Band gathering
Boscha POV:
The loud sound of a barking alarm made me crack an eye open. Bright sunlight was pouring into the room from the window, casting odd shadows along the floor. One half of my body felt warm and numb while the other side felt cold, the blanket that was covering me the night before now crumpled up towards the foot of the bed.
"Willow..." I mumbled in a tired voice, lightly tapping the top of her head. "Get up. Your alarm." Willow shifted, nuzzling her head more into my neck as she gave my waist a squeeze.
"Five more minutes..." She told me in a soft voice, making my ears twitch. I tapped the top of her head again, making her groan. Taking one arm off my waist, she drew a small circle in the air, silencing her alarm.
Rolling my eyes, I tapped her head for a third time. "You've gotta get up, I've gotta get to band practice soon. Am will kill me if I'm late." Willow sat up a bit, looking at me before squinting.
"Isn't she late because of Luz all the time?" Both of us went quiet for a moment, which seemed to satisfy the witch because she laid her head back down on my shoulder.
"Good point..." I finally muttered after a minute, still staring at the ceiling. Blinking a few times, I ran my free hand through my hair. "Still, you've got your workout and you have class, so you've gotta get up."
Willow let out a low groan, then finally sat up, rubbing her eyes with her hands. "I'm a little surprised you're actually passing up on the five extra minutes." She told me, which only made me roll my eyes.
"Believe me, it's not like I want to. But knowing my luck, if I'm late, I'll miss Luz growing a pair of dragon wings or something." Willow froze up, then turned to face me, raising an eyebrow.
"Now why would she do that?" She asked, making me chuckle.
"I mean, a few months ago she got really hurt, then last month, not only did Luz and Amity get together, but turns out she can do magic without her glyphs now! So who's not to say something like that would happen? Especially considering the fact it's the day before a show." I paused for a minute, my eyebrows furrowing together. "Wouldn't this mean she's technically a legit half a witch now?"
"First off, don't jinx yourself, and second, don't call her that. Amity would probably kill you for it." Willow told me, rubbing her eyes.
"I never said I would call her that." Folding my arms over my chest, I tried to hide the defensive tone in my voice.
"Third, it'd technically make her a witch and a half, since she could do magic with the glyphs before. And only way I can see Luz growing wings is if she figures out how to do an illusion of them." I watched as the witch reached over to the side table and grabbed her glasses, quickly putting them on. "Honestly though, knowing Luz she would do it."
The plant witch stood up, stretching her arms over her head before she moved over towards her dresser. Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, glancing at the plants in her window sill.
"She'd probably also try to fly with them..." A laugh rose up from my throat as I imagined what would happen. We both went quiet for a moment, then I turned back towards Willow. "You mind if I steal your shower while you do your workout?" I asked, hearing her chuckle as she turned back around to face me.
"Are you actually gonna yank my shower up from the ground?" I shot the witch a glare, making her chuckle again.
"You know what I mean." Standing up, I moved over towards Willow, draping my arms over her shoulders and resting my chin on the top of her head.
"Still figured it'd be good to clarify." She told me, reaching into her dresser and pulling out a tank top and a pair of shorts. "But yeah you can. Just don't take all the hot water."
I laughed, giving her a soft shake. "Aw, but I thought pretty flowers like you liked cold water?" My voice held a teasing tone, making the witch below me scoff.
"And I thought pretty plant kissers like you would like to stay on my good side?" She asked back, making me roll my eyes.
"Oh but I am staying on your good side, after all, all your sides are good." A low squeak came from the witch, then she chuckled, lightly shoving me away. "What? It's the truth!"
"Just go shower you flirt!" She managed to say, her voice slightly higher than normal. I laughed, giving her a light shove back.
"Fine, fine, I'll go!" I paused for a moment, then moved back over towards her closet. "But first, I'm stealing some clothes. Where do you keep all of my shirts that I've given you?" I moved some of her shirts that were hanging up, but Willow gently pushed me back.
Drawing a small spell in the air, a bunch of her shirts moved to the side, revealing one of my light blue, long sleeve shirts I gave her a while back. "There's that one, if you want it anyways..." I pulled it off the hanger, glancing it over for a moment.
"This one will work." I muttered, flipping the shirt over to see the talon claw marks that decorated the back. "Honestly surprised you still have this one..."
"Of course I'd still have it! That one is one of the soft ones!" She folded her arms over her chest, her cheeks lightly puffed out and her ears down. A low chuckled bubbled up as I took the shirt off the hanger, passing the hanger back to Willow.
She passed me a pair of shorts in return, and I gave her a smile then a small salute. "Alright, I'll meet you down in the kitchen, sound good?" Willow nodded her head. "Great! Hope you don't mind if I steal some breakfast when I'm done."
"What makes you think I would?" She asked as I walked out of her room, heading towards the bathroom. I shrugged in response, hearing Willow close her door behind me.
I took a quick shower, putting on the clothes that Willow lent me before I ruffled my hair with a towel. Quickly brushing my hair, I shot myself a smirk in the mirror. "Still a star." I mumbled to no one in particular before opening the bathroom door, watching the steam flow out into the cool hallway.
Glancing over at Willow's door, I noticed how it was still closed, meaning she was still doing her workout. I stared for a moment, then turned my gaze towards the stairs, slowly making my way towards them.
My hand trailed lightly on the hand rail, my gaze moving across the room. I noticed someone sitting in the kitchen, the soft sound of a flipping paper making my ears lightly twitch.
"Morning Mr. Park." A soft sound of surprise came from the man, making his floating newspaper rustle. He looked up towards the stairs, running a hand through his beard before he gave me a familiar warm smile, his eyes softening.
"Good morning Boscha." He greeted back, his voice filled with a cheery tone. His hand lightly pushed his newspaper down to the table before he turned his head to glance back at the time. "Want me to make you some breakfast?"
I gave him a smile, but I softly shook my head. "Thanks, but I wouldn't want to bother you, I can just make myself some toast." Mr. Park leaned back slightly in his chair, reaching a hand up to rub his eyes.
"It wouldn't be a bother, but alright." He told me, his gaze moving over towards the window as I moved over to the counter. We went quiet for a moment, a comfortable feeling filling the air. "Is Willow up yet?" His voice suddenly asked, making me turn my head in his direction.
"Yeah, she is." I simply responded, making him hum. The two of us fell quiet again, my ears perking up a bit when I heard him pick up his newspaper, flipping to a page. A few minutes passed, then there was a loud creak from the top of the stairs.
Looking over my shoulder, I watched as Willow quickly made her way downstairs, moving to her dad's side and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Morning Pops." She greeted with a smile before looking around. "Where's dad?"
"Morning to you too sunshine, he's outside right now." He said as Willow walked over to me, giving me a light nudge. The sound of his chair scraping against the floor made my ears twitch, then his footsteps started to trail away. "I'll be outside with him if you girls need anything."
"Alright!" We both called after him, then I chuckled and gave Willow a bit of a nudge.
"I didn't steal all the hot water, did I flower?" I asked her, watching as her cheeks turned pink. She glanced over at me, then rolled her eyes.
"No you didn't." The plan witch grabbed a plain piece of bread and took a bite before she spun on her heel and started to walk away. "Surprisingly." She muttered the last part with a smile, just barely loud enough for me to hear.
"Wow." I placed a hand over my chest, shooting her a fake look of hurt. She glanced back at me, rolling her eyes when she saw my reaction. "And I thought you trusted me." Putting on a fake pout, I struggled not to laugh.
"Never said I didn't." Willow told me as she pushed her glasses up on the bridge of her nose before taking another bite of bread.
"You implied it though." I argued, cracking a smile. Willow only sighed, softly shaking her head before glancing at the time. I took a look at the time as well, sucking in a sharp breath between my teeth. "Shoot, I should probably get going."
Drawing out a quick spell, I felt my hair dry before I started to put it the usual bun. Spinning back around to the counter, I grabbed my toast by the corner, hoping it'd quickly cool down. I could hear Willow's footsteps behind me, then I let out a sharp yelp when I was suddenly scooped up in her arms.
"C'mon, you can stay for a bit longer." Willow told me with a laugh, giving me a squeeze. "At least a minute longer?"
I lightly tapped her arm, trying to look angry, but failing because the giant smile on my face was giving me away. "As much as I'd love to-" I tried to squirm out of her grasp. "Am will seriously have my head. It's the practice before the show, and besides, I missed part of the last practice and I swear she looked like she was gonna hex me to death."
"She wouldn't." The plant witch told me in a softer voice, giving me one last squeeze before putting me back down on my feet. I scoffed, shaking my head slightly.
"She would. You and I both know that." I took a bite of my toast, glad that it didn't burn my tongue.
Willow smiled, letting out a small chuckle. Then, she balanced on her tiptoes, reaching up to give me a kiss on the cheek. "Luz would stop her." I blinked a few times, feeling my ears lightly flap.
A smile rose to my face as I turned back towards the witch, who was going pink in the cheeks. "You're too cute for your own good, y'know that?" I told her, making her chuckle before shaking her head.
"You're cuter." I could feel myself tense up at her words, my face slowly starting to burn. Softly shaking my head, I slowly started to make my way to the door. "You know it's the truth Boscha!"
"That's still not gonna stop me from saying you're cuter, flower." Sticking out my tongue, I moved towards the front door, resting my hand on the knob. "Message me whenever you get the chance alright?"
"You know that's probably not gonna happen till after school. Maybe at lunch." Willow folded her arms over her chest, making me shrug.
"I mean... you could always message me during class~" My voice took on a sly tone, making the plant witch squint. She shook her head, a low sigh pushing past her lips.
"Yeah, that won't happen." I could hear the cold edge in her voice, which only made me laugh. Then, I shrugged, pulling open her front door before taking a step out.
"Hey, it was just a suggestion. After all, class can get pretty boring." Willow mouthed something I couldn't understand, a smile slowly rising to her lips. Then, before I left, I blew her a quick kiss. "See you again after I'm done with practice?"
"Sure. Love you." I could feel my ears twitch, a dopey grin slowly rising up to my lips. There was a minute of silence, then a hint of concern flashed on Willow's face. "You okay?"
"Totally, just got lost in your eyes for a second there." I said, noticing how she tensed up. "But that's besides the point, I love you too. Now, I've really gotta run."
Walking out the door, I softly closed it behind me and quickly started heading in the direction of the studio, giving both of Willow's dads a wave as I passed by. I made sure to walk quickly, mumbling under my breath about how I was gonna convince Amity not to kill me.
By the time I made it halfway to the studio, I felt a buzz from my scroll. With a grimace, I summoned it and glanced at my messages, feeling a bit of relief when I realized it was from Skara. "You coming or what?" Her message read.
Rolling up my sleeves, I quickly started to type her a message. "Of course I'm coming, what makes you think I wouldn't?" I sent that message, then started to type out another one. "Am doesn't want to kill me yet, right?"
There was a few moments of silence, then it showed that the sound director was typing. "Nah, Luz has kept her attention long enough that she hasn't noticed you're late."
I let out a small sigh of relief, fiddling with my rolled up sleeves a bit. "Great. Make sure she stays distracted, I prefer to stay in one piece." And with that, I put away my scroll, picking up my pace.
Once I made it to the studio, I pushed open the door, hearing the sound of my band mates voices float out. "You see Ed, all you have to do is twist, then bam!" Peering into the main room and finding three of , I watched as Emira quickly twisted her wrist, a small, glass looking ball instantly appearing in her hand.
"What's the ball do?" Skara asked her, her eyes following the ball as Emira moved it from hand to hand.
"Pretty sure the best purpose it serves is just being able to throw it at someone." Edric quickly chimed in, her twin quickly glancing over at him before putting on a smirk.
"Someone like you?" She asked, tightly gripping onto the ball before winding her hand back, making Edric yelp and quickly duck behind Skara to protect himself. The sound director tensed up, looking over her shoulder to glare at the Blight.
Skara turned back towards Emira, then her eyes slowly trailed over to me, her face lighting up. "Hey Boscha!" She called to me, catching the other's attention. Emira made the ball in her hands disappear, a low sigh coming from her twin at the action.
"Glad to see you finally showed up." Emira told me as she placed a hand on her hip, making me roll my eyes.
"It's not like I'm late." I muttered, glancing around the room only to notice that there were two missing. "Where's Am and Luz?"
Both of Amity's siblings nodded in the direction of the hallway. "They're in their room." A smirk rose up to my lips, but I quickly pushed it down, replacing it with a scoff.
"Well then, I'll go get them. You guys go get ready so we can get this over with." Skara and Edric quickly nodded, scurrying off in their directions. Emira, however, stayed with a smirk on her face.
"Got plans after this or something?" She asked me as I headed off towards the hallway, making me shake my head. "Really? So what makes you wanna wrap up practice so fast?" I shrugged, leaning on part of the wall.
"Faster we get this over with, the faster these pre-show jitters will go away." I could see that Emira was thinking it over, then she nodded her head.
"Good point." She finally said, heading off in the direction that Skara went off into. I headed off towards the hall, quickly making it to Amity and Luz's room where I found the door cracked open.
I slowly approached the room, my ears lightly twitching when I heard their voices. "Okay, corniness aside, I still think that Ammy bear is a good nickname for you!"
"You know I still have no idea what a bear is, right?" Amity's voice asked, followed by a bit of a chuckle. "So, if it's some kind of joke, you're gonna have to explain it."
"It's not really a joke, it's more like..." Luz trailed off, and I slowly peered into the room. Amity stood in front of her mirror, Luz standing a little ways behind her. I watched as Luz walked closer to the witch, then wrapped her arms around Amity's waist from behind, laying her head on her back. "People just call bears cuddly back on Earth."
"Are they actually cuddly?" Amity asked her, straightening up a little. Luz let out a little chuckle, a warm smile spreading across her face.
"Stuffed bears are, but uh, real ones... not so much." Amity let out a laugh, bringing one of her hands back and running it through Luz's hair. "Then again, you could always just hug a really big and fluffy dog, that's like cuddling a bear."
"Whatever you say." Amity carefully twisted around, resting her arms on Luz's shoulders. Even from where I was standing, I could see a pale blush rising up to the drummer's cheeks, a much darker one finding its way to the main singer's.
Amity took a step back, almost instantly hitting her desk with the backs of her legs. The two moved a little closer together, the singer's eyes darting down to Luz's lips. Luz suddenly chuckled, making Amity's ears go down. "Y'know, I guess you call me a bear."
The singer's eyebrows furrowed for a moment, a smile rising to her face. "Why's that?"
"Well..." She leaned her forehead against Amity's. "Bears like honey, and I think you're just as sweet." Then, she gave Amity a quick kiss on the lips, making the teal haired witch squeak.
Once Luz pulled away, Amity blinked, then chuckled. "Y'know, if you wanted a kiss you could've just asked." She told Luz, making the girl shrug.
"Figured it'd be funner doing it this way." The Blight lightly shook her head, leaning in to give Luz another kiss, this time not instantly pulling away. I figured now would be a good time to make my presence known, giving the door a few sharp knocks.
Instantly, Amity pulled away from Luz with a yelp, smacking into her desk and making the legs drag against the ground with a loud sound. Luz looked dazed, turning towards the door while Amity turned towards her mirror, making sure it wouldn't fall.
"Alright you two." I pushed the door open, leaning against the frame with a smirk. "Before you guys start making out, can we get this practice started?" Both their blushes deepened, Amity's face going a dark shade of red.
Luz let out a nervous chuckle, rubbing the back of her neck before moving towards the door, quickly slipping past me. "Boscha's got a point, we need to get started." I watched out of the corner of my eye as Luz slipped off to go gather up her drums.
Amity ran her hands over her face with a groan, also moving towards the door so she could go to the sound room. "Yeesh, and you complained about me being late." I said as she passed, making her freeze in place.
She slowly looked at me, her eyes holding a dangerous glint that almost made me flinch. "Shut up." Was all she said before she walked down the hall and into the sound room.
Rolling my eyes, I followed after her, nearly running into her as she left the room. She shot me a glare, one that wasn't as hard as the one previously, before she passed me my bass case, muttering something under her breath. "Thanks." I said, getting no response.
Following after the witch to the recording room, meeting up with the twins and Skara in the room. Skara and Emira were by the sound board, fiddling with a few dials while Edric was setting up part of the drums, the other part missing.
Not long after we walked into the room, Luz made her way inside, a few pieces of the drums floating behind her while other parts were in her arms. She shot Amity a smile. "See Amity? Told you I would be able to float stuff!"
Setting down the pieces in her arms, Luz raised a hand and tried to trace a spell circle in the air, struggling for her first few attempts before she managed to get one to appear.
Well, once she connected her circle, instead of gently landing on the ground, the pieces that were floating in the air clattered to the ground, making the girl jump.
All of us went quiet for a moment, then I could hear Edric snort, struggling to suppress his laughter. Luz stared at the pieces on the ground for a moment, then let out a loud sigh. "Well... at least it was only the stands."
"I told you, don't float anything unless you know how to gently put it down." Amity grumbled, her eyes darting from the floor to Luz. The drummer bent down to pick up the items, then spun around to face the Blight.
"I do know how to gently put them down, guess I just did it wrong that time." She mumbled, making the teal haired witch roll her eyes. Taking her pieces over towards the rest of her drums, she quickly started setting the last bit of it up.
Taking my bass out of its case, I plucked a few of the strings, my ears lightly twitching at the tune. "So, what are we gonna start with?" I turned my gaze towards Amity, who was taking her guitar out of its case.
The youngest Blight stayed quiet for a moment, almost making me think that she didn't hear me the first time. I turned towards her, opening my mouth to speak again when she spoke up. "505. Just because." Was all she said, then she moved over towards Luz, plucking a few strings on her guitar.
Skara shot Amity a signal, letting her know the sound board was ready while Emira moved over towards her twin, grabbing him by the shoulders and scaring him. I moved over towards the two, standing in my usual spot before looking up.
"You two ready?" Amity asked us, Luz shooting her an enthusiastic thumbs up while I gave her a simple nod. She gave us a nod in return, then started plucking the first few chords to the song, Luz and I quickly following after.
We all went through the song, and by the time we were finished with the first run, Edric popped his head in the room. "You sure you aren't out of tune Mittens?" He asked, making her glance down at her guitar.
"Yes I'm sure." She said simply, pausing for a moment. The two siblings stared at one another, then Amity sighed, plucking a few of her strings and tweaking with the dials. Before Edric left, I could see the smirk that was plastered on his lips, telling me that he was messing with Amity.
But I wasn't gonna tell her that.
Instead, I watched as she fiddled with her dials, leaning against the wall as I lightly traced a finger up and down my bass' neck. To the side, I could see Luz twirl her drumsticks for a moment before her face lit up with an idea.
Setting one of her drumsticks down, she held the other one tightly in her hand, then with her free hand, she traced a spell out in the air. Once it was complete, her drumstick floated in the air, just barely above her eye level.
Lightly tapping the stick towards her face, she maneuvered it until it looked like she was balancing it on the tip of her nose. I turned my full attention to her, tilting my head slightly as I raised an eyebrow.
Luz didn't pay me any mind, smiling as she balanced the thin stick my ears twitched as I heard Amity play a short tune, then she sighed. "Alright, this is fine." She turned back around, eyeing Luz up and down, who, once she noticed Amity was looking at her, quickly dropped the stick back into her hand.
Amity eyed her up and down for a moment, then sighed. "Don't wear yourself out." She told the drummer, who waved off Amity's concern.
"A few simple spells won't kill me Ammy, don't worry." She gave the other witch a smile, a low chuckle bubbling up from her throat when Amity's ears slowly went down. I just shook my head, turning my gaze down to my bass.
"Don't jinx yourself." I mumbled, noticing how Amity turned to me. There was a second of silence, then I jolted in pain when I felt a small shock hit my shoulder. Rubbing my shoulder and muttering under my breath, I looked up in the direction the shock came from, being meet with the lead singer glaring at me.
She didn't say anything about it and turned towards Skara, shooting her a thumbs up. "Let's go through the song again." She muttered, rolling her shoulders to relax them. To my right, I could hear Luz pop her fingers, bouncing her free leg up and down.
After we rolled through 505 a few more times, we moved on to some of our other songs, repeating the process each time. The one song I noticed we never played was the one from our last show. In the back of my head, I questioned it, but figured it was because Luz still didn't know how to play it.
Then again, it wasn't exactly a secret what the song was about, so I wouldn't be surprised if we weren't playing it cause Amity didn't want to confirm what it meant.
By the third run through of our fourth song, Luz slumped down on her drums with a loud sigh, her drumsticks barely hanging out of her hands. "Can I call a quick break?" She asked, lightly panting.
The youngest Blight glanced back at Luz for a moment, her usual, neutral expression that she wore during practice softening. "Sure. Hey Ed!" I flinched at the sudden raise of her voice, Edric quickly popping his head into the room. "You mind getting us some drinks?"
"The usual?" He asked back, making his sister nod. Then, he shot us a set of finger guns and a wink. "Alright then!" He disappeared back where he came from, leaving the three of us alone again.
We were all quiet for a little while, my hand moving down to my thigh to lightly drum my fingers against it. Then I could see Luz sit up and stretch, carefully balancing her drumsticks on part of her drums. "So-" She motioned towards me, catching my attention. "have any plans later?"
"Just plan on going to hang out with Willow, relax before the show tomorrow." I said, making the drummer nod her head. Amity however, chuckled, softly shaking her head. I glared at her for a moment, carefully folding my arms over my chest. "What?"
"If you do that, you better not stay up all night." She told me, making me roll my eyes.
"What makes you think I would?" The teal haired witch shrugged, glancing back at the drummer for a moment. "Well hey, at least I'd be better than you two."
"Whatever you say." She told me, turning her gaze to the door as she waited for her brother.
"Oh c'mon, you know I'm right. You two would be up talking all night." Amity turned her gaze over to me, giving me a look before the door swung open again, Edric walking in with three drinks in hand.
"Let's see, this one's Luz's, this one's Boscha's, and of course here's a freezing cold one for you Mittens!" He chirped, passing off the drinks to everyone. Amity stared down at hers for a moment, then back up at her brother.
"Really?" She mumbled, the annoyance clear in her voice. "Do I look like an idiot to you?" Edric shrugged, then laughed as Amity furrowed her eyebrows together.
"You need to lighten up a bit Mittens." He said as he gave her a nudge. "I'm worried you're gonna just snap in half with how high strung you are." Edric let out another laugh, hanging in the door frame for a moment. "But that's besides the point, how many more songs do you guys plan to roll through?"
Luz and I turned to Amity, who only shrugged. "Probably one or two more." She took a sip of her water, staring down at the cup for a moment. "Why do you ask?"
"Em and I wanted to go out and practice effects, that's why." Then the Blight twin shot us a thumbs up, disappearing from the door frame. "Have fun you three!" He called out to us.
I stared at the door for a moment, then let out a sigh, turning towards the other two. Amity wore her usual poker face, but Luz looked like she was deep in thought as she took a drink from her cup.
Then, she suddenly shot up, her eyes practically lighting up. "Wait a minute! Random bright idea!" Amity turned towards her, raising an eyebrow.
"Spill." I said with a smile, folding my arms over my chest. Luz was practically bouncing up and down, the smile on her face growing. She then took a deep breath, calming herself down a bit.
"Okay, okay, so I know the show is tomorrow..." She paused, both of us nodding our heads. "And I know that normally means we all go our separate ways for the night. But!"
"But what?" The hesitance in Amity's voice was clear, but the look on her face held a subtle excitement. I slowly drummed my fingers on my upper arm, watching as Luz twirled one of her drumsticks in her hand.
"But, what if we all decided to go and hang out at the owl house for the night? Like a sleepover! As long as we don't burn down the house Eda wouldn't care." Her drumstick stopped spinning, now lightly tapping against her leg. "It'd be fun!"
Amity stayed quiet for a moment, clearly thinking it over in her head. I stared at her for a moment, then turned my gaze back to Luz. "I mean, it'd be a lot better than doing nothing." I said with a shrug, seeing the excitement rise on Luz's face.
"Gathering all of us in one place for the night isn't the greatest idea. That's just a recipe for disaster waiting to happen." Amity finally said, turning her gaze down to the floor.
Luz's smile dropped and she clasped her hands together, giving Amity a look. "Oh c'mon Ammy!" She pleaded, Amity still staring down at the floor, her face slowly going pink.
I rolled my eyes, letting out a small chuckle that caught the singer's attention. "Yeah, c'mon Ammy!" I teased, making her snap up to look at me. "It's not like we'd have to get up early for tomorrow's show anyways."
"Wait, we don't?" Luz asked.
"Nope. The place we're performing at is only a few miles away from here. And it's a late night show." I said, making the drummer gasp.
"That doesn't mean we should do it." Amity said, shooting me a glare. "And don't call me that." She mumbled, the last part, her ears moving down slightly.
"That means we should totally do it!" Luz argued, leaning onto her drums. "Please Ammy?" I could see Amity's expression waver, clearly trying to fight against giving in.
There was a moment of silence, then Amity finally sighed. "I guess..." She said, making Luz squeal. The drummer shot up out of her seat, quickly rushing over to her and pulling her into a tight hug.
"You're the best!" Luz gave Amity a kiss on the cheek, making the blush on her face deepening. "I'll go let the other's know!" She quickly made her way to the door, then froze, turning back to me. "Actually, Boscha can you see if Willow and Gus wanna come? The more the merrier!"
I nodded my head, summoning my scroll in my hand as she left the room, leaving Amity and I alone. Glancing up at the witch for a moment, I couldn't help but chuckle. "Note to self..." I said as I set my cup down on the ground, my voice loud enough to catch her attention. "Amity's a pushover when it comes to Luz."
"Oh can it." She sharply said, making me laugh a little harder. "It's not like you aren't the same way with Willow." I clicked on Willow's contact, pulling up our messages.
"Am, I'm being serious. The fact you gave in that fast surprises me. If anyone else asked you that, you would've fought against them till they gave up." Amity didn't say anything in response, making me turn my attention down to my scroll.
I smiled, quickly typing out a message. "Hey." I sent, making sure to add a bunch of y's at the end, just because I knew it bugged Willow. While I waited for a response, I looked up when Luz walked back into the room.
"The other's agreed!" She happily chirped, moving over towards Amity. "Also, your siblings are surprised you agreed." Luz slung an arm over Amity's shoulders, but I turned my gaze away from the two of them when my scroll buzzed.
"Why do you text like that?" Willow's message read, making a smile rise up to my face.
"Because it's fun~" I sent back, sticking out my tongue. "Anyways, that's besides the point, didn't just want to text you to bug you."
"So why did you text me?" Her response was almost immediate.
"Well, Luz was saying something about having the band hang at the owl house for the night and wanted to know if you and Augustus would come." I looked back up at the other two in the room, seeing Luz playfully stick her tongue out at the other only to get lightly shoved away.
There was a bit of a pause before I got my next response. "Well, you already know that I'm not busy, and I'm sure my dads won't mind since tomorrow is the weekend, so sure, I'll come." She sent a little smiley face after that, making me smile as well. "When I meet up with Gus at lunch I'll ask if he can come too."
A small snort rose up from me, making the other's look over at me for a moment before becoming distracted again. "And I thought you said you wouldn't text me in class." I teased, waiting for a response.
While I waited, I looked up at Amity and Luz again, moving my ears up and down out of boredom. By now, the two were just making faces at one another, laughing the entire time.
When my scroll buzzed again, it made me jump a little, luckily not enough to catch the other's attention. "It's a free period." The fact I could hear the deadpan tone her voice would have made me smile.
"Whatever you need to tell yourself." I sent in response, another chuckle rising in my throat. "But hey, I'll leave you alone for now. Love you flower." I added a few hearts at the end of my text before hitting send, Willow sending a few hearts in return and making a pale blush rise to my cheeks.
Clearing my throat, I caught the others attention. "Willow said she'll come, but she's still gotta ask Augustus." I said, Luz excitedly pumping her fists in the air.
"This is perfect! Now, if they're able to come along, and if the twins can convince Viney and Jerbo to come that'd make..." Luz quickly counted off the amount of people, mumbling the numbers under her breath. "Ten of us!"
"Are you sure Eda's gonna want all of us there?" Amity asked, making Luz scoff and wave away what she said.
"Like I said before, as long as we don't bug her all night and as long as we don't burn down the house, Eda's not gonna care!" The drummer leaned against the wall, folding her arms over her chest. "Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"
"You should be asking my siblings that." Amity said, her ears twitching slightly. "I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to sneak off to prank something while they're there..."
"Well, if they try to set anything up on the walls, they'll probably just activate on themselves since the walls are breathing." Luz said, and I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow out of confusion and concern.
Amity thought about it for a moment, a subtle smile rising to her lips. "Don't tell them that then." She said, making Luz nod her head. Then, she fixed her grip on her guitar, turning to look at me for a moment. "Now, we should probably finish up with practice."
Luz quickly went back behind her drums and I fixed my grip on my bass, both of us waiting for Amity's command. It wasn't long before the three of us got started again, quickly playing through the last few songs Amity wanted to get through.
Once we finished with the songs, Edric popped back into the room again, telling us that we did a good job as he went over to help Luz dismantle the drums while Amity and I put our instruments in their cases, taking them to the sound room.
Taking a quick glance at the time as I headed to the main room, I saw it was just a little after two. Emira and Skara were both already in the main room, the two of them chatting, pausing for a moment when the saw me walk in before saying hi and returning for their conversation.
I quickly checked my scroll, noticing how I had no notifications. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Luz and Edric walk by with parts of the drum set in their arms, heading towards the front door, which was still closed.
Raising a hand and drawing out a spell, the door slowly opened, making Edric spin around and give me a smile before spinning back around and walking out the door, Luz following close behind him.
Amity moved past me and took a seat in the chair by her sister, leaning back in her seat and pulling out her scroll. Not long after, Luz and Edric returned, the Blight nudging her with his elbow a few times.
"So, what time you want us over?" I asked the drummer, taking her attention off of Edric. She hesitated for a moment, thinking it over before shrugging.
"Whatever time you wanna come by. I'd say, maybe sometime before eight. After all, don't wanna miss the fun!" Luz suggested, making me nod my head.
"That works for me." I stretched my arms out in front of me, carefully flexing my wrists. I stood there for a moment instead of taking a seat, looking over at the door, then back to my band members. "I guess I'll see you guys later then."
"Leaving already?" Skara asked and I slowly nodded my head.
"What's the occasion?" Emira followed up, raising an eyebrow with a smirk. I shrugged, shoving my hands in my pockets.
"Just gonna go home and relax, probably nap. That way I can stay up later than all you dorks." I said with a chuckle, noticing how both the twins looked over at one another with a smile before looking back over at me.
"I mean, you could always just nap here." Emira suggested, her voice holding a slightly mischievous tone. Edric nodded his head, his ears barely moving up and down.
"And risk having you guys draw on my face or something? Yeah, hard pass." I scoffed, watching both of their expressions fall. Turning around, I gave them all a little salute, pulling open the door. "Peace out."
They all wished me goodbye before I closed the door behind me, then continued talking with one another. I let out a small sigh as I walked home, glancing at the sky while I walked.
The sky seemed pretty empty, an occasional griffon traveling by, but that was about it. Even though it was empty, it distracted me long enough that by the time I got home, I was surprised that I made it there so fast.
Going inside and up to my room, I summoned my scroll, clicking on my messages between Willow and I as I kicked off my shoes. "Hey." I sent, once again using a bunch of y's at the end. "Meet up at my house when you're ready to go alright?"
I didn't get any response, so I assumed she was still in class. Flopping down on my bed, I made my scroll disappear and took my hair out of its bun, resting my head down on my pillow.
Closing my eyes, I let myself relax for a little while. Everything went black for a minute or so, then I opened my eyes again when I felt someone lightly shaking my shoulder.
"Glad to see you're awake sleepyhead." Willow greeted me in a soft voice, running a hand through my hair. I sat up, blinking a few times before looking around.
"What time is it?" I croaked, looking down at the floor to see the bright light that came in through the window. "It's not that late right?"
"It's only a little after five." I froze for a moment, staring at the witch before I let out a sigh and got out of bed, stretching my arms out in front of me. Moving over towards my closet, I started flipping through my shirts, mumbling under my breath the entire time.
"I don't even remember if Am specified anything..." Willow laughed, making my ears twitch. "Welp, it's not like this show is like the last one, so it's probably just the usual."
"Probably. Now hurry up and get your stuff, Gus is downstairs probably wondering what we're doing at this point." I hummed and nodded my head, floating a bag over to me while I grabbed some clothes for tomorrow.
I snuck another glance at the time, then turned to Willow. "Think anyone else is there yet?" I asked her, taking the hair tie off of my wrist and using it to pull my hair up into a quick ponytail.
"You mean anyone besides Amity?" She asked back before chuckling, pushing her glasses further up on her face. "Maybe the twins are." I nodded, moving over towards my door with Willow not too far behind me.
"Well, if everyone else is already there, we can just say that the stars are fashionably late." An idea suddenly came to mind, making me perk up. "And I mean, with a star as bright as you, it makes sense."
A sound of surprise came from the witch behind me, then a laugh as she gave me a soft shove. "What happened to calling me flower?" She managed to say between laughs, making me shrug.
"Starflowers are a thing, and they're really pretty, just like you." I winked, watching the blush on her face deepen as her ears lightly flapped up and down. She fixed her glasses and looked down, not saying anything else.
The two of us went downstairs, where we found Augustus standing by the front door, glancing around the room before he noticed the two of us. "Took you guys long enough!" He smiled, motioning for us to follow him. "Come on, let's go!"
All three of us left and started to make our way to the owl house, Willow's hand intertwined with mine. Luckily, since the two of them would head to the owl house so often, then knew exactly where to go.
While we walked, Augustus started rambling on about his illusion classes to fill the silence, talking about one of the new spells he was trying to master. It was interesting to listen to him talk about his first few attempts to do the spell.
Before we made it out of the end of the woods, Willow froze, making the rest of us stop. "What's up?" I asked, cutting into what Gus was saying. Willow squinted, staring at something ahead of us.
"What is Hooty doing...?" She mumbled, making me look ahead. Some soft of brown cylinder was jutting out of the door, stretching out a few feet ahead before sharply turning into the ground.
"The weird cylinder thing?" I asked, motioning towards the house.
"Well, that's one way to describe him..." Augustus said, also staring at the house. We all stared for a moment longer, then slowly continued to walk towards the house. "Y'know, maybe if we're lucky, we can sneak in without talking to him."
As if on cue, the tube suddenly pulled up from the ground, revealing an owl face on the end of it. It turned towards us, making me flinch. "Oh I recognize you two! Hoot hoot!"
Willow and Augustus let out a groan of annoyance as the thing stretched over towards us. "Hello Hooty." They both mumbled as the owl tube wrapped around us, squeezing the three of us together.
"I haven't seen you guys in forever!" The tube said in an obnoxious voice before he got close to my face. "But I don't think I've seen you around here before..." He told me, squinting his dark eyes.
"Never seen you before either." I muttered, trying to free my arms. "What even are you?" The owl suddenly loosened up, letting the three of us go.
"No wait-" Willow held a hand out, trying to stop the tube from talking.
"I'm so glad you asked!" Hooty happily said, and both Willow and Augustus slump down. But, before he got started on his spiel, he suddenly jerked over, letting out a sound of pain.
"Hooty? What are you doing?" A high pitched voice asked, clearly annoyed with the tube owl. "What kind of bug are you trying to torture by talking to now?"
Walking out the door, a familiar tiny demon peeked over at the four of us, making the owl spin turn around to face him. "Not a bug!" Then, the owl shrunk back over towards him, letting the demon look at us.
"Oh, Luz's other friends." He said, just barely loud for us to hear. Then, he motioned us to come over, walking back inside the house. The tube owl stretched inside of the house instead of coming back, and after a couple of seconds, we all quickly headed towards the house.
Poking our heads into the door, we found that the rest of the band was already there, hanging out in the living room. Skara was sitting on the arm of the couch by Viney and Emira, with Edric and Jerbo on the other side of the couch. Amity sat on the floor by Luz, who lit up when she noticed the three of us.
"And the last of the party finally arrives!" She said excitedly, motioning for the three of us to come in. The door closed loudly behind us once we all made it inside, making all of us jump. "Glad to see you could make it!"
I shook my head, then smiled. "Well duh, we had to be fashionably late." I told her, noticing how Amity rolled her eyes.
"More like you overslept." Willow muttered as she set her bag down on the ground, Augustus and I doing the same. Then she gently grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me forwards, taking a seat down by Luz and pulling me down to do the same.
"Remind me what we planned on doing again?" Edric piped up, his eyes following Augustus as he moved over by him and took a seat. "Unless we're all gonna chat all night."
"I mean, unless you guys wanna play some cheesy game of truth or dare, we can do the cliche of binging a bunch of movies or something." Luz leaned back on the palm of her hand, the Blight twins lighting up at the idea of a game.
"If we're playing a game of truth or dare, I'm staying out of it." Amity mumbled, dragging her knees up to her chest.
"Oh come on Mittens, lighten up a little." Emira gave her sister a slight shove. "It'd be fun!"
"Not with you two." The youngest Blight turned to glare at her sister, only to get lightly shoved by her brother. "Knowing my luck, you'd dare one of us to do something stupid."
"Nah, we wouldn't make you do anything too bad." Edric leaned back, resting his head on his fist. "At the worst, we'd probably dare you to go talk to the door for ten minutes." Amity instantly shivered, her ears pinned down.
"That's exactly what I mean." She growled, her eyes staring at the door for a minute, then down to the floor. From around the corner, I could hear the sound of steps creaking, catching my attention.
Not long after, the owl lady appeared, dressed in a white button up and some jeans, running a hand through her hair. She froze when she saw all of us, blinking a few times before letting out a sigh. "Yeesh there are a lot of you..."
"Yep!" Luz quipped, lightly rocking back and forth. "But hey don't worry! We aren't going to be too crazy, you'll probably barely know that we're here."
"I don't care what you do, cause I'm not gonna be here anyways. I've got a night out on the town!" The owl lady flipped up the collar of her shirt, barely sticking out her tongue. "This doesn't look too flashy for the human realm right? I'd prefer to keep on the down low and kinda just snagged whatever was lying around."
Luz paused for a moment, her eyebrows bunching together. "You're... going to the human realm?" There was a bit of a laugh in her voice as she shook her head. "Why?"
She shrugged, her ears twitching. "Why not? It'd be better than sitting here with you dorks for the night, at least you'd actually dare to do something when I'm gone. Besides, I can go snag some treasures for the stand while I'm out."
"They'd still dare to do something if you stayed." Amity motioned to her siblings, making me snicker.
"I know they would." She said, reaching into her pocket before pulling out a key and giving it a tap, a door summoning in front of her. "Anyways, nobody die while I'm gone, stay out of trouble, and if you do get into trouble, don't lead the guards here."
Suddenly, Luz jumped up, making me flinch in surprise. "Wait!" She ran over towards the door, quickly walking through it.
"Where are you going?" Amity asked, making Luz pop her head back in the door frame.
"Grabbing some movies! It'll be fun!" She then disappeared again, the owl lady rolling her eyes before following after her, the door closing up behind them with a few loud thunks, leaving the rest of us here.
"Human movies? I wonder what kind..." Augustus trailed off, silently counting off the different types on his fingers and his eyes glittering in excitement. Edric shrugged, slightly leaning against Jerbo.
"Whatever it is, let's hope it's better than Em's movie choices." He let out a laugh, earning himself a shove from his twin. "I'm serious! When Mittens has a better movie taste than you, it's sad."
"Ed, isn't most of your favorite movies rom-coms? You have no room to talk." Viney asked him with a smirk.
"Hey wait, rom-coms are good movies!" Skara said, making the beastkeeper look over at her like she was crazy.
"See? She gets it! And besides, the movies I choose are the good kinds! Em always chooses the movies that were thrown together in a night." He said, running a hand through his bangs.
"Because they're so bad that they're funny!" Emira told him, folding her arms. "At least mine don't have stupidly corny lines in them."
"I guarantee you we'd be here all night if I listed off all the movies you like to watch that have the bad corny lines in them." He said as he stuck his tongue out at his twin, making her do the same.
"How bout we just both agree that your guy's movie tastes suck? It'd be better than listening to you bicker." I said, tensing up when I felt Willow lean on my shoulder. "Besides, we all know that action movies are better."
"It all depends on the kind of action though." Viney piped up, fiddling with her earring, Jerbo nodding in agreement. Then, to our right, we heard another set of loud thunks, catching our attention. The door that disappeared a few minutes ago came back, then opened.
Luz stepped through the blinding light, walking backwards with an assortment of items in her hands. "And remember! You can't just light anyone on fire!"
"Alright alright, you don't have to pester me over it! Have fun with your friends." The owl lady called from the other side.
"You have fun too!" The door closed behind her and folded up before disappearing. Luz turned around, giving all of us a bright smile. "I'm back! And I brought some movies and some snacks!"
"Sweet!" Edric jumped up, rushing over to the drummer to see what she got. Amity rolled her eyes, drawing out a spell and dragging him back to the couch.
"Yeah, I had no idea what kind of movies to grab, so I kinda just closed my eyes and picked at random." She told us with a laugh, setting down a small handful of cases. "While I go find where Eda put that T.V. she stole from the trash and get some blankets for all of us, you guys can look these over and choose whatever one's the most interesting."
Augustus spread out the few cases, letting us look them get a good look at their covers. The others got off the couch and stood up, glancing down at the covers with puzzled expressions.
"Human movies are weird..." Emira muttered after a bit with a chuckle, picking up one of the cases. "Hey Gus, any chance you know what a lion is?" She then passed him the case, letting him look it over.
"Pretty sure it's just a bigger cat in the human realm." He said after a minute, flipping the case over to read the back. Skara took the case from his hand, gushing about how cute the creatures on the front looked. Then, Luz walked back into the room, wheeling in a decent sized box that was covered in blankets and snacks.
"Anything catch your guy's eye?" She asked, pushing the box towards the center of the room. Jerbo bent down and picked up another case, flipping it over before shrugging.
"What about this one?" Luz glanced at the case, tensing up a little when she read the title.
"I forgot I grabbed that one..." She muttered, then put on a smile. "Letting you know now, that one's a horror movie." Viney suddenly perked up, pulling the case from her friend's hands.
"A horror movie?" She asked excitedly, her ears flapping up and down. Augustus appeared by her side, his eyes just as bright as her's.
"A human horror movie? That'd be so cool!" Willow moved back over to my side, glancing at the bottom of the case before shuddering. I wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to me. "Can we watch it?"
Everyone looked at one another, then shrugged. "Well then, we'll start off with this one!" Luz took the case from Viney's hands, brushing the blankets off the box before opening the case and taking out a small silver disk, sticking it in a slot on the box. "Hey Hooty? Can you cut the lights?"
The lights suddenly went out, and in the darkness there came the sound of a pencil scribbling on a piece of paper. Then, a ball of light floated up by Luz, going into the air. She gently guided it in our direction, then continued to scribble out more. "After all, if it's a spooky movie, we need a spooky setting!"
I watched as she scribbled out more spells, then chuckled. "I'm surprised you aren't using spell circles to do magic." I said, making her pause and look over at me before shrugging.
"Doing spell circle magic is cool, but honestly I think I like doing the glyphs a lot more. It's a lot less draining that way and besides, they don't take as long." She said, quickly getting out three more spells before putting her notebook away.
Then, she bent down and tossed us all blankets and snacks, and once we got our blanket Willow was quick to drape it over us, leaning her head on my shoulder.
Augustus moved over to Willow's side with his own blanket, wrapping himself in it. Viney snuggled up against Emira, and Jerbo and Edric shared a blanket, the illusionist leaning his head on the other's shoulder. Skara stayed on her arm of the chair, tightly wrapping herself up, leaving only her head poking out.
Luz grabbed a small controller, quickly moving over to Amity side before plopping down and hitting a few buttons, starting the movie. "Wanna bet Ed's gonna scream first?" Emira said as we waited for the movie to start.
"Nah, I bet Mittens will scream first." He said, his mouth already full of snacks. Amity didn't say anything in response, rather, she just scooted a little closer to Luz. The tiny demon from before trotted into the room, looking at all of us with a curious glance.
"What are you guys doing?" He asked, slowly moving closer.
"Heya King! We're watching a movie. Wanna join?" Luz asked him, making the demon hesitate. "We even have snacks."
"You've sold me." King said, quickly moving over by Luz and flopping onto her lap, reaching into her bag of human candy before popping a few of the pieces in his mouth. "This better not be some sappy movie."
The movie successfully managed to make most of us scream, the first one coming from Jerbo. By the time we were halfway through the movie Willow and I clung to one another, shaking as we worried over when the next jump scare would be, using the blanket to shield our eyes.
But, once the movie was over, the scares weren't. That's only because Edric had the bright idea to make an illusion of the haunted doll from the movie, not only making us scream even louder than before, but it also made Amity whirl around and punch him in the gut when he placed a hand on her shoulder to apologize.
I placed a hand over my racing heart, feeling it thud against my fingers as I tried to catch my breath. Willow was squeezing me tightly, muttering how the movie wasn't real under her breath.
"That wasn't that bad..." Edric managed to say, still lying on the floor clutching his stomach.
"Says the one that screamed the loudest." I said, hearing how shaky my voice sounded. He sat up, wincing a little.
"You aren't any better." He told me, wearing his signature smirk. "Clinging to Willow like your life depended on it, using the blanket to hide." His eyes moved away from us, then widened a little. "Uh... you alright over there buddy?"
Willow and I both looked at each other, then turned to look at Augustus. He sat there wrapped up in his blanket, shaking like a leaf as he stared at the floor, his face pale.
"Never again..." Was all he squeaked out, making Willow let go of me and move over to comfort him.
"Now what?" Amity finally stammered out, clutching the blanket tightly around her. Luz pried her hands off of Amity and reached over with a shaky hand to the other movie cases, fumbling before she grabbed one.
"How bout a Disney movie? It's way calmer than that last movie, so it'll calm our nerves. Probably..." Willow nodded her head, giving Augustus' shoulder a squeeze. King poked his head out from under the blanket, shaking the entire time.
Luz was quick to put in that movie, hitting play before moving back over to Amity, who instantly wrapped her arms back around Luz. Edric quickly scrambled to get back up by Jerbo before the movie started, making me laugh when he nearly tripped.
Like Luz said, this movie was a lot calmer than the last, letting all of us relax and forget about the scares from earlier, though they still lingered in the back of my mind.
This movie seemed to move by a lot quicker than the first one, probably because this one wasn't as stressful than the last. Even though I had no idea what half of the creatures were in the movie, I still found it pretty interesting.
Once the credits started playing, Luz stretched her arms over her head, letting out a small groan. "What time is it?" She asked, glancing over at the youngest Blight, who summoned her scroll to check the time.
"Twenty after ten." She responded, making the drummer nod her head.
"Alrighty then." Luz then clasped her hands together. "So, we can either go to bed now, or we can watch another movie. What do you guys wanna do?" I shrugged, watching as Amity stood up, lightly rolling her shoulders.
"I say we go to bed. We've got a show tomorrow." Both of her siblings let out a groan, making her turn around to face them.
"Oh come on Mittens, why kill the fun now? One more movie wouldn't hurt." Emira said, giving her a light nudge.
"Yeah, come on sis. It wouldn't be that late by the time we finished it." Edric chimed in, also giving his sister a nudge.
"It'd be around midnight by the time we finished the movie, that's late." Amity said, a cold edge lining her voice. "And if you two knew what was good for you, you'd go to bed now."
Edric was about to chime in again, but stopped when Jerbo placed a hand on his shoulder. "She's got a point. Besides, I'm tired anyways." He said, lightly shrugging his shoulders. The illusionist stared at him for a moment, then sighed, turning back towards his younger sister.
"Fine. Guess we won't watch another movie." He mumbled, a look of surprise flashing across his twins face for a moment.
"Wow Ed." She gave him a rough shove, making him yelp. "Didn't even try to put up a fight there. That's just sad." Skara let out a chuckle, only making the twin roll his eyes.
"So hitting the hay it is!" Luz said, running a hand through her hair. "You four okay with crashing down here in the living room for tonight?" They all nodded their heads. "Great! Cause honestly, there's not enough room in my room for all of us, and Eda would probably kill whoever slept in her nest."
"She has a nest?" Emira questioned, a hint of concern laced in her voice. Luz only nodded her head, then started to go towards the stairs, motioning for the rest of us to follow her.
We all followed after her, including the demon, still clinging onto our blankets as we dragged them upstairs. "Hopefully, you guys don't mind sleeping on the floor, cause I'm pretty sure my mattress won't fit all of us."
Skara shrugged, pulling her hair out of it's ponytail. "That's fine by me." The rest of us muttered in agreement, slowly approaching Luz's room.
"Awesome! Now, I'm gonna snag a quick pair of pajamas and go change in the bathroom, one of you guys can change in my room, then we can kinda just alternate." She said before pushing open her door.
Luz moved into the room and picked up a shirt and a pair of shorts, then moved back over towards the door. "Also, whoever changes in here, make sure the curtains are pulled over the window. Hooty has terrible timing some days."
Then, she disappeared, leaving the rest of us standing by the door. Skara was the first to enter her room, shutting the door behind her as she changed. It wasn't long before she came back out in a simple grey tank top and sweatpants.
We all took turns going into the room and quickly changing till all of us were in some pajamas, then we all went to relax in Luz's room. Luz and Amity took the small mattress with King lying towards the bottom, Willow and I took the spot to the right of the mattress and Gus took the spot to the left, while Skara stayed by the window.
"Are you sure you wanna sleep by the window?" Luz asked, reaching out for the silver haired witch. "It might get cold later tonight."
Skara simply shrugged, turning her gaze towards the window. "I get a good view of the stars, so I say it's worth it." She had a soft smile on her face as she leaned her head against the wall.
"Alright..." I could hear the hesitation in her voice. "But hey, if you ever do get cold, you can always move down here." Skara nodded, turning to give the drummer a toothy smile. "Anyone else need anything? More pillows or something?"
"Nope." I muttered, lying flat on my back, staring at the ceiling. Willow took of her glasses and gently set them on the ground, close enough to the wall so no one would accidentally step on them in the night, before she laid down, resting her head on my shoulder and pulling the blanket up over us.
"Comfortable?" She asked me, making me nod my head as she wrapped her arms around my waist, nuzzling a little closer to my neck.
"Night guys!" Luz chirped, laying down with Amity.
"Night." The rest of us chimed in at different times, settling down for the night. Turning my head, I saw that Augustus was still sitting up, drawing out a spell circle and making a small notebook and pencil appear in front of him. He quickly scribbled something down, then made the notebook disappear before he laid down.
Then, I turned my gaze towards the ceiling, not closing my eyes. Around me, I could hear the sound of the other's soft breathing, each of them slowly drifting off to sleep while I stayed awake.
After who knows how long, I started to mentally kick myself, wanting to fall asleep but couldn't. Around me, I could hear the sounds of soft snoring coming from a few of them and the occasional sound of someone moving, which were the only sounds that cut through the silence.
"Great idea napping for three hours, now Am's gonna kill you in the morning." I mumbled out loud, making sure to keep my voice just below a whisper. Willow shifted, making me shut my mouth, afraid of waking her.
Her arms slid away from my waist as she turned on her other side, leaving my side feeling cold, but I didn't complain. By now, I figured that instead of waiting for my body to feel tired, I'd just close my eyes and wait for sleep to take me.
I flipped over on my side, slipping one of my hands under the pillow. Keeping my eyes closed for a bit, I was convinced that it was going to work. That is, till I heard a sudden, choked gasp, then the sound of someone sitting up.
Barely opening my eyes, I noticed that Luz was the one sitting up, her breathing erratic, though she tried to silence it by having a hand clasped over her mouth.
The pale moonlight that poked through the window didn't give me much light to see what was going on, but my eyes were adjusted enough to get enough details. With her free hand, she ran it through her hair before slowly trailing it down to her neck, then to her side, hovering over a specific spot for a moment.
Her head then snapped over it Amity's direction, giving me a partial view of her face, which was glistening with tears. I almost sat up, concern flowing through my veins. I could see the drummer's shoulders shake, hovering a hand over Amity's shoulder before sharply pulling it away.
She looked around the rest of the room, taking the hand away from her mouth and bringing both of them to the sides of her head. "I need to get out of here." Was all I heard her say in a broken voice before she quickly got up, nearly tripping over the demon that laid at her feet before darting out the door, closing it behind her.
Once she was gone, I sat up, staring at the door for a moment before turning towards Amity, who was still asleep. Carefully moving over towards her, I gave her a few rough shoves, making her groggily sit up and look around.
"Wha?" She mumbled rubbing her eyes, blinking a few times before looking at me. "What do you want?"
"Well your girlfriend just took off, looked like she was crying." That made Amity wake up pretty quickly, her head turning towards the door. She quickly got up, stumbling a little before heading towards the door.
I waited a couple of moments after the two of them left, then I sighed, getting up myself. Creeping across the floor, the floorboards were surprisingly quiet as I slipped out the door.
Down the hallway, I could see a bit of light peeking out from under a door, telling me that's where Luz and Amity were. I stared for a moment, then turned and headed towards the stairs.
Going downstairs, my ears twitched at how loud the stairs creaked in the silence. Once I made it downstairs, I decided to poke my head into the living room, just to see if everyone else was already asleep.
I found that they were, with one illusionist snuggled up against the beastkeeper's chest, and the other illusionist surprisingly laying against the abomination witch's chest, making me raise an eyebrow.
Staring at the four for a moment, I shook my head and disappeared back around the corner, heading towards the kitchen. Once I found it, I moved over to the cupboard and pulled one open, finding a cup.
Taking the cup, I filled it up with a bit of water, then made my way back upstairs, heading towards the room with the light on. The soft sound of Luz and Amity's voices floated out once I got close enough to the door.
"And he was there and had the thing and there was you-" Luz's shaky voice froze up, Amity quickly filling in the silence with words of comfort, telling her to take her time. Instead of listening in on this conversation, I gave the door a few soft knocks before pushing it open.
There, I found both of them sitting on the floor side by side, but with enough space between them so that they weren't touching. Luz jumped when she saw me out of the corner of her eye, making her breathing hitch for a moment. "Hey." I said, softly, Luz quickly wiping her eyes, even though her tears were quickly replaced.
"Hey." Amity mumbled back, Luz staying quiet, her knees pulled tightly against her chest. She didn't look up at me, rather, she continued to stare at the ground, her breathing quick, almost as if she was trying to close herself off and shrink away. Not that I blamed her for trying to.
"Clearly I know you don't want me to stay long, so here's this." I set the cup down on the counter, running a hand through my hair. "Figured you'd want it." Luz glanced up at the cup for a minute, then back down to the ground.
She opened her mouth to say something, but froze up and ended up saying nothing at all. I back out of the doorway, taking a hold of the handle in my hand. "I'll leave you guys alone." I said, softly closing the door.
I waited for a moment, hearing Amity's voice start up again after the door closed. Then, turning on my heel, I gave the two of them the privacy they needed, heading off towards Luz's room to join the others.
Worry gripped at my mind, making me silently wonder what woke the drummer up, knowing it wasn't from the movie earlier. I opened the door to the room and crept back inside, moving back over by Willow and laying down.
Laying down on my side again, I stared at the now empty mattress for a moment, then closed my eyes, taking a deep breath before letting myself relax.
By the time I almost drifted off, I could hear the door open again, the sound of footsteps walking into the room. They moved over towards the mattress, then laid down.
There was the occasional sniffle and a hiccup, but no words were spoken between the two. I barely opened one of my eyes, watching as Luz snuggled up against Amity, holding her tightly as the Blight draped a blanket over them before she started to lightly pet the drummer's hair.
I said nothing, closing my eye again, waiting to drift off to sleep, hoping that all of us would have enough energy for tomorrow's show.