Show stopping performance
Luz POV:
Amity's body shifted with a low groan, making me barely open my eyes. She moved until she was lying on her other side, her back now facing me. Squinting, I took a quick glance around the room without moving my head, noting that it had to be early in the morning.
A yawn pushed up from my body and I ended it by barely pressing my forehead against Amity's back, completely aware of the tiredness that still clung to my body. It was quiet in the rest of the room, save from the breathing and the few soft snores from everyone else, along with the occasional mumble from King while he slept.
I closed my eyes again, still pressing my head against Amity. Even though I was pressed up against the warm witch, I felt cold. It always happened after I woke up from that nightmare, which was still clawing at the back of my mind. My eyebrows slowly bunched together, and taking in a deep, shaky breath, I took one of my arms away from Amity.
Reaching down to my side, I tapped a few spots, relief sweeping over me when I couldn't feel any kind of sticky feeling covering the palm of my hand. I wrapped my arm back around Amity's waist, also glad that I couldn't feel anything on her sides either.
Maybe if I was lucky, I could fall back asleep and make up for the bit of time I missed last night. After all, there was a show tonight, I needed to be awake. I tugged Amity a little closer to me, my eyes snapping open when I heard her wake up with a soft snort, bringing her hands up to her face.
She stretched her arms out, then froze up when she realized I was pressing against her back. "Luz?" Her husky voice quietly called out, testing to see if I was awake since she couldn't see me. I let out a hum in response, feeling her quickly relax in my arms.
I moved my head back a little, and after a moment, Amity carefully flipped onto her other side so that she was facing me, her arm wrapping around me. I rested my head in the crook of her neck, feeling the witch let out a shiver when my breath hit her skin.
"How was the rest of your sleep?" She asked me, bringing her other hand up to run her fingers through my hair. I shrugged, giving her another squeeze in response.
"I feel like it didn't last long enough." I let out a half hearted chuckle, which shifted into another yawn. "Sorry about waking you up, I know you probably wanted as much sleep as possible considering there's a show tonight." My voice dropped to a volume barely above a whisper, guilt starting to seep through my veins.
"Don't apologize." She told me, her tone soft yet firm. "It's okay, and besides, you didn't wake me in the first place, Boscha did."
"Oh..." I mumbled, leaning a little more into Amity's touch. The two of us went quiet for a moment, then I could feel the witch shift a little, almost making me pull away. However, she pulled me closer to her, still running her fingers through my hair.
"Do those nightmares happen often?" Amity asked, breaking the silence and making me tense up.
I let out a bit of a nervous chuckle, resting my head against her shoulder a little more. "I mean, I wouldn't say they happen all the time... but yeah..." I scrunched my eyes shut, giving the witch another squeeze that made her squeak. "Normally though, it's just me and him... last night was different."
My voice was soft, making me wonder if Amity picked up what I just said. She stayed quiet for a moment. "And what do you usually do when those happen?"
I stayed quiet for a moment, then spoke again. "Sit and wait it out... somehow draw out some light spells to calm down." Amity's motions paused for a moment, then she continued. "I really don't like bugging Eda or King when it happens since it's so late, so I normally just deal with it on my own."
The two of us went quiet again, and if it weren't for the witch still running her fingers through my hair I would've thought she fell back asleep. "You wanna sleep in a little longer?" Her question appeared out of the blue.
A low chuckle rose from my throat. "You're actually giving me an offer to sleep in on a show night?" Amity nodded her head, making a small smile find its way onto my face. "Well, as much as I love your offer, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to decline." I couldn't help but put on a fake accent, making the youngest Blight laugh. "I'm already awake, so trying to fall asleep again would be pointless."
Slowly pulling my arms away from the Blight, I propped myself up on my elbows for a moment, then sat up, Amity copying my actions. I stared at her for a minute, noticing how her ears twitched when a few strands of her messy hair ran over the tips.
Looking around the rest of the room, everyone else was still asleep. Skara was propped up on the wall by my window, her blanket slowly sliding off of her shoulders. Gus was sprawled out on the floor in a heap, one arm under his head and the other somewhere under his blanket, which was only covering about half of his body. King looked like he was tangled up in my blanket, but he was still sound asleep. Willow and Boscha were snuggled up against one another, Boscha resting her head on Willow's shoulder, their legs intertwined.
Turning my gaze back to the only other person awake in the room, I smiled, catching her attention. "You look pretty with bedhead, you know that?" I said after a minute, making the witch's ears lightly start to flap.
She gave me a soft shove, a flitter of chuckles rising up from the two of us. "So do you." She told me, reaching out and running her fingers through my bangs. I shrugged, reaching up and gently taking a hold of her wrist.
"That's because it looks fluffy." I said, watching as her golden eyes darted back up to my hair for a moment. "Am I wrong?" I teased, making the witch shake her head, her eyebrows slowly bunching together as a confused expression crossed her face.
"Is something burning?" She asked me after a moment, her nose scrunching up.
I shrugged, taking her hand in mine. "Well I mean, the light from the window is casting a perfect halo over your head right now, making you look like an angel from heaven, so maybe it's the smoke coming out of my ears from my brain frying at your beauty." I gave her a toothy smile, but paused when I got no reaction.
"No Luz I'm serious, I can smell smoke." I felt her give my hand a squeeze, the subtle hint of panic hidden in her eyes. I sniffed the air, my eyes widening when I realized she was right. We both turned and looked at the door, then back at each other before quickly getting up and rushing to the door.
Once I opened the door, I could hear the sound of two panicked, but hushed voices. Amity and I bounded downstairs, quickly turning into the kitchen. There, we found Edric and Viney, the illusionist holding a pan with something burning inside far away from his body while the beastkeeper stood off to the side.
"How did you manage to burn it?" Viney panicked, Edric just shrugging his shoulders before letting put a yelp when something jumped in the pan due to the heat. I took a step back, almost hiding behind Amity, grimacing at their volume.
"I don't know! I turned away for three seconds to get a drink when suddenly whoosh! It's on fire!" He argued, drawing a small spell to hopefully put out the fire, which only made it grow a little larger.
"Dude that stuff is near impossible to burn, how?" It wasn't hard to hear the exasperated tone in the beastkeeper's voice. Clearly, the two hadn't noticed us yet, and we didn't make our presence known even though we were just standing in the doorway.
"Look, I'm no cook the only thing I know how to legitimately cook up is a good beat on the drums! What made you look at me and think that I could actually cook?" Edric's voice rose a bit, then he motioned to a bowl on the counter, which was somehow bubbling despite having no heat source. "And how do you manage to pull that off? You literally just had to mix the stuff together!"
Viney threw her hands up in the air. "Does it look like I'm any better of a cook than you?" She asked him, but only got another yelp in response. Amity and I turned to one another, blinking a few times before turning back to the chaos in front of us.
"Uh, guys-" I started, only to get cut off by the window opening, the sudden action making the two other witches scream and making me flinch. Then, Hooty slowly stretched his head inside, his eyes closed but his beak somehow smiling.
"Morning hoot hoot! What're you two-" Hooty paused before he nearly shoved his head in the flames, his eyes widening in alarm. Then, he let out a scream as he tried to quickly pull himself back out the window. "Fire!" He yelled, his head getting stuck for a moment before he managed to get out.
"What did you two do?" Amity folded her arms over her chest, managing to catch the two witch's attention. They both wore a look of panic, which only increased when they recognized us.
"Oh! Hi Mittens! Hi Luz!" Edric said, flinching a little when the flames crackled again. "What are you two doing up this early?" The witch let out a nervous laugh, only making his sister scowl.
"That doesn't answer the question. And good gods just use your magic to put out the fire." She motioned towards the pan. Edric and Viney turned their gazes back to the pan, then to each other.
"I already tried that! It didn't work!" He told her, then jumped back when the window threw itself open again.
Hooty quickly shoved his head in the window, his eyes still wide and his cheeks puffed out. He turned towards Edric, and before any of us could say anything, Hooty squirted out a stream of water like a hose, not only drenching Edric in the water, but also successfully putting out the fire.
"Where else is the fire?" Hooty asked, quickly looking around the kitchen. Edric shook his head a few times, sending water across the room and making Amity take a step back.
The Blight twin spat out a bit of water. "Nowhere now." He said, holding his arms out slightly, which dripped more water onto the floor. "Thanks Hooty." The Blight smiled at the tube owl, but to me it looked forced. The owl let out a sigh of relief, then pulled his head back out the window again.
"Luckily, that wasn't a grease fire." I muttered, noticing out of the corner of my eye that Amity was rubbing her temples. Edric set his pan down on the counter, shaking his arms a few times to try and get some of the water off.
"Again, what did you two do?" Amity asked, her eyes slowly moving down to the bowl. Without saying anything, she drew out a spell and whatever was inside the bowl disappeared.
"We were making breakfast?" Viney said with a shrug, followed with a quick dying chuckle.
"So tell me why you trusted him to help you cook?" Amity motioned towards her brother. "You had every other option in this house and you trusted him the most?"
"He was the only other one up!" The beastkeeper said, earning a groan from the youngest Blight. She took a few steps closer to the two witches, drawing out a spell that instantly dried off her brother. "Besides, he's the only one that knows what Emira likes for breakfast anyways."
Amity froze, then turned towards the witch, who's face was now dusted with a pale pink. She didn't say anything, rather, she just shook her head and turned towards the other witch in the room. "So what were you trying to do? Cause I know that what she was trying to make doesn't need that." Amity motioned towards the pan.
Edric shrugged, reaching up to ruffle Amity's hair. "Figured I'd make breakfast for everyone else." He seemed to hesitate with the last part of his answer, but I shrugged it off.
The youngest Blight made her way back over to me, mumbling under her breath the entire time. "Of course the only two people up who try to cook can't..." I bit the inside of my cheek, muffling the laugh that wanted to come up.
"Why is Hooty telling me about a fire?" A voice asked from the top of the stairs, making me turn around. At the top of the stairs was Eda, still wearing the shirt she had on last night, this time with the sleeves rolled down along with a pair of sweatpants and slippers. "If it has to do with lighting a guard on fire you guys better have a good explanation as to why they were here in the first place."
"Morning Eda." I gave her a small wave as she came down the stairs, watching as her golden eyes scanned across the kitchen. She raised an eyebrow, turning her gaze towards me.
"Where's the rest of you?" Eda paused, pulling at the collar of her shirt. Amity motioned upstairs while Viney motioned towards the living room. My mentor stared at the two of them for a moment, then shrugged. "Eh, that answer works for me."
"Sorry about making him wake you up owl lady." Viney chuckled a little, running a hand through her hair. "We were just trying to make breakfast and things got a little out of hand-"
"First off, just call me Eda. Second, at least now that tells me Hooty hasn't gone completely crazy yet." Eda cut off the beastkeeper as she pushed up her sleeves, moving into the kitchen before going to the cooler.
She pulled out one of her bottles of apple blood and popped off the cork, taking a quick sip. Her eyes moved from the pan, to the now empty bowl, then to the four of us. "So how was the human realm?" Edric asked, leaning on part of the counter.
Eda shrugged. "It was tame, at least compared to here. The spot I was at definitely wasn't as flashy as that Vegas place, but I guess it was alright." Then Eda let out a snort. "You know, one of the highlights of the night was when I went and raided that flower shop."
I tilted my head in confusion, staring at the silver haired witch. "Why did you decide to steal from a flower shop?" I questioned, honestly more surprised at the fact that she didn't try to steal from somewhere else.
"To get some red flowers. Duh." Eda took another swig of her drink. "What else would I be trying to get?"
"What did you need flowers for?" I asked, noticing how she seemed to tense up a bit. Then she let out another chuckle, softly shaking her head.
"Don't worry about it." She told me, finishing off the last bit of her drink before making the bottle disappear. Fixing her sleeves, she turned to Edric and Viney, placing her hands on her hips. "Now, before I watch the two of you burn down my kitchen, what is it that you two are trying to make?"
"You're gonna help us?" There was a hint of enthusiasm in Edric's voice, making Eda smirk before ruffling his hair.
"I'd say it's more like, guiding you along. I'm not gonna be the one getting my hands dirty." She said, picking up the pan before looking over what used to be inside it. "Geez, you really cremated whatever this used to be, didn't you?"
While Edric explained some kind of food, I moved a little closer to Amity, slowly reaching out before taking her hand, making her tense up before she turned around to face me. "Wanna head back upstairs?"
She looked back at the kitchen for a minute, then back to me before giving me a nod, the two of us heading back upstairs. Carefully pushing open the door to my room, we found that everyone else was still asleep.
With a low sigh I moved back over to my mattress, carefully stepping over the pile of blankets that vaguely resembled King, never letting go of Amity's hand. We both sat side by side, neither of us saying a word, letting the silence hang in the air.
I glanced at the witch by my side, who was simply staring down at her hands, before I let out a sigh. Leaning my head onto her shoulder, I could feel her jolt at the sudden contact. "Sure is quiet for a show day, huh?" I asked, lightly jabbing her side.
"If you call waking up to my brother nearly burning down the kitchen quiet, then sure." Amity replied, making me chuckle.
"Honestly, would you be surprised if I said that wasn't the most chaotic thing I've woken up to?" I could see her think about it for a moment, then she shook her head. I let out a chuckle, though it was short lived. Then, we both went quiet again.
Looking at the bottom of the mattress, I watched as King rolled over, his snout now barely poking out of the blanket. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Amity moved her hand, slowly bringing it behind her before wrapping it around my side.
Even though contact from Amity was usually soothing, this time I couldn't but suck in a sharp breath. Her hand was lightly resting on my side, right above where my injury was, and though it didn't hurt, that didn't stop my mind from running a million miles a minute.
A chill traveled up my spine as my throat tightened. Amity didn't say a word, and the deafening silence, was slowly being taken over by my heart starting to pound in my ears. Looking down at my hands, I could see them start to shake, making me clench them into tight fists over my legs. Opening my mouth to speak, noticing how dry my mouth seemed. "Amity-"
I could barely hear her hum in response, her sound quickly getting replaced when I felt her hand move, making me take in another sharp inhale of air. I tried to take a deep breath, which only became a shaky wheeze.
"Move." Was all I said to her, and even though I didn't look up at the witch, I could see her tilt her head in my direction. "Your hand." My voice rose in pitch, but it remained a whisper.
Her golden eyes glanced down at where her hand was placed, then her ears went down before she quickly pulled away, as if I burned her. Her hands balled into fists as she pressed her arms tightly against her chest. "I didn't realize-" I took in another deep breath, trying to clear my head. "Luz I'm sorry."
I shook my head a few times, then finally turned to face the witch. Guilt was clearly etched in her eyes, her hands lightly shaking. "It's fine Ammy, I'm fine, don't worry." My words sounded strained as I gave her a weak smile. The witch opened her mouth to say something, anything, but it looked like the words were stuck in her throat.
My hands were still tight fists against my legs, and though my mind was still running rampant, I could tell that it starting to slowly calm down. After all, it was only Amity. She wouldn't hurt me, I'd be okay. Everyone here at the owl house would be okay. I just needed to calm down.
Though, I wished I could calm down a little faster.
Turning away from the witch, my eyes focused down to my hands again, seeing that my knuckles were starting to turn white. I loosened my grip, bringing my hands up to rub my arms, feeling the goosebumps lining my skin.
Silence hung in the air once again, and taking another deep breath that was steadier than the last as I closed my eyes, I leaned over towards Amity until I was resting my head on her shoulder. I could feel her go ridged, her hands suddenly moving down to the floor.
"I'm sorry." Amity said in a small voice, but I only shook my head.
"It's fine." I didn't want to say much, and I think Amity knew that. We both went quiet again, neither of us moving from our spots. By now, I could feel my head clearing up, the thoughts slowly creeping to the back of my mind. I loosened up a little, moving my arms down by my sides, brushing my fingers against Amity's hand, which instantly recoiled away at my touch.
Moving my hand closer to her's again, I gently placed my hand on top of her's, tracing out small circles over her knuckles, this time she didn't pull away. A few minutes passed, then behind us, I could hear someone shift, letting out a small grunt.
I looked back, and out of the corner of my eye I could see Skara stretching her arms over her head, rolling her neck a few times before looking around. She smacked her lips, then blinked a few times to clear her vision. "Morning you two!" She called to the two of us in a husky voice, giving us a little wave.
"Morning." Amity said back in a flat voice that I don't think Skara picked up on. I didn't say anything, rather, I gave the sound director a little wave. She looked around, noting that the others were still asleep.
"Are we the only ones up?" She asked, but I shook my head before motioning towards the door.
"Edric, Viney and Eda are downstairs making breakfast." I could see the sound director perk up a little, rubbing her eyes before slowly standing up. I heard more shuffling sounds, this time from in front of us, and looking forward, I saw King pop his head out of the blanket.
"Eda's making breakfast?" It wasn't hard to hear the disbelief in his voice. "Did you check to make sure there wasn't some kind of parasite on the back of her neck controlling her?" He struggled to untangle his limbs from the blanket, finally managing to pull himself out before shivering and going back in.
"She's just making sure my brother doesn't burn down her kitchen." Amity told him, her eyes following Skara as she moved over towards King. The sound director bent down and gave King a few pats on the head before turning to the two of us.
"So should we wake everyone else up?" I looked around at the other three that were still asleep, then turned to look at Amity before shrugging my shoulders. King freed himself from his blanket once again, and with a mischievous sounding laugh, he bounded over towards Boscha and Willow.
Before I could stop him, he hit both of their faces with his paws. "Bap!" They didn't move, making King move over a little before hitting them again. "Come on! Get up!"
"King, watch out for Willow's glasses!" I said, taking his attention off the both of them. He took a couple of steps back.
"Glasses? Where?" He went to take another step back, which he would've stepped on if they weren't quickly floated up to Skara's hand. She held them carefully, trying to not smudge the lenses.
"These glasses." King looked up at Skara, his eyes widening a bit before he looked behind him. Then, he let out a bit of a chuckle, rubbing his arm. But, he was quick to move back over to Willow and Boscha, once again hitting them in the face.
"Five more minutes..." I could hear Boscha mumble, nuzzling a little more into Willow's neck. However that response earned her another tap on the face.
"No! The King of demons demands you to get up!" He reached over to Willow and hit her cheek again, making the witch snap up and making Boscha groan because of the sudden movements.
"I'm up!" The plant witch looked around, sounding a little startled, though I couldn't blame her. Squinting, she fumbled to grab her glasses before Skara reached down and offered them to her. Willow took them from her and put them on, blinking a few times.
Boscha sat up as well, shooting King a not so subtle glare before running her hands through her hair. That seemed to satisfy King, cause he quickly scampered over to Gus, doing the exact same thing.
Gus woke up with a yelp. "I'm not letting a doll steal my soul!" He said as he pushed King away, scooting back a bit while he held up one hand to defend himself.
"Who are you calling a doll?" King's eyes slanted downwards before he started going on about how he was the King of demons, Gus staring at him with a confused look.
The three eyed witch glanced over at Amity and I, and there was a flash of emotion in her eyes before she let out another groan, flopping back down. "What time is it?" She mumbled, bringing both of her arms up to cover her eyes. "It feels early."
Skara glanced towards the window, squinting her eyes for a moment before looking back down at Boscha. "Looks like it's about eight or so." An annoyed sigh came from the three eyed witch before she rolled on her side.
"Yep, early. There may be a show later, but I'm going back to bed." I could see Willow roll her eyes as she placed a hand on the witch's shoulder.
"Boscha just get up." Amity said, making the pink haired witch sigh. "Besides, there's breakfast downstairs."
"Fine." The three eyed witch dragged out the word, slowly sitting back up before pushing herself onto her feet. Then, she offered a hand to Willow, and once she took it, she helped the witch up.
"Wonder what they're making..." Skara trailed off, going to run her fingers through her hair before it got caught in the tangles. The sound director winced, trying to pull her fingers the rest of the way through. "Oh gods this is gonna be a mess to brush out."
"Sucker." Boscha chuckled, making the silver haired witch glare before raising a hand up.
"You know, I can do the exact same thing to you." She threatened, barely drawing out the start of a spell. Boscha chuckled a little louder, raising one of her own hands and also starting a spell.
"You wouldn't dare." A dark look filled Boscha's eyes, but it quickly went away when Willow tugged on her shoulder, pulling her back slightly.
"It's too early for a fight. Let's just go get some food." Boscha moved forward again, raising her hand but not drawing out a spell this time.
"Oh come on, this isn't a fight, it's just a conversation. Ain't that right?" Skara chuckled, drawing out a little more of her spell. Willow looked between the two of them, then rolled her eyes before picking Boscha up in one swift movement and putting her over her shoulder, making the witch yelp. "Willow!"
"Alright c'mon." Willow said as she adjusted her grip on the witch and headed towards the door, motioning for Skara to go ahead of her. She turned to look at the two of us. "Are you two coming?"
"Just give us a second and we'll be down." I gave the witch a small smile. Willow's eyebrows raised, but she didn't say anything else and left the room, closing the door behind her. "Hope you don't mind sitting here a minute longer."
"Not at all." There was a moment of silence that hung in the air. "Are you sure you're okay?" Worry and a hint of guilt was laced in her voice. I scooted a little closer to her, moving my head more onto her shoulder.
"I promise you, I'm okay. It's not like you meant it." I took my head off her shoulder and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, watching as her cheeks quickly took on a light shade of red. "Now, wanna head downstairs before someone comes up and accuses us of doing something?"
Amity went to give me a response, but was cut off by the sound of my phone buzzing. I looked over to my left, quickly grabbing the device while Amity stood up. It was a couple of messages from my mom, one of them had a photo.
"Morning cariño! Look at these flowers I got!" Then, there was a photo of her in a beige sweater standing by the window, where an assortment of red flowers rested in a vase on the window sill. I could feel the smile growing on my face.
Then something dawned on me.
"Hold on, did she...? Oh my gosh wait-"
"Luz are you coming?" I took my eyes off my phone, looking up at Amity, who stood by the door. I gave her a nod, then quickly typed out a message about how nice the flowers looked before I stood up and headed downstairs with the youngest Blight.
By the time we were downstairs, everyone else was already awake. Almost everyone already had a plate of food, minus Viney and Edric. "Took you two long enough." Eda said with a smirk, her arms folded as she leaned on the counter. "Thought for a second you both went back to sleep."
"Nope!" I chuckled, grabbing two plates and passing one over to Amity. Edric quickly dished both of us up some of the breakfast they made, and from the looks of it, it looked like it'd be something like french toast, just without the syrup.
Moving over by my mentor, I leaned against the counter and cut myself a small bite of the food, quickly popping it into my mouth. It didn't taste bad, it almost reminded me of a mix of a few fruits back on earth, mostly strawberries.
"So Mittens, what time we gonna go to the studio?" Edric set his pan down after dishing himself some of the food, moving over to his twin before leaning on her shoulder. "I mean, y'know, might be a good idea to fill the rest of your band mates in on that. Just a suggestion."
"We can leave in an hour, at least everyone will be up by then." Amity glanced over at her sister, who looked like she was about to pass out. Her brother nodded his head, then continued to stuff his face with his breakfast.
Keeping my gaze on Amity for a little longer, I slowly turned towards Eda. "So, what'd you need those flowers back in the human realm for?" I asked, seeing her classic smirk rise to her lips. She ruffled my hair.
"Nothing too important, wanted to see if they'd work for a spell." I stared at her eyes, seeing the smallest hint of emotion that I couldn't read. "Why do you wanna know?"
"Just curious is all." I muttered, taking my gaze off of Eda and back to the rest of the group, taking another bite of my breakfast.
Everyone wrapped up eating breakfast pretty quick before going to the living room to hang out, chatting about the show tonight. Edric and Emira were rambling about some of the effects they planned to do, the rest of us nodding along.
Time flew by, and eventually everyone who was in the band were dressed in their outfits, Boscha in a white tank top and dark jeans, a black jacket currently thrown over her shoulder. Edric, Emira and Skara all wore full black outfits, and Amity was dressed in a short sleeved grey shirt and black pants, and I wore a black shirt that had a skull decal on the back and some bleached jeans along with my beanie.
Not long after that, we were all out the door. "See ya Eda! Bye king! I'll be back later tonight!" I told them as I walked out the door with the others.
"You better be!" King said as I left, making me chuckle. Shutting the door behind me, I found that Hooty had a pair of headphones on, jamming out to some kind of music. For a moment, I almost considered asking him what he was listening to, but then I decided to leave him alone.
We all walked together for a little while, Viney and Jerbo being the first two to branch away from the group. They left saying how they'd see us at the show later tonight. Then, by the time we were almost to the studio, Willow and Gus left as well, telling us they'd be watching the concert at Willow's house with a bunch of snacks.
Once everyone left, Boscha turned to the Blight twins, a smirk on her face. "So Eddy boy, you and Jerbo huh?" She placed a hand under her chin, mimicking their signature pose.
Edric tensed up, his ears going down. "Huh?" He questioned, making the three eyed witch laugh. She moved over towards him, making Emira fall back a few steps before moving by Amity's side. Amity, Skara and I watched from the side as they brought their voices down. We all turned to look at each other, then shrugged.
Arriving at the studio, Edric immediately threw himself in a bean bag chair with a sigh. "And now, we wait!" He said, sinking into his chair a bit more.
"We could go practice songs you know." Amity stood over him with her arms folded, making the Blight shake his head.
"Yeah, but do you really wanna drag out all of our instruments?" He asked, waiting for a response. When he didn't get one, he smiled. "That's what I thought. Just take it easy for a bit Mittens."
Emira gave her sister a soft shove, taking a seat at the table. "Yeah Mittens, it's not like it'll kill you to relax before a show." Then the Blight twin turned to the sound director with a smirk on her face. "Speaking of relaxing, Skara! How bout a Hexes Hold'em rematch?"
Boscha scoffed, summoning her scroll in her hands. "You call playing Hexes Hold'em relaxing?"
"Yes I do. Sorry you don't find it relaxing cause you always lose." Emira taunted as she summoned a deck of cards, making Boscha scowl. Putting away her scroll Boscha pulled up a seat next to Skara.
"Oh you're on. I'll play against the winner." Edric moved his seat a little closer, a bright smile on his face as his eyes followed the cards while they were being handed out.
"You guys wanna bet on who's gonna win?" He motioned towards the two of us, making me shake my head.
"I think you already know what my answer is Ed." Amity mumbled, turning before heading towards the hallway. "I'll be in my room doing makeup." She told us, then disappeared around the corner. I looked between the hallway, then back to the table.
"Gonna stay and watch?" Emira looked up from her cards, raising an eyebrow at me. I glanced back over to the hallway again, then lightly shook my head.
"I'll come back out later. You guys have fun though!" I gave them a little wave before making my way down the hallway, going to mine and Amity's room. Giving the door a few soft knocks before pushing it open, I found Amity sitting in front of her mirror, already putting on her eyeliner.
"Hi Luz." She greeted me, not taking her eyes off the mirror. I smiled, slowly moving behind her as she brought the small makeup brush back up to her eye, carefully drawing out the wing.
"Looks good so far." I moved a little closer, making sure not to accidentally nudge her chair. "Then again, you look good with anything." Her ears slowly went down, a pale blush spreading to the tips of her ears.
"Don't make me mess up." She said, her voice waving slightly. When I started to laugh, she turned around to face me. "Seriously, don't."
"Ah don't worry, I don't plan to. After all, you'd probably stab me in the eye with that brush when you're doing my makeup as payback." I said with a wave of my hand, moving over to the cot before taking a seat on the edge.
Amity gave me a deadpan look before she turned back to the mirror, finishing the last bit of her wing. "You know I'd never do that." She moved on to her other eye, her ears twitching.
I stayed quiet while she finished her makeup, lightly bouncing my leg up and down the entire time. While she waited for the wing to dry, she turned back around to face me.
"So, you want me to do yours?" She asked me, lightly fanning her face. I nodded my head, bringing a hand up to my face, running my fingers through my bangs.
"You know what you're doing when it comes to that. Plus, your hand is a lot steadier than mine." I chuckled, watching as Amity rolled her eyes. Then, she stood up, slowly walking over to me, making me look up at her.
She let out a low sigh, then carefully sat down on my lap with her legs to one side, dipping the makeup brush back in the tube. "Alright, now don't move."
"Wait!" I held a hand up, making the youngest Blight freeze in place. Then, placing my hand on her shoulder, I gave her a quick peck on the lips. "Okay now you can continue!" I chirped, watching as the witch sputtered, her face going a dark shade of red.
"You-" She cut herself off with a low squeak, bringing one of her hands up her ear, which was starting to flap. "You can't just-" I gave her a wide smile, making her hide her face in her hands. "Luz!" She dragged out my name, making me laugh.
"Sorry, couldn't resist." I shrugged, then clasped my hands together. "But you can continue, I won't move." She gave me a soft glare, her face still red. Then, she let out a little huff, taking the makeup brush out of the tube and moving a little closer.
We didn't say anything while she did my makeup, and I made sure not to move so that she wouldn't mess up. By the time she was almost done with the first wing, there was a faint knock at the door.
The sudden sound made Amity jerk the brush away, letting out a little sigh in relief when she realized she didn't mess anything up. "Come in!" She called out, turning towards the door. The door slowly opened, revealing Boscha standing in the doorway.
She seemed to hesitate for a moment, staring at the position the two of us were in before she shook her head. "Skara wants to know when we should start packing stuff up." Boscha jabbed a thumb towards the main room, mumbling something about how she was still facing off against Emira in a game.
"Probably in a few hours." Amity turned her attention back to me, motioning for me to look up. I did as she asked, and she carefully started applying my makeup again.
"Alright." I could see Boscha lean on the doorway for a moment, then there was a pause. "Hey Luz?" Amity paused, letting me look down to face the three eyed witch.
"Yeah?" Now fully looking at the witch, I noticed how stiff her posture seemed. Something flashed in her eyes, and she opened her mouth to speak before closing it and shaking her head.
"Nevermind." She mumbled, folding her arms before letting out a chuckle. "So, should I ask why you two are in that position?" Amity tensed up, then slowly turned her head towards the bassist.
"Should I give you an answer?" She asked back, making Boscha chuckle again, pushing herself off the doorway and slowly starting to leave.
"Whatever, I guess that means I can just assume you two were kissing before I walked in." Boscha teased as she walked away, her statement making a blush rise to my cheeks.
"You know I was just doing her makeup!" Amity called after her, her voice slightly higher than before. Boscha's laugh echoed off the hallway walls as she walked away. Mumbling under her breath, Amity drew out a spell that closed the door, then turned her gaze back to me.
Her face was scrunched up in irritation, which was quick to soften when her eyes met mine. Then, she shook her head before finishing off the last wing. She leaned back a little when she was done, squinting for a moment before giving me a small nod. "There."
She got off my lap, then moved over to her desk to put away her makeup. I started to fan my face, trying not to move so that I wouldn't mess anything up. Amity pulled her hair out of its usual ponytail, then fixed it, messing with it for a few times before she was satisfied with it.
"C'mon say something interesting!" Both of us froze up, then slowly turned towards the muffled voice that came from behind the door. Amity and I turned to one another, then back to the door before Amity drew a spell, making the door swing open.
There, both leaning where the door used to be, was Edric kneeling on the floor and Emira standing behind him with a hand on his shoulder, their eyes wide. They both side glanced us for a moment, then Edric cleared his throat and stood up, Emira nudging him in the ribs.
"Really you two?" Amity growled, giving her siblings a glare that would probably strike them dead.
Edric turned to his twin, then shoved her forward into the room before taking off towards the main room. "Blame Em!" He called out behind him, making Emira spin around in confusion.
"Hey wait! You were the one eavesdropping on them first!" Emira quickly said, tearing off after her brother. From somewhere in the main room, I could hear Boscha and Skara dying with laughter.
Amity let out an annoyed sigh, rubbing the bridge of her nose before heading towards the door. "So help me gods, I will kill them..." The witch paused for a moment, then motioned for me to follow her before leaving the room. I quickly got up and went after her, meeting up with the rest of the band in the main room.
The other's were watching Boscha and Skara play a game of Hexes Hold'em, the twins keeping their distance from their sister. We all hung out in the main room, playing games and chatting to pass the time.
After awhile, the twins both challenged me to a game, just to see how well I could play. About halfway through a round with Edric, Boscha pushed herself off the wall and headed towards the sound room. "We should probably get ready to go." She told us, making Edric perk up.
"We're leaving already?" He placed his cards face down on the table, raising an eyebrow at the bassist. Barley sticking out my tongue, I placed a few cards down, making the Blight jump slightly when they sprung to life.
The youngest Blight pulled out her scroll, glancing at the time before nodding her head. "Boscha's right. Wrap up your game." As if commanded, the game spat put some flames, declaring Edric as the winner.
"Well wasn't that convenient?" Edric laughed, tapping his hand against the table. I let out a low groan, lightly throwing the rest of my cards against the table before leaning back in my chair. Edric pushed his chair back, then got up, rolling his wrists and popping them a few times. "Welp, let's go pack up the drums."
I nodded my head, also pushing myself put of my seat and following Edric towards the door to go to the spare storage. He made sure to prop the spare storage's door open so that it would be easier to move the drum set to the cart.
Edric looked around the storage room, squinting his eyes before sighing. "It's always really hard to see in here." I could hear him say before walking forward, barely holding one of his hands out in front of him before he made it to the drums.
Staring at him for a moment, I shook my head and jogged over by him, taking a few pieces of the drums before heading towards the door. I went up to the cart, carefully setting the drum pieces down on the ground, hearing Edric's footsteps behind me.
"If you want, I'll strap this stuff down while you get the rest of the pieces." He said as he set his pieces down next to mine, and I gave him a nod in response before heading back into the storage room. A few trips later and the whole drum set was now in the cart, and the rest of the band was putting their stuff in the cart as well.
Skara appeared in the cart with a clipboard, silently counting off the things in the cart before turning to Edric. "We're still missing a few speakers." He nodded his head, then went back inside to go get some more speakers.
I followed him back inside, finding Boscha and Emira chatting by the table. Walking past the two of them, I managed to catch a snippet of their conversation. "So we're probably gonna mess with the flame effect a little. Maybe make them purple if Mittens allows it." Emira told the bassist with a little chuckle.
"It'd match the bands colors." I heard Boscha say with a chuckle as I passed, pulling open the door to the sound room and leaning in the doorway. My eyes scanned the room for a moment, then I spotted my drumsticks lying on the table. Quickly snagging them, I rolled them over in my hands for a moment before leaving the room.
By now, Boscha and Emira were heading towards the front door, still talking about the effects. A sudden tap on my shoulder made me jump, only to find that it was Amity. "You have your sticks?" She asked me, and I gave her a smile before twirling my sticks in my hands. "Great, let's go."
The two of us went outside, finding the others standing outside the cart. "And that should be good!" Skara chirped, turning over towards the two of us. "Oh! And Amity's guitar!" She jogged over to the two of us and took the guitar case from Amity's hand, then put it in the cart.
"And now, we've just gotta go on a nice, slow drive to the stadium, ain't that right Mittens?" Edric said as he walked over towards his younger sister, leaning on her shoulder.
"What do you mean by a slow drive?" She shoved her brother off, but he only leaned back on her shoulder again with a laugh.
"Come on, there's no point in getting there right away. We've still got some time left, so let's use a bit of it up!" Emira walked over towards us, leaning on her sister's other shoulder.
"Yeah, let's use up a bit of time. It's not like Ed and I have much to set up effects wise, and you guys don't have much to set up either. Don't be a buzzkill." Amity rolled her eyes, lightly shoving both of them away before walking over towards the cart.
"She needs to unwind a little." Edric said with a chuckle, also heading towards the cart. "You hear that? If you stay that wound up, you're gonna snap before the show!" He called out to his sister, who only shot him a glare from over his shoulder.
Emira gave me a light tap on the shoulder, making me walk towards the cart. Going into our usual spots, I found Boscha and Skara sitting next to one another on one side of the cart, both of them on their scrolls while Amity sat across from them, lightly bouncing her leg up and down as she stared at the ceiling.
When I walked in, they all looked up, Amity smiling when she realized who I was. I moved over and took a seat by Amity before leaning my head on her shoulder. She hesitated for a moment, then slowly wrapped her arm around my shoulder.
Soon enough, the cart lurched forward and we were on the move. I slowly twirled one of my drumsticks in my hand, making sure that it wouldn't accidentally fly out of my hands. Boscha and Skara stayed on their scrolls, but suddenly Boscha looked up with a laugh.
"Hey Am? Did Edric and Emira fill you in about the last stadium?" She asked in between chuckles, making me raise an eyebrow. Amity tilted her head slightly, giving the three eyed witch a confused look.
"No, they haven't." There was a bit of hesitation in her voice, but Boscha didn't pay it any mind and started chuckling again.
"Well, turns out, they set off almost all the traps that we put out." Amity sat up a little more, and looking up at her face, I could see the subtle hint of panic in her eyes. Boscha had to see it too, because she quickly added. "They're convinced the stadium got invested with some kind of vengeful spirits or something."
I could feel Amity give a soft sigh in relief, leaning back onto her seat a little more. "Let's keep it that way." She muttered, I placed my hand over hers, giving it a light squeeze.
"As long as we don't bring it up when we get to the stadium, we should be fine." Boscha looked back down at her scroll, her eyes darting left to right as she read something.
"Why's that?" Skara asked, glancing at whatever Boscha was reading for a moment before looking back up at the pink haired witch.
"Cause the guy who owns that stadium also owns this one." Boscha stated, not looking up from her scroll. "At least, I'm pretty sure it's him. It's got the same contact info as the last stadium."
The rest of our slow ride was filled with silence and random chatter, coming up with some kind of topic to talk about so that we wouldn't be bored. A bit of time later, the cart lurched again, then there were a few loud knocks from the front.
I got off of Amity's shoulder, standing up before offering her a hand. She took it and stood up, stretching her legs a little before heading to the cart door. Filing out, we found the twins already taking stuff from the cart and inside the stadium, both of them chatting away.
Getting to the back of the cart, I picked up one of the speakers and slowly jogged in the direction the twins went, following them inside. This stadium was pretty big, and it had a bunch of chairs lined in rows.
The stage was also pretty big, with a set of stairs on the side. Going up the steps, I headed to the spot the twins were standing, setting down the speaker in my arms by their stuff. "Think she'd kill us if we did that?"
"Only one way to find out." Edric said, spinning on his heel and heading towards the stairs, Emira and I following after him. "It's not like it's a giant change so I doubt it."
"Still, it's Mittens." Emira said, giving me a bit of a nudge. "And you know how she gets." Her twin nodded his head, making his way down the steps before turning around and walking backwards.
"As long as it doesn't throw her off, I doubt she'll kill us." His eyes suddenly lit up, a smile finding its way to his face. "Y'know, maybe we should also do a soft breeze, make the flames seem a bit more realistic."
"We should probably test that first to make sure there's no feedback on the mics." The three of us made it back outside, moving out of the other's way as they walked past us with a bunch of the band equipment. "What do you think Luz?"
"About Amity killing you or whatever effect you guys are changing?" I asked back, making the two of them look at each other, then back to me.
"Both." Edric said as he went into the back of the cart, picking up a few of the drum stands before walking out. Emira and I walked in, picking up the last bit of the equipment before walking out.
"Well, with Amity, if it's something small, I doubt she'd be really mad at you guys. And if you guys think it'd look cool, I'd do it." They both smiled, then nodded their heads, the three of us quickly walking inside the stadium again.
Moving over to our pile of stuff, I found Skara and Boscha already setting up speakers and the mics and Amity taking both her's and Boscha's guitars and moving them out of the way, manuvering around some oddly placed barrels to get things where they needed to be.
Edric and Emira both gave a confused look at the barrels, turning to each other before they both drew out a spell, moving the barrels back. Once they felt they were in a good spot, they cancelled their spells. "Mittens!" Edric caught his sister's attention before she walked away, making her turn around to face him. "Where do you want the drums?"
She scanned the stage for a moment, then placed down one of the guitar cases before drawing out a spell, a glowing X appearing a few feet away from the two of us.
"Alright!" He headed over towards the spot, and after picking up a few pieces of the drums, I followed after him. The two of us were quick to set up the drums, making sure that everything was put in place correctly before heading towards where the rest of the band was.
By now, Skara was at the sound board and Boscha was testing the mics, making sure all of them were connected and working correctly. I slowly walked over towards Skara, watching as she fiddled with a few of the dials before I felt a few taps on my shoulder, making me turn around.
It was Amity, and before I could say a word, she gently grabbed my wrist and pulled me in a different direction, taking me to a different part backstage. "Woah there, what's the rush?" I joked, watching as she looked around.
When she realized no one else was here, she let out a little sigh. "Sorry for dragging you off like that, I kinda just..." She trailed off, rubbing her arm as her gaze turned to the side.
I let out a little snort, placing my hands under my chin. "Aw, did you miss me?" I teased, seeing her cheeks go a shade of pink. Her ears twitched, then she let out another sigh.
Slowly bringing her hands up to my face, she gently cupped my cheeks, taking me a little by surprise. The witch took a step closer to me, her face going a shade deeper as she gently stroked my cheek with her thumb.
She froze for a moment, the gears turning in her head before she leaned in and kissed me. Heat rose to my cheeks as I froze up, then slowly brought my hands up to overlap hers, closing my eyes. We stayed like that for a moment longer, then she pulled away.
"Mostly, I just wanted to do that without my siblings being around." She mumbled, I blinked a few times before slowly nodding my head. "And I figured it'd be better to do that now rather than later."
"Am! Where'd you set my bass?" Boscha called out, making the witch let out a yelp. The bassist appeared, her hands shoved in her pockets. "Figured I might as well make sure it's tuned."
"It's just over there." She pointed towards the right, making Boscha nod, giving Amity a quick thanks before grabbing her case and heading off. Then, Amity gave me a soft nudge. "Anyways, you can go do whatever you were gonna do."
I let out a little chuckle, placing a hand on her shoulder before giving her another quick kiss. "I mean, I could stay a little longer." I winked, making Amity laugh before giving me another shove. "Unless you've got some super secret singer stuff you have to do that I can't see."
"If you wanna stick around while I make sure my guitar is tuned, then sure." She slowly started to walk away, and I followed after her, the two of us walking side by side. "And what kind of secret singer stuff do you think I would have to do?"
Shrugging, the two of us snagged her guitar, then went to a different part backstage, getting comfortable before striking up another conversation. I don't know how long we were there for, but what I do know was that we were there long after she got her guitar tuned.
The faint sound of a muffled voice caught my attention after awhile, making me look up. "Where are-" Edric appeared, his face lighting up when he saw the two of us. "There you two are! Geez I've been looking for you forever!"
"Guess that means you weren't looking hard enough." Amity told him, running her fingers through some of her hair that was down. "Y'know, maybe you should take that as a sign to wear your glasses a little more."
Edric sucked in a breath, his lips forming a thin line. "Mittens, as much as I lover bickering with you, we've got twenty minutes till the show starts." That made both of us tense up, turning to one another before back to him.
"Twenty minutes?" We both said at the same time, making him nod his head. The two of us sat there for a moment, then Edric motioned for the two of us to get up.
"Well c'mon you slowpokes! We don't have all day!" Both of us quickly scrambled to our feet, Amity letting her guitar hang from her shoulder. The two of us brushed past the Blight, and when she passed him, Edric gave Amity a soft shove. "And you have the nerve to call me a procrastinator."
"That's because you are one." Her hands moved up to grab the neck of her guitar, making sure it wouldn't fall. The three of us traveled to where the rest of the band was, finding all of them talking by the sound board.
"If I push this up like so..." Skara mumbled as she stuck out her tongue, gently pushing one of the sliders upward. She didn't push it up very far before feedback came back from the microphones, making everyone wince. "But everything would be too quiet if that doesn't go up."
"So do this." Emira reached over, flipping a switch before turning a few dials. "Try it now." Skara pushed up the slider again, this time receiving no feedback. They both looked up at the three of us, Emira's eyes lighting up. "Hey you found them!"
"Not like you needed a search party to find us. We were literally just over there." Amity jabbed her thumb behind her, making her older sister roll her eyes.
"Doing what?" The Blight twin let out a small chuckle. "Getting a few good luck kisses before the show?" Both her siblings busted up in laughter, making Amity's face slowly go red.
"Guitar tuning." Amity growled, glaring at both of her siblings. "I was tuning my guitar." Both of the twins looked at one another, then continued to laugh. "Don't you two have something better to laugh at?"
They both shook their heads, still laughing the entire time. Boscha stayed off to the side, plucking a string on her bass and making her ears twitch. "Someone wanna tell me what's the point of these barrels?" She asked, nodding towards the few barrels.
Edric and Emira both were starting to calm down, looking towards the barrels before shrugging. "Found a bunch of cords inside them." Edric started, wiping his eyes. "Guess it's a weird way of storing their stuff."
"Pretty inconvenient if you ask me." Skara said, leaning slightly on the sound board.
"Easy way to tangle cords." Amity mumbled, the rest of us nodding our heads.
I shrugged my shoulders. "Hey, it's not our problem." Everyone else hummed in agreement. Turning towards the curtains, I realized that I could hear the murmur from the crowd, slowly growing in volume. "Is everything set?"
"Should be." Emira glanced around for a moment, then she turned towards me again. "You do have your sticks right?" I pat myself up and down for a moment, realizing I didn't have them.
Amity raised an eyebrow at my actions, then slowly started walking towards where we were earlier. "You probably left them over here. Come on."
"Right!" I jogged to keep up with the witch, letting out a nervous laugh while rubbing the back of my neck. Going back to our spot, I found my drumsticks resting on the floor. Picking them up, I spun around to face Amity again, who was already walking away. "Ammy wait!"
The witch paused in her footsteps, turning around to give me a look. I quickly bounded over to her, then pulled her in for a quick kiss. "A bit of good luck before the show!" I chirped, shooting her a wink. Amity stood frozen in place, her face slowly getting redder by the second.
She blinked a few times, then let out a dreamy sounding sigh, softly shaking her head. "Dork." I heard her mumble, making me lightly punch her shoulder.
"Your dork." I told her with a laugh, watching the smile on her face grow. "Now! We've got a show to put on!" Jogging over towards where the rest of the band was standing, I nearly tripped over my own feet, but managed to stop myself from crashing to the ground, holding my arms out in front of me for a moment before standing up and clearing my throat.
"Everything's set up, nothing's out of place, we just gotta wait for you guys to get in your spots." Emira listed off, making Boscha nod. "Though, we do still have a bit of time to kill..."
"Not much." Boscha mumbled, her grip shifting on the neck of her bass. She turned to the two of us, eyeing us up and down for a moment. "You two ready?" I gave her two thumbs up while Amity just nodded her head.
"Ready as we'll ever be!" I chirped, twirling my drumsticks in my hands a few times before nearly dropping them. "What about you?"
Boscha scoffed, giving me a smirk. "What makes you think I wouldn't be ready?" She asked, turning her head to the side before she looked at me.
"Well if you guys are so ready, you should probably get in your spots." Edric told us with a chuckle, motioning towards the rest of the stage. We all looked at each other, then slowly started walking to the stage. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Edric turn around. "Alright guys, we're on in five! Get ready!"
Scooting a little closer to Amity, I gave her a soft nudge. "We aren't doing some kind of special opening right?" She shook her head in response. "Okay, just double checking." Amity let out a laugh, softly shaking her head.
I moved behind my drums, lightly tapping my foot up and down while I waited. My hands were lightly shaking, not enough to make me look nervous, but enough to make it look noticeable. I couldn't help but glance at the other's, who were tapping their fingers against their instruments.
The spotlights suddenly went out, casting the stage in darkness. Even though I could barely see, I watched as the curtains pulled themselves to the sides, allowing more light to flow through, showing the sea of witches in front of us.
What once was a mumble quickly spiked into a roar when they noticed the curtains moved. Even in the pale light, I could see the smirk that rose to the bassist's lips, her feet shifting for a moment before a bright spotlight flicked on.
Another spotlight flicked on seconds after that, both of them focusing on me and Boscha, making me squint for a moment before staring out into the crowd, which was only getting louder. A smile found it's way to my face that I didn't even bother to suppress, and I gave a small wave to the crowd, hearing them get louder.
There was maybe a few more seconds until the last spotlight turned on, focusing itself onto Amity, who was looking down at the stage. She slowly looked up, a sharp smirk on her face as she slowly approached the mic.
Carefully taking it in her hands, she brought it closer to her face. "Bonesborough, what a pleasure it is to be here tonight." The crowd lit up in more cheers and whistles, making the smile on Amity's face grow. "How is everyone tonight?"
Loud whistles broke out in the crowd, sounding so clear I was almost convinced they were right next to me. Amity waited for a moment, and once the whistles and whoops died down a bit, she spoke again. "Sounds like everyone's excited. Now, how bout we kick this show into gear?"
She put the mic back in its place, then did a quick and sudden riff on her guitar, the sound echoing in the stadium. The second she did, a small jet of purple flames shot up from each corner at the front of the stage.
A moment later, another set of purple flames appeared behind those, then more behind those, quickly traveling closer to us. Glancing at Amity, I could see the subtle hint of surprise at the flame's colors, but she didn't say anything.
The closer the fake flames got to us, the higher they rose, casting an array of purple shadows before finally the largest set of flames rose behind us, a light breeze barely rolling past us, enough to ruffle our hair, but nothing more.
It didn't take long for the crowd to catch onto what song we were going to play, and when they realized, they blew up in more whistles and cheers.
Right away, we started playing, our first song being Play with Fire. That song seemed to go by almost too quickly, but I didn't pay that any mind, rather I was too caught up jamming to the song while I made sure to hit the right notes.
Then, after that, we moved on to Hex Girls, a few people surprised that we decided to play that song. However, they jammed to the song nonetheless, clearly having a good time.
With this song, I couldn't help but focus more on Amity's vocals that what I was doing. This song was practically muscle memory, so I wasn't worried about messing up.
I couldn't stop the smile that rose to my face as I remembered how I felt when I first heard this song. The memory of the concert filled my mind, making me feel warm.
Since that song was a bit shorter than the last one, it wasn't long until our music was replaced with more cheering. Boscha let out a little laugh that the mic barely picked up before she moved closer.
"Y'know, we can't just play this song without playing the other one." She said, her gaze turning towards Amity as she let out another small laugh. Then, without another word, we started playing Still Into You.
The spotlights were a bunch of different colors, one cyan, one yellow, another white, just casting the stage in a swirl of different colors. We had just barely started on the song, ready to launch into the chorus.
This song had puffs of smoke fly out into the air at certain cues in the song, disappearing before they would fall onto the crowd. Sometimes, they would change color, going from a grey to a pink, matching the tone of the song.
I hit the cymbals with a loud crash, letting it echo as mine and Boscha's instruments went quiet, leaving Amity's to be the only one playing.
"Cause after all this time, I'm still into you."
Halfway through her line, I could hear the sudden sound of a loud crash and bang from behind me. It sounded fairly muffled, meaning the crowd wouldn't hear it over Amity's singing, but I heard it loud and clear from my position on the stage.
My grip on my drumsticks tightened, my hands shaking again, the warm feeling from before suddenly dropping cold. "Oh great, isn't this perfect timing?" I thought to myself, trying to quickly hit the drums in the order they needed to go in.
I could feel myself lagging behind, my body starting to freeze up. "Just make it to the end of the song, you can do that." I told myself, trying to keep my mind off of whatever happened back there. But the longer I continued, the more it plagued my mind.
It didn't help this song was fast, and I was starting to fall behind enough for it to be noticeable. Boscha turned her head to look at me, still keeping up with the song. The concern in her eyes was clear, but she couldn't say a thing.
My vision started to blur, and though I forced my stiff arms to move and hit the drums on time, I could feel that my entire body was shaking. "Don't mess up the show." Was the last clear thought that entered my mind before everything else went blank. I wanted to drag my knees to my chest, do something to close myself off, but I held back.
I managed to hit the cymbals again, this time a little off, but the moment I did, the stage suddenly blew up in a large pink cloud of smoke, blocking my vision of the crowd. Someone carefully pulled me back before I could even try to struggle against them, pulling me backstage until I found myself on a seat.
The song was still going on, the drums also being played as if I was still there, though now everything sounded distant. I frantically looked around, trying to clear my blurry vision to see what was going on before a blurry figure appeared in front of me, crouching down and trying to get my attention.
It was Emira, the panic in her eyes clear even though I could barely see it. Her mouth was moving but I couldn't hear a word she was saying. She slowly reached up, keeping her hands in my field of vision until she gently put them on my shoulders.
That made me suck in a breath, now noticing how tight my chest felt. "Luz?" I could now hear Emira's voice, making me jolt a little when she gave my shoulders a squeeze. When she saw my reaction, she quickly pulled away, still keeping her hands where I could see them. "Luz?" She asked again, her voice less muffled than before.
I opened my mouth to say something, anything to let her know that I heard her, but rather, I just looked up, her golden eyes meeting mine. She glanced towards the stage for a moment, then back to me, trying to look calm.
"Hey, can you hear me?" She asked, her hands taking a hold of drumsticks and gently prying them out of my hands before she took a hold of my shaking hands. I could feel her give my hands a soft squeeze, making me screw my eyes shut, hot tears stinging my eyes. "We should've moved those stupid barrels further out, I knew one of us would run into them." I barely heard her say, the panic rising slightly in her voice.
Trying to take in a deep breath, I managed to get in a little bit of air before letting it out a broken wheeze. Worry rose on Emira's face, but she didn't say anything, rather, she gave my hands another squeeze as I tried to take another deep breath, this one lasting a little longer than the last.
By now, the muddled sounds of the band were clearing up, and I could tell they were starting to wrap up the song. Other sounds were starting to become clear now as well.
Finally, the final note for the song was played, and the crowd blew up in more whistles and cheers. Boscha's voice picked up after that, saying something about taking a quick intermission and something else I didn't bother to understand before the curtains closed.
Everyone else rushed backstage, All of them looking concerned. "Luz!" Amity's voice made me perk up, Emira almost instantly pulling away when she heard her sister's voice. Amity knelt down next to me, gently taking my hands in her own and rubbing circles onto my knuckles.
Her voice was soft, mumbling words to me that went in one ear and out the other. Everyone else took a few steps back, giving the two of us space. I stared at them for a moment, noticing the guilty look on Emira's face as she quickly rattled something off to Skara and Boscha.
I opened my mouth to speak, noticing how dry my throat was. "It's fine." I finally managed to say, giving Amity's hand a weak squeeze. "It's fine." My voice repeated, almost like I was trying to convince myself that it was.
Looking over at the witch, I watched as she let go of one of my hands and quickly started drawing out little spells, tiny balls of light floating up from her circles and into the air around us. My breathing was still quick, but the sight of the balls of light eased the feeling that filled my chest.
"You said these help..." I heard Amity say, my eyes meeting her own. Worry was clearly etched all over her face, her eyes scanning mine for a moment before her expression softened. "Try to take a deep breath okay? Follow me." Her voice stayed at a soft tone, making me slowly nod my head.
She took in a slow, deep breath, and I tried to copy her actions, only getting about halfway. We both continued copying each other for a few minutes, and with each breath I could feel myself slowly but surely starting to calm down.
"Amity..." I finally managed to say in a steady tone after awhile, the ghost of a smile appearing on the witch's lips at the mention of her name. Looking up at her, I could still see the worry that was there.
"How are you feeling now?" She asked me, giving my hands a gentle squeeze, bringing a hand up to my face and wiping away a tear I had no idea was there. I looked over towards the other band members, all of them still giving us space.
"Calmer." I mumbled, turning my gaze back to the witch in front of me. I stared for a minute, feeling a sudden pang of guilt strike me. "Sorry, freezing up like that-"
The Blight gave my hands a squeeze again, cutting me off. "Don't even think about apologizing." She said, her tone firm. "I promise you, it's fine."
"Guys?" Skara slowly approached us, her voice staying at a soft level. We both looked over at her, watching as she motioned towards the stage. "You've gotta go back on here in a few minutes."
Amity gave her a nod, then turned back to me. "Take all the time you need to okay? I'm sorry I can't stay back here with you." I blinked a few times, watching as she stood up. Then, I shook my head, shakily bringing myself to my feet.
"Wait!" Amity froze, turning back towards me, her eyes widening a bit when she saw me on my feet. "I'm going out too, I'm finishing the show." I barely managed to say, even though I knew I didn't want everyone to see me.
"Luz, you can stay back if you need to." Amity's voice was firm again, but the concern was clear. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to. You can rest back here and let Edric take your spot."
"But I want to." I couldn't tell if it was a lie or not. "The show's gotta go on." I shook my head a few times, trying to pump myself up enough to go back out there. "Besides, I'm fine!" I tried to put on a peppy tone, but I could hear it fall flat.
"Luz." Amity's voice dropped, making me freeze up. "I'm serious. Don't do this if you don't feel up to it." She took a hold of my hands again, giving me another squeeze. I stared at her for a moment, running her words through my head for a moment.
After a minute, I shook my head again. "I can do it. I promise you Ammy, I can." I was being stubborn, I knew that, but I was hoping that with me being stubborn, Amity would drop it.
She stared at me for a few moments, her eyes steely before they softened just a bit. "Are you sure?" The witch finally asked, making me nod my head.
"I mean, my voice may be shaky, but it's not like I'm the one singing." I tried to joke, my tone once again falling flat. Though, I could still see the witch hesitating, clearly arguing with herself in her own head.
Finally, after a few more long moments of silence, she reached up and gave me a quick peck on the cheek, her eyes still full of concern as she slowly let go of my hands. "You push yourself a lot y'know..." She mumbled, a dry laugh coming up from my throat.
"So do you. After all, there was the last show." I pointed out, watching as the witch stiffened for a moment before heading towards the stage. She motioned for Boscha to follow, and the bassist quickly did.
I quickly grabbed my drumsticks again and followed after the two, passing by the twins, one of them shooting me an apologetic look, the other giving me a look of concern as he rolled his drumsticks in his hands.
Getting into my seat, I looked over at my other two band mates on the stage again, who both looked over at me. They both wore a look, saying I could still back out now. When I gave them a firm nod, they both turned forwards, the curtains opening and the spotlights flicking on once again.
The spotlight seemed a little brighter now, a little warmer than it was before. However, I didn't pay it any mind and twirled my sticks in my hands, trying to look natural.
Amity grabbed onto the mic stand, her eyes still lingering in my direction for a moment before she turned to the crowd. "Welcome back folks!" She called into the crowd, making them roar with noise. "Are we ready to continue the show."
It wasn't hard to tell that the fans wanted to keep going, which, oddly enough, gave me a bit of motivation. Amity put the mic stand back in its place, then turning to the two of us, she gave us a subtle nod.
I raised my drumsticks in the air, putting on a smirk to mask the feelings from before as I waited for the first note to be struck. After all, the show's got to go on, no matter what.