Warmth
Amity’s POV
Amity was cold, her feet hurt, and she had no idea where she was going. She’d really had no plan at all when she left, she’d just known that she’d needed to get out of there. Now she was walking on a cold random sidewalk with no jacket, no shoes, no money, and no direction. For a moment, Amity wondered if she regretted running off then shook her head. She wasn’t sure yet, but she also wasn’t about to go crawling back yet so she walked on.
She was grateful that most of the snow had melted over the weekend, but there were still piles of it around and she had to be careful not to step on them. Amity tried to wrap her arms tighter around herself but it was no use, her hands felt just as cold as the air around her at this point. She kept walking, mostly to generate what little body heat she could, but where could she even walk to?
She was lucky enough that the town wasn’t touristy or anything which meant that no one was out this late after dark to stop her and maybe try to return her to her parents, but that also meant that there weren’t any shops open for her to ask to use a phone. She didn’t even know how late it actually was, probably after 10 pm by now, why did she have to leave everything in her room?
Amity kept walking, using the street lights to guide her and ducking out of sight every time she heard a car coming until she found herself on a street full of shops. She was tired and shivering worse than before, and was pretty sure she was getting some blisters on the bottoms of her feet. Everything hurt and she still had no idea where she was going. She hadn’t been to Willow’s house in years and had never been to Gus’s so she had no idea where they lived. She burned her bridge with Boscha and knew that she had probably told everyone else on the soccer team whatever she wanted to make Amity the bad guy.
She kept walking down the street. At least she knew where she was now, she’d been to this street a ton of times with the girls from soccer and more recently-
“Amity?”
Luz’s POV
Luz had been happy to make the bike ride to Eda’s over her suspension. It got her out of the house and, though she loved her room, she was always more productive in the shop anyway. The Wi-Fi was better too.
She knew King liked to sleep late so it meant that Luz could sleep in a little later too. She’d been waiting for her mom to get up so that they could chat before she went off to work which had been really nice since she hadn’t had this much freedom with her time since summer. Then she’d make the bike ride to Eda’s and chill with King all day.
He mostly just snuggled on her lap while she worked at Eda’s kitchen table and sat staring at her when she cooked. Luz probably gave him a few more treats and table scraps than she should have but who could say no to that face? It was about 10:30 at night when King finally did his little turn about on his bed and Luz kissed him on the top of his little white head before turning off the lights.
The shop hadn’t opened so she didn’t need to worry about cleaning, just grabbed her hoodie and coat and made her way to the front of the shop. It was still really cold out after all.
Then she’d stepped outside of the shop, bracing herself against the wind chill, but before she could turn around to lock it, Luz spotted someone on the other side of the street.
That didn’t make sense, none of the other shops were open and there weren’t usually any homeless people around this part of town, too many cops and too far from the soup kitchen. She’d gone there enough times after the move and before she’d gotten a job to know.
Then the figure stepped under a street lamp and Luz was shocked to see a very distinctive green ponytail.
“Amity?”
The girl on the other side of the street jumped and stared at her with wide eyes. That’s when Luz saw just how poorly dressed she was. Amity was in pajamas and no shoes, not only that but her shirt had one of the sleeves torn off. She was also shivering a lot.
“Luz?” Luz could barely make out Amity’s voice from across the street, the wind was loud and her voice was quiet.
After glancing at either side of the street, Luz trotted over to where Amity was standing, still looking at her like she was a ghost or something. She struggled to get her coat off from around her cast but once she did she threw it over Amity’s shoulders, Luz could feel her shaking. “Come on,” she placed a hand on Amity’s back trying to be comforting. “Let’s get you inside.”
To Luz’s relief, Amity followed her back to The Owl House, albeit stiffly. Luz was able to usher her to the back where it was warmer but the girl flinched when she turned the light on. In the new light, Luz could see just how worse for wear Amity was, even beyond the torn shirt and the legs of her pajama pants being coated in muddy water from the melting snow, Amity looked like she’d seen a ghost. Her skin was ashen and she had a thousand yard stare fixated on some point on the ground, her hair was disheveled in its ponytail and she was still shivering.
“Sit here,” Luz said, bringing her over to her old chair at the kitchen table. Amity went without protest, she just clutched Luz’s coat tighter around herself as she sat down. Luz glanced around, the heat was already on but Amity was still cold. Luz knew the kind of cold she was feeling, the kind that seeped into bones and wound its way into dreams. She still had no idea what had happened to have led Amity here but with the way her jaw chattered, Luz could also tell that she was in no shape to be telling her anytime soon.
Luz grabbed a throw blanket off of the couch then got some water from the tap, she knew it would take about a minute for the water to heat in the faucets so she just filled a mug quickly and stuck it in the microwave. After thirty seconds, she got the now steaming cup out and handed it to Amity. “Hold this with both hands and sip. Careful, it’s hot.”
Once Amity’s tentative hands finally took hold of the mug, Luz went back into the main store, grabbing blankets and socks and mittens, really anything that looked remotely like it could help warm someone up. As she was snatching a wool hat out of a bin, it finally dawned on her that Amity Blight, Witchling, the girl who had made her feel happy and hopeful and angry and depressed, was sitting at the same spot as she had… how many months ago?
And, even more surprising, Luz was okay with it. She didn’t feel sick or angry or scared like she had since the winter formal, just worried.
Luz took her findings back to the kitchen and saw Amity gently place her mug down. The water level was slightly lower than when Luz had left which was a good sign, little warmed a person faster than hot liquid. Luz draped two blankets over Amity’s lap and two more over her shoulders. Then, slowly so as not to startle her, Luz removed one of Amity’s hands from the mug and slipped a mitten on, then the other, then she knelt down to Amity’s feet and got two pairs of socks on her, her feet were freezing so Luz wrapped another blanket around them afterwards. Finally, Luz stood back up with the hat in her hand, Amity removed her hands from the cup to get the hat but her hands started shaking again the second they were away from the warm mug so Luz reached out and pressed Amity’s hands back against the cup.
“It’s okay,” Luz said, smiling softly at Amity. Amity let out a shuddering breath before her eyes went back down to the cup of water. She nodded her head slightly and Luz took that as a go-ahead.
Slowly, Luz moved behind Amity. She was about to put the hat on when she realized that it might not fit right with the ponytail so she gently untangled the band of elastic from Amity’s hair and placed it on the table. A memory tickled at the back of Luz’s mind of Amity kneading peanut butter through her hair, the way she’d relaxed at the feeling, and Luz ran her fingers through the back of Amity’s hair. It was just enough to detangle a few strands and release it from the strain of being tied back for so long. Luz felt Amity twitch at the first contact, then relax as she realized what was happening. She still hadn’t said anything and Luz wasn’t going to push her. Finally, Luz placed the hat over Amity’s head, making sure her ears were tucked inside and took her usual seat at the kitchen table next to her.
Luz sat patiently while Amity drank her water and slowly stopped shivering. At one point, King, awoken by the noise, sluggishly came down the stairs and Luz placed him on Amity’s lap where he promptly fell back asleep.
It took three and a half cups of warm water before Amity finally stopped shaking. Luz debated saying something but Amity beat her to it.
“My parents kicked me out,” Amity’s voice was gruff. “Or… maybe I ran away? I don’t…” she sighed. “I don’t know.” Amity’s hands were starting to shake again. Luz bit the inside of her cheek before tentatively reaching out and wrapping her hand around Amity’s. Amity hesitated for a moment before closing her hand back around Luz’s, the mittens were a little itchy on Luz’s palm but that didn’t stop her from squeezing Amity’s hand.
Tears started leaking out of Amity’s eyes as she spoke. Amity talked about Boscha, about her parents and them wanting to send her away. “I’m sorry,” she said between sniffles.
“It’s okay,” Luz tried to reassure her. “You didn’t do anything wrong, your parents had no right to do or say any of that.”
“No,” Amity meekly lifted her eyes to Luz’s. “I’m sorry for what I did to you. I don’t know why I thought keeping things from you was a good idea, I just… I really liked you and I was scared that if you knew how terrible of a person I really was that it would- that I would…”
Luz wasn’t usually the best when figuring people out. She’d tried to avoid people for the majority of her life because people meant bullies and disappointment so she wasn’t overly adept at knowing how to comfort someone, but she could tell that Amity was about to spiral and she had an idea of what she needed to do.
Luz reached over and wrapped her arms around Amity who didn’t hesitate before reciprocating. Luz rubbed her back while Amity cried into her shoulder, her arms wrapped tightly around Luz as if she were the last tether holding her to Earth and Luz let her.
She lost track of how long they stayed like that, holding on to each other. Amity smelled like the snow outside.
Eventually Amity pulled away and Luz sat back while Amity wiped her eyes and nose on the mittens. Finally Amity took one last shuddering breath and leaned back. “I don’t know what to do now,” she confessed.
Luz glanced at the clock on the microwave, it was almost two in the morning. “Well my mom will be home soon,” she mentioned before turning back to Amity. “I know you just got out of the cold, but how would you feel about a quick bike ride?”
Amity’s eyes widened at Luz’s proposition, then a soft smile spread across her face. Luz hadn’t realized just how much she’d missed that smile.
Amity’s POV
Amity leaned her head against Luz’s back as they rode down the street toward her house. Her arms were around Luz’s waste and it felt so familiar, so comforting. The wind was cold against her cheeks but not in the biting way it had been before. Now it was just a whisper, and it was calling her somewhere safe.