Chapter Text
Blights were supposed to be many things. The pinnacle of witch society, bastions of talent and prowess, the elite in both social standing and magical ability- and Amity was all of those things. She had to be. There was no other option for her.
But sometimes… she hated it.
Being a Blight meant that her social circle was predetermined and tolerating them was one of the burdens she had to bear. It meant that she had to put others down, to ensure her spot at the top of the heap. It meant being the best at everything was her rightful place. It meant perfection was not only attainable but expected .
And there was no escape. Her family name was too well known, her features too easily identifiable. To go anywhere, she would have to hide herself just to be someone other than who she was expected to be, and there was a cruel irony in that: she would have to lie to feel like she was telling the truth. Only the secret little study room in the library could give her a taste of the freedom she wanted more than anything.
Only alone could she be herself…
“Hey, Mittens, what do you think?”
Summoning her strength, Amity turned her head to look at her brother as the Blight siblings passed through the market. “About what?”
“Edric was just contemplating which would be a better prank: switching all the labels in the potions class or using an illusion spell to put a ‘kick me’ sign on Principal Bump’s, well, bump.” Emira chuckled, flicking her braided ponytail back over her shoulder. “Personally, I think kicking things off with a harmless little sign is far funnier than hoping someone accidentally makes a Disaster Storm Potion again.”
“Yeah, we did do that a few years ago, huh?” Edric’s expression twisted in thought. “But haven’t we done the sign thing, too?”
“We were going to wait until senior year but, honestly, I think we can come up with something much better by then.”
Amity drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “ How have you two not been grounded to eternity by now?”
“We’re simply too good for that,” Edric replied, exchanging a wink with Emira.
Once again, she wondered what it would be like to be an only child.
“Now, what’s got you so checked out? Ya know. More than usual.”
“I realize both of you have mastered the art of tricking Mom into thinking you’re doing as she’s asked, but some of us don’t have that sort of magic. Yet.”
“You would if you tried it more,” Emira said, leaning close to Amity with a mischievous grin.
Edric leaned in on her other side. “Yeah, just like spells, you have to practice to get good!”
“You know what they say about peer pressure- eventually, you’re gonna crack.”
Amity barely bit back a growl. “Number one, ‘peer pressure’ is not literal; getting closer to me won’t make me any more inclined to your ridiculous antics than I was before. Secondly, you’re not my peers, you’re my older, annoying siblings; it doesn’t work that way anyway.” Lifting her arms, she put one hand on each of her siblings’ faces and forced them away. “And, finally, keep me out of your scheming, or I’m telling Mom.”
Edric pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. “Tattletail.”
“You know, you’re never gonna make friends acting like that,” Emira said.
And she was right. Amity knew that better than anyone, fighting to push the thoughts of a lakeside fort from her mind.
Lengthening her stride- which was hard, considering her older siblings were taller than her- Amity worked to get away from them, taking the first turn she could to try and distance herself from the twins. It wasn’t enough that Mom insisted she dye her hair to be more like them, they wanted her to be like them, too. Everyone wanted her to be someone… but she just wanted to be her .
It just… it wasn’t fair! She worked hard to be the best, the top student, to live up to every expectation placed on her! She put up with just about everything a teenager could - demanding but absent parents, annoying but untouchable older siblings, a social life that was more of a chore than anything- when was she allowed to just be ?
Amity knew the answer to that, of course, and quickly cast a glance around to ensure she’d lost the twins before ducking down another side alley and huddling down beside a tent. The market was always crammed with vendors hawking their wares and people coming and going; as long as she kept a low profile, she could indulge just a little bit. Reaching into her messenger bag, she pulled out one of her prized possessions: the fourth book in a series she’d come to treasure over the years. True, it was from the human realm, a reimagining of witches and magic, crammed with all sorts of strange customs completely foreign to her, but it was a world where she could imagine herself not as a Blight but as a… good witch. One who didn’t need to belittle others to satisfy the pride of her parents or attain perfection for a chance at praise.
No, when she sat down to read, she could imagine herself as someone entirely new.
But, reality would always come crashing back onto her, the mounting weight of expectation an ever growing burden invisibly pulling at her heart, and the clinking of armor made her look up in time to see the telltale white of an Emperor’s Coven witch slipping through the market, off to do his bidding. That was all the reminder she needed that the book was just that and she nothing more than Amity Blight, an amalgamation of others’ ambitions shambling around, an abomination of others’ making.
“What’s the use?” She set the book beside her and pulled her knees up, resting her arms atop them and hiding her face in her arms. “It’s just… make believe. It’s not real.”
Sometimes… she wondered if she was real, if there was a real Amity buried beneath the layers of expectation…
Speaking of expectation, she needed to get to class. If Mom found out she was late, not even the leader of the Healing Coven would be able to save her. Amity reached for her book to put it back in her bag, mentally making a note to replace it with the rest of her collection in her study room, but…
… it was gone.
“What?” She quickly looked around, searching for the book, panic gripping her heart, and just barely caught sight of it being carried away by a… tiny little owl !? “Hey! Get back here!”
Launching after the winged thief, Amity chased it down another alley in the market and around a turn before finally catching up to the little cretin. For whatever reason, it had deposited her book among a trove of junk at a stall. A stall someone was actively working, picking through the pile to find things to sell. As much as Amity wanted to be infuriated and call over one of the Emperor’s Coven Guards, she wasn’t a fool. Books from the human realm only found their way into the demon realm thanks to vagabonds like these making the dangerous journey with forbidden magic; for all she knew, this vendor and her thieving little owl were the ones to bring her books here originally. If she ever hoped to get another one, she couldn’t compromise one of the only methods of getting her hands on it.
Being a Blight meant money was no object, but she wasn’t about to pay for her own book to be returned to her! Besides, she’d always been careful about where and how she went about procuring her books. If her parents found out about her fixation, they’d have some thoughts on it for sure.
Which meant… she’d need to steal it back.
Amity groaned, dragging a hand over her face and looking around to ensure the twins weren’t around. If either of them even suspected her of something like this, she’d never hear the end of it. She was Amity Blight; even if her siblings could indulge in all manner of tomfoolery, she was strictly prohibited from engaging in even the smallest shenanigan. She’d have to be stealthy and avoid the vendor’s yellow eyed gaze.
While her command over abomination clay was far beyond her peers at school, she hadn’t yet mastered enough spells to consider causing an appropriate distraction; that would attract the attention of Guards or worse. No, it would be up to her to- very carefully- creep closer, grab her book, and then sneak away.
Holding her breath, Amity crouched down and moved towards her prize, trying to time each step with the call of some other vendor. When she made it to the side of the table, she reached for the book, hoping the mountain of other relative junk would keep her concealed as the vendor shook some strange black mirror box. The moment her hand closed around the corner of the book with a firm enough hold that she could pull it to safety, she felt triumph flood through her.
“Hoot!”
Her gaze snapped to the side, spotting the tiny owl that had stolen her book in the first place.
“Well, Owlbert,” the vendor said, suddenly leering at her from over the pile, lips pulling into a sinister smile that put one golden fang on prominent display. “What do we have here?”
In a panic, Amity grabbed her book and pulled it into her chest, then ducked beneath one outstretched hand to run into the vendor’s tent. It was a split second decision- if she bolted back the way she came, a shout of ‘thief!’ would bring her flight to a quick end, and her only methods of clearing her name involved admitting the book was hers to the Emperor’s Coven, which she absolutely couldn’t do- and it was quickly becoming a bad one as the tent contained even more junk and a strange door at the back. She didn’t think a tent like this would have a wooden door attached but it didn’t matter; she needed to get to the small space between vendor tents and hope she could outrun the angry vendor long enough to get out of sight, avoiding the guards all the while.
As long as no one saw her, she had a chance.
Amity sprinted to the door and threw it open, looking back in time to see the vendor pulling back the tarp and watching her with a look of horror. “Hey, kid, don’t-!”
Whatever warning was meant for her, she never heard it, as what she thought would be the first step into the area behind the tent unexpectedly tripped her, causing Amity to fall forward through the doorway. She landed in a heap, in the dirt, in… a forest.
“What?” Amity pushed herself to her feet as several emotions vied for control of her conscious mind. There was confusion because, well, it didn’t look like any teleportation door she’d ever seen, so how’d she end up here? And where was here? Nowhere on the Boiling Isles, that was certain. Why was the sky blue? And the trees green? “Where… am I?”
Then, the fear started to take hold. She was somewhere that was not school, and if her parents found out…
Amity turned to run back through the door, finding it set into a strange little wooden cabin that had seen better days. However, opening the door just… led inside the cabin, with broken floorboards and furniture that was falling apart. She tried opening and closing the door a few more times but… nothing.
“A secret one-way teleportation door? How!? Why!? ” Amity growled, slamming the door closed and turning to lean back against it, slumping down and hugging her book to her chest. “When Mom finds out, I’m so dead.”
“Hey!” Amity’s head snapped up, watching as someone broke through the green trees and slid to a stop in front of the cabin. Whoever it was, they were wearing clothing she’d never seen before in the Boiling Isles, with no hint of a coven anywhere visible. “You! Give me back my book!”
“What!?” Oh, no, not only was she stuck somewhere unfamiliar, now someone else was trying to steal her book. “I don’t think so!”
She quickly got to her feet and drew a circle with the intent of summoning slime or clay to form a fist and punch the interloper away. But… nothing happened. She couldn’t even feel something responding to her spell, as if there was no slime or clay anywhere. Why!? How!?
“Don’t you point your finger at me, you- you- person-who-trains-tiny-birds-to-steal-for-her person you!”
Tiny birds?
“Wait!” The hand she’d tried casting the spell opened in what she hoped would be a placating gesture. “That wasn’t my bird! It tried stealing my book, too!”
The person came to an abrupt halt, suspicion alight in brown eyes until her expression abruptly shifted. “Hold on… that’s Book Four.”
Amity felt some of the tension bleed out of her as she looked down, confirming that, yes, it was her book that she’d managed to steal back. “Y-yeah?”
“That bird thief stole my copy of the first book.” Then, contrition splayed across her features. “I’m sorry, I- I shouldn’t have accused you like that. I’m just… having a really rough day. It’s no excuse but I hope you can forgive me. Did you see which way the bird went?”
“Uh… not… really… I don’t even know where we are.”
“Oh, well, I can help with that!” And then, she thrust a hand out, but rather than casting a spell, she just smiled wide. “My name’s Luz Noceda and we’re in the forest just outside of Gravesfield, Connecticut.”
Amity couldn’t help but respond with the first thing that came to mind. “What’s a ‘Connecticut’?”
Luz laughed, allowing her hand to drop. “Yeah, I had a similar reaction when I moved here, too. You must be really new.”
“You have… no idea.” Then, Amity noticed something. “Uh… your… ears…”
“What? Did I get a leaf stuck in ‘em?” As Luz used her hands to check her round ears, she became increasingly concerned. “Is there a worm in them? A spider?”
“No, no, they’re just… round…”
Witches didn’t have round ears and demons didn’t have witch eyes. There was only one creature Amity knew about that had round ears and witch eyes but that… was impossible, wasn’t it? Humans only existed in the human realm and that… that door didn’t… no…
“Uh, yeah, they- oh! I get it!” Luz then laughed. “Your ears are pointy. Is that common where you’re from?”
“You… could say that.” Amity felt a little lightheaded from just… everything .
“Luz! Mija, ¿a dónde fuiste?”
“Oh!” Luz’s expression immediately broke into a wince. “That’s my Mamá; she’s looking for me, I gotta go.” She turned but stopped short and looked back. “Wait- you never told me your name.”
“Amity,” she replied. “Amity Blight.”
“That’s such a cool name!” Then, she turned again. “I’ll see you around, Amity! And if you find that owl thief, please get my book back for me! I’ll pay you back for it, I swear!”
Luz… didn’t know who she was. Didn’t recognize her name, didn’t register… it was like… like she was nobody here.
“Whew! Glad she left,” the vendor’s voice said as the door opened to reveal the inside of the tent. “Humans can get kinda weird sometimes; ya gotta be careful about what ya show ‘em!”
Amity turned back to look at the vendor. “So… this… this is the human realm?”
“Yes it is- and it’s no place for little witches like you to be running off.” The owl that started this whole mess flew up and over her shoulder, turning into her staff- and of course it was a palisman that started this whole fiasco- which she grabbed with a smirk. “Now. Be a good little witchling and go back through the portal, and we’ll pretend this never happened.”
“... please, no…”
“Come again?”
“Listen, I-”
“Look, you’re a Blight, the little one, right?” Her lips curled, disdain flashing in her eyes. “Yeah, I know who you are, and the last thing I need is one of your snooty parents making my life hard because you decided to run into the first door you saw.”
“It was your palisman that stole my book in the first place,” she snapped back, her defensiveness rearing its ugly head as her frustration mounted.
The vendor’s smirk widened. “And what, I wonder, is a proper witchling like you doing reading some dumb book from the human world?”
Amity frowned, lowering her gaze. “... it’s not dumb.”
“Alright, kid, let me fill in some blanks here. You don’t want to play the dutiful little daughter anymore and now you know there’s somewhere you can go where your name means nothing and you’re completely powerless, and it’s not as scary as you thought. But it feels like real freedom, and that’s the scary part, but it’s the kinda scary that makes you want to keep going.” The witch shrugged. “I was a teenage rebel once, too.”
There was a moment, a spark of hope. Maybe… she could go out into the human world, make some friends, be… herself. Or at least find out who she was without the Blight name weighing her down.
It didn’t last long. “But… everyone has to grow up sometime.”
“Ha! Who told you that?” She then reached into her hair and pulled out a wanted poster while removing the fabric that had formerly been holding her hair back. Her gray hair fluffed up until she matched the depiction on the poster, right down to the red dress and shoes and bits of golden jewelry. “Lucky you, you’ve happened to run into Eda the Owl Lady, the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles! I’m living proof you never grow out of being a rebel! If you’re brave enough, that is.”
Amity scowled. “Do you honestly think I’m going to take advice from a wanted criminal? I’m Amity Blight, top of my class at Hexside and future member of the Emperor’s Coven!”
The owl lady raised a brow. “Do you think if you shout it a bit louder, you might actually like it? Has it worked so far?”
“... no.” Her shoulders dropped, gaze lowering to the ground. “But… I have to go back. My parents will notice I’m missing and… well…”
“Yeah, I somehow doubt your hoity-toity parents are so tuned in that they know your every move. But! I’m not gonna twist your arm.” The owl lady reached into her hair again and pulled out a strange looking key. “C’mon. Let’s get you back to the demon realm, kid.”
Amity turned to look at the strange scenery one more time before following the owl lady through the portal, emerging into the tent filled with junk on the other side. The door closed behind them and Amity sighed. “Oh, one of the things your palisman stole was a book belonging to a human. It looks a little like this one. You need to return that.”
“Oh, I need to, huh?”
Lifting her hand, she drew a circle in the air, smiling when she felt the familiar twinge of slime responding to her spell’s call. “Yes, you do.”
The owl lady laughed. “Did you already forget the ‘most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles’ bit, kid?” She then lifted her hands to display her bare wrists, completely bereft of a coven mark. “You’re young, so I’ll let this slide, but if you really want a fight, well, I won’t be going easy on ya.”
In hindsight, it made perfect sense that a Wild witch would be the one keeping an interdimensional portal to the human realm. She really shouldn’t be surprised. However…
“And I’m Amity Blight, one of the most recognizable witches on the Boiling Isles. One shout from me and not only will the Emperor’s Coven be looking for you, so will everyone who ever wants to do business with Blight Industries. Knowing my parents, a hefty bounty will probably draw even more eyes. That could be a pretty long list of people who want to find you.”
The owl lady hummed, then dropped her hands. “That sounds exhausting . Fine, I’ll send the book back through the portal. But I’m not happy about it!”
“Duly noted.” Amity secured her book in her bag and reached up to flip the hood of her cowl over her hair. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get to school and hope they don’t count me tardy.”
“You travel to another plane of existence and you’re worried about being late to school . Feh! Kids these days.”
Rolling her eyes, Amity left the tent and market behind, heading to school at a light jog- mostly because she didn’t want it to be too obvious that she’d run the whole way. A bit of light panting and sweat, she could explain by saying her locker got toothy and it took some time to retrieve her books, that’s all. Lying wasn’t exactly her forte but she’d seen Edric and Emira cover up their shenanigans enough times that she understood the fundamental parts of a good cover story: simple and plausible.
By the time she reached the school, her lungs and legs were burning and she strongly considered summoning an abomination to carry her for the remainder of the day. But, that would be suspicious. She had to act completely natural. As if nothing was different.
She carefully made her way through the halls, hiding in her hood to avoid anyone realizing who she was, and rehearsed her lines in her head. Soon, everything would be… back to normal, and she could examine her escapade in the human realm in detail later. Much later.
Maybe never, in fact.
However, before she could walk into her first period of the day, she stopped dead in her tracks and ducked back, peeking around the doorway and hoping she went unnoticed.
That… definitely looked like her sitting in her seat.
“This… is creepy.” Then she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. This had ‘shenanigans’ written all over it. “Edric and Emira are dead to me.”
Rather than confronting the illusion, she continued through the hallway, heading for her siblings’ classroom. They would be the ones to explain this stunt to the teachers. Or, this could give her a perfect cover for being tardy; it wasn’t like missing one lesson would put her terribly behind.
Once she reached the doorway to Advanced Illusions, she carefully summoned a bit of slime and- rather appropriately, she felt- shot it straight at Edric’s head. Of her siblings, she felt fairly confident this was her brother’s idea and satisfaction curled her lips into a smile when her little bit of slime popped him dead center on his forehead, causing him to flinch and look around. The moment they made eye contact, Amity pointed at each twin and then at the floor beside her. Edric rolled his eyes but elbowed their sister and she stepped away from the doorway to give them time to exit their class; however they saw fit to do so didn’t concern her.
It didn’t take long before Edric and Emira were coming out to give her quizzical looks.
“Hey, what’s with that? You couldn’t wait until lunch?”
“And shouldn’t little miss perfect be in class?”
“I would be if you two hadn’t put an illusion in my place!” Amity set her hands on her hips. “Really, I appreciate you covering for me being late, but this isn’t helping! What if I get caught?”
The twins’ eyebrows rose in tandem. “Wait, so that wasn’t you we talked to on the stairs before the bell rang?”
“What? No!”
“Ed’s right, Mittens; we talked to you . Though you did seem… kinda off.” Emira’s brows pinched in concern. “If that wasn’t you, it’s not us, either.”
Amity narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t believe either of you.”
“Here, we can prove this one,” Emira said, leading them to an empty classroom. “Wait in here. We’ll go get whatever is in your place and bring it back here to figure out what it is.”
“How do I know this isn’t one of your pranks?” Amity leaned against the unoccupied teacher’s desk at the front of the classroom. “If I let one of you out of my sight, I can never be sure.”
Her sister rolled her eyes and held out her hand. “Will a binding spell assuage your concerns?”
For a long moment, she looked between the twins. “Only if you both do it or Edric stays here.”
“Done.” Edric put his hands up and turned, heading to the closest seat and plopping down while Amity took Emira’s hand.
“I bind myself to this oath: that I will bring whatever has taken Amity’s place here, without faltering, without mischief, without shenanigans.” Once the oath was sealed, Emira turned to head out. “Be back in five!”
“Hurry back! And don’t get caught by Bump!”
“As if!”
Amity rubbed her temple and sighed. “I swear, if you two didn’t do this, it speaks volumes to what your regular antics are like that I assumed you had.”
“Are you kidding? This has given me so many ideas!” Edric excitedly rubbed his hands together and Amity felt like her frustration was morphing into a full blown headache.
True to the oath, Emira returned, ushering the not-Amity thing into the room and closing the door behind them to trap it. Only after the door closed did it seem to realize something was amiss, wide golden eyes falling on Amity as she flipped down her hood. She had to admit it probably wasn’t a pure illusion; illusions couldn’t mimic emotions that well, and that was definitely fear she saw.
Which, to be fair, most people got scared when she got angry.
“ Who are you and why do you look like me?”
“I- I- I didn’t think you’d be back this soon-”
“Be back?” Emira raised a brow.
“Where did she go?”
“That’s not the point!” Amity snapped at her siblings, returning her attention to her doppelganger. “Answer my questions! Who made you?”
“Wait, please, I beg you.”As much as she wanted to be mad, the fear in her voice, the way she cowered- seeing something with her own face looking at her like that… hurt. “I just- I just wanted somewhere to belong.”
Amity took in a deep breath and released it slowly. “Start from the beginning. Please. Who or what are you?”
After a moment’s hesitation, her own visage melted away as the creature transformed, revealing its true appearance. A long, serpentine body, yellow like pus, with tufts of blue-green hair around the head and skinny, long ears- all the features looked vaguely familiar but Amity couldn’t place them.
“Wow, no way!” Edric suddenly became excited, popping up from his seat to come closer. “You’re a basilisk, right?”
“A basilisk? Impossible! Those are extinct, Ed.”
“Not quite,” the basilisk replied, huddling down and trying to keep an eye on all three Blight siblings at once. “Please, listen, I’ve lived my whole life in captivity and I just got free a few weeks ago. I can’t go back, I won’t, just let me go, please, I’m begging you. I’d rather die than go back!”
Then, enough details clicked into place for Amity to get the bigger picture. “Wait- you were in the market, weren’t you? You saw us together and you saw me go through the portal-”
“Whoa, what?”
“Portal!?”
“-and then you decided to… take my place?”
The basilisk nodded. “I didn’t mean to upset you! But when I saw the door closed, I thought, well, a door like that… probably only goes to one place.”
“Which would be?” Emira prompted, looking between Amity and the basilisk.
With a groan, Amity relented. “It led to the human realm. It’s- listen, it’s a long story, but basically, a palisman stole something from me, I stole it back, tried running away, and accidentally ended up in the human realm for a while. That’s why I was late for school.”
Edric let out a low whistle. “Mittens, I’m impressed. You’re quite the troublemaker when you want to be.”
“ No , I’m not .” Then, her attention shifted back to the basilisk. “What’s your name?”
“I… don’t really have one… but I kinda like… Vee?”
Amity didn’t know much about demons or beasts, especially theoretically extinct ones, but everything about the basilisk screamed… young. “Well, Vee, you can stop cowering. We’re not going to turn you in or… whatever.”
“You’re… not?”
“No. Now that I’m absolutely certain you’re not a prank by my siblings, I’m not really mad.” That part was true; since it wasn’t the twins messing with her, she couldn’t fault the basilisk for seeing an opportunity and making the most out of it. She would do the same, if their positions were reversed. “You being on time keeps me from getting in trouble, so, consider it a win-win.”
Vee looked positively relieved, though it was short lived. “I guess I’ll need to find somewhere else to go, then.”
“Hold on,” she said without thinking.
“Yeah, you should totally stay with us!” Edric beamed, throwing an arm around Vee’s shoulders. “With that shapeshifting power, you could help us pull all sorts of pranks!”
“ And help us get some nice chill, relaxing time.” Emira chuckled, coming to Vee’s other side. “We’ll find you a nice room to sleep in! We live in a mansion; there’s plenty to choose from.”
“Oh, and basilisks consume magic, right? Can you control how much you take?”
“Uh… yeah?” Almost to prove his point, Ed drew a small spell circle, encouraging Vee to… literally suck it up, wow, Amity didn’t think that was how basilisk feeding worked. But, it seemed to do the trick, a bit more shine coming to Vee’s eyes. “That wasn’t too much, right?”
“Are you kidding? I didn’t feel a thing!” Ed laughed, shooting a look towards Em. “This is gonna be awesome!”
“Wait a minute,” Amity said, finally coming to a decision of sorts. Just like she couldn’t fault Vee for capitalizing on an opportunity, she couldn’t pass one up so easily. “Before you two get to start pulling pranks and since Vee stole my identity first, I have a favor to ask.”
“Um. Okay? What’s the favor?”
“Keep… pretending to be me. Just for a week.” She resolutely ignored the surprised expressions the twins wore. “I… actually liked being in the human realm, but I knew I’d get in trouble if I stayed. I just… want to go back. Just for a week.”
“You sure about that, Mittens?” Ed raised a brow.
Em wore a similar expression, concern in her eyes. “Humans are… weird and dangerous. You could get hurt.”
“Please. Humans can’t do magic; as long as I take some abomination clay and slime with me, I’ll be fine.” She ducked her head. “Plus, I met a human while I was there and she was… nice to me. Not because of my name, either.”
Understanding dawned on the twins’ expressions and they nodded. “Welp, looks like you’re our new baby sis, Vee.”
“We’ll have to call you Amity around other people but, when it’s just us, we’ll call you Vee, okay?”
“Wait, I- I don’t really cast magic the way witches do, someone’s bound to notice and-”
“Let us worry about that.” Emira smirked.
Edric did, too. “If fooling people was a game, we’d be the all-time winners. You just follow our lead and no one will know the difference!”
Vee looked between the three of them before shifting back to look like Amity, a wide smile on her lips. “This is… really okay? You’re sure?”
Amity nodded. “Like they said, you can stay with us as long as you want; our parents are rarely home, so it shouldn’t be hard to keep you hidden. And, you can come to school as one of the twins once I get back.”
“You help our sis and we’ll keep you fed.”
“Help us pull pranks and you’ll always have a home with us.”
“Well…” Vee cleared her throat, her expression settling into something eerily familiar as her voice sounded almost exactly like Amity. “Then I guess I’m Amity Blight. Nice to meet you.”
“That is terrifyingly good,” Ed said and Em laughed.
“At this rate, we won’t be able to tell you two apart!”
Amity flipped her hood back up. “Alright, I’m grabbing some slime and clay, and I’ll be back in a week. Meet me in the market before school!”
“You got it!” The twins said in tandem, waving goodbye alongside Vee.
Finding slime and clay was the easy part, as well as finding appropriate containers for them. Finding Eda the Owl Lady, however, proved more of a challenge, as the Guards ended up finding her stall and chasing her off. Luckily, people were able to point her in the right direction and she eventually found her way to the Owl House, where the witch resided. After coming all this way, Amity wasn’t about to back down now, approaching the door and raising her hand to knock.
“Hoot hoot!”
“Gah!” She jumped back, shocked as the owl figurine set into the door revealed itself to be a house demon of some sort. “Who are you?”
“I’m Hooty!” He replied in a shrill little tone, grating on her ears. “And you’re a visitor!”
“Yeah, I- listen, is Eda home? You know, the Owl Lady?”
“Hmmmmmm, maaaaaybe. Depends who’s asking.”
“ I’m asking.”
Hooty, well, slithered his way down, looking her over and spinning around her. “And who’re yoooouu?”
“Just tell Eda the little Blight is here to see her before I destroy you.”
“Hmmmm, big talk for a little witch,” he replied, a bit of sing-song in his tone.
Amity narrowed her eyes; Blights never backed down from challenges.
“Ya know, kid, if I’d known you were gonna try to kill my house , I would’ve left you in the human realm.” The commotion from her… polite discussion… with Hooty eventually roused Eda, though she looked annoyed at being woken up from her nap. Her mouth split in a yawn before she gestured towards Amity. “Why’d ya come find me?”
“I want to go back to the human realm.”
“Oh, yeah, sure, let me just pull out my portal and let you waltz on through- c’mon, kid, you can’t be stupid enough to think I’d let you do that again!” Throwing herself onto the couch, Eda closed her eyes and waved her off. “Now, run back to that prissy magic school and leave me be.”
“No. Let me go back to the human realm.” Amity thought about getting frustrated with the witch- it wouldn’t be hard, especially after having to deal with the house demon- but she’d already threatened Eda enough and could tell she wasn’t too far from having her bluffs called. She needed to try a different approach. “Besides, weren’t you the one going on about being a rebel before? So, what, now you’re going to be the responsible one and keep me from rebelling?”
Eda lifted her head to squint at her. “You’re appealing to my love for chaos. It’s underhanded and rude. I admire it.” Then she closed her eyes and laid her head back down. “But, there’s nothing in it for me, aside from getting blamed for you going off.”
“Then put her to work!” A new voice joined the conversation as a small beast demon of some sort entered the room. He barely stood above Amity’s knee, with one broken horn and two large, yellow filled eyes; if she weren’t so exasperated by the whole ordeal thus far, she’d find him rather cute. “She’s way bigger than Owlbert. She could bring back some good loot.”
“Huh. Good loot means more profit. More profit means more…” Throwing herself up into a seated position, she reached into her mane of hair and pulled out the key from before. “Okay, fine, you win, kid. You stayin’ there for good?”
“No, just a week. I just… need a taste.”
“A week, huh? Alright.” She did something with the key and it summoned the door from a briefcase. “I can’t leave this thing up for no reason, so you’ll be stuck there for the whole week. Knock on the door three times and I’ll open it again- but don’t let any humans see you. And don’t do magic while you’re over there in front of the humans. They’re not fond of witches or magic and they get real twitchy even over a simple light spell.”
“Have you dealt with humans often?”
“Nah; it’s just… wisdom passed down through the family, that’s all.” Then, she flopped back and waved at her. “Now, shoo. Mama needs her beauty sleep and you’ve extorted me twice today. You better come back with some nice goodies from the human realm. Leave before I change my mind and turn you into a potted plant.”
Amity wasn’t entirely sure that was possible… but she wasn’t willing to find out what Wild Magic could and couldn’t do. Instead, she focused on the door, took a deep breath, and then stepped towards it. She paused only long enough to grab the Azura book Eda had dug out of her trove of trash, tucking it under one arm. Luz did request she bring the book back. But that was a secondary concern. A week was more than enough time to find out who she was without expectations and a family name weighing her down.
She just needed to know.