Part 5

Willow and Boscha were seated at a table on the terrace out behind Blight Manor. It had been a long time since Willow had been over, but the vast back yard was just as she remembered. The stone floor of the terrace extended out a third of the way, making space for guests when they Blights held parties. Just beyond the terrace was a small pond with a wide bridge crossing over to the other side. And there was a lush bed of exotic flowers lining the wall on the far side of the property that could easily be seen from where they were sitting.

"You can go over there." Boscha told her. "It's not a big deal if you leave me alone for a couple minutes."

"No, that's alright." Willow replied, tearing her eyes away from the garden in the distance. "As much as I'd like to, I don't plan to leave you alone again. Not until today is over with anyways."

"Wow, choosing me over your precious flowers. I'm flattered."

"I don't have much choice. The last time you got separated from me, I had to rescue you." Willow remarked with a wry smirk. "Staying close by is better for your safety."

Boscha scoffed, looking mildly offended. "What, you're not going to let me live that down or something? I was caught off guard. I can totally take care of myself."

"Big talk for a witch who can't use her magic right now." Willow countered playfully.

"You'd be surprised how hard I can kick someone."

Willow giggled. "Of course that's what you'd say."

She kept giggling, almost continuously. Boscha smiled softly, her cheeks tinted with a small blush. Something about getting that reaction from Willow was very satisfying to her. Not in the same way as when she got praise for anything from her circle of friends at school either. Whatever it was, she did know she liked it, a lot.

The back door of the manor opened and Luz stepped out, carrying a tray with crudites. Some of the fresh produce was still squirming, albeit weakly. Luz quickly joined the table, setting the tray down and cautiously nudging it closer to the other two.

"Here you go, ladies. Amity is working on the main course and I have some refreshments in mind once that's ready."

"Please tell me it isn't that gava stuff you made yesterday…" Boscha stated dryly.

"Well, yes and no… I am making more. But that's for Amity and myself. I thought up something new for today. Apple blood smoothies…"

"They've been done, human."

"Apple blood smoothies." Luz continued, smiling to hide her irritation. "With fire-honey."

"With fire-honey?" Willow repeated slowly.

"Are you crazy?" Boscha asked. "Forget the damage it would do to our stomachs, fire-honey can melt teeth!'

"Maybe if you eat it right from the hive. But Eda knows a way to make it safe. I enjoy it on my pancakes."

The sound of Amity's voice calling from inside interrupted their conversation. Luz excused herself and rushed back inside to help. As soon as she disappeared through the door, Boscha leaned closer to Willow, giving her a questioning glance.

"It's not just my imagination, that girl is crazy, right?"

Willow giggled. "Maybe, but just a little. She does make my Papa worry sometimes when she comes over to work on our plant track homework together."

"She has nearly blown up the potions classroom a couple times." Boscha said flatly. "We've had to sit through the safety lecture again, and again and even get pop quizzes on it now because of her."

"All of the plants in the greenhouse want to eat her. Luckily, I have practice from helping Amelia with the same problem. But now I need to try and keep two people from becoming plant food at school."

Boscha laughed. "How is it those two are the ones the plants want to eat when they both barely have any meat on their bones?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe it's just easier to eat them whole?" Willow speculated.

They both laughed again, Willow covering her mouth with one hand. She struggled to stop, but couldn't manage despite her best efforts. Even Boscha managed to finish laughing before she did, making her feel slightly embarrassed. The fact that Boscha was staring at her the entire time didn't help either.

Luz stepped out of the manor again, rejoining them with two guava smoothies as the last of Willow's giggles sounded. Amity followed a minute later, a small case in one hand. She was accompanied by an abomination carrying a long spit loaded with cuts of meat.

"Hope you ladies are hungry, because we have a super good meal coming up!" Luz informed them, pointing to a spot at the edge of the patio. "Here should be good."

"Abomination, set up there." Amity commanded, setting her case down on the table. "And as for you Boscha, let's see your hands."

Boscha held out her trapped hands for Amity to inspect. Amity opened her case and took out a metal probe and a vial. She gently prodded at the substance, a small frown coming to her face as she discovered it to be very solid.

Amity continued to prod at the gunk, trying from different angles. She gave up after making no progress breaking the surface and switched her prod out for a shaving hook. The results were different, but no better as the blade only got stuck as she tried to drag it over the surface. After putting the tools away, Amity let out a sigh of defeat.

"I'll need to try and contact my dad. He should have better tools in his workshop, but I can't get in there without him. I just hope I can convince him to step away from work for a bit."

"And if he can't?" Boscha asked hesitantly.

"Then we take you to a healing ward." Willow answered simply. "As soon as we've finished eating lunch."

"Honestly, we should just do that anyways." Amity insisted. "There's no telling how this goo has affected Boscha's hands. A healer should look at them, to be safe."

"I feel fine!" Boscha snipped. "As soon as my hands are free again, it will be like nothing happened. I don't need to see a healer!"

"Is that attitude necessary?" Amity inquired, crossing her arms.

"She's had a rough day, Sweet Potato. Let's not give her a hard time." Luz suggested. "I bet she's a bit hangry too. Lunch is gonna take a while, so just enjoy the appetizers while it starts cooking."

Boscha lifted her bound hands. "How?"

Luz smirked and stepped beside Willow, giving her a big smile and knowing look. Willow caught onto what Luz had in mind and smirked a little herself. She picked up the plate of crudites along with her fork, stabbing it into a carrot. The root squealed and weakly squirmed, making Luz wince. It kept wriggling on the fork as Willow lifted it up and Luz looked away out of instinct, but dared to return her gaze in order to witness the scene that was taking place.

Willow held the carrot out to Boscha. After giving Luz a quick glare and feeling her face heat up ever so slightly, Boscha opened her mouth. She bit down on the carrot, another squeal escaping it before its demise. Luz winced again, giving Boscha a wicked idea. While Willow stabbed the next bite for her, she moved over to stand closer to Luz. Boscha accepted the next vegetable, a somewhat feisty asparagus stalk, but didn't sink her teeth into it just yet.

Leaning closer to Luz, Boscha bit down slowly on the stalk in her mouth. The asparagus thrashed desperately and hissed, making Luz shrink away. Boscha let the vegetable's death throes go on a little longer before clenching her teeth and ending its misery. She then chewed it loudly to further add to Luz's discomfort.

"Could you please not do that?" Luz meekly requested.

"Why, does it bother you?" Boscha asked with a touch of sarcasm. "Then stop having fun with this! Do you know how much it sucks that I can't use my hands?! I hate it!"

"Sorry… but you have to admit, it is nice to have someone feed you, right?"

"Maybe, if you like being babied…" Boscha scoffed, returning to her seat. "Which I don't! And I really don't like having a weirdo getting all obsessed with it!"

"Boscha has a point, Luz." Willow said, getting another carrot on the fork. "Our morning didn't quite go how we would have liked and we want to try and make the most of the rest of the day. Please let us enjoy lunch."

"Speaking of which, hey Amity!" Boscha called. "How long until that scorpion meat is ready?"

"It's not scorpion, its spine-crawler." Amity replied, adding seasoning to the cone of meat on the spit. "And it should be fully cooked in less than an hour."

"Ugh… spine-crawler meat? Since when does your family go for the cheap stuff?"

"Luz cannot eat a lot of meats here in the Demon Realm. Spine-crawler is safe for her and she likes it very much, so that's what we're having." Amity explained, giving Boscha an icy glare. "Sorry if it isn't what you want to eat, but I wasn't planning on additional guests today. No offense, Willow."

Amity returned her attention to the meal prep, checking to make sure she had evenly seasoned the food. She drew a magic circle and the abomination's body shifted, it's abdomen and chest sinking in, creating a concave indentation. Making the abomination shift its arms into new positions on its body, Amity began setting the spit up vertically. The abomination, now with one arm at the base of its neck and the other at waist-level, held the spit in place as Amity cast another spell.

A pink flame roared to life across the indented surface of the abomination's body. It began slowly turning the spit, the low flames tickling the spine-crawler meat. Amity observed her abomination and the food for a minute, making sure everything was all set before stepping away and joining the others at the table.

"So, while we are waiting, would anyone like to play a game?" Luz inquired, reaching out to take Amity's hand in her own. "We could do teams. Couple versus couple!"

"How about we don't?" Boscha said flatly.

"What's wrong, Boscha? Scared of losing?" Amity asked somewhat mockingly. "I mean, you are at a disadvantage, so I wouldn't blame you if you were."

"You wish. I could beat you and your sad excuse for a girlfriend, blindfolded."

Luz gasped excitedly. "Ooh! I just got a fun idea!"

She leaned over to whisper to Amity, cupping one hand by the side of her mouth. Amity smirked almost immediately, seeming pleased with whatever idea Luz was sharing with her. Boscha recognized the look in Amity's eyes, it was one she had whenever she was coming up with some sort of plan. Something which she confirmed by whispering back to her girlfriend, the two giggling together as Luz nodded in agreement.

"We have a very fun idea for a game." Amity stated, almost proudly. "A team game that will rely on trust and coordination."

"A trust-walk!" Luz giddily exclaimed. "One girl from each coupl… er, team will stand on the far end of the yard with a blindfold on. Then the other guides her back over here. The winner is the first one back to her girlfriend!"

"Or in my case, teammate." Willow corrected. "So, who wants to go to the other side of the yard?"

"I'll do it! I want to follow the sweet sound of my Sweet Potato's voice back to her!"

"Aww. Okay, so you and Boscha will be blindfolded..."

"Not happening." Boscha cut in.

"I think she has a point. A blindfold won't cover all her eyes." Luz noted. "Maybe use two?"

"Or we could just put a bag over her head." Amity suggested wryly. "It's not like she can take it off to cheat."

Boscha bristled at the claim Amity had made. A vein bulged on her forehead, to the left of her middle eye. She stomped her foot down, getting the other three girls to look her way. Along with the rage in her expression, there was hurt in her eyes, all three glaring daggers at Amity.

"I have never cheated in my life! You should know better than anyone about that! But I guess all that time we spent together as friends over the years only meant something to me!"

She turned her back and bowed her head, trying to hide the tears that had begun forming. Luz and Willow both shot Amity a cross look, making her recoil just the tiniest bit. Willow went to Boscha's side, putting her hands on Boscha's shoulders reassuringly.

"I'll be blindfolded and you can guide me." She said softly. "Unless you don't want to play anymore…"

"No, I'll play." Boscha replied, sniffling a bit. "I'm not going ignore that stab at my pride. We are beating them at this stupid game!"

"Good, I'll be counting on you." Willow replied, smiling a little. "With your leadership skills, we'll win no problem."

"You really mean that?"

"Of course. I can trust your judgement in a competition. I've seen enough Grudgby games to know that. So let's win this little game they came up with!"

She held out her hand to Boscha, who slowly turned to face her. Boscha smiled and went to take Willow's hand, but they both realized they had forgotten about her current problem. Willow simply giggled and patted her hand onto the blob trapping both of Boscha's.

Boscha giggled, giving Willow a small nod in agreement. She sniffed again, feeling a mild tickle from the few tears that had escaped while she was upset. Her cheeks reddened slightly, her eyes flitting to the other two in the yard. For a moment she considered trying to turn and just wipe her face on her sleeve, but knew she'd just make it more obvious and simply accepted they would see either way.

"Could you… use your handkerchief on my face again?"

Willow nodded and got out her hankie, holding it up to Boscha's face. She gently dabbed under the other witch's eyes, clearing the tears away. Luz and Amity both watched on, Luz with silent elation and Amity in surprise.

"I… I didn't think that would make you cry…"

"Not gonna lie, I didn't think that Boscha could cry…"

"You're right, I can't cry." Boscha snipped sarcastically. "I was just sweating out of my eyes! It's a demon thing I got from my mom's side of the family. Idiot."

"Easy now." Willow softly advised. "There's no point in being upset about… um, being upset." She added before leaning closer to Boscha to whisper. "Was it the cheating comment or… the bag over your head comment?"

"It was the bag on my head comment." Boscha whispered back before trying to look her usual aloof self again. "So how do we do this walking game, exactly? I want to hurry and whoop the two of you already."

"Pretty much just what I already told you." Luz replied. "One member of each team guides the other back to them. First team to meet up wins. Oh, and the one guiding can't move from where she is standing at the start, obviously."

Boscha scoffed. "That's all? No obstacles or anything? How is that even challenging?"

Luz's eyes lit up. "I love that idea! We should make it an obstacle course! I can use some glyphs to…"

"To give yourself an advantage? How about no? And to think your girlfriend called me a cheater."

"Fair point." Luz admitted, crossing her arms and closing her eyes to think a moment. "Maybe… We could have Amity use one of her abominations to put down some glyphs! Wait, no… I don't think an abomination could activate the glyphs. Uhh… oh, I know! I blindfold myself and then Amity's abomination carries me around and put my glyphs down randomly. That would be okay, right?"

"I like that idea." Willow said, removing her glasses. "I'll make sure not to watch you set up. Boscha, would you bring me back to the table?"

She reached out, feeling for Boscha's arm. Boscha moved a step closer and Willow gently hugged her arm. Luz held back a squee of joy at the sight and Boscha rolled her eyes as she escorted Willow back to the table. With a bit of effort, she managed to nudge Willow's chair back a bit using her feet and Willow sat down, slowly feeling for the plate of crudites.

Boscha got into her own seat beside Willow, who was trying to feed Boscha another carrot. She was not even close to Boscha's face, making the other witch need to lean over close to eat from the fork. Meanwhile, Luz was switching between drawing some glyphs and peeking up at the table, eyes filled with delight. Amity at the same time was taking the cloth napkins that they had set out and was folding them neatly to use for the blindfolds.

Willow tried to feed herself some asparagus, but misjudged how close she was holding her fork. As she bit down, she only grazed the stalk with her teeth, making the vegetable writhe and hiss. It managed to free itself from the prongs and landed on the table, trying to slither away. Amity picked up her own fork and stabbed it, putting a stop to both its escape and its life.

"Here, Willow. It shouldn't give you any trouble this time."

"Thanks, Amity."

Amity let Willow take the fork and then went to put the blindfold on Luz so they could start setting up the obstacles. She paused after a couple steps, something occurring to her and making her look back at the table. Willow was struggling to skewer a rogue brussel-sprout that was rolling around the plate while Boscha giggled at her repeated attempts. It finally got stabbed however and Willow lifted the fork up for Boscha to enjoy the bite.

"Are they… eating from the same fork?" Amity whispered to herself. "No, I'm imagining things…"

She shook her head and continued over to her girlfriend's side. Luz had observed Amity's behavior and greeted her with a cheeky smirk. Amity tried to pay it no mind, fully aware of what Luz was thinking. Not that it stopped Luz from sharing her thoughts.

"You're starting to see it too, aren't you, Sweet Potato?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about. Now turn around so I can put this on you and we can get started."

Luz complied, although her jubilant attitude made if painfully obvious to Amity that she was very pleased by Willow and Boscha's interaction. Amity put the blindfold over Luz's eyes and tied it tightly, but not too tightly. Then she checked to make sure Luz couldn't see anything, stepping in front of her and silently blowing her a kiss. When Luz didn't react, she knew her girlfriend had not seen the gesture, to her slight disappointment.

Calling forth a second abomination, Amity had it carefully lift Luz up and carry her around the back yard. Amity monitored the abomination as it walked in a random path, stopping at irregular intervals so Luz could reach down and invoke a glyph. The yard became spotted with patches of contained fire, small sheets of ice or lumps of ice, and vines or roots in varying shapes and sizes.

Once Luz had used the last of her glyphs, Amity had the abomination bring Luz to the far side of the yard by the flower bed. After having it set her down gently, Amity made the abomination go get Willow to carry her over to Luz's side. It took a moment as she had to let the abomination navigate the way back on its own, to keep things fair.

With both Luz and Willow in position, Amity only need a moment to check on the food before they could begin. She stood a few steps away from Boscha, sparing a glance her way. Boscha noticed, but didn't show it, she was already busy studying the layout between them and the other two. Her mind was working out a strategy, one which she was confident would work.

"Ready to start this, Amity?"

"Whenever you are, Boscha. Go first if you like."

Boscha scoffed. "Didn't realize you wanted to lose that badly. Okay, fine. Hey Willow! Start walking forward, but only go a few steps!"

Willow nodded and followed the instructions. There weren't any obstacles that close to her, Boscha was just trying to gauge Willow's stride. With a better idea of how much ground the other girl could cover with just one step, she quickly began planning out the route she'd have Willow take from there.

"Okay, now you want to keep going forward, but turn a little to your right first. I'll let you know when you are facing the way you need to go. Take your time."

Again, Willow did as she had been told. She slowly turned little by little to her right until Boscha called out for her to walk forward again. Meanwhile Luz was following Amity's instructions. She was walking with both arms out, feeling around as though that would help her in some way. Something which Boscha believed would work in her favor.

"There's some ice ahead of you, go a little to your left now and be ready to stop when I say so."

"Luz, you keep going the way you're heading!" Amity called. "You're doing great so far!"

"You're so not!" Boscha shouted. "Willow has got a huge lead on you! Better hurry to catch up!"

"Don't mislead her!" Amity spat, throwing Boscha a nasty look. "Luz! Ignore that! Take your time and only follow my instructions!"

"It's kinda sad you need to tell her that." Boscha observed with a smug smirk. "Hey Willow! After you go two more steps, stop, and then take a knee!"

Willow followed Boscha's instructions to the letter. However, there weren't any obstacles close to her that Amity could see, leaving her confused as to why Boscha asked Willow to kneel. She cast a wary glance the other witch's way and then returned her attention to her girlfriend. Luz was steadily progressing forward, although she'd deviate ever so slightly to one side of the other, walking a wiggly path rather than a direct one.

Luz started to pass by where Willow was waiting. Boscha watched closely until they were close to each other, waiting for the right moment. She heard Amity instruct Luz to avoid a looped knot of grass, having her veer left. The exact second Luz turned, Boscha put her plan into action.

"Quick Willow, tuck and roll forward!"

Having been at the ready, Willow acted instantly. She did a frontways somersault just as Luz was but a step away, unknowingly toppling the human over. Luz barely kept herself from faceplanting on the ground, having kept her hands out front being her saving grace. Amity gasped in shock at the stunt, glaring daggers at Boscha.

"Did you just make your girlfriend knock over my girlfriend?!"

"No. Willow isn't my girlfriend, remember?"

Amity glowered, but blushed a bit at her slip of the tongue. "You know what I meant! I thought you said you never cheated in your life!"

"I haven't. Nobody said anything about not being allowed to make our teammates interfere with our opponents." Boscha stated simply, keeping her eyes on Luz and Willow. Luz had gotten up, trying to keep going onward and Boscha could sense a new opportunity. "Ha! Look at her going the wrong way! Willow, now's our chance to gain a big lead on them!"

Again, her plan worked and Luz quickly turned around. Boscha snickered, unable to help herself. She took the chance to plan out the next steps for Willow to take while Amity fumed at her.

"Stop that!" She hissed. "Luz, ignore anything Boscha says! She is messing with you! Turn towards me and just keep walking until I say otherwise!"

"Boscha, I'm with Amity on this." Willow called. "It should be a rule not to sabotage your opponents."

"Okay, okay, fine. I'll play… ugh… nice. Walk four more steps and then take a sharp left. There's a line of flames that goes for about seven steps and then you can turn right."

"Luz, you need to try going a little faster! I'm going to guide you someplace where it will be safe for you to run, but be ready to stop as soon as I tell you to, alright?"

Willow and Luz followed their respective instructions. Luz was still lagging a little behind, but had managed to cover some of the distance between her and Willow. Amity guided her on a slightly different path however, not wanting to take any more chances with Boscha. While Willow went around the line of flames and then over the bridge, Amity had Luz step over a series up thick roots that went in a zigzag pattern and were raised up to almost knee level.

By the time Luz had safely gotten past the roots, Willow was halfway across the bridge where there was a large patch of ice. Boscha pulled a bold move, having Willow intentionally use the slick ice to move a bit faster. She told Willow to stay low and focus on balancing while she used the ice to slide forward. Keeping her sharp eyes on the ice, Boscha called out to let Willow know when she reached the end and could resume walking.

Shortly after Willow finished crossing, Luz arrived on the bridge. Amity had her avoid the ice, costing them a little time. Fortunately, Willow was being slowed down herself, having reached a massive patch of moss that was so springy, it was hard to walk on it without wobbling. Boscha hadn't realized the obstacle was going to be such a nuisance and considered having Willow retrace her steps. But it would undoubtedly allow Luz to catch up, risking their lead.

Boscha guided Willow through the remaining obstacles in the yard while Luz was just getting over the bridge. There was still a considerable gap between Willow and Luz, with Willow nearing the terrace where Amity and Boscha were waiting. There was zero chance that Luz would cover the remaining ground in time, leaving Boscha feeling completely confidant.

"You're almost done." She informed Willow proudly. "Keep going just like you are and we've won this thing."

To Boscha's surprise, Willow stopped. She had nothing in front of her blocking her way and she didn't seem to have anything wrong with her either. But she had for whatever reason stopped and was just standing in place.

"What's wrong? You're almost finished, just go a little further!" Boscha urged.

"I know. I heard you. But since you weren't playing nice earlier, I decided I'll wait until Luz catches up a bit to be fair."

"Oh, come on! You're really going to throw this just because of one stupid, little thing I did?!"

"Don't worry, I'll still try to win. But only once I think Luz is close enough for her to have a chance to win too."

Boscha groaned, tilting her head back. Amity smirked and took advantage of Willow's kindness to get Luz through the remaining obstacles at a slower and safer pace. She got Luz past some thorny vines which were grabbing at her, just barely missing her ankles. Then there was a long set of hexagonal ice pillars that Luz had to weave through to avoid a more dangerous fire obstacle that Amity deemed too time consuming to attempt to navigate.

After getting through the pillars, Luz had only one last hurdle to overcome. A single, large flower sitting right between her current position and the terrace. One which Willow would never have allowed her to go near in the greenhouse. It was a Velvet Frog-tongue, a pitcher-plant with a long tendril inside that could lash out and snag nearby prey. Fortunately, this one wasn't large enough to swallow a human Luz's size, but it would still prevent her from getting to the finish line.

"Alright, you need to be very careful, Luz." Amity advised. "Turn to your left and walk slowly. I'll tell you went to turn again."

She watched carefully as Luz kept moving, paying more attention to the plant than her girlfriend. Velvet Frog-tongues were infamous for having an unknown reach when they snagged prey. Many claimed they couldn't reach further than twice their height, but others swore even the little ones could catch something from across the length of a Grudgby field.

Luz meandered for a short distance before Amity gave her the okay. She then turned a bit to her right and continued walking. Amity noticed she was slightly off course however, passing behind Willow and going diagonally across the grass.

"I'm over here, Luz!" Amity called. "This way!"

"Hello, Sweet Potato! You sound so close! I'ma give you a biig hug!"

She started to run towards the sound of Amity's voice. Willow started to move again, able to tell Luz had caught up. However, the two were on a collision course and neither Amity or Boscha could warn them before it was too late. Luz crashed into Willow's back, throwing the other girl off balance. Willow stumbled forward, tripping as her foot hit the edge of the terrace and she landed on Boscha, knocking them both over.

Unable to use her hands, Boscha could only try to turn to her side so she didn't hit her head. Willow's arms wrapped around her, and she felt herself being pulled close. When they landed, Willow had managed to fall on her rear with Boscha in her lap. She held the other girl tight to keep herself upright.

"Are you okay?!" Amity asked, rushing to their side.

"Y-yeah, I think so." Boscha replied.

"I was asking Willow." Amity curtly told her. "Here, Willow, I got your glasses for you."

Amity returned Willow's glasses, checking her to see if she had been hurt. Willow put her glasses back on and her gaze met Boscha's. She smiled at Boscha, who was blushing a bit.

"You didn't get hurt, did you?" Willow asked.

"No… I'm fine."

"Good. So… could you get off my lap now so I can stand up?"

Boscha's blush grew and she scrambled out of Willow's lap. Willow got up and brushed herself off, checking her clothes before returning her attention to Boscha. The other witch was still blushing and looked away when their gazes met. She walked back over to the table and helped herself to a carrot, noticing that Boscha was standing in place, still staring off.

"Are you sure you didn't get hurt?"

"I think she's fine." Luz noted, smirking as she peeked from under her blindfold. "More than fine, after what I just saw."

"Luz, no more." Amity insisted. "It must have been awkward enough for Willow as it is."

"It was awkward for me too!" Boscha said, storming over to the table. "Stupid hands. Couldn't catch her and then she ends up helping me instead."

She plopped down in the chair beside Willow, still grumbling. Willow offered her a brussel sprout, which Boscha ate with a surprisingly polite 'thank you'. Amity stared at the scene, as perplexed as Luz was ecstatic.

"How are they getting along when Boscha has caused Willow so much trouble over the years?"

"Willow is a nice person; she won't let that get in the way of her helping someone." Luz answered. "Plus, like I've been telling you, they totally have chemistry!"

"They do not. And that is the end of this discussion." Amity stated firmly. "I should be watching the food anyways. And I'll try contacting my dad again. Why don't you get started on those other smoothies?"

"Oh, right! The fire-honey should be safe to use by now. I'll go check!"

Luz dashed inside and Amity went over to the abomination acting as a roaster. While she checked the food, she took out her Penstagram and tried messaging her father. This time she got a response, checking it while she joined the others at the table.

"So, my dad says he is already on the way home. He should be here any minute."

"And he can get rid of this stuff, right?" Boscha pressed.

"Of course he can. There should be no trouble at all."

A couple minutes later, the door opened and Luz rejoined them on the terrace, carrying a tray with the smoothies. However, she didn't seem to be in very high spirits. Something seemed to have her looking nervous, Amity picking up on her girlfriend's unease right away.

"Um… Amity?" Luz began anxiously. "We may be in a little trouble…"

Before Amity could ask Luz to explain, two others stepped out onto the terrace. One was her father, Alador. And the other was her mother, Odalia, who looked incredibly annoyed. The woman surveyed the back yard, seeing the guests at the table, the abomination roasting the spit of meat, and the obstacles left behind from their little competition.

"What in the world is going on here?!" Odalia barked, her eyes snapping to her daughter. "And what did you do to my yard, Amity Blight?!"

To be continued.