The Twins
People told Amity that she was smart.
She was, of course. Very smart. She considered herself to be so, anyway. And people told her that all the time. Especially teachers. That she was gifted. A prodigy, even.
That included Madam Lillith.
Amity liked to think she was smart.
But she was completely stumped.
There was no way to get away. Out into the human world. Not during broad daylight like that. Too risky. And Blights didn’t take risks. At least, not big ones. Not unless there was no other option.
She had to get into that library, though. Had to. It held the answers to all her questions. Everything she could ever want to know. About humans. Their history with witches. What their world was like. What they thought of witches now.
If she could just find a way to get into that library…
Mom and Dad left home every day when she went to school, but they were always back by the time she got home. She couldn’t skip school, that might come back to bite her - plus, she had a reputation to uphold… playing sick wouldn’t work, there were spells to detect illnesses, Mother and Father would use them…
Edric and Emira would know what to do.
...I wonder if they’re awake.
Oh. Oh, no. No, she was not thinking about this. She couldn’t even do the spell, last time she checked, and she didn’t have any other long-distance communication devices.
...
...But she had to give it a shot.
(She tried not to think about exactly why. Tried not to think about how this was pretty extreme, just to sate her curiosity.)
She took out her training wand - she’d need it for this one, especially with how long-distance this would be - and closed her eyes.
She began to draw the circle.
Her teeth clenched. The awful, nauseating sensation of attempting an incredibly difficult spell filled her - her bones felt like sandpaper, and her skin prickled with painful pins and needles.
She bit her lip. The taste of blood touched her tongue.
The circle ended.
For a moment, there was an awful, but deadly quiet sound in the air - like static drowning out screams. Or maybe heavy sobs.
But then, it went away - replaced with the sound of a distant bell.
Amity felt pride for the first time in months.
The distant bell kept ringing.
Ring-a-ling-a-ling…
Ring-a-ling-a-ling…
Ring-a-ling-
Finally - the rings stopped.
There was shuffling on the other side of the circle.
It was unfortunate that the spell was verbal only - Amity would’ve loved to see her siblings again. But she supposed just hearing them would have to do.
“...Hello?”
It was Edric. Emira had probably forced him to pick up on her behalf.
“Edric?” Amity said - and bit her cheek, forcing back the tightness in her throat.
Blights didn’t let themselves feel vulnerable.
“...Mittens?”
Amity sighed. “That is not my name.”
“Emira, it’s Mittens!” she heard Edric call out - sounding not completely exhausted for the first time since picking up.
“Wait-” Amity heard, more distant. “Amity? Really?”
Pattering, staticy footsteps filtered out of the spell circle.
“Amity, is that - is it you?”
“Yeah…” Amity murmured. “Hi Ed. Hi Em.”
“Mittens, it’s - it’s past midnight, what’re you doing up? ...Did you start making trouble without us?!”
“Are you alright? Do you need something? Are you safe?”
“I’m… fine,” Amity said, quietly. “I just… needed your help with something.”
“...You called us past midnight because-”
“What do you need?”
“...How would I get out of the house between 11:00 AM and 6:00 PM on a school day?” she asked - and then added a quick, “Without skipping, or playing sick?”
“Ooh, good one,” she heard Edric say - apparently done being incensed about the hour. “Hm. Well, you’d have to close the school down, right?”
“I don’t know if you’d have to, but that is an obvious option,” Emira said - Amity could almost see her scratching her chin thoughtfully. “Amity’s in the abomination track, so it would be slightly harder for her to take down the school - but maybe if you got a power glyph from the construction coven, you could-”
“Make a massive abomination that could terrorize the school!”
“But what if I got caught?” Amity countered, “I can’t risk my reputation.”
“Well, you’ll just have to take someone else’s wand and frame them,” Edric said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Or get someone to lend you their wand and willingly take the fall,” Emira added, “preferably a known troublemaker. That way they wouldn’t claim that they were framed and throw suspicion onto students who had access to their wand at that time, you wouldn’t have to risk being caught taking the wand, and the crime wouldn’t seem out of character.”
“...Bocha,” Amity murmured.
Boscha wasn’t in the abomination track - but she was a known troublemaker, who would willingly take the fall for this crime, and the school couldn’t expel her because her parents were so influential. And she wouldn’t ask questions.
“Thanks you two,” Amity said. “It’s perfect. ...How is the Illusionist’s coven?”
“Everything we hoped!” Edric chirped.
“And more…” Emira muttered. “How’s school? This is your last year, I guess?”
“Yeah. It’s… nice,” Amity said.
There was an awkward pause.
“We miss you, Mittens,” Edric said, suddenly. “Sorry we haven’t had the chance to visit. It’s just so busy here.”
“We’ll come over sometime soon, alright?” Emira said. “Promise.”
Amity bit her lip. “...Okay.”
“Love you, sis.”
“Love you Mittens!”
“Yeah… I love you guys, too,” Amity said, quietly. “Bye.”
A simple stab of her wand burst the circle - and, instantly, a heavy weight left her chest, and a watery feeling cleared from her head.
She closed her eyes.
...It felt much better to have a plan.
She knew what to do. She’d talk to Boscha tomorrow, at school, and get her to lend her wand to this plan. Get a power glyph - she didn’t know how she’d manage that, but she could figure it out. And then make an abomination large enough to do significant property damage, and get them off school for at least a day.
...Easy.