The Plan
Slam.
Amity glanced up.
A trio of eyes glittered down at her - manic and proud.
“Power glyph,” Boscha said, setting a small leather pouch on the table in front of her.
Amity loosened the lid of the pouch, and glanced down.
Hm.
She looked up again - and smiled softly at Boscha. “Well done.”
Pride marred Boscha’s face like a burn.
Amity secured the pouch by her waist.
She glanced down at her watch.
It was nearing the closing of the school day. She didn’t have much time to pull this off, and then visit the human library. Maybe an hour to study those books at best.
...She should really wait until tomorrow.
But curiosity burned low in the pit of her stomach, and pried up into her mouth-- drying her throat and scraping against her tongue, tasting like rust and iron. Her fingers twitched slightly, as they hesitated over the lid of the pouch. Her need for quick answers waging a bloodless, but brutal war against her desire to play it safe.
Her sharp ears twitched.
She had the portal/briefcase and her jacket in her backpack. She just had to wait until all the students were running from the school, so nobody would notice she was missing.
“...Your wand,” Amity said, simply. Holding a hand out towards Boscha.
Boscha didn’t even hesitate before complying.
She’d been ready for that order.
“I’ll run from the scene once the abomination is created,” Amity muttered under her breath. “There can’t be any witnesses, and nobody can notice I’m gone. Here-”
Amity weaved an illusion around Boscha. Luckily, illusions that just made you look like another person weren’t very difficult to pull off. Doing something like distorting your size or creating a double of yourself was harder.
Amity could only manage to make Boscha look vaguely like her, though. Luckily, they were about the same height, their hairstyles were fairly similar, and Boscha only had one noticeable deformity - her third eye. Amity wasn’t good enough with illusion magic to cover that up, though. She was barely good enough to change the style, length and colour of Boscha’s hair.
She’d never been more happy about having siblings.
“You’ll have to keep your head down,” Amity muttered. She also wasn’t good enough to maintain an illusion on herself. Hence - no witnesses.
Ugh, if only Boscha was in the abominations track. Or, hell, even in the construction track. But no - she had to be in potions.
Amity couldn’t trust her to pull this off.
Luckily, Boscha had the perfect excuse to keep her head down. After all, before the last class of the day, there was a break to study.
Boscha was reading a book - of course her head would be down.
Honestly, the bigger concern than someone seeing her eye - people knew not to bother Amity while she was reading - was someone noticing the colour of her uniform. Hopefully nobody paid to much attention to her arms and legs.
If she could keep up more than one illusion at a time, she’d change the colour of both of their uniforms. But it was too difficult, especially with how little training she had. Maintaining even just this simple illusion at a distance was stretching it.
She couldn’t go too far. But she had to get far enough that nobody would suspect her - tucked away in the library like this.
Courtyard was probably her best bet. Nobody should be out there during this block.
“After the abomination starts destroying the school,” she murmured to Boscha - as quietly and quickly as possible. She had to leave before the librarian noticed them. “Run with everyone else. I’ll be in the courtyard. I’ll unravel the illusion and give you back your wand. The teachers will check the spell histories of everyone’s training wands first and foremost - once they see that yours was used to create the abomination, you’ll confess to the crime. Got it?”
“Got it,” Boscha said.
She took her backpack from beside the table, and quickly took her jacket out of it - slipping it over her shoulders quickly and quietly. She hitched her backpack onto her back, and slipped her wand into her pocket.
She set an alarm on her watch as quickly as she could.
It would bite her when the study block was over. The abomination had to be attacking the school before then. And she had to remember to set an alarm a bit before when her parents would come home, before going into the human realm.
She had seven minutes to pull this scheme off.
“And make sure to keep your head down when you’re running for the courtyard,” Amity added.
She started running before Boscha could answer - pulling up her hood and checking to make sure her alarm was running as she did.
Six minutes and fifty-six seconds.
Willow was breaking the rules.
Not that she was very concerned with that, these days. She broke the rules a lot. After all - she had to practice magic somehow.
Her smile was soft and easy.
Augustus was on the grass next to her. He was breaking the rules too - it mattered a lot more to him, though. After all, he had a whole future ahead of him. He didn’t want to get put in the detention track.
But he came out to the woods anyway. Because he liked studying with Willow.
A lot of days, they’d invite the others, too. Viney loved the woods as much as her. It was kinda hard for her to tell what Barkus thought of it - but Willow liked to think he enjoyed their hangouts. And Jerbo was wonderful. Always had been.
When he’d heard that she was put into the abomination track, but wanted to do plant magic - well. They’d instantly had a lot in common.
They were all going to graduate this year. And Willow couldn’t be happier. Because, apparently - Viney had found something for them.
Viney was a year older than Barkus, Jerbo and Willow. But she’d intentionally failed her tests and gotten held back a year - because she was desperately looking for some way, any way, for them to either stay out of the coven system or get into the emperor’s coven. They all knew what happened to covenless witches, but… they didn’t care. They couldn’t take not being able to do the magic they wanted to.
Willow had expected to enjoy the detention track well enough, after meeting the troublemakers. But… she hadn’t expected to develop a passion for other types of magic. Hadn’t expected to discover just how beautiful not just plant magic was - but healing magic, and oracle magic, and beast keeping. She’d learned it all - and she’d had some of the greatest tutors in the school.
Viney could calm any beast, wild or tame. Her pet had spider breath, for God’s sake, but she took perfect care of it anyway. And it took care of her back. She was better at beast keeping than healing - but she was no slouch in either subject.
Barkus knew more of the spirit world than any witch Willow had ever met. His silence managed to always communicate far more than his words - and with him, Willow had felt truly at peace with herself for the first time in years.
And Jerbo, while he didn’t have quite as much raw talent in his chosen subjects as Barkus or Viney - or hell, even Willow - he made up with it with sheer persistence. He would never tire while tutoring her. He would never get frustrated over her inability to do a spell. He took failure with simple acceptance, and success with pride. And so, despite his lack of deep magical power or natural-born skill, he’d managed to be just as good a witch as Viney or Barkus.
They all brought different things to her tutoring. Viney brought deep enthusiasm, Barkus brought talent and understanding, and Jerbo brought patience and determination.
And Willow - with their help - had flown leagues above her peers in every subject.
...Except the one she was actually taking.
So nobody knew but her.
She was still called half-a-witch Willow in the halls. She was still mocked and resented by her classmates. She was still considered a blemish on the Hexside record.
The only people who knew how talented she was were her fellow troublemakers.
...And Augustus.
Augustus… didn’t like her plans.
He didn’t really like her friends too much either.
He didn’t like anything about how Willow had changed.
But he stuck by her. They were still best friends - despite the rift that had slowly grown between them and their differing philosophies. And, no matter how close she grew to the troublemakers, Augustus would always have a special, untouchable place in her heart.
And he fidgeted restlessly next to her. Clearly uncomfortable as he read.
“You don’t have to stick around,” Willow muttered, offering him a smile. “I can study on my own.”
Augustus hesitated, for a moment.
He’d always been on the shorter side. Still was. But it had been interesting to watch him grow. Augustus hadn’t gone through that awkward phase that Willow had. Nowadays, the girl had grown well into her new fashion sense; with slightly longer, messier hair and a deep love of puffy sweaters. It gave her a ‘scruffy academic’ look that Viney always praised her for.
Augustus, on the other hand, had only grown to look more clean and easy-going as he had aged. Willow could still clearly see that happy-go-lucky youth she’d known just a few short years ago. But now, Augustus made it look less cute, and a lot more academic. His hair looked mostly the same, though he’d abandoned the undercut at some point and let it grow out a little more at the sides. His soft, chubby-cheeked face had smoothed and shifted. Willow’s had too - giving her a strong jawline and wicked smile. But Augustus had sharper, thinner features. It made his face look less childish, and more simply happy. On top of that, it made him look distinguished; and his eyes seemed most at home when they were latched onto the page of a book.
He sighed softly, shutting his book and setting it aside.
“Willow-” he started; and, instantly, she knew that he’d been holding this in for a while. “You… what coven are you going to join?”
Willow hesitated - grappling between a simple lie and the complex, twisting truth.
A lie would be easy. And it would be a very simple one. One that Willow wouldn’t feel too bad about. ‘I don’t know.’
But therein lied the problem.
She did know.
Because Willow couldn’t stand not being able to do all the types of magic she’d learned to love.
And Viney had found something for them.
A possible teacher - a powerful witch that was completely covenless. Maybe it was even Lord Calamity themselves; the one who had began the great troublemaking tradition that they’d all upheld.
The truth was, she wasn’t joining any coven.
The truth was, she was going to actively break the law to follow her passions.
The truth was, she was going to be a fugitive from her society and a committer of treason.
The truth was… she was going to be forced to almost entirely abandon Augustus. And everything.
The truth was that she was going to destroy her entire life, in a desperate pursuit of the beautiful magics she’d learned to love so much over the past two years.
But a lie would be so much easier.
Luckily, though - her hesitation was answer enough for Augustus.
“You’re not going to join a coven, are you.” His voice was distant - and she heard, somewhere buried deep inside, an untouchable sadness.
“Augustus, I…”
She fumbled for the right way to say it. To express to him just how much she’d learned over those years - just how much getting caught doing simple plant magic had changed her life. To make him see just what this meant to her. To make him open his eyes to the beauty all around him - to all that he could do, if only the Emperor would let them.
But there were no words. No proper ones. Not any that she was capable of finding, anyway.
“...I have to,” she said.
And it was there, somewhere. In the words. In her tone. In the small gesture of her hands and the way her eyes glittered. Somewhere, in that desperate plea, was an expression of everything that this meant to her. An expression of how, yes - in the most simple, basic, deep way possible - she had to do this.
But Augustus didn’t understand.
Maybe he couldn’t.
“Willow, please. Please listen - you’re throwing away your life, don’t you see that? You have a good future, a good heart! You’re a great witch, Willow, and you’re going to waste that. Spending your whole life running from the law, practicing savage magic… it’s not who you are.”
She stiffened.
“Augustus,” she said - and the desperation in her voice was gone, replaced with a sharp warning. “You’re my best friend, so don’t take this the wrong way. But don’t tell me who I am.”
Augustus, for a moment, looked almost angry.
And then any offense collapsed, into an apologetic look.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered. “That was poor phrasing. But still - you’re wasting your talent, Willow. You have a bright life ahead of you, don’t squander that.”
Willow, after a moment, just shook her head. “I’m sorry, Augustus. I really am. But… I can’t join a coven.”
Augustus stared at her. Eyes still pleading.
And then, he shuffled to his feet.
“Think about it?” he said, picking up his book and giving her a soft look.
She sighed. “...Okay. But it won’t change anything.”
“Get inside soon,” Augustus said, as he started off towards the school again. “Class starts again in six minutes.”
“Will do.”
Amity was running.
She never ran. Blights didn’t run, after all.
But right now, she didn’t feel too much like a Blight. With someone else’s wand in her hand, a heavy jacket over her shoulders and a portal in her backpack. Right now she felt a lot more like… well, like Em and Ed. Going to make trouble for personal reasons.
A hundred rules echoed through her head - a hundred rules that she was breaking.
Blights don’t run.
Blights don’t take chances.
Blights don’t make trouble.
Blights don’t pull up their hood.
After all - hoods mussed up your hair.
But everything about this plan involved breaking the rules. The line had been crossed long ago, really - she was in too deep at this point.
But this moment still felt important.
The moment where, for the first time - she truly didn’t feel like a Blight.
She glanced at the watch.
Five minutes left.
Willow did think about it.
For just a minute or two, she truly wondered if this was the best course of action. For just a minute or two, she questioned what she really wanted from her life. For just a minute or two, she examined herself, and asked what was most important to her.
In the end, though, she was right. It didn’t change anything.
Because, at the end of everything, the choice was simple. Be allowed to do healing magic, and care for her beasts, and nurture her plants, and read auras - or being forced to choose between them.
And she couldn’t choose.
She couldn’t let any of her magics go.
And so - in spite of how much she wanted for Augustus to be right - nothing had changed.
No covens for this half-witch.
With that, she pondered going inside for a moment. She had to get back pretty soon. She didn’t want to stay out too late.
But it was a really nice day - and she could always use the shortcuts.
May as well just spend a little longer out here.
She glanced at her watch, just to make sure she had the time.
Four minutes.
Amity knew the halls of Hexside like the back of her hand.
The problem was, she didn’t know the back of her hand very well.
The side of school that the courtyard was on also happened to be the one she was less familiar with. Closer to the baby classes, and greenhouses. She’d never had much cause to go back here - and thus, she wasn’t completely sure where she was going. She had been in this part of school. But that didn’t mean it was easy to navigate.
She was losing precious time.
...This way.
She’d just go this way. It was too late to abandon the plan.
Her eyes found their way to her watch almost without thought.
Three minutes.
Willow - with great reluctance - shuffled to her feet, and stretched.
It was about time she started heading back to school. She didn’t have infinite time, after all.
Oh, but she had a little time. No need to take the quick route - especially with a shortcut right to the abomination classroom so close.
Might as well go to greenhouse one and use the secret room of shortcuts entrance there. It was her favorite greenhouse, too.
Plus, she got to wander through the courtyard. It was pretty nice this time of year.
She glanced at her watch.
Oh yeah. She had enough time to take the scenic route.
Two minutes.
Amity could’ve cried with relief when she saw the doorway to the courtyard. This had been the right way. She’d thought so - no, she’d hoped so.
Her hand fumbled for the doorknob.
The sunlight impacted her skin with relish - like a burning white wave, sloshing up from the grass and enveloping her.
She glanced at her watch.
And with a minute to spare, no less.
She stepped out onto the courtyard - hood up, anticipation bubbling in her stomach, already reaching for the leather pouch with the power glyph, and triumph too close to double-check that the most important part of the plan had been fulfilled.
No witnesses.
Willow stopped just before stepping onto the courtyard.
Someone was already there.
Now, normally, this wouldn’t have been an issue. Even considering that everyone should be inside studying - if it had been just any old student, she wouldn’t have stopped. After all, they would both be breaking the rules. No need to worry about ratting the other out.
But something told Willow that this was more important than that.
Maybe it was all that oracle training. Maybe it was the thick, muted green coat with a flipped-up hood that the person was wearing, completely concealing their face from Willow’s view. Maybe it was the slight jitteriness to the person’s movements as they reached for a strange leather pouch at their waist - like they were too excited to move normally.
But, no matter what it was; it made Willow stop, and watch.
The figure pulled something from the pouch. They were too far away for Willow to make it out very well - but it was clearly a sticker of some kind, from the way they peeled it off a plastic backing and stuck it on their wrist.
Their whole body shuddered slightly when the sticker touched their skin.
After taking a moment to collect themselves, they began to draw a spell circle.
A big spell circle. At least a foot in radius, maybe a full yard in diameter - big enough that the figure had to lift their arm over their head to draw it.
It glowed bright purple, crackling with magical power.
It snapped into place - the spell closed and completed.
There was a moment, where the whole courtyard seemed to hold its breath. The wind stopped blowing. The flowers stopped snapping at nothing. There was a thin ringing noise, like someone was whining in the distance.
The bell rung.
Studying time had ended.
A giant began to emerge from the ground in front of the jacketed figure.
It was broad - broad as the central bell tower of Hexside; broader than that, even. Broad enough that its hands could fit at least four hexside students each, and at least six could sit comfortably on one of its shoulders.
Its eyes pierced the daylight. Pupils as bright as burning candle flames, orange and piercing against its face. There were three of them. But not in the way that Boscha had three eyes - rather, with two set as they normally would be, and one placed above the right eye. Like it had been meant to have two rows of eyes, but one had been lost in the shuffle.
And its body was a massive, lumbering purple-and-magenta mass of thick, dripping semi-solid goop.
An abomination.
And, indeed, when Willow glanced back at the figure - barely able to tear her eyes away from the largest being she had ever seen - they had magenta-coloured leggings.
“Abomination.” The voice was sharp and commanding, but a little triumphant too - like it hadn’t quite expected this to work. “You are not to hurt any witches.”
The abomination stared down at its creator.
The figure pointed to the school.
“Destroy.”
The abomination stepped over the figure in one large, lumbering step - and its fist fell upon the roof of the school with a speed and precision that was deeply alarming.
Willow stared in abject horror. Unable to do anything - unable to move. Unsure whether she should do anything, even if she could.
She wasn’t sure what was happening.
She wasn’t sure what to do.
And so, she simply… watched. Watched as the abomination began to tear through the bricks, mortar and roofing of her beloved school. And watched as shocked screams began to ring out.
Nobody is getting hurt, she told herself - over and over as the screams grew louder and more shrill. They can’t. The abomination will follow orders - it won’t hurt any witches.
The figure, meanwhile, just… waited.
And - eventually - Willow saw why.
But not before she was forced to run from the increasing havoc the abomination was causing. By the time she got it in her head to get somewhere safer, she was already coated in stone dust and chunks of brick.
When she finally set her eyes back on the mysterious figure - they had been joined by someone.
The gentle, light blue aura of a disassembled illusion surrounded them. Probably a glamour, if Willow had to guess.
She recognized them at a glance. After all - how on earth could she forget Boscha.
The jacketted one handed Boscha a wand. The same wand they’d used to make the abomination.
And with that - Boscha ran again.
The figure then ran - towards the woods. The remote, empty, silent woods.
Willow, for a moment, struggled with what to do. Run away, or follow them.
Sometimes, the difference between the life of a hero and the life of a victim comes down to one simple decision. Sometimes, the difference between being a participant and being an outlier narrowed to one single moment.
Sometimes, a whole life can change just on the flip of a dime.
After hesitating for just an instant - Willow decided to follow.