat printed on it, for Luz to wear.
'Perfect.', Amity thinks to herself with satisfaction. She leaves her room again and neatly places the clothes in front of the bathroom door. She can hear the water of the shower running from inside, and she decides to loudly knock on the door.
"I've put your clothes here in front of the door.", she announces loudly, trying to speak against the splashing of the water.
"Thank you.", she hears her call back.
At that, Amity returns to her room. She makes her way to the two mattresses and neatly arranges the pillows and blankets, having just thrown them on in a panic earlier.
And with that now done, Amity has to kill some time until Luz has finished showering, and she can go shower as well. She sits down on one of the mattresses and watches Ghost and Owlbert, who have made themselves comfortable together on Amity's desk to the left of the door, and already seem to be asleep. It's absolutely cute to see the two palisman cuddling with each other. Cute enough for Amity to get out her scroll and take several pictures of the two of them, opening Penstagram afterwards.
BESTBLIGHT, EM_IRA
[WITCHCHICK128]: (cuties)
[EM_IRA]: I knew it! I knew you would exploit this situation shamelessly!
[WITCHCHICK128]: I didn't say anything
[EM_IRA]: You didn't need to. We knew you would be with Luz
[WITCHCHICK128]: Oh… Hi Ed
[EM_IRA]: He's asleep.
[WITCHCHICK128]: You're there already?
[EM_IRA]: Don't change the subject!
[EM_IRA]: But no. We still have a few hours ahead of us
[EM_IRA]: And dad is like the worst driver
[WITCHCHICK128]: I don't envy you
[WITCHCHICK128]: And yes, Luz is spending the night here at the Manor today
[WITCHCHICK128]: Our day was quite exhausting
[EM_IRA]: Exhausting? How interesting...
[WITCHCHICK128]: Talking to you was a mistake
[WITCHCHICK128]: Enjoy your suffering
️
Just as Amity puts her scroll aside with a victorious feeling, a freshly showered Luz, dressed in the lime green pyjama pants and light blue shirt, enters Amity's room.
"Hey.", Amity greets her gently, "Feeling better?"
With a tired smile and heavy eyes, Luz nods at her.
"Then I'm going to take a shower too. You go ahead and pick a side.", Amity says.
"Will do.", Luz replies. At that, Amity picks out her own pyjamas, leaves her room, and enters the bathroom. Her eyes fall on Luz' clothes, neatly folded on the counter to the right of the door.
Amity herself spends only about ten minutes in there before returning to her own room, wearing her own pyjamas.
"So, Luz, would you like to-", Amity cuts herself off as she finds Luz already fast asleep. A soft smile appears on her face.
'Looks like she was even more exhausted than she looked like, if she could fall asleep like that with the full evening sun on her face... Good for her.'
She tiptoes as quietly as possible to her balcony doors and closes the curtains. She looks back at Luz, whose face now looks much more relaxed. Amity walks to- and sits down on the mattress that is still empty, the one closer to the balcony, and lies down.
She turns to Luz, and for a long moment, she pays attention only to her shallow breathing. The slight rise and fall of the blanket over Luz's chest. The worry-free look on her face.
She lies with her head slightly sunken on her pillow, watching Luz sleep until she succumbs to her own fatigue. As a last awake act, she reaches for her girlfriend's hand, lying only a few centimeters away from her own, and that's when her eyes fall shut. And moments later, her mind drifts away into a deep sleep.
'Cold. So cold... Why is it so cold in here all of a sudden?'
Amity looks around and finds herself in a blue-painted toilet stall like the ones that exist in Hexside. Next to her, she spots her bag that she always takes to school. She picks it up and exits the stall.
She rubs her hands up and down her arms, trying to get a little warmer. The air she exhales is clearly visible in front of her eyes. The bathroom has a small window, to which she's heading to, slightly confused. She's trying to look out and see if there is any snow outside which could explain the freezing air. The window seems to be fogged up. She tries to wipe the glass with her purple sleeve, but the window remains fogged up. At that, the classroom bell begins to scream.
She jumps out of her skin for a second, but quickly regains her composure. Her pulse races, however, as she rushes to the bathroom door. She pulls at the handle, but it is stuck.
'Come on. I can't be late for the Flyer Derby match. Willow will kill me.', Amity panics as she continues to pull on the door with all her might. In her panic, she creates a massive abomination spiked glove, and lunges at the door in a desperate strike.
Amity hasn't even touched the door when suddenly the hinges break loose and the door falls to the floor just like that, right into one of the school's hallways with a row of lockers right across the girls' bathroom.
'Wait, isn't that where the boys' bathroom is supposed to be?', Amity looks around in confusion, before ultimately shrugging it off, and as she makes a first step forward, she notices that the door no longer lies on the ground. Curiously, she turns around and behind her, she no longer finds the bathroom she just exited, but another hallway.
Amity's gaze wanders from left to right, noticing that the corridors are unusually somber and barely lit, stretching to infinity without any visible forks or adjoining classrooms. Only the new corridor that has opened up behind her has not only a discernible end, but also a single, albeit flickering, light source at its end.
Cautiously, she enters the gloomy hallway, surrounded on both sides by lockers. The smell of blood hits her nose, but there is no sign of its source. No sounds, no students, no teachers... Hexside seems abandoned, forsaken.
"AH!", Amity jumps up, startled, as she spots a couple of guards from the Emperor's Coven coming towards her from the end of the corridor, or more precisely, from a turning hallway, with their spears drawn. Amity summons her Abomination fluid when...
'Huh?', Amity wonders with her heart still pounding heavily. The guards aren't moving. Though with no visible ice, they seem frozen. Carefully she approaches the guards, ready to jump at them at any sign of movement. She approaches them further than she usually would feel comfortable to, even so far that she can peer into the peepholes in their masks to see if they blink.
Nothing.
For more than a full minute, Amity stared at the guard, and they didn't show any reaction. She growls slightly in annoyance. Her gaze drops to the ground and she takes a step back, shortly before she notices another shadow appearing behind the two guards. Quickly she turns around, and another hallway opened up behind her. It is brightly lit and full of people fighting each other. However, like the guards, they are completely frozen in time. Students and teachers alike are fighting the guards.
Hesitantly at first, she enters the hallway, trying not to touch anyone or anything. She ducks past guards, some of whom are in the process of falling to the ground as they are hit by fireballs or exploding potions, some of their leftover shards of glass scattered around in the air.
Quite a bit further down, after passing other students as well as some teachers, Amity comes across the first other room in the building besides the bathroom. A classroom, packed with coven guards, and two students in the middle, standing back-to-back. They have desperate looks on their faces, are wounded and with their damaged uniforms, they are trying to fend off these hordes of guards. It's Willow and Boscha. Boscha shoots potion arrows with a crossbow, while Willow strangles several guards with vines. Amity discovers several guards already thrown lifelessly into some corner of the room.
Both Willow and Boscha look absolutely exhausted, as if they were about to give up or collapse. And as Amity just turns around again to leave the room back to the hallway, she notices that the direction she came from, is now blocked off by a wall.
Amity looks curiously in the other direction and, passing all the frozen students and guards, she recognizes the open double doors leading into the gymnasium. She bends, ducks, and squeezes past those frozen in time in the hallway until, after a while, she reaches the school gym. She peeks around the corner and notices her siblings, who seem to be distracting some of the guards with illusions of other witches and demons wearing Hexside uniforms. It's hard to tell who and what is real in there and who or what isn't.
She spots Skara and Willow fighting a few guards, Gus running to Boscha who is lying on the ground, and Bo and Cat being captured by some of the guards. So are also some other students and teachers. Even Principal Bump is among the captured.
Suddenly, Amity is blinded by an extremely bright light. Protecting her eyes, she raises her arms. When she lowers them again, however, the scene in front of her has abruptly changed again. The gymnasium is gloomy, the roof completely punctured, and only the bright moonlight reveals what is happening inside. A tense feeling of unease fills her mind. She hears a rumble of thunder and notices boiling rain falling through the holes, burning everything it lands on. But other than the rain itself, everything else is still frozen in time. All this while it gradually burns away the uniforms of the guards seemingly running toward something in the middle.
She makes her way between all the guards, to where the most moonlight is hitting the ground.
Her breath catches in her throat. "Luz."
She stands with her back to her as the guards charge at Luz from behind her, their spears drawn. The ones in front just centimeters away from her. All of them unmoving, of course. With one knee on the ground and golden lightning bolts all over her body, Luz is shooting out a massive golden beam of energy. Hastily, Amity takes a few steps past Luz. She is fighting Belos, who meets hers with an equally powerful but red energy beam from his mechanical staff.
Amity walks around her. Luz's strained gaze is completely focused on Belos. She ducks under Luz's energy beams to her other side, and she looks completely at loss for strength. She is wearing her blue and white hoodie with the cat ears, which shows some rips. The hood itself is missing as well. There are quite a few scratches and bruises on Luz' face and arms, and her hair is completely messed up.
With her heart aching, she looks at Luz, resisting the will to touch her. She lifts her hand, wanting to put it against Luz's cheek to support and comfort her somehow. But just before her hand touches Luz's skin, Luz suddenly stares directly at her. Amity is startled and jumps backwards, falling to the ground. Luz doesn't say anything, but it doesn't take words for Amity to understand either: 'Don't.'
Time resumes. Luz's eye contact with Amity has distracted her.
Luz is caught full force by Belos' energy beam, and flung backwards through the entire gym, taking a lot of guards with her to the ground or to the side. Luz crashes into the wall just outside the gym, and nothing but rage begins to boil inside Amity. But as she lunges for a first attack at whoever is in front of her, everyone around her fizzles into thin air.
'What?', she states uncomprehendingly before she remember something, 'Oh, Luz! LUZ!'
Amity runs out of the gym after Luz, who, however, didn't crash into the wall, but through it.
She sticks her head through the wall, the space behind completely filled with dust, when she notices something dripping onto the back of her head. She slowly runs her hand through her hair and feels something wet.
'Blood?', her breath catches in her lungs and her own blood freezes in her veins. "No..."
Amity hastily climbs through the yelping hole in the wall.
"Luz!", she screams into the thick dust while fighting her tears in worry, "LUZ!"
She has barely climbed through the hole in the wall to now find herself surrounded on all sides by thick dust, allowing her to just barely see her own hands in front of her face.
"LUZ!", she desperately cries out, "Where are you?"
She stumbles forward over something. She crouches down blindly, finding and lifting up one of Luz's white sneakers. As she tries to get up again, the dust instantly evaporates from the air, and right next to her, she finds Luz lying on the floor. The impact against the wall has created a big dent, right behind her head. From her head on down, she is covered in blood, wounds, scratches, and even some burns on her legs.
"Luz! Luz! Oh my Titan-", Amity falls to her knees with tears in her eyes, taking Luz's hand in her own. Luz jerks painfully and pulls her hand away before glaring upset at Amity.
"What-", Amity mutters in incomprehension.
"I... told you... not to... to...", Luz struggles to speak before her body loses all tension. Amity lunges forward onto Luz's body and holds her by her bloody arms.
"No, Luz... Stay with me...", she hugs her tightly as her tears mix with Luz' blood, "I'm so sorry. I should have- I should-"
"Amity?", a soft, gentle voice rumbles in her head. One she can't hear through her sobs and tears.
"Don't leave me. Please...", Amity begs in a whisper.
"Amity!", the voice speaks again. "AMITY!"
Slowly Luz opens her sleepy eyes and takes a deep breath as she stretches her arms and legs under her warm, comfortable blanket. Her eyes wander to the small window to her right, not far from the balcony door, noticing that not a single ray of sunlight is yet to be seen. On the contrary, it is still completely dark outside.
Out of the corner of her eye, just to her right, Luz notices some movement that catches her attention. She notices her girlfriend with a strained face tossing and turning from side to side.
'A bad dream?', Luz frowns in concern, 'Should I wake her up?'
She debates with herself for quite a while until Amity lets out a soft whimper.
"No, Luz...", she mutters barely audibly, "Stay with me... I'm so sorry-"
At that, Luz can't take it any longer. She straightens up and gently grabs Amity's shoulder.
"Amity?", she asks softly, hoping that will be enough.
"Don't leave me. Please...", Amity continues to whisper, and Luz's heart breaks with each additional word.
"Amity!", Luz speaks a little louder now, and begins to shake her a little more by her shoulders. "AMITY!"
Amity's eyes snap open. Her breathing is rapid and unsteady, she seems disoriented as her gaze frantically jumps in all directions before ultimately landing on Luz's face. She closes her eyes and immense relief fills her mind. Luz leans forward and wraps her arms around her, holding her close.
"It's all right. You probably just had a nightmare.", Luz tries to comfort her, "You're safe."
Amity relaxes more and more in the embrace and her breathing stabilizes. She buries her head in Luz's shoulder.
"No.", Amity finally replies in a still shaky voice, "But you are."
Luz' heart races as she hears these words, and Amity clutches tightly to her shirt.
"What do you mean?", Luz asks with a caring tone, "Do you wanna talk about it?"
Amity hesitates. She takes a slow, deep breath before lifting her head up to look directly at her girlfriend. Luz spots fear and worry in her eyes.
"I had a dream... a nightmare...", Amity begins while Luz attentively listens, "I was at school, but I was alone. At least that's what I thought... ... I was wandering around and found two guards from the Emperor's Coven. They were frozen. B-but not in ice, rather just in their movements.", Amity breaks her eye contact with Luz, and leads to her gaze to Luz' hands, which she has clamped between her knees. "I kept walking through the corridors and came across quite a few other guards fighting students as well as teachers... All frozen in time, of course..."
"I suppose so did I?", Luz asks softly, placing her hands on Amity's. "Fought, I mean..."
After a few moments of hesitation, Amity nods.
"I found you later in the gymnasium. There were guards surrounding you on all sides... And you were fighting Belos... all by yourself...", Amity's voice trails off, pain on her face. "I tried to touch you and you looked at me. You were distracted and time resumed... Belos beat you... He- In the end, you- you-", Amity can't finish this sentence for the life of her as tears begin to run down her cheek. It truly pains Luz to see her strong and brave girlfriend so small and scared. Luz pulls Amity closer to her and gently strokes her hair, trying to comfort her.
"I know it was just a dream, but..."
"It felt real...", Luz finishes her sentence.
Amity hums in confirmation, wiping away her tears. "I know it's silly... We both saw that the prophecy didn't come true...", Amity's voice trails off again.
Luz pulls away slightly to look at Amity's face, brushing away the remaining tears with her thumbs.
"Hey, it's not silly. Dreams can be scary sometimes, and it's okay to be scared.", Luz tries to reassure her. "But we're both here now, in the present, together, and we're both safe. And we will always protect each other, no matter what."
Amity nods slightly into Luz's shoulder and the two girls remain in that position for a while before the embrace eventually dissolves again. Amity sniffles once before looking Luz in the eye and a slight, relieved smile forms on her face.
"Thank you.", Amity mutters. With her hand, Luz brushes some hair off Amity's face and gives her a gentle kiss on her forehead. This catches her by surprise, and Luz can clearly see how Amity's brain has stopped working at that moment. A happy grin spreads across her face as she watches her girlfriend's reaction. Amity's whole face has turned tomato red and her ears are twitching uncontrollably.
Luz chuckles softly and pulls her a little closer to her so they are sitting forehead to forehead across each other.
"You're cute when you're flustered.", Luz teases her, which only makes things worse for Amity.
"Too much?", Luz asked when after a few more seconds there was no response from her.
"Eep.", Amity squeaks out, burying her face in Luz's shoulder once again, her cheeks still burning.
"Do you think you can go back to sleep? Or did I ruin that now?", Luz asks, amused. Slightly, Amity shakes her head in response.
It takes a while for Amity to be able to collect herself again. This close proximity to Luz doesn't make it any easier, but fortunately she is a master of distraction, allowing Amity to no longer be thinking about her nightmare.
Eventually both of them get up as Luz has insisted that Amity should give her the tour of Blight Manor that she offered her yesterday, since they are both awake.
On their way out, they spot Ghost and Owlbert who are still sound asleep, tightly snuggled together on Amity's desk. They sneak past them and close the room door quietly behind them to avoid waking them.
"Well, you've already seen my room and bathroom...", Amity recounts, to which Luz nods affirmatively. They go to the first room immediately to the left of Amity's room, where the door is standing wide open. "This is Edric's room.", Amity tells her. Hesitantly, Luz pokes her head in.
"Are you sure it's okay for you to show me?", Luz asks skeptically.
"I don't think he'll mind. After all, he and Em always come into my room without asking to bug me when they're bored, no matter what I'm doing at that moment... Come on.", she leads her inside.
Unlike Amity's room, Edric's doesn't seem to have its own balcony. Opposite the room's door is merely a large, three-paned window, in front of which is a dark, wooden desk. On it are only a few very used-looking books, various loose papers, and a makeup mirror. On the left side, there is an open drawer with a nest peeking out. Luz looks at her girlfriend with a questioning look.
"A while ago, Edric found a wild bat at the Knee and wanted to keep it. He's secretly trying to teach it some tricks, and, to hide it from Mom, it's living in the drawer.", Amity explains.
"Your brother has an interest in Beast-Keeping?", Luz wonders. "Didn't know that..."
"He calls it Batric. I think that's enough of an answer, don't you?"
"Well, I think it's cool. Even though I don't think the drawer looks particularly pet friendly...", Luz notes before her gaze jumps elsewhere. "Heeey, I have the same bunk bed in my room in the Human Realm..."
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Um, Ed and Em used to share this room here before Em wanted her own and moved into the room next door.", Amity explains. Other than that, Edric's room has nothing else interesting to offer. There are still a few closets and wardrobes, but peeking in there would be a bit too much snooping.
"I kind of thought your brother would have more, I don't know, pranking gadgets...", Luz sounds disappointed.
"They're probably hidden around here somewhere with a permanent illusion spell."
"Sounds reasonable... Okay, let's move on.", Luz decides and the two girls leave Edric's room and move on to Emira's.
"Edric's room and Emira's room are set up pretty identically. Em's is just a little tidier.", Amity explains. She and Luz poke their heads into Emira's room and it seems surprisingly and unexpectedly unspectacular.
"Hmm... Ok. Let's move on."
They walk along the railing and directly take a look down into the living room, which is less than two meters lower than the edge of the walkway.
In the middle of it are standing two fancy tall stone columns that rise directly up to the ceiling of the room. Right between them, facing the fireplace, which is not burning, is a wide sofa. Directly in front of it is a low coffee table, which is additionally surrounded on the right and left by two more, although somewhat smaller, sofas. Directly above the fireplace sideboard hangs a portrait, from which Luz cannot take her eyes off until she and Amity are standing directly in front of it.
The portrait is a huge oil painting with all the members of the Blight family, looking nicely dressed up as always, wearing their best clothes. The parents are standing behind a small, abomination-colored couch on which Amity, Edric, and Emira are sitting. Their mother is standing directly behind Edric with one hand resting on his shoulder. A sly smile graces her face. Next to her, at some distance and with an unhealthy-looking posture, is Mr. Blight. Contrary to the typical spruceness Luz knows from the members of the Blights, he is rather scruffy. He has brown, unkempt hair in which golden goggles with purple lenses hide, and stained clothes. Contrary to his wife, he does not smile. On the contrary, his face is completely expressionless.
Right in front of him sits Emira, who wears a purple frilly dress. Her green hair is carefully tied into a long braided ponytail. A slight smile adorns her face, as well as that of her brother. He is wearing a purple suit with a matching dark purple tie. And in the middle, sitting between the twins is Amity, with her hair still dyed bright green at that time. She is wearing the same purple dress that she wore to the last Grom.
"You look so... sad.", Luz observes. Amity looks up at the portrait, her gaze lingering on her younger self.
"I don't remember exactly when this painting was made. But I remember very clearly how I felt... I was miserable. I felt like I was suffocating, from all the expectations that weighed on me, the demands I could never meet, the affection I never experienced... Mother only ever reached out to me when she wanted to impose something she wanted, or in public when she put on a show about being a good and loving mother. Dad has hardly been around for years, always working... "
"And what about Ed and Em? I'm very sure they love and care about you very much.", Luz argues.
"They're annoying.", Amity says firmly, "And they mean the world to me. I don't know where I would be if they weren't part of my life... But even something like now, when I don't have them around for a while, that's nice too."
"They're your family.", Luz comments, but Amity just huffs in response.
"Family is a strong word, Luz.", she says, "I mean, sure, they're my siblings and they mean a lot to me, but... Well, family is supposed to be a support system, right? Someone you can rely on unconditionally, right?", Luz nods affirmatively. "I can't say that those are things that are familiar to me... If this is really anything like a real, actual family, I can say with certainty, that I don't feel like a part of it."
Luz was about to open her mouth to say something uplifting, but Amity beat her to it. "Come on, let's keep going."
She leads Luz past one of the two huge curtained windows, past a tall, almost wall-width bookshelf, toward the hallway that runs directly under the bathroom of Amity, Edric, and Emira, leading further into the building. She shows her to her father's workshop at the bottom of a branching staircase downstairs, in the basement of the building, where he works on all sorts of things for Blight Industries. As they go back upstairs, they continue into the Blight family's private library, where there are so many books and manuscripts lying around, collecting dust, that Amity argues they would be better off in a library or museum. The last room is next to the exit to the large outdoor area, where the main factory and one of the larger warehouses of Blight Industries are located, which often serves as a venue for company product presentations or festive balls.
Directly to the left of the door to the outside, there is a staircase that leads further up. Amity, on the other hand, leads Luz into a room to the right of the door, into the kitchen.
"Whoa...", Luz exclaims, sounding somewhat impressed, "This is differently fancy..."
As in the rest of the house, the kitchen's floor is made of classy-looking hardwood flooring that seems to have a water- and stain-resistant layer of something on it. The outer corner of the kitchen of the exterior wall, is extensively windowed, and directly in front of it is a countertop, made of white marble. In the center of the room is a kitchen island, in the center of which are two side-by-side ovens with stove tops on them. Immediately next to the door is a two-sided, steel refrigerator, and the rest of the kitchen consists almost entirely of cabinets, shelves, and more counter space. The cabinets on the floor are made of high-quality brown wood, with bronze drawer- or cabinet handles attached, mostly containing cooking utensils and ingredients. The countertop immediately above is consistent white marble, and Luz discovers a small sink in another corner of the room. Below the ceiling, on two of the four walls, are several more cabinets, though they are white in color, but also have bronze handles. In them are all sorts of eating utensils, glasses, cups, and other ingredients used for the preparation of drinks and food.
"It's mostly the cooks who work for my parents who work in here. But Abdel is also able to prepare smaller, simpler meals.", Amity explains, " On weekends, however, they're rarely here."
"Your parents don't cook?", Luz asks, which earns her a raised eyebrow from her girlfriend. "Yeah, right, never mind."
"Actually, though, I do try baking from time to time.", Amity states proudly, "I've been watching the chefs every now and then, and then at some point I've experimented on my own. There are some things I know how to cook, but nothing beats my Fairy Pies."
"Fairy Pies?", Luz asks with a hint of worry of the explanation in her voice, "Pies for fairies, I hope..."
"Fairies are part of the ingredients. They're delicious, very sweet tasting.", Amity explains, oblivious to Luz' concern, "I'll make you one to try sometime later. You'll like it, I'm sure."
Luz is not entirely comfortable with the idea of fairies being used as ingredients, but she doesn't want to upset Amity, so she just nods and gives a slightly forced smile.
"Suuureee...", Luz exclaims, looking for a way to change the subject, when her gaze suddenly falls out the kitchen window, "Uhh, look, the sun's starting to rise. Shall we watch the sunrise together?"
"I'd love to. But first, I'm thirsty. Fancy some tea?"
Amity gets two cups from one of the upper cupboards and brews a good smelling herbal tea for her and Luz. When the teas are ready, she hands one of the steaming cups to her girlfriend, and together they leave the kitchen, walk up the opposing staircase, past Amity's parents' bedroom, and on to the roof terrace, from where they have a perfect view of the sunrise.
Once on the roof terrace, Luz sits down on one of several comfortably cushioned, next-to-each other chairs. Amity, however, first heads to a small dresser standing next to the patio doors and pulls out two fluffy blankets, one of which she hands to Luz.
"Here, so you won't be cold."
Luz sets her tea down on the glass table in front of her, wraps the blanket around herself, and sits back down. Amity pushes one of the chairs closer to Luz, wraps herself in a blanket as well, and sits down next to her, holding her tea with both hands.
The sky takes on a deep shade of orange as the sun begins to rise, filling the world around them with warm rays of sunshine. Luz sips her tea and enjoys the warmth that fills her body, fully taking in the view.
"It's beautiful.", she whispers. Amity rests her head on her shoulder.
"You know, it's been a long time since I've been up here to watch the sunrise, and in fact, this is one of my favorite places in the house.", Amity whispers softly.
"I can see why.", Luz replies, "It's so peaceful up here. The world is still asleep, there's no stress... Everything seems lighter, easier..."
She takes another sip of her tea as the two girlfriends quietly watch the sun continuing to rise higher in the sky. Amity takes one of her hands and places it in Luz's free hand, their fingers intertwining.
"Thank you for bringing me here.", Luz says, barely louder than a whisper, but with a smile on her face.
"Thank you for being part of my life."
Enjoying each other's company they simply sit there, sipping their tea, until suddenly at some point Luz just starts sniffing her nose, and Amity tilts her head slightly towards her.
"Seems like I am starting to get a little chilly around the nose...", Luz states.
"Yeah. Now that the wind is stronger, it really is a bit chilly. Come on, let's go back inside."
Luz finishes the last sip of her tea before both of them stand up and, with their blankets around their shoulders, they go back inside with small steps. As they walk down the stairs back down to the first floor, Luz speaks up.
"What are we doing today, by the way?"
"I was planning on taking you to the library today. I'm reading to the kids today. Haven't been in a while.", Amity replies, "And I vaguely remember you offering to read to the kids with me some time."
"Aww, you remembered that.", Luz smiles, "I'm definitely coming. But aren't you worried about being recognized?" dEnjoying each other's company they simply sit there, sipping their tea, until suddenly at some point Luz just starts sniffing her nose, and Amity tilts her head slightly towards her.
"Seems like I am starting to get a little chilly around the nose...", Luz states.
"Yeah. Now that the wind is stronger, it really is a bit chilly. Come on, let's go back inside."
Luz finishes the last sip of her tea before both of them stand up and, with their blankets around their shoulders, they go back inside with small steps. As they walk down the stairs back to the first floor, Luz speaks up.
"What are we doing today, by the way?"
"I was planning on taking you to the library today. I'm reading to the kids today. Haven't been in a while.", Amity replies, "And I vaguely remember you offering to read to the kids with me some time."
"Aww, you remembered.", Luz smiles, "I'm definitely coming. But aren't you worried about being recognized? You know, about yesterday..."
"No."
"Okay, then we've got that covered too. When exactly do we have to be there?"
At that, Amity summons her scroll. "Um... We don't have to hurry. We can eat breakfast, and then head out later."
"Should we fly there or teleport?", Luz asks.
"Well, it depends. Say, Luz, are you good at inline skating?", Amity asks, causing a huge grin to appear on Luz' face.
"I love inline skating. I used to do that with my mom. She actually taught me to skate when I was younger. It's been a while, but I'm sure I still remember how to do it."
By now, the two girls have reached Amity's room once again, where they are greeted by their now-awake palismans. Ghost jumps into Amity's arms purring, and Owlbert lands on Luz's shoulder and nuzzles his head along her cheek.
"Naaw, good morning you cuties. Have you been sleeping well?", Ghost responds with a soft meow. Amity is about to close her room door behind her when she notices Abdel walking right up to her, carrying a small laundry basket with her and Luz' now clean clothes from yesterday.
He's standing in front of the two girls, who are taking out their respective clothes. At the top, neatly folded, lies Luz', or rather Eda's, Grudgby jacket. It still doesn't feel right for Luz to call this jacket her own. However, this fact does not stop her from burying her face in the jacket and taking an exceedingly intense sniff of it.
"Whoa... I don't think this jacket has ever smelled better...", Luz comments. Amity just smirks at that as she takes in her black dress and school uniform, and stores both in one of her dressers. Luz looks at her.
"You don't want to wear the dress?", she asks.
"Nope. I would if we were flying, but I feel more like something sportier for today.", Amity rummages around in her dresser for a moment and pulls out a black item of clothing. "One second, I'll be right back."
Hastily, Amity leaves her room, leaving Luz with a questioning look on her face. A few moments later she returns, now wearing a pair of loose, bright pink pants with slightly darker accents, held up with a narrow black belt. On top of them, she wears a black shirt with a blue glowing butterfly in the middle.
"What do you think?", Amity asks, turning full circle for Luz. At a loss for words, she stares at her with her mouth open for a moment. Amity giggles.
"So pretty...", Luz mouths, her face suddenly feeling very warm.
"Those are Emira's pants. Got them as a gift for her last birthday from some business partners of my parents. I don't think she ever wore them.", Amity explains, "I think Ed got the same ones."
"They look fantastic on you. Very athletic.", Luz compliments her before her mind drifts to her own outfit. "I don't think I can wear this jacket if we're going to skate later. Way too warm..."
"See if you can find a matching top in my dresser. Top drawer."
Luz opens said drawer and looks through a couple of Amity's tops. Ultimately, she settles on a black top, with very thin, blue transparent, elbow-length sleeves.
"Want me to leave so you can change?", Amity asks.
"Nah, nah. You don't need to. I'm going to the bathroom.", Luz replies. She grabs the top, as well as her own light gray shorts and disappears into the bathroom for a few minutes. When she returns, however, she looks a little unsettled.
"I feel like something is missing..."
"You look great.", Amity says, before turning to Ghost and Owlbert. "Right? Don't you guys think so?"
Ghost meows cheerfully, and Owlbert lets out an uplifting hoot.
"Thanks guys.", Luz says slightly flushed by all the compliments. She couldn't understand Ghost, but the general trend was clear.
"Soo... Breakfast?"
Although Luz and Amity had decided not to hurry with breakfast, Luz in particular couldn't wait to go skating with her girlfriend. Not long after, the two girls put on their shoes and together with Ghost and Owlbert they leave Blight Manor. the two girls had offered to take the palismans in their wooden form, but they insisted on coming with them in their palisman form. Owlbert wants to fly next to Luz, and Ghost wants to run next to Amity.
Before they all left the manor, however, Luz noticed that Amity took a small bottle of Abomination liquid with her, but no inline skates.
"So...", Luz begins, "no equipment?"
"Lift your foot.", Amity instructs her, before drawing a pink circle, and from her abomination fluid, four wheels arranged in a row, along with the stopper behind them, form under her sole. She repeats the same for her other shoe.
"Fancy.", Luz commends, before Amity adds abomination elbows and knee pads to her, as well as herself. Amity doesn't give herself inliners, though, but she does give herself an Abomination skateboard. "Coool... I honestly didn't know you could do stuff with it other than Abominations... ... Well, that's not entirely true, but I'm still surprised."
"Why don't you try these out, get a feel for them?", Amity suggests to her, just before Luz rolls a few meters along the gravel path around Amity with the Abomination rolls under her shoes.
"I'm surprised... On earth, I was always afraid of slipping on gravel, of the stones blocking the wheels, or of losing my grip. But here... none of that. It feels like I'm rolling over solid stone...", Luz notes.
"And you still seem to be able to stand pretty steady on your wheels.", Amity adds. At that, Luz gets an idea.
"I've got an idea: Let's race to the library!", she exclaims excitedly. Amity raises an eyebrow at her, before a big grin spreads across her face.
"Oh, you're on! Ghost, you give us the go signal, okay?", Ghost meows in confirmation, "Are you ready, Luz?"
"Wait.", Luz puts on her concealment bracelet, "There. Now I'm ready.", Luz replies, getting into position to race down the hill as fast as she can. Amity moves into position next to her, her skateboard already in hand. With motivation and conviction in their eyes, the two girlfriends look at each other, nodding encouragingly.
"On three.", Amity says. Ghost nods in affirmation.
"Meow."
"One.", Amity translates.
"Meow."
"Two."
"Meow."
And immediately, Amity jumps on her skateboard and is already speeding down the entryway of Blight Manor.
"HEY!", Luz yells before she too speeds off.
The wind darts past Luz' face as she picks up speed and races down the hill of the entryway, feeling the thrill building inside her. Amity has already built a solid lead, but Luz isn't discouraged. She leans forward, pushing herself forward, faster and faster with her legs, and also swinging her arms along for the extra momentum.
Owlbert catches up to Luz, who flies next to her and cheers her on with his cute hoots.
By the time Luz manages to catch up to Amity and Ghost, the girls are already halfway through the forest, and also halfway to Bonesborough. Luz notices that Amity is still ahead of her, though not by much. And she's determined to catch up. She pushes herself yet even harder, and gets both her hearts to pump thoroughly. She pushes herself harder off the ground, trying to make herself as streamlined as possible. The sound of the wind whizzing past her ears is exhilarating, and makes her feel like she's flying.
As they're about to leave the forest, noticing the first signs of civilization, the two girls are neck to neck, both equally determined to win.
The ground beneath them gradually begins to change from gravel to stone, giving Amity a slight advantage on her skateboard.
Fortunately, the streets of Bonesborough are not yet particularly crowded, and the library is gradually coming into view. Both girls go into one last final sprint, and Amity is actually slightly in the lead. The finish line, consisting of the two ramps built into the stairs up to the main entrance of the library, is getting closer and closer.
Both girls have to dodge a few people, costing Luz in particular valuable seconds. Luz tries to gather her last strength, but realizes it's too late as Amity is already triumphantly rolling up the ramp with Luz immediately behind her.
She jumps down from her skateboard, celebrating her victory with her arms in the air.
"Wow... You were... really fast...", Luz congratulates her completely out of breath. Amity is also panting heavily.
"You were great too, Luz... That was a great race...", she returns the compliment before letting the abomination fluid flow from herself and Luz back into her little vial. "Should we go in already, or do you need a moment?"
"I'm alright. Let's go in."
Right after they step through the doors, a voice directly addresses them. Or rather, one of them.
"Amity, it's so good to see you."
"Malphas... Good to see you too.", Amity greets back before leaning towards Luz, "Malphas is the Master Librarian here. He is the one who gave me my job and my own study room."
Luz waves at Malphas in greeting. He himself is a huge, bird-like humanoid demon, at least twice the size of Luz or Amity. He has blue-greyish skin, a downturned beak, and yellow glowing eyes. He is dressed in a black cloak that has a purple top, and two large, folded wings protrude from his back. His legs are not visible, since he is hovering on a huge book, on which spine 'Staff' is written in large letters.
"It's unusual to see you outside the Forbidden Stacks.", Amity remarks as he approaches them.
"Gary is sick. Got a bad case of the Mold. I'm covering his shift today.", he explains.
"I hope he recovers quickly, then."
"Well, anyway... Say, who's your friend here?", he asks.
"Uh, yeah right. Malphas, this is my girlfriend, Luz. Luz, Malphas."
"Hi.", Luz greets him before Amity continues.
"She was going to come help me reading to the kids today, if that's okay with you."
"But of course.", he replies joyfully, "A few kids are actually here already. Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to supervise them myself yet, but now that you're here, you're welcome to handle them."
"Thank you Malphas.", Amity replies before Luz thanks him as well, and the two girls head straight for the kids' corner. Fortunately, they are met by very little chaos, which is briskly cleaned up.
It takes about half an hour for the rest of the children to arrive, and without exception, all of them have been thrilled to see Amity again. In the meantime, Luz and Amity have already agreed on which book they would read today. A classic. Perfectly suited for children, and equally suited to be read aloud by two people. It's a book that the two girlfriends already know inside and out.
"So, children-", Amity begins, "Before we start today, I want to introduce you to someone: This is my girlfriend, Luz."
"And together we're going to read you 'The Good Witch Azura'.", the kids cheer as Luz announces this.
"Chapter One: I Failed."