Heart attack
Luz POV:
I woke up, but I didn't open my eyes. My body felt warm all over, and I could hear the soft sound of Amity's heart thumping in my ears, mixed with the sound of her humming. She had an arm wrapped around my shoulders, softly rubbing my upper arm. It was almost enough to lull me back to sleep.
Then, a pain shot up my side, ruining the moment. Letting out a low hiss, I gritted my teeth. Amity gave my arm a little squeeze, her humming pausing for a moment. "Morning." She said softly, making me open my eyes.
Blinking a few times to clear my cloudy vision, I stretched my free arm out, finding that the other one was trapped under Amity. Glancing the witch, I found she was reading some kind of book, and beside her, floating in the air was a piece of paper and a pen, quickly scribbling down notes.
"Morning cariño. You're comfy..." I croaked out in a husky voice, nuzzling a little closer to the witch. She stiffened up slightly, then quickly loosened up, flipping a page in her book. "How long have you been up?" I asked, closing my eyes.
"A little while now." She said, her eyes darting across the page. "Didn't want to move and wake you though..." I hummed in response, opening my eyes once again. "How are you feeling?" She asked in return, making me shrug. Outside the door, I could hear the muffled sound of Edric and Emira's voices, their footsteps moving by Amity's door before going away.
"Better." I muttered, focusing on the book in Amity's hand. Squinting my eyes, I struggled to read the words. "At least, better than yesterday." I paused for a moment, noticing how Amity's ears twitched. "What're you reading?"
"That's good. And I'm just reading something I had Em get me from the owl lady." Amity mumbled, sticking out her tongue slightly as she furrowed her eyebrows together. "How would you say that?" She asked, her voice so soft that I almost didn't hear her.
"Say what?" I asked, picking my head up off of her shoulder for a moment to get a better look at her book. "¿A dónde vas?" I read, my eyes widening. "Wait hold on, is that a book about Spanish?" Excitement quickly rose in my voice, making Amity squeak.
She slammed the book shut, making it quickly disappear along with the pen and paper taking notes while she let out a set of nervous chuckles. "I have no idea what you're talking about!" She said, giving my arm a squeeze.
"No no no, you know exactly what I'm talking about!" I said, watching as she got red in the face. "Are you trying to learn Spanish?" Sitting up a little, I stared at the golden eyed witch, watching as she struggled to find her words.
"Maybe?" She finally squeaked out, then she put a hand on the side of my face, lightly shoving me away while I laughed. "But you have no proof of anything!" Her voice squeaked as her ears went down.
"Oh sure I don't~" I teased, laying back down on her shoulder. "In fact, I've already forgotten what we're talking about." I knew my statement made Amity roll her eyes, but she let out a little chuckle. The fact she was trying to learn Spanish left a warm feeling in my chest, slowly spreading across my body.
"Whatever you say Luz." She mumbled, starting to run her fingers through my hair. The contact made me melt at her touch, a content hum rising up from my throat as I closed my eyes. There was a bit of silence, then I heard Amity snort. "Looks like humans can purr too."
"Huh?" I sat up, noticing the teal haired witch's soft smile. "I'm just humming." I said, feeling a bit of heat rising to my cheeks
"Are you sure? Cause that sounded a lot like purring." Amity teased, making me roll my eyes and give her a light shove that only made her laugh.
"Yes I'm sure. Humans don't purr like you guys." I could hear the light waver in my voice, but I ignored it. "At least... last I checked we don't do that..."
"I'll take your word for it." She said, but I could tell that the look on her face said otherwise. I went to say something else, but out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something propped up against the wall by her window. I turned to look at it, finding a familiar staff leaning there.
"Why's Owlbert here?" I asked, jabbing a thumb in the staff's direction. Amity's eyes flicked over to the staff, then back to me, shrugging her shoulders.
"Eda sent him here last night while you were asleep. Wanted him to be here to help you out, at least, that's what her letter said." Amity said, which only made me chuckle.
"What? Does she not trust you?" Amity shrugged again, turning back over to the staff. "Hey, well at least now I won't have to lean against you! Now, I've got a walking stick! Or... well walking staff."
"It's not like I mind you leaning against me." I heard the witch say, making me perk up. I scoffed, lightly waving away her comment.
"C'mon, I'm practically dead weight when I'm leaning against you." I watched as the witch shook her head. I went to argue with her, but I turned too sharply, sending a fresh jolt of pain up my side.
I clenched my teeth together, struggling not to cry out in pain. Amity caught onto my actions, sitting up and placing a hand gently on my shoulder, giving me a look that asked if I was okay. The pain mixed with a sudden pressure in my chest, making it hard to breathe for a moment. After a couple of seconds, I let out a long exhale through my nose, moving my hand away from my side and bringing it up to rub my chest.
Shifting, I moved my arm out from where Amity was laying, feeling the painful kind of tingle travel up my arm as I felt it start to regain circulation. "I'm fine." I finally said, giving Amity a strained smile. I knew by the look in her eyes that she could see how my smile was, but she didn't say anything about it.
"You need to be careful." She told me, taking her hand off my shoulder and using it to cup my cheek. I leaned into her touch, closing my eyes and letting out a sigh. "Otherwise you'll never get better."
"I know..." I said, opening my eyes to stare into her golden ones. They were soft, laced with both care and concern, staring into them made my eyes flutter for a moment. "But hey, you know what helps me heal faster?"
"What?" She asked, her lips tugging up into the ghost of a smile.
"A kiss." I managed to say without my voice wavering, but I wasn't able to stop the heat from rising up to my cheeks. Amity's breathing hitched for a moment, a bright red blush spreading across her cheeks, then to her ears as they slowly went down.
For a moment, there was silence, then she let out a soft chuckle. "You really are my dork, aren't you?" She asked, leaning forward before giving me a kiss on the forehead. And as if on cue, there were two sudden loud whistles, making Amity pull away before turning to face the door so fast she was a blur.
There, leaning in the door frame that they somehow managed to open without making a sound, were Edric and Emira. "Took you long enough Mittens!" Emira said with a smirk before turning to her brother. "And that means you owe me seventy-five snails."
"Edric! Emira!" Amity yelled, her voice high pitched and squeaky, her body frozen in place. The heat on my cheeks that was there before spiked up to match the heat of a bonfire, leaving me completely speechless. However, the twins ignored their younger sister, Edric slouching forward with a sigh.
"Honestly Mittens, I didn't think you had it in you to confess." Edric said, slowly rolling his gaze over to his twin. "And I'll get you your snails later."
"Confess?" I managed to find my voice and squeak out, making the twins turn to me, raising an eyebrow. Their eyes moved to Amity, then back to me, then to each other.
"Isn't that... what's going on here?" Edric asked with half a chuckle and a nervous smile, pointing a finger at the two of us. "I mean, Mittens ain't the type to show affection like that platonically so..." His eyes widened, then he let out a shocked gasp. "Unless you two were a thing before this!"
I could see Amity struggle to speak, her words only coming out as broken sputters, confirming what the siblings were thinking. "Now hold on, how long?! Mittens you've been hiding your relationship too?" Emira said, and I could see Edric's expression falter.
He gave Emira a quick jab to the ribs, making her wince. Amity shot up out of bed, quickly stomping over to her siblings and trying to shove them out the door. "Get out of my room!" She managed to squeak, but her siblings gave her a light shove back, putting themselves back in the doorway.
"No hold on, you can't just shove us out the door like this!" Emira laughed, ruffling Amity's hair. "At least, not without answers! Who confessed first?" She asked, only making Amity squeak, her hands clasped in tight fists at her sides.
Slowly, I meekly raised my hand up, catching the twins attention. Edric's face lit up while Emira's dropped. "Oh my gods yes!" Edric shouted, making me flinch slightly. "I win the bet! I told you I'd win Em!"
"You two made bets?" Amity said, her voice laced clearly with annoyance. I could see Emira's ears twitch, side glaring at her brother before she let out a sigh.
"Didn't think I'd lose one hundred fifty snails today... or ever." She muttered bitterly, which only made Edric laugh. I thought about the numbers for a moment, then I furrowed my eyebrows together.
"You bet one hundred fifty while he only bet seventy-five?" I asked the witches, silently questioning if Emira bet so high because she was confident she wouldn't lose. Emira shook her head.
"No, I bet seventy-five too. I just owe him and Boscha now." I watched as Amity brought her hands up to the sides of her head, rubbing her temples.
"Of course Boscha would bet with you guys..." I heard her mumble, making her brother laugh.
"Why wouldn't she bet with us? Also, Mittens you should thank your girlfriend, she just made your brother seventy-five snails richer!" He went to ruffle Amity's hair, but she slapped his hand away.
"Great, cool, I don't care, you got your answers now get out!" Amity said quickly, giving them another rough shove. Her siblings only chuckled, Emira placing a hand on her head to get her to stop.
"We haven't gotten all of our answers!" Edric said, but that made Amity growl, and even from where I was sitting I could see her face was flushed red. He hesitated for a minute, then shook his head. "Fine fine, we'll stop prying for answers... for now." He said with a smirk, almost making me laugh.
"But, before we go, the real reason why we're up here!" Emira drew a spell circle, a small pile of clothes appearing in her hands. "Luz! Catch!" She tossed them in my direction, which I managed to fumble for a moment before catching. "Figured you want to change, and you're too lanky for Mittens' clothes so here."
"Thanks." I said with a smile, glancing over the clothes she threw at me. It was a simple grey turtleneck and dark blue sweatpants with a white stripe on the side of each leg.
She gave me a quick wink, clicking her tongue a couple of times before turning her gaze back down to her sister. "Another thing, only if you're up to it that is." Emira pointed towards me, but she didn't look up at me. "Ed and I were planning to go meet up with Skara and Boscha at the studio to hang out."
"So if you guys wanna drop by, feel free!" Edric shot us a set of finger guns, then glanced up at me. "But hey, don't push yourself to come alright?" I nodded my head, making him smile.
"Great, now see you two around!" Emira and Edric gave me both a wave, then I could see Emira give her twin a nudge, a smug smirk on her face. She bent down, moving close to Amity's ear before whispering something, glancing up at me for a fraction of a second.
Amity practically jumped back from her sister, her eyes wide and her face a dark shade of crimson. Emira let out a loud, barking laugh, ruffling Amity's hair one last time before leaving, Edric following close behind her.
The teal haired witch stood frozen in her spot for a moment, then she shook her head. Moving over to her door, she flipped off her siblings before slamming the door shut. The sound made me jump, but I was quick to cover it. Amity then spun around on her heel, her cheeks puffed out and her face still red as she moved back over to me, taking a seat next to me.
I chuckled slightly, giving the witch a nudge. "Well, looks like we got caught." She rolled her eyes, then laid down on her bed, placing her hands over her face.
"And of course, we were caught by my siblings, of all witches." She groaned, running her hands down her face before flopping them out to her sides, staring up at the ceiling. "Just perfect."
Staring at the witch for a moment, I slowly laid back until I was next to her, surprisingly I didn't aggravate my side. "Well, what's the worst thing they're gonna do?" I asked her with a smile, making her sigh.
"Only tease us at any given chance they'll get. Gods we're never gonna hear the end of it. That or they'll try to get a photo." She mumbled as she turned to look at me. Like this, I could clearly see the dark bags that hung under her eyes, making me fall quiet. "Luz? You okay? You've got this look." She suddenly said, making me realize that I was staring.
"Huh? Oh yeah I'm fine! Just noticed how tired you looked..." I trailed off with a nervous laugh, making Amity's ears twitch. She brought a hand up to her face, her finger gently pulling at the skin under her eyes before she shook her head, letting out a laugh that matched mine.
"Yeah... last night was a bit of a long night..." I could hear her mumble, making a trickle of guilt flood my mind. Amity tensed up for a moment, quickly turning back over to me. "That wasn't your fault by the way! I was just... struggling to sleep is all."
I softly nodded my head, making Amity look away. She let out a little sigh, then sat up, stretching her arms over her head before standing up and heading over to her closet. Slowly sitting up, I watched the youngest Blight as she quickly flicked through her closet, her eyes quickly scanning over shirts.
After a minute, she decided on a white shirt with four eyeballs on the front, each of them connected together by a line to make the shape of a diamond and a simple pair of jeans.
"I'm gonna go change, be back." She gave me a small wave, moving over to the door and leaving the room, closing the door behind her. I stared at the door for a moment, feeling my hand twitch.
I took my eyes off the door, then moved it back down to the clothes Emira gave me earlier. "I should probably do the same..." I mumbled, grabbing the bottom of my shirt.
It wasn't the easiest to change into the new clothes, it was more like a game to see how much I could handle the pain in my side before I had to stop and squeeze my eyes shut. But after a couple of minutes, I managed to successfully change.
The turtleneck was soft, making me smile as I softly rubbed the fabric between my fingers. "I should get myself one of these." I said to myself with a chuckle, which quickly died when I felt another prick of pain in my chest.
Biting my lip to stifle the sound of pain, I brought a hand up to my chest, rubbing small circles with the heel of my hand. The burning pain lasted a little longer than it usually did, blurring my vision slightly. Honestly I didn't understand why the pain in my chest was becoming more frequent, but I was hoping it'd go away soon.
Closing my eyes, I tried to breathe through it, remembering how that helped last night. Taking a deep breath, I let it out as a short gasp when I heard a few knocks at the door. "Luz? Can I come in?" I relaxed when I realized it was only Amity's voice.
"I mean, it is your room so, yeah you can." I responded, hearing her sigh on the other side of the door before she opened it. She walked in, dressed in the clothes she took with her. I gave her a smile, but I could see her eyes flick down to my hand rubbing my chest, a hint of concern filling her eyes.
"What's up?" She asked me, quickly walking over. I moved my hand down to my side, giving her a little shrug.
"I just moved too sharply or something, that's all. Don't worry too much Ammy." Her ears twitched slightly at the nickname, but the usual red blush didn't rise to her cheeks. She didn't say anything for a moment, letting us fall into a bit of silence, one that I quickly decided to break. "Hey, how bout we take your siblings up on that offer to go to the studio?"
Amity's eyebrows furrowed together, her eyes going cold. "You should be resting." She told me, making me roll my eyes and lightly boop her nose.
"I know, but I want to go see the others! And besides, I could easily do that at the studio. After all, there's the cot and the bean bag chairs!" I said, noticing how Amity's expression didn't soften.
"You could also just as easily do that here." The teal haired witch pointed out. I put on a pout, watching as Amity's eyes widened. "Don't you dare."
"Please Ammy?" I put on my best set of puppy eyes, clasping my hands together. Amity turned away from me, folding her arms over her chest in an attempt to deflect my pleas. "Look, what if I promise you I won't do anything too crazy. I'll just hang out in the main room on a chair, how does that sound?"
She glanced over at me, squinted her eyes slightly before she huffed. "Let me guess, you won't stop bugging me until I say you can go, will you?" I shook my head a couple of times, making the witch's lips form a tight, thin line. Then, she sighed. "I swear to the gods, you have some kind of magic force that's making it easy for me to give in."
"That magic force is called the power of love darling!" I chirped, noticing a pale blush now slowly creeping up her cheeks. "And I've only got one other kind of magic besides that, the glyphs!" Amity rolled her eyes, giving me a look.
"Yeah, well last I checked, you weren't able to do mind spells with your glyphs, right?" I shook my head, making her smirk. "That's what I thought."
Amity stood up, stretching her arms above her head. I went to follow her actions, but she placed a hand on my shoulder to keep me down. I looked up at her, raising an eyebrow at her actions.
Instead of saying anything, she moved over to the wall and carefully grabbed Owlbert, moving back over to me to pass him over to me. I gave her a smile, taking the staff from her hands.
Tapping the staff against the ground, I tightly gripped it with both hands before slowly standing up. A bit of dull pain shot through my side, but I gritted my teeth and ignored it.
Letting out a chuckle, I shifted until most of my weight could be balanced on the staff. "Thanks Amity. Now, let's get outside so we can hitch a ride to the studio." I jabbed a thumb towards Amity's window, but Amity instantly took a hold of the staff.
"Are you out of your mind?! We are not flying to the studio!" She hissed, making me sigh.
"And why not?" I asked, a little surprised at the hint of irritation in my voice. "After all, it would be faster than walking..." Amity let go of the staff, her arms slumping down at her sides before she brought one up to rub the bridge of her nose.
"Need I remind you, you can barely walk. Tell me, how do you think flying is going to go?" She asked me. I mulled it over for a moment, trying to remember how well my flying skills were.
"Okay fine, we won't fly to the studio." I grumbled, furrowing my eyebrows together for a moment before putting on a smile. "But hey, that leaves more time for some conversation!"
Amity smiled back, then slowly started walking to her door, slipping on a quick pair of shoes. She glanced back at me, then drew a small spell before I felt shoes appear on my feet. "Alright, let's get going."
The two of us made it out the door and on the path to the studio, our pace slow. Amity stuck close to my side, just in case I needed her. My footing was shaky and I was starting to feel lightheaded, but I struggled not to let it show.
Our conversation drifted from topic to topic, first about Azura, both the book series and the fanfiction, then we moved onto band topics. I started to gush about their last show, wishing I could use more hand motions while I talked, but couldn't because I had both hands wrapped around the staff.
"And the fact your voice got all distorted for that song was so cool!" Amity chuckled, her ears lightly flapping up and down. "You never did that at practice! Was it something new you threw in?"
"No, it's always there for that song." The witch told me, brushing a bit of her hair behind her ear. "I just never use it in practice. If I did, it'd wear out my voice."
I nodded my head, looking up ahead for a moment to see the outline of the studio building. "Makes sense." I muttered, then quickly gasped. "That reminds me! I never asked about that other song!"
"What other song?" Amity's voice held a bit of hesitation, her ears slowly moving down. I blinked a few times, then let out a laugh.
"The last one. Y'know, the super secret song you wouldn't tell me almost anything about?" The teal haired witch's eyes widened, but only for a moment before she turned her gaze back up ahead, making me do the same.
We weren't too far away from the studio now, which was a relief. "What do you want to ask?" Her voice was quiet, barely able to cover up the waver in her tone.
Instantly, a bunch of different questions came to mind, some small, others like large glaring lights. What was the song really about? Why the one specific blood effect? Why was Amity the only one crying on stage?
Then, there was the other question. The loudest one of them all.
Was the song about what I thought it was?
I wanted to say it wasn't, that it was just a sad song Amity had pushed to the side because it wasn't like the other songs. Part of me wanted to believe that, but that part of me knew there was something more, something that was more recent.
After all, why else would that seem so familiar?
Opening my mouth to ask my first question as we approached the studio door, I accidentally rubbed my arm against my side, quickly shutting me up. I let out a bit of a choked squeak, my hands gripping tightly around the staff until my knuckles turned white.
Amity paused along with me, the fear flickering in her eyes. "Are you sure you can handle coming here this soon? I know you said you'd rest here, but still..." I nodded my head, shifting my grip on Owlbert.
"Ammy... I've got nothing better to do, and this way I'll still be in contact with the others." I said, shaking my head a couple of times to distract myself from the pain. "And besides, it's not like I plan to do anything to strain myself, right? And you'll be right here with me!"
I let go of the staff with one hand, wincing slightly when another familiar prick of pain rose in my chest once again. Quickly giving Amity a smile, I rubbed my chest, struggling to keep my smile from looking forced.
"Now c'mon! Let's get going inside." I said, going to grab the door handle before Amity gently took a hold of my wrist, making me freeze up. Turning to look at her, I watched as her eyes quickly darted over my features, both of them filled with concern.
"Are you sure you're okay Luz?" She asked me, giving my wrist a light squeeze. "You're rubbing your chest again like you were last night, and you're starting to look pale. What's wrong?"
My breathing hitched as the pain in my chest got worse. I closed my eyes, leaning a lot more on the staff than I was before. The pain turned into an uncomfortable burning sensation, making me grimace.
Waiting a couple of seconds, I finally took a deep breath, pushing down the pain as I opened my eyes. "I promise you, I'm fine Amity. It's probably heartburn or a pinched nerve or something." I said, giving my hand a few waves. "Hopefully just heartburn though, from what I've heard, a pinched nerve really hurts."
I was hoping my remark would make Amity smile, maybe even chuckle, but it didn't. She stared at me for a moment, her eyes surprisingly a little glossy. Then, she lightly shook her head, blinking her eyes a few times before letting go of my wrist, now bringing a hand up to my face.
"You'll tell me if it gets worse, right?" She asked me softly, her ears twitching slightly. "I just don't want you to end up hurt again." Her voice fell a little quieter, but I just smiled.
Slinging my free arm over her shoulder, I gave her a little shake, hearing a squeak escape her lips. "Of course I will. After all, I wouldn't want to worry you any more than I already have Mittens."
Quickly, a bright red blush traveled over Amity's face, spreading over her ears before weighing them down. She didn't say anything, rather, she opened the studio's front door and slowly lead us inside, allowing me to use her as a crutch along with Owlbert.
Inside the studio, I could hear the sound of Edric and Emira's voices, their laughter echoing from down the hall. From the sound of it, they were in the recording room.
The two of us slowly started walking in that direction, a smile on both of our faces. Then, there was the sudden loud sound of Edric's drums, a few beats ringing out that made me freeze in place.
I dropped the staff at the sound, Owlbert hitting the floor with a few loud thunks, bouncing slightly on the ground before rolling a little away, but I couldn't focus on that. It was the sound, why did it remind me so much of what happened?
No. That was over, it had already happened, it wasn't happening again. I couldn't think about that right now. It was just the sound of the drums, that doesn't sound like a gunshot, so why am I feeling like this? I shook my head a couple of times, now noticing that I was shaking.
Amity's arms were wrapped carefully around me, anchoring me to her. I didn't want to move, and even if I wanted to, I felt like I couldn't. I could hear Amity say something, maybe it was my name, maybe it was a question, but her voice sounded so muffed that I couldn't understand what she was saying.
The youngest Blight looked up at me, then slowly started to guide me over to a bean bag chair, still talking to me. She slowly and carefully lowered me down into the chair before crouching down in front of me. I looked down, watching as my vision blurred.
She paused what she was saying for a moment, then, slowly she reached her hands out for mine, making sure I could see them the entire time. Her hands took a hold of mine, her thumbs running over my knuckles.
I took in a deep, albeit shaky breath, flicking my gaze up to meet her's. "Hey..." She said, her voice a steady, soft tone. "Luz, can you hear me now?" She asked, making me nod my head.
"Sorry, I don't... I don't know-" I looked down at our hands, noticing how mine were shaking in her grasp. She gave my hands a squeeze, my voice instantly disappearing at her actions.
"Don't apologize, it's okay. Sudden loud sounds aren't your thing." She told me, making me softly nod my head. Amity took her hands away from mine, picking Owlbert up off the ground and giving him a quick look over to make sure that the fall didn't do any damage before she passed him over to me. My eyes stared at the owl at the top of the staff for a moment, sending him a mental sorry.
I hesitated, reaching out for her hands again. She thankfully took them, intertwining our hands together before giving them another squeeze. "Want me to go tell Ed to not do that?" Amity asked me, almost making me nod.
"Ye- No! No, no I'm fine. It's fine. I don't want to ruin his fun!" I said nervously, giving Amity's hands a few squeezes. Amity gave me a look, making me look down and let out a bitter laugh. "Besides, I normally like the sound of drums, I don't get why I froze up like that..."
"It was a sudden loud sound, it caught you off guard." Amity said softly, taking one hand away from mine and bringing it up to my cheek, allowing me to lean into her touch. "It's alright."
"It's not exactly ideal though." I pointed out, leaning back slightly. "I mean, I am the drummer, so how am I supposed to be the drummer if I'm like this?"
"Just give yourself time, it's okay. Besides, you won't be doing any kind of practice any time soon." Amity said as I slowly brought my hand up to my chest, rubbing it once again.
"Yeah... I guess you're right." I could see Amity's lips tug up into a sympathetic smile, but that quickly faded when the studio front door flew open with a loud crash, nearly making me jump out of my skin.
Amity was up on her feet in an instant, whirling around to face whoever walked inside with a spell already halfway prepared. However, she lowered her hand when she saw that it was only Boscha and Skara.
Skara stood there wide eyed at Amity's quick actions, while Boscha only stood there, looking a little annoyed. "Can we at least get a hello before you try to blow us to bits?" The three eyed witch asked with a chuckle.
"Do you have to throw the door open like that?" Amity asked back, bringing her hands down to her sides. I could see Boscha's eyes flicker with concern for a moment, but she quickly shook it away.
"Sorry, sorry. Are you okay?" Then, her eyes drifted down to where I was sitting, a smile rising on her face. "Hey there Luz! Glad to see you're back, we missed you."
"I missed you guys too." I said, noticing out of the corner of my eye that Edric and Emira were poking their heads over the corner. They were quick to walk over to the four of us, both of them glancing over at me and Amity.
Emira silently moved over to Boscha, pulling something out of her pocket before placing it in Boscha's hand. The three eyed witch gave Emira a confused look, then looked down at what was in her hand. "Why are you giving me..." She trailed off, looking up at Amity. "Oh my gods..."
"Wait a minute, did you two finally happen?" Skara piped up, stars filling her eyes. Then, she let out a loud squeal, quickly dashing over to Amity and pulling her into a hug.
The sudden contact made Amity freeze up, but she was quick to give Skara a few pats on the back in response. I could see Boscha turn to me, shoving the money in her pocket with an amused look on her face. "I knew you'd be the first one to confess!"
I gave the witch a bit of a nervous chuckle, bringing one hand up to rub the back of my neck while the other hovered by my side. "Well, it wasn't exactly under the best circumstances..."
It only took a second, then it clicked for the witch, and I could see the twins stiffen. She opened her mouth to say something, but didn't. Instead, she gave me a slightly sad look as she nodded her head.
Skara finally let go of Amity, now turning to me. She gave me an excited smile, the sound director practically buzzing with excitement. "I would give you a hug too, but I don't want to hurt you." She told me, making me scoff.
"Just don't wrap your hands around my waist and I'll be fine!" I sat up a little in the bean bag chair, then nearly got tackled by the silver haired witch. She wrapped her arms around my neck, giving me a tight squeeze.
Her hug didn't last as long as the one with Amity, but I didn't mind. I could see Amity glancing over at Skara, observing her actions for a moment. The silver haired witch moved back over by Boscha, standing at her side.
Edric threw his arms over the two witch's shoulders, pulling them close. "So! Now that the gang's all here, what should we do?" I could see Amity roll her eyes, folding her arms over her chest.
"You really convinced us all to come here, yet you had no idea what you were gonna do?" Amity said with a laugh, making her brother roll his eyes. "Great job Ed, really, just an amazing job."
"Hey! I never specified anything! I just said we could all hang out!" He argued, making both of his sisters snort. His ears twitched in annoyance, then his eyes lit up. "Know what we should do? Play a song!"
"We do that for every practice dumbass. This is supposed to be a hang out." Boscha said, placing a hand on her hip. Edric shot her a glare, his eyebrows furrowed tightly together.
"You didn't let me finish!" He hissed at the three eyed witch, only making her roll her eyes. "But like I was saying, we should play a song! Luz's pick!" I perked up slightly at the sound of my name.
"Well, I mean if you guys want to." I started, making Edric smile. Boscha gave the Blight a shove, but she was smiling as well. "Give us a way to kill a bit of time."
"Exactly why I suggested it!" Edric chirped, already making his way to the recording room. "C'mon you slowpokes!"
Boscha and Emira quickly followed after the Blight, and Skara was quick to grab a bean bag chair before she followed after the three. That left me with Amity, who stared at the hallway for a moment before turning to me.
She held her hand out for me to take, which I did, then she carefully helped me up. Once I was up on my feet, I used Owlbert as my walking staff again, but I still stuck close to Amity's side.
We said nothing as we traveled down the hallway, quickly meeting up with the others in the recording room. Emira and Skara were by the sound board, glancing over a few of the dials before their heads perked up at the two of us walking it.
"Brought you in a seat!" Skara chirped, motioning towards the bean bag chair.
"Thanks Skara." I said with a smile, making the silver haired witch smile back before returning her focus to the sound board. Amity carefully helped me down into the chair, making sure I was comfortable before leaning Owlbert against my chair.
"So, what song do you want?" She asked me, making me tense up slightly. I was tempted to ask her to play the mystery song, just to see how she'd react. Instead, I gave her a different answer.
"Whatever you're willing to play!" I chirped, making Amity's eyes flicker for a moment.
"Hex girls sound good to you?" She asked making a smile rise to my face. I rapidly nodded my head, watching as the witch's smile grew as well. Then, she bent down and gave me a quick kiss on the forehead. "Alright."
She then stood up, going into the room with the others, informing them of the song. "Good choice Luz!" I could hear Edric say, making me smile. I got snuggled into my chair, focusing my eyes on the main singer.
The lead singer was quick to get the others to start the song after she rested her guitar over her shoulders. Amity's vocals blended well with Boscha's, which was enough to keep me distracted until about halfway through the song.
By the time they made it to the second round of the chorus, the pain in my chest returned, this time worst than the last. It almost felt like someone was shoving a hot flame in the center of my chest.
I leaned my head back, squeezing my eyes shut in an attempt to block out the pain that was getting worse with each heartbeat. This one was lasting longer than the rest, and honestly that worried me. I tried reasoning with myself, telling myself to just breathe through it and it'd eventually go away.
After all, there wasn't a need to worry the band more than they needed to be.
That lasted for a solid thirty seconds until another, more powerful, sharp stabbing pain hit me, completely knocking the wind out of me. Now, I couldn't breathe.
It was like something was pressing up against my lung, leaving only pure pain wherever it touched. I couldn't make a sound, not even a gasp of pain because of how bad it was. It felt like pressure was building up in my chest, slowly compressing my lungs. My vision blurred with hot tears that quietly rolled down my cheeks. At this point I realized that this wasn't going away.
I couldn't take it anymore.
With one hand clutching tightly onto my sweater over my chest, I tried to reach out to grab Owlbert with the other, the entire time desperately trying to make a sound even though my throat felt paralyzed.
My fingers, although weak and shaky, managed to brush against the staff, which only pushed it further away from me. The staff rolled, then clattered to the ground, catching the rest of the band's attention. Even with my blurry vision I could see Amity's eyes snap up in my direction, her golden eyes widening in fear.
Amity and Boscha were quick to strip themselves of their guitars as they dashed over to me, the teal haired witch stopping in front of me first with everyone else on her heels.
I let out a few choked wheezes, my eyes widening in panic when the pain somehow got even worse. It honestly felt like this was worse than what happened to me with that creep, it burned so much more than that did.
"Luz?!" Amity gently grabbed onto my shoulders, giving them a squeeze to try and get my attention. I could see the panicked expression that was on her face. "Luz what's wrong?" I pointed a shaky hand to my chest, while the other only squeezed the sweater even tighter in my fist.
"Hurt-" I finally managed to choke out, which only made the pressure in my chest and lungs worse, leaving me unable to form any other coherent words. But despite that, Amity seemed to understand.
She gave my shoulders another squeeze, but now her voice sounded distant. "You're rubbing your- Luz why didn't you tell me?!" I could hear her say before I felt her let go of me.
With fading vision, I could see her get up and frantically try to talk with her siblings, then another set of hands landed on my shoulders, a voice saying something about how I was going to fall. It had to have been Boscha or Skara, but another sharp pain left me not caring who it was.
I tried to listen to what Amity was saying, but at this point all I could hear was gibberish. A sharp voice rang out to my right, catching Amity's attention and dragging it back down to me, only to see her face pale in surprise.
My vision blurred and even though there were people holding me, I felt my body slump over to the side before everything went black.