A caged owl's talons.

Y’know, when you’ve got no access to natural light, your biological clock tends to just go haywire. You might find yourself sleeping at two in the afternoon, or awake at five in the morning.

Eda didn’t mind much, just meant more time to nap for her. Lilith hadn’t bothered her since that first time. The guards were still giving her a premium two meals a day and leaving her alone at all other times. That annoying red demon hadn’t even shown up yet.

So, when the air suddenly grew thick with magic, and there were no pleading words heard throughout the room, and no sound of a clattering food tray, that really narrowed down the list.

The fact that the small demoness would be far too light to have footsteps that heavy narrowed it down even further.

So, with a sigh, she opened an eye.

Lo and behold, she’d been correct. 

How she wishes she hadn’t been.  

“What brings you here, Belos?” 

--

Willow and Gus had told her about the trip, the heist gone wrong and Luz’s capture by Lilith. The sheer absurdity of the situation had Amity wondering if it was a dream for a while, but this was beginning to feel more and more akin to a nightmare.

What were they going to do ?

Eda had been captured, the emperor’s coven wanted Luz, Willow and Gus seemed to be in trouble too. It all sounded too horrible to be true.

“Do, do you guys think Luz is ok?” Gus asked, breaking the silence. The two witches shared a look before Amity answered.

“Is she ok? I don’t know Gus, but if she’s at the owl house at least she’s safe.” Willow nodded in agreement, but Gus didn’t seem to think the answer satisfactory, curling further in on himself as the plant witch threw an arm around his shoulder.

“So, what now?” Willow asked, turning to Amity.

“I’ve got no idea.” Amity admitted. “If Ed and Em find a way out, it would still mean having to make a break for the owl house, and with the coven on our trail we’d be lucky to make it even halfway.”

It was probably the last thing they wanted to hear her say, but it was the truth. The emperor’s coven only accepted the best of the best, and with Lilith herself around there really was no way for them to make a clean escape.

“Maybe they can smuggle us out with illusion magic?” Willow suggested, to which Gus shook his head. 

“That only worked because they didn’t expect it, by now they’ve probably dispelled our illusions and alerted the rest, if they tried we’d be detected by a seeker spell and they’d be in big trouble.”

“What about a distraction?” Willow suggested, and Amity had to agree, a distraction would be the best way to deal with the no doubt dozens of guards roaming around the school, but what could be a big enough…

Amity’s eyes widened, that was it. “Gus, Willow. Start checking the doors, find out which one’s closest to the gym.”

“What for?” Gus asked, scooting closer to th

Amity didn’t turn around, instead opening a door that exited into the detention room. “Let’s create a distraction.”

With that she hopped out, quickly followed by Gus and Willow, the moment all of them jumped out, the gate closed. 

“Well, no turning back now.” Willow muttered, turning to Amity who was poking her head out the door, no doubt looking for guards.

“Willow, you have any seeds?” 

The plant witch nodded, reaching into one of her uniform’s pockets and producing a few tiny brown seeds.

“Good, here’s the plan. We’re making a break for the gym.” Amity said, Gus and Willow looked confusedly at her.

“Why, that’s on the other side of the school, and away from the owl house.” Amity nodded “True, but it’s the only way we’ll be able to create enough of a ruckus to escape.”

“Well then… continue.”

“The moment we hit the gym, you throw those seeds into the middle of the room, and you pour as much magic as you possibly can into them. Make them grow big enough to burrow through stone.”

“Are you suggesting we escape via the roof?” Amity shook her head, pointing downwards.

Their eyes widened.

“Amity that’s insane!” Gus screamed out, before Willow slapped a hand over his mouth. 

“Are you sure Amity?” Willow asked, looking vaguely sick. “What about the other students.”

“That’s what I’m counting on.” Amity said, expression unreadable. “They’ll have to use all their numbers to keep the students safe.”

Willow didn’t like it, not one bit. The mere thought of unleashing that upon the school unexpectedly made her blood run cold- but Amity was right, it was objectively the best choice in their current situation.

So, she nodded. And when Amity mouthed a quiet “Follow.”, she was second out the door, Gus hesitantly following after them.

Creeping along the hallways was stressful. Every sound had them flinching, wondering when the inevitable guard would come around the corner and they’d have to make a run for it.

Thankfully, they managed to dodge every guard they came across, be it because of Gus’ illusions or Amity’s quick thinking.

The green haired witch was cautiously optimistic, poking her head around the corner. There, at the other end of the hallway. The entrance to the gym, no students or guards in sight. 

“Come on.” She said, taking off down the hallway, Willow and Gus hot on her heels. They were almost there, they just needed to get through this door. 

Suddenly, however, as they were less than two feet away from the door, a pale yellow bubble encompassed it, causing them to bounce against it.

As they laid there groaning on the ground, a voice rang out. A voice that had Amity’s skin crawl with its familiarity.

“Amity, what are you doing?”

Her mentor.

Lilith .

Scrambling up off the floor she pulled both Willow and Gus behind her, there on the other side of the hallway stood the leader of the emperor’s coven, her ivory raven’s eyes glowing a pale blue as she looked upon them with a confused and betrayed expression.

“Amity, what are you doing with them? Was that you, in Bump’s office?” The student didn’t reply, merely looking at her mentor defiantly.

“Why are you even helping them, we only need them for a few hours. And then they’ll be returned to Hexside unharmed.”

“After you use them to draw out Luz, right?” The air grew colder as those words set in, Willow’s horrified gasp the only sound that echoed through the hallway. Lilith said nothing for a while, seemingly content with glaring at the floor, before her pale blue eyes found Amity’s yellow ones again.

“Yes.” She confirms, and Amity has to fight back a flinch as her mentor looks completely unrepentant at the horrifying implications. ‘How’d you figure it out?”

“Wasn’t that hard, Willow and Gus told me you did the same thing with Eda, only makes sense you’d try the same trick again.”

“That- was the plan.” The raven haired witch admits, clutching her staff tightly. “Amity, please step away from them before the guards arrive, if they catch you with them…” The implication weighs heavy on her, but as she turns to look at Gus and Willow, and sees their terrified expressions-

“No.”

“Amity please.” Lilith pleads. “The emperor’s coven, your dream. You’ll be throwing it away for this human. Imagine what your parents will say when they find out, please just come with me and I can tell the guards you were in the area. This only ends badly for you, please. ”

Amity’s mouth opens, but she falters for a bit.

She’s right. If you go through with this, everything you’ve worked for all these years? It means nothing. All the sleepless nights, all the exercises that had left her on the verge of collapse with their intensity, the fake friends and the fake life and everything would just have been for a cause that might as well crumble into dust.

Is that really so bad? To for once in your life make a choice yourself and say damn the consequences?

Not really, she supposes.

“Going with you, it means selling out Luz.”

The name itself has an instant effect, Lilith’s face clouds over in anger as her lips pull back into a snarl.

“That-that human has sunk its claws into you too?” The sheer venom with which it’s spoken makes the three of them take a step back, but Amity’s defiance isn’t planning on stopping now that she’s started.

“What?” She scoffs. “If anyone’s dug their claws into me it’s you and my parents. Not Luz.” Lilith’s rage is gone in a second, she looks.. hurt.

“Amity, you know that’s not true.” She tries, but the teen cuts her off.

“Really, is it not? You’re telling me that you, the leader of the emperor’s coven offering to tutor me had nothing to do with who my parents are, with what I am? You and my parents only see a Blight, someone to carry on the family name, someone to make themselves look good by comparison, someone you can use for personal gain.” Lilith’s grip on her staff tightens as tears begin to well up in the teal haired witch’s eyes.

A part of her wants to comfort the girl, another part of her wants to say she’s wrong. But nothing spills from her lips, because she knows it’s true. Even she had originally sought out the girl for gain with her parents.

The fact she’d grown to truly care for the girl seemed disingenuous, when her motivation was laid bare. So she kept her mouth shut as the shaking teen gathered her breath for a second round of shouting.

“My friends were picked for me, my track was picked for me, even my hair !” The blight girl yanks at the dyed hair then, so forcefully even  that Lilith flinches. “ Don’t worry dear, this will make you look like a true Blight.” She calls out then, a mocking imitation of her mother’s voice that’s good enough for Lilith to recognise it as such.

 “Luz never cared for that, she didn’t give a crap that my last name was Blight. She wanted to get to know Amity, not the rich girl or the youngest daughter of an influential family, me .” 

Her arms move in unison as she says that, drawing two magic circles in the air from which purple muck begins to pour into the hallway.

She grits her teeth, feeling her bile sac draining as she wills more and more of the sentient goop out of the portals, before forming it into an abomination big enough that even on all fours it almost touches the ceiling.

The eyes of Lilith’s raven begin to light up with cerulean flames as she faces down the gargantuan abomination. 

“Are you sure, Amity?” She asks, one last time. 

“Yes.” Amity says, gritting her teeth as beads of sweat trickle down her face. This is harder than I’d imagined.   WIllow and Gus place supportive hands on her shoulders, and she manages to send them a quick, painful smile before her concentration is required, keeping the abomination together for as long as it needs to.

“Abomination, ATTACK!” She roars, willing the creature to crash through the hallway with the force of an avalanche.

I need to time this perfectly. She thinks, watching the purple creature thunder closer and closer to her mentor.

The flames on her staff have intensified, seemingly lashing out at anything in sight as they glow brighter and brighter.

The best way to destroy an abomination is to hit it center mass. She remembers her mentor, or well ex-mentor telling her once

The black haired woman’s staff comes down into a firing position. She thrusts it forwards, launching a blue-white burning projectile at the abomination that is still mindlessly charging her.

Now. She lets go, allowing the mass of ichor to fall apart mere moments before the missile hits it.

“DOWN!” she roars, grabbing Gus and WIllow by their collars as she dives towards the ground, dragging them with her, and not a moment too soon.

The magical blast passes over them harmlessly, crashing into the magical barrier and utterly obliterating it, before moving on to the door. The subsequent explosion rattles the school, the three students would have likely gotten bombarded with shrapnel if not for the hasty abomination Amity drapes over them, its formless flesh absorbing the wooden shards before they can hit the teens.

Amity uses the last of her magic to will it upwards, forcing the small pile of wood to shift and allowing them a clear entrance to the gym, before she’s forced to release control of it. She releases a shaky breath, droplets of sweat dripping off her brow as a chill sets in.

She knows the signs, magic fatigue. Any further casts beyond this will have serious consequences.

Maybe even fatal ones.

But, that’s a problem for another time. Standing up on shaky legs, she somehow finds the strength to yank both Gus and Willow upwards.

“C-cm’n” She grits out because wow it feels like her lungs are on fire and she’s pretty sure the moment the adrenaline kicks off she’s going to faint.

They make it to the center of the gym, before an all too familiar voice rings out from the doorway.

“Stop.” They turn to find Lilith at the entrance, dress crinkled and hair a mess and pointing her staff at them. It’s eyes are glowing again and that very same cerulean flame dances across the raven’s beak.

“Please, come with me. There is no need to escalate this even further.” She tries.

“You just tried to BLOW US UP!” The smallest of the three yells, before the girl- WIllow reaches into her pocket, revealing a few seeds.

“Do it, NOW.” Amity yells at the plant witch, before dragging the smaller boy up with her into the bleachers.

The seeds drop to the ground as her eyes start glowing, and Lilith has to admit she’s a little impressed at the sheer potency of magic that just radiates from her, before the seeds react.

First it’s a twitch, the next moments arm-thick vines burst from them, spreading all over the Gym like a vegetative oil spill, she even had to throw up a barrier when some of the closer vines lashed out, battering against the yellowish shield as they seemed to just keep coming.

Suddenly, one of the vines bent, followed by a dozen more, seemingly trying to burrow through the stone.

The shrill grinding of stone on stone makes Lilith realize something, something that makes her blood run cold. Those vines are not burrowing.

They’re prying something open.

Her suspicions are confirmed within the next few seconds, a stone slab gets pulled out of the ground with enough force to bury itself in the wall opposite of where the two other witches are located, the other one doesn’t get thrown with quite as much force, but it still manages to smash the first two wooden rows of the bleachers.

At once, the vines stop, and for a few moments, the only sounds heard are the hurried clacking of shoes upon stone as the third witch scrambles up the bleachers after her friends, then it’s broken by the sound of shattering glass as one of the windows is smashed. She raises her staff, halfway through drawing the circle to cast another barrier on the window-

A roar breaks the silence again, and Lilith’s head snaps back just in time to see the formless black shape of Grometheus the Fearbringer pull itself from the now unlocked cage. She’s barely quick enough to bisect a shadowy tendril with her staff before it touches her, teleporting to the other side of the gym.

She catches a glimpse of the boy’s foot disappearing out of the window before her vision is eclipsed by an inky maw, this time a barrier spell pushes him back, before a torrent of flames drives it away from the raven haired witch. She spots Amity pulling herself up, visibly having some difficulty as the other witch boosts her from below. 

What does that human have? She growls mentally as she carves off another shadowy limb with a blast of light. She didn’t even belong here, magic was lost to her. She should have been sent home the moment she’d arrived, and yet somehow she’d wormed her way into somehow turning her sister and her pupil against her.

The thought itself makes something in Lilith snap, and when Grom lunges for her again the blast she sends out in retaliation sets the vines alight with bright blue flames. Floating down to the ground, she brandishes her staff within shaking hands, trembling with rage as she scours the gym for the creature.

She sees Bump’s signature barriers pop up around the school, and she knows that catching those three runaways is less and less likely the longer she stays here. So she needs to hurry up and-

She’s barely able to spin herself out of the way of a clawed hand made of darkness, a few strands of her hair ripped out as the abyssal claws almost graze her head, jumping back a few feet she grabs one of the pieces of the cage, putting the stone slab between her and the demon.

It circles her, like a prowling cat, before charging once more. She turns the slab ninety degrees, transforming her shield into a five tonne projectile as she hurls it at the fearbringer.

What happened next was not something she’d seen coming. The shadowy mass splits in twain, allowing the door to harmlessly pass between its two disembodied halves, the next moment the newly reformed Grom slams into her with the force of a crashing avalanche, sending her crashing into the wall with enough force to crater herself into it.

The pain makes her vision blur as she slumps forward, but the cold, invasive tentacle pins her into the hole, suddenly she feels every single memory she’s ever had rushing through her mind at once. The sensory overload nearly blacking her out, then the tentacle retreats, leaving her to crash into the floor.

When her eyes open again, she’s on her hands and knees, and blood is dripping from her split lip. Not fully aware of the situation again she looks up.

Her eyes meet a younger Lilith’s, and she realizes she’s currently in Eda’s old room.

She sees her former self take a step forward, fishing the paper with the curse from her cloak.

What happens next makes her eyes widen in shock. Her younger self steps up to the sleeping Edalyn, clears her breath as she raises up the paper.

And tears it in half.