Chương 20: Chapter 20: Nice to Beat You
Green smoke trails into the sky from a factory building. At the gate bordering the property is a sign indicating it as 'BLIGHT INDUSTRIES' as figures can be seen heading up the steps to the entryway. Above the door is a banner saying 'PRIVATE SALE'. The figures are hooded as they enter, passing the Blight Twins who stand on either side of the entrance. Randomly, Edric traces a spell that puts a 'HEX ME' note on one of the hooded figure's back, causing the two to giggle mischievously.
The hooded figures gather inside the factory as they look toward a stage. Suddenly, any murmurs are cut off by a spotlight shining on two cloaked figures that are standing on the stage.
The figure in the front grins. "Welcome, valued investors, to our annual Blight Industries private sale!" The figure declares, throwing her cloak off to reveal Odalia Blight, in all her bitchy glory.
The figure attempts to take off his hood behind her, only for it to get caught and cause him to faceplant instead. The hood finally comes off and-yikes. Alador, you good bro? You look tired as shit.
"If you're interested in reliable home security, we're here to help. And, if you've got an enemy or two...well, who are we to judge?" Odalia began her presentation, getting a laugh out of the investors in the crowd. Odalia then gestured to Alador. "This is my husband, Alador Blight, the greatest abomination creator of the era. My name is Odalia, and as an oracle, I predict you'll love what we've got in store for you tonight. We are proud to present...the first glimpse of our crowning achievement." Odalia declared.
Odalia and Alador step aside for a platform to rise where they once stood, revealing an abomination-like creature decked in armor and-yikes. Like father like daughter. Not only was Amity wearing the most dry expression possible, but she also had bags under her eyes as she wore a thousand-yard stare.
"The Abomaton Soldier!" Odalia announced, as Amity absentmindedly gestured to the abomaton without her gaze shifting. The investors clapped in excitement and curiosity about the machination before them.
In the back of the building, Emira and Edric glanced at each other nervously, worried about their sister.
"It will pour your tea! Help you keep up with the latest trends!" Odalia continued, as the Abomaton poured tea for Amity, and then did her hair, the girl's expression unchang- hang on, did she just not react from getting hair spray in her face?
"And best of all, it will defend you against any unwanted visitors!" Odalia said as the abomaton got into a fighting position.
Off to the side, Odalia touches her necklace as it begins to glow; the jewel in Amity's necklace glowing in sync.
'Mama to Mittens, remember our deal: Make this look good, and we'll forgive your recent lackluster performance in school and your behavior at the pertification ceremony.' Odalia's voice echoed in Amity's mind.
Unfortunately, the moment Odalia mentioned the ceremony, Amity's mind flashed images of the event in her mind.
A hand made of grotesque flesh grabbed Flint's leg, dragging him down from the air and into Emperor Belos' waiting claws. Belos threatened Flint's life as he demanded them to give him the portal, his claws wrapped around Flint's throat. Luz threw the portal briefcase to him, but-
Amity watched in horror as Belos twisted Flint's head around. She heard a sickening cracking sound before he let go of the boy, letting him fall lifelessly to the ground.
Amity's pupils shrank, as her left eye socket glowed magenta.
The Abomaton lifts its arm up and tries to hit Amity with a hammer fist, but its hand glows magenta as well, as the sludge slides around her harmlessly before hitting the ground around her. Before anyone could react, Amity's eye glowed brighter as the abomination part of the abomaton suddenly burst like a balloon, letting the armor fall to the ground harmlessly.
The crowd gasps and murmurs as Odalia is left positively fuming on the side.
"Amity! What are you doing?!" Odalia demands, too pissed off to bother using her necklace to send her a psychic message.
But even Odalia is caught off-guard as she sees Amity go to her knees before bringing her head low to the ground. She wraps her hands around the back of her head and supports the remainder of her body with her elbows on the floor, her breathing frantic and panicked.
"Mittens!" Emira and Edric call out worriedly, as they sprint through the crowd, pushing some of the investors out of the way and jumping on the stage. Edric goes to her right side and Emira to her left as Amity's eye can be seen flickering between glowing, and her narrowed pupil.
The investors begin to murmur and leave. Odalia steps on the stage with a nervous expression.
"I-It appears the beta still has a-a few bugs. We can't wait to see you all next week when we reveal the uh...the finished product in all its glory!" Odalia says quickly to try and save face.
As the room fully clears, Odalia turns back to Amity with a furious expression. "Amity! You just lost us a lot of money! What's with you late-"
"'What's with her'?! What's with you?!" Edric yells back at her, getting in her face.
Odalia was taken aback for a moment before glaring at her only son. "You watch your tone mister."
Emira leers at Odalia from Amity's other side, rubbing her younger sister's back. "Your daughter is having a panic attack, and you're going on about money?!" Emira yelled angrily. Emira turned back to her sister as she continued rubbing her back. "Shhhhh. Amity, listen to my voice. It's okay." Emira whispered softly to her as Alador walked up to the stage and went to Amity's other side, looking at his daughter worriedly.
"What in the Titan's name did you tell her?!" Edric demanded.
Odalia scoffed. "All I did was remind her to make the demonstration look good, and that I would forgive her slipping grades in school and her embarrassing behavior at the pertifi-"
Edric slapped his hand over Odalia mouth quickly as Amity's breathing quickened again.
"ARE YOU INSANE?!" Edric screamed. He looked back to see Emira quickly covering Amity's ears before turning back to Odalia. "She watched her friend die and you think it's a good idea to remind her about it?!" Edric whisper-yelled as he removed his hand.
Alador tilted his head as he turned to Emira. "She's friends with him?" Alador asked, genuinely curious.
Emira scoffed. "Maybe if you weren't cooped up in your lab once in a while, you'd know that."
Alador frowned at that as he looked down sadly at his youngest.
Edric pinched the bridge of his nose. "We've been needing to use sleep spells to put her back to sleep a few times since that day because of what happened, or even to make sure she actually does sleep, instead of obsessing over improving her magic until two in the morning! We've tried to visit them multiple times so she can see him, but they weren't there."
"And that damn guard bird…tube…thing, kept telling us it forgot to tell them we'd been there," Emira added, shuddering. "That thing still freaks me out."
Alador's frown deepened at hearing their words as he looked more carefully at his younger daughter.
Emira traced a spell in the air, a glow encompassing Amity as the girl's eyelids grew heavy. Her breathing slowed as her glowing eye returned to normal, and she dropped to her side, asleep.
Emira went to pick her up, but Alador stopped her with a gesture. Alador brought his arms under her and hefted her up. Amity looked restless in her newfound sleep, as Alador looked on at the sight sadly.
Odalia watched on in silence as Alador and the twins left the room with Amity in tow, but she saw something slip from her sleeve and land on the ground, unnoticed by the others. Odalia went over and picked up the item, revealing a picture showing Amity with Luz, Flint, Willow, and Gus during Grom Night.
Odalia's eyes narrowed. "I see. Looks like our precious Mittens has been getting...distracted."
Hooty could be heard smashing his face into a steel bucket three times as Luz and Flint stood in their Hexside uniforms before of a chalkboard denoting all four glyphs with their element spelled out and pointing to each one, all with a slight chunk taken out of the outermost circle to ensure they aren't accidentally activated.
"Light in the darkness, the mightiest tree in the forest!" Luz began, her palms facing the sky as an orb of light the size of a softball hovered in above her right and a bouquet of flowers in her left. She then dissipated them to gesture to Flint. "And of course, don't forget about the elemental opposites of ice and fire," Luz said.
Flint summoned a kunai made of ice in his bare left hand and a fiery counterpart in his right, as King could be seen sleeping on the doorstep behind them.
"Alright, maggots. Day three of glyph boot camp is in session…until we need to leave for school that is," Flint stated.
Lilith cheered as she clapped her hands excitedly from a desk beside her sister, who was busying herself by carving something into her own desk.
"Okay, we have covered every glyph we know about. So today, we'll learn something new." Luz said.
Lilith immediately got excited. "Are we about to encounter a never-before-seen glyph?"
Luz winced. "Un...fortunately no. These four either came from nature, another witch's spell, or thanks to Flint. We…don't know where to find more." Luz said nervously.
Lilith and Eda share a glance at each other for a moment.
"Personally, something seems odd about that. I mean, we already knew of all four thanks to my weird dreams, but I've never seen any other kind of glyph," Flint stated, his hand cupped on his chin. "It almost feels like there aren't any other glyphs."
"Well, today we're going to learn about altering glyphs to do specific things!" Luz announced, flipping over the chalkboard using ice glyphs as an example, with four being chained together and connected by a circle they all sit on.
Lilith raised her hand up. "Miss teacher, did I do it right?" Lilith said, holding up a matching diagram of the same ice glyphs.
Flint blinked in surprise. "Wow. You're a really fast note-taker..." Flint trailed off before turning to Eda. "She was totally a teacher's pet, wasn't she?"
Eda snorted, not looking away from her carving. "You have no idea."
"You got it! That's really good!" Luz congratulated, causing Lilith to pump her fist.
Flint walked over to Eda. "Alright, what are you- what the hell am I looking at?" Flint's tone immediately changed as he saw an abomination of a glyph carved into the desk. It was in the shape of a fire and ice glyph overlapping in the middle like a Venn diagram.
"This is my double glyph combo!" Eda said proudly.
All three looked on in concern.
"Something is telling me that doing that is a very bad idea," Flint stated bluntly.
"But…?" Eda asked expectantly.
"…but hey, the creation of Viagra was an accident, so let er rip," Flint said with a shrug.
Lilith looked at Luz questioningly. She opened her mouth-
"Don't ask," Luz said simply.
-then proceeded to close it.
"Alright! Go!" Eda said excitedly, slapping the glyph, causing both to-
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Flint's eyes flung shut as he held the sides of his head, yelling in pain. It was like his mind was being beaten to death, healed, and then beaten to death again purely by the sound of TV static!
He fell to his back, still clutching his head, pleading for the horrific sound to stop. Then all of a sudden, it did.
"Flint!" Luz's muffled voice rang out as the ringing in his mind began to clear. Opening his eyes, he realized that everyone was looking over him in concern, including King and Hooty.
Flint's face scrunched as he rubbed his temples. "Give me a sec, I can barely hear myself think let alone you guys."
With that, all but Luz stepped back as Luz made a block of ice that she put on Flint's head, numbing some of the pain. Flint took hold of the block as he slowly sat up, looking toward the desk to see the wisps of smoke trailing from it.
"Okay. New rule. Don't do that." Flint said in a snappy tone.
Eda winced. "Sorry kiddo! I didn't think something like that would happen!" Eda apologized profusely.
"It's fine. You couldn't have known. Shit." Flint swore, still feeling the pain.
"Well, I hate to break it to you Flintstone-"
"Yabba-dabba don't call me that."
"But the Hexside train needs to leave the station," Hooty continued, unabashed.
As Flint got to his feet (thanks to Hooty picking him up by his beak), Luz turned to Eda. "Maybe you should slow down a bit and master the basics before you start experimenting," Luz suggested.
Eda groaned. "Ugh, you're as boring as Lily." Eda could feel her sister glaring at her. "But after all that, okay." Eda sighed. Seeing Flint freak out like that wasn't a very pleasant sight for her.
Flint reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of navy-blue Glyph Grafters. "Here Lilith, try getting used to these for now," Flint said, handing her the gloves and eliciting a squeal of excitement from the woman, and a huff of jealousy from Eda.
Flint turned to Eda. "I'm not mad at you or anything, but maybe you two should try working together to see if you can combine glyphs safely. You might have been on to something, but remember, better safe than sorry. Wisdom from many sources and all that." Flint suggested.
Eda side-eyed her sister momentarily, who was in the process of testing her newly acquired gear by staring into a ball of light she had summoned. "Okay. I'll try to play nice. Now get out of here, or you'll be late." Eda said, shooing them off.
"Also, King's in charge while we're gone. See you later, bye!" Luz said as she grabbed onto Flint's arms, Flint created his fire wings, and the two of them rocketed into the sky.
After watching the two leave, King pumped his fists into the air. "Hahah, power!"
Luz and Flint stood nervously outside the door to Hexside as they attempted to collect themselves.
"Okay, first day back after the petrification ceremony. Just be chill." Luz said.
"How much you wanna bet I'm gonna get tackled to the ground at some point?" Flint asked.
"Given what happened, that would be a losing bet," Luz stared at him.
"Together then?" Flint asked, holding his left hand out to her.
Luz smiled, taking the offered hand with her right. "Together." Luz agreed.
The two used their free hands to push the doors open. They look around before locking eyes with Willow and Gus, the latter of which looking a bit taller than the last they'd seen him. The four excitedly ran at each other and met halfway, the two witches encompassing the couple in a bear hug. Luz couldn't stop herself from tearing up in joy at seeing them again.
"You have no idea how worried we were!" Willow said.
"Thank goodness! You're okay!" Gus said, causing Luz and Flint to do a double-take at his suddenly deeper voice.
"Whoa! What happened to your voice?" Flint asked in surprise as they all separated.
Luz finally notices Gus' new height as well. "Did we…miss a birthday or something?"
Gus simply shrugged. "Witch puberty."
"Thanks for the help back at the Conformatorium," Flint said, fist-bumping Gus with a toothy smile.
"Of course! You guys are our friends!" Willow said.
"Dude, that was freaky! Don't scare me like that man!" Gus whined, still both in awe and a bit haunted by what had happened to Flint.
Flint scratched his cheek and gave a nervous smile. "Sorry about that."
Willow's eyes locked onto Flint's canines and she blinked in surprise. "Whoa, when did that happen?" Willow asked, pointing at his teeth.
"Been like this since I took a raincheck on death. Still don't know why," Flint said.
Gus scratched his chin in thought for a moment before glancing past to see something. He nudges Willow who looks over as well, before pulling Luz to the side while Gus also backs away, leaving the couple confused.
"Um, why are you guys backing up? And why does it suddenly sound like something is running at me?" Flint asked in confusion.
The boy turns to discover the source of the rapidly approaching footsteps-
CRASH
"WAAAHHH!" Flint yelped.
-only to find Amity lunging at him and knocking them both to the ground.
Flint lands on his back as Amity lands on top of him, knocking the breath out of him. He recovers long enough for Amity to grab his collar and start shaking him.
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED I WAS ABOUT YOU?!" Amity yelled, shaking him until the world around him was spinning.
He then felt the girl clutch desperately onto him and tears welled in her eyes. "I thought you were…" Amity said in a haunted voice as she pushed her head against his chest.
Flint shook off his surprise before putting on a soft smile, patting the girl's back a few times as he returned the hug. "It's okay, Sugar Queen. It'll take more than that to keep me down…apparently."
Amity cast a spell to summon an abomination that helped them both up to their feet as she wiped her eyes. "'Sugar Queen'?" Amity asked.
Flint blushed a bit. "I-I just thought it was sweet how much you care. And you used to act all high-and-mighty so…" Flint trailed off.
Amity went tomato-red at that. "W-well. You can c-call me that if you want," Amity said shyly. The entire action as a whole had Luz scrunching her face in thought as Willow shook her head with a sigh.
Amity then shook her head to regain her composure, donning a pouty face as she looked between the two. "You two owe me big for making me worry so much. I kept trying to visit to see if you guys, but you weren't there and Hooty kept forgetting to tell you."
"Yep. That sounds like Hooty," Both responded dryly.
"I like that idea. We wouldn't have to do any schoolwork or anything either, we could just hang out and watch a show maybe." Flint suggested.
This brought a fond smile to Amity's face as she thought about it. Luz, Flint, and herself just sitting on the couch, enjoying a show and each other's company. Holding hands- aaaaand now she was blushing again.
Luz sighed. "Honestly? After everything that's happened, I'm just happy to return to some sense of normalcy."
Oh ho ho! Is that a challenge, Young Noceda?
The group suddenly hears the PA system go off as a struggle can be heard on the other side.
"Hey! You can't just barge in here!" Principal Bump admonished his assailant.
Then another voice came on over the PA. "Yes, we can. We are the Parent Creature Association. Luz Noceda, Flint Smith, Willow Park, and Augustus Porter, report to Principal Bump's office now! And you too, Amity."
"Mom?!" Amity said in surprise.
Flint slowly turned to Luz. "You just had to say it, didn't you?"
"Hey, you had yours back at the carnival, this one is mine." Luz defended, eliciting a shrug from the boy.
The five could now be seen in Principal Bump's office. Gus and Flint sat at the far left and right respectively, and Luz sat in the center with Willow to her left and Amity to her right. Odalia and Alador flank Principal Bump, though Alador could be seen rubbing his eyes.
"The duel at the Covention, the rampage of the Basilisk and Grom, and the grudgy match. Half of these incidents have endangered Hexside students, and with all of them, our daughter." Odalia states. Her words cause Willow and Gus to have looks of worry on their faces, Luz to stare in confusion, Amity to shoot a deadly glare, and Flint to sit with his fingers interlocked and covering his mouth in an analytical position.
"So, the PCA has decided to..." Odalia pauses as she notices Alador trying to touch the moving tail on the back of Principal Bump's head, and clears her throat.
"Oh, right. Um, these three are bad influences and must be executed." Alador said.
While the other four gasp, Flint narrows his eyes.
Alador lets out a cough. "Ahem, I mean expelled."
"What?!" Luz and Gus exclaimed as Willow covered her mouth in shock. Amity stares at her mother furiously, but Flint's expression is still unchanged.
Odalia smiles sinisterly, holding the gem on her neck. 'Take this as a lesson, Mittens. A Blight-'
SNORT
Everyone pauses as they look at the source of the sudden sound, which led them to Flint…who was shaking violently as he tried to contain his laughter.
Flint let the dam burst, and let out the most hysterical laugh he'd ever had.
Odalia growled. "What's so funny?"
After a solid minute, Flint finally managed to recover, wiping a tear from his eye.
"Oh my gosh, this has to be the funniest joke ever!" Flint said, still giggling a bit.
Alador tilted his head in confusion while Odalia sneered.
"Oh yeah? And what makes you think this is a joke?" Odalia asked with a raised brow.
Flint's laughter finally dies down. "Because, bitch. You are the joke."
Odalia looked aghast as Flint turned to Alador. "Dude, you really need to know when to speak for yourself. She is obviously ordering you around. I grew up with only one parent and even I know that's a toxic relationship," Flint continued.
Amity froze as she realized what was happening. This was going to get ugly.
You could practically see the tickmark appearing over Odalia's head. "What was that you snot-nosed peasant?!"
Flint ignored the green-haired woman's insult and raised a brow as he continued looking at Alador. "I mean seriously, what the hell did you see in this woman? Do you just like being bossed around like a slave or something?"
Principal Bump sighed, having anticipated something like this was going to happen, resigning himself to sit back and watch as the chaos unfolded. 'As I expected…he's pulling an Eda. I really should stop him, but I'd rather face the Emperor myself than get in the middle of that.' Principal Bump thought.
Luz had a nervous smile on her face. 'Flint, I love your sassy retorts, but maybe right now isn't the best time for it. At the same time though…I really wanna see what he comes up with.'
Willow and Gus were simply frozen in shock at their friend's actions. He was talking back to Odalia Blight. Does he have a death wish or something?!
Odalia looked appalled. "Listen here you insignificant slug! Do you have any idea who you're talking-"
"Bitch! I will talk to you. In a minute." Flint stated with annoyance before turning back to Alador with his previous expression. "When was the last time you got to do something you wanted to do that didn't involve work anyway? You look like you get the bare minimum amount of necessary sleep possible. Do you even get to spend time with your own children unless she's telling you how to do it?" Flint asked bluntly.
That was the last straw.
"THAT'S IT!" Odalia slammed her hands on Bump's desk and glared at Alador. "Alador! Work with me to keep this boy quiet or so help me-MPFH!" Something wrapped itself around Odalia's mouth and she frantically attempted to rip it off. The item was a glowing scarlet chain. She looked around to figure out who did it and was met with the sight of Flint's finger stretched into the air with a small spell circle hovering above it, indicating he was the one responsible.
Odalia's eyes lit with fury and she went to reach for her oracle necklace. Her attempt was thwarted, however, as Flint spun his finger around again in a wider arc around the first spell with the original spell's circle expanding to reach the new circle and merging with it. More scarlet chains coiled around the woman, locking up her hands and body while suspending her in the air like a fly wrapped by a spider on its web. All that was visible of her was from the nose up as she shot a fury-filled glare at Flint.
"Quiet, the adults are talking here," Flint said nonchalantly as he continued to look at Alador. "Seriously, she's just a straight-up dictatorial sociopath. Like, do you four need help getting away from her? Because I will gladly make you an entire house next to ours if you need me to."
Alador actually seemed to ponder the idea for a moment, as he looked at the restrained Odalia as she glared daggers at him. Odalia then turned her gaze at Amity. She may not have been able to talk, but Amity could tell what she was implying.
And honestly? Amity couldn't be bothered to give a shit.
Amity chuckled. "Wow. Titan's sake, where have you been all my life?" Amity asked.
Flint grinned. "Don't worry Sugar Queen, because I am here!" Flint could feel Luz's eye-roll.
"Oh yeah, and I'll get rid of that while I'm at it too. Given what I know about oracle magic I know she'd only use this to manipulate you after all." Flint stated, as a scarlet hand stretched from the chains and plucked the jewel from Amity's necklace, and handed it to Flint. "Don't worry, I'm sure I can find you something way better for you to wear." Oh, and now he could feel Amity going tomato mode. Teasing her was just too easy, and she was too adorable when teased, he couldn't help it!
Principal Bump finally decided to speak. "Mr. Smith. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to release Mrs. Blight." Principal Bump requested.
Flint blinked at the man with a raised brow. "You're joking, right? We all know she's just going to abuse her status as an upper-class entitled harlot with a kink of being the dominator just to either bribe or blackmail you into doing what she wants. She has the gall to say we're a bad influence on Amity when I'm pretty sure we are the sole reason she had any genuine happiness, or possibly even preventing her from revoking her own life status. You've seen it too I'm sure." Flint turns to Amity with a kind smile. "And I simply refuse to let you suffer for being happy."
Amity's brain was short-circuiting from the amount of blood rushing through her head to maintain her glowing blush.
Alador took all of this in, causing the gears to turn in his head as he closed his eyes.
'She watched her friend die…'
'Maybe if you weren't cooped up in your lab once in a while…'
Edric and Emira's words from before echoed in his mind as the sight of Amity's restless form in his arms flashed in his mind. Alador opened his eyes, now knowing what to do.
Eda could be seen making a card pyramid inside the Owl House with King laying next to her.
"Okay, almost got it...glyph pyramid!" Eda said triumphantly, putting the finishing touch and pumping her arms up.
"Didn't Flint tell you to work together with Lilith? And what are you expecting this glyph pyramid to even do?" King asked.
Eda scoffed, crossing her arms. "I don't know if you remember, but Lilith kinda ruined my life by putting a curse on me," Eda emphasized. "I've had this damn curse for thirty years, twice as long as the age when she put it on me. Even though she's taken half of it, it was her fault in the first place."
King's mouth pursed as he remembered Lilith's breakdown back on Earth. "That's…and the pyramid?" King asked, changing the subject.
Eda grinned. "It's supposed to prove that I'm the superior witch. If the previous one didn't work because I made both of them on the desk, then maybe putting them on separate cards will work. Watch and learn." Eda said confidently as she slapped the pyramid down flat.
Unfortunately, the results simply made a similar detonation as earlier.
Eda sighed, laying back against the couch and dragging her hands across her face in frustration. "What am I even doing? What has my life become? I was the most powerful witch on the Isles, everyone feared me. Now? Now I have no magic, I have to rely on two teens that I haven't even known for barely two months, and Lily's handling her own lost magic in stride." Eda said, walking to the window.
Outside, Lilith showed a quick mastery of her glyphs and Glyph Grafters. She folds a paper with a formation of ice glyphs that transforms into a crown, before placing it on Hooty's head. Then her hands alit and summoned two popsicles, with Hooty taking a bite out of one. Finally, she did a spin before tapping a glyph on the ground, causing a large ice swan with Hooty's face to erect from the paper.
"Whoahahaha! I bet even Eda couldn't do that! Wow!" Hooty praised.
Eda clenched her fist for a moment before sighing as she turned to leave the window.
"If I'm being honest, Eda could do far better."
Eda blinked, turning back quickly to watch the scene before her with a newfound curiosity.
Lilith's expression turned neutral as she created a small ice statue of Eda in her hand. "I mean, look at everything she did even when cursed? All those years and no one could ever catch her. Even though she was younger, she was always so much stronger than me," Lilith sighed.
Hooty frowned. "What's wrong Lulu?"
"Honestly, if I hadn't cursed her, and if we had dueled back then…I would've stood no chance," Lilith admitted, her words surprising Eda.
"Wow! Eda was that good?" Hooty asked curiously.
"Yes, Hootsifer. She was…is, far better than me. And if it hadn't been for worrying about Luz and Flint, I have no doubt she would have defeated me in our duel at the castle." Lilith chuckled hollowly. "Even with her magic at its limit, she still would've defeated me. Just think about how powerful she would be without it. As an older sister, it…actually makes me proud…not that I deserve to be called her sister after what I did to her," Lilith lamented.
Lilith's face became firm. "I spent decades looking for a cure for her. One of my first ideas had even been to take our pain-splitting spell to the next level, and take all of her curse for myself." Lilith revealed.
"Really? Why didn't you?" Hooty asked.
"Because at the time, I knew she'd never let me. Even if I told her I was responsible from the start and suggested as much…deep down, a part of me feels she would not have let me." Lilith answered sadly. "But I made my decision. And now I must live with the consequences of my foolishness. Even if I am to eventually succumb to this wretched curse, at least my mind will fade away knowing I gave Edalyn more time."
Hooty frowned before coiling around Lilith in his own version of hugging her.
Eda pursed her lips at the sight, as she thought about Lilith's words. The worst part? Lilith was right. Had it been back then…she would've insisted on keeping part of it, just so that her sister wouldn't be alone through it all.
Eda steeled herself. She knew what to do now.
The doors to Hexside open as Alador steps forward, one of his abominations hauling the still-chained Odalia over their shoulder as the man motions for the abomination to go to the bottom of the stairs. Behind the man were Principal Bump and the Hexsquad.
"I'll just go ahead and take her back to Blight Industries. Kid, you've given me a lot to think about. It was Flint, right?" Alador asked, turning to Flint.
Flint nodded. "Yes sir."
Alador smiled as he brought his hand up and ruffled Flint's hair a bit. "Flint, you're a bold one. I like you. I think I remember the twins mentioning you at dinner one night, saying they thought you and I would get along well, and I can see why now."
Flint chuckled. "Actually, that was all because of this nifty little gadget I made. Hey Luz, show him."
Luz obliged as she pulled out her paper and drew a Light Glyph on the page. "I used to always have to draw every single one of these glyphs by hand." She tapped the glyph and the paper made a ball of light in her hand. Luz then showed off her right Glyph Grafter. "But Flint made me these." Luz ripped a page from the book and held it in her left hand. Alador watched as a yellow inscription of the same symbol she had just drawn a moment ago appeared in the palm of the glove. When Luz clapped her hands together, Alador watched in fascination as her hands separated to show the paper become the same as the ball of light she had previously.
"Amazing! And you don't have any magic of your own right?" Alador asked Luz.
Luz nodded. "Yep. Flint came up with a way so I could change the glyph used even without magic of my own."
Alador laughed in joy. The laugh actually caught Amity off-guard, having not seen her father looking so lively in...she couldn't even remember how long! It had to have been the last time he'd given her a lesson on abominations, now that she thought about it.
"Flint, you've got an amazing mind. Maybe you ought to come and work with me someday. I'm sure we could come up with some amazing things together." Alador said with a smile.
Flint chuckled a bit as he held out his hand. "Maybe I will, as long as that harlot doesn't get any credit for it that is."
Alador smiled as he shook the boy's hand. "I'm not as big on the business side of things, but I'll make sure of it."
Alador walked down the stairs next to his abomination with the jewel Flint had plucked from Amity's necklace in his hand, now noticeably orange compared to previously.
"Just focus on the jewel when you want to free her and it will release her. And by the way, that housing offer still stands." Flint called down to him.
"I'll keep it in mind. See you around Flint. I'll see you at home Mittens." Alador said his farewells and left with the abomination. Oh yeah, and the magic sludge golem too.
After the two adult-aged Blights were out of earshot Gus shook Flint excitedly. "Dude! That was insane!"
"My respect for you has grown hundredfold Flint," Willow stated in a still stunned state.
Amity turned to Flint. "She won't take no for an answer, you know that right?"
Flint rolled his eyes. "Unfortunately, that is something she and I have in common. At least I know how to use it selflessly, a concept I severely doubt she even has in her dictionary."
Principal Bump gave him a flat look. "You do realize you've put me in a compromising position thanks to this, right?"
"Oh, I know. And for that, I am deeply sorry. On the plus side, I'll gladly beat up anyone who tries to mess with you. When you have my respect, I've got your back." Flint stated.
Principal Bump sighed. "Your ability to somehow be worse than Eda when causing trouble but morally justified in the process baffles me. And that's without you being able to back yourself up. You both intrigue and scare me."
"Would you believe if I said that's not the first I've heard that?" Flint asked.
"I have zero doubt," Principal Bump stated simply.
"Good. You shouldn't." Flint said with a hint of pride.
"It was my mom. She was the one who said it." Luz revealed.
Principal Bump's expression didn't change. "That does not surprise me. Now then, as much as I would like to tell you every single reason I am internally screaming my head off right now, I'm going to have to ask you all to head back to your classes for the day." The principal stated simply as he turned around to head back to his office so he could properly panic.
"Well...I guess we'd better head to class." Willow said, still registering everything she had just witnessed and trying to figure out if she was dreaming or not.
Amity just stared as her father took her mother into the distance she vaguely heard footsteps heading back into the building. She couldn't believe it. Someone actually stood up to her mother like she was the insignificant one unworthy of their time! And it was Flint no less!
"He was serious, by the way," Luz said out of nowhere, causing Amity to jolt as she realized she was still standing beside her.
"About what?" Amity questioned.
"About the house thing. I mean we'd have to ask Eda if it was okay first, but I'm sure she'd say yes. Flint has always been pretty good at judging a person's character." Luz said.
"But she's a very influential person. She won't stop, and she won't just let us get away." Amity countered.
Luz just smiled. "You know how strong Flint is. That duel you two had was his first time using magic consistently in a fight, and you were amped up with a power glyph. Sure, he hurt himself badly in the process, but how much do you think he's holding back now? Holding back takes more strength than not. And if Flint stops holding back...I think you get the idea." Luz said, giving Amity a pat on the shoulder before heading off to her class.
Amity stood there as she mulled over her crush's words. Those two were making it hard for her for Titan's sake, but she guessed that's what she adored about them. Luz's optimism, Flint's determination, and their combined kindness. She might even finally be able to interact with her dad properly for once. Those two improved her relationship with Ed and Em, so connecting with her dad might be possible.
Amity chuckled as a thought came to mind. "I guess Ed was right. Flint and Dad got along pretty well. He even remembered his name."
"So…that didn't work," Eda stated.
"You know, I was actually feeling good about that one," Lilith said absentmindedly.
The two stood before the smoking heap in front of them. They had attempted drawing a small version of the light glyph in place of the dot on a larger fire glyph. It let off a tiny flash, but still, nothing that could actually constitute being called a spell. Unless finding twelve different kinds of sputtering smoke spells counted.
Quite frankly, this was starting to get old for both of them.
"I just don't get it," Eda said, her voice laced with frustration. "Come on, let's think. Bile sacs have different spell phlegm sloshing around together. So why can't we mix these too? What are we missing?"
Lilith scratched her chin. "Maybe we're looking at it all wrong. You'd think two women who were in the potions track would figure out how to mix things together. Honestly, this is starting to feel a bit embarrassing."
Eda snorted with amusement. "Yeah. It does kind of remind me of all those failed potions I used to make back then."
Lilith smiled fondly. "Ah, yes. I remember that time when you tried to make an energy potion because you stayed up all night. You didn't put enough of the binding element in order to keep it together so it all just fell apart."
King tilted his head curiously. "'Binding element'?"
Eda nodded. "Yep. The binding element is crucial for some potions. Not all of the ingredients mix together naturally. You need the binding element as a buffer to make sure it all fuses together. Sometimes they'll even…"
Eda's eyes widened as the gears began to turn. "Explode…" Eda trailed off staring at the desk she'd carved into earlier, before smacking her forehead. "Of course!"
Lilith blinked in surprise. "What is it?"
Eda turned to her sister. "That's what we've been missing! The glyphs are like the ingredients of a potion, ones that don't mix."
Lilith's eyes widened, picking up on what her sister was getting at. "And each ingredient is part of a command, given shape by the ingredients used! And the binding element helps to keep it all together."
Lilith held up her hands. Her left glowed with a fire glyph and her right an ice glyph. "Flint suggested that there might not even be any other glyphs. If that's the case, then that can only mean they need to be combined. And if they can't combine naturally, then they must need something as the buffer to connect them." Lilith thought out loud, turning to one of her drawn chain glyphs.
"So if we draw a connection between them…" Lilith trailed off, holding her right hand out as the glyph changed. In the ice glyph's place was an open circle. On the left edge of the circle was a fire glyph, and other the right was an ice glyph. Lilith willed the combination to activate-
-and suddenly a jet of fog, not smoke, shot upward from her hand.
Everyone looked on in awe for a moment before the Clawthorne sisters turned to each other with excited grins on their faces.
The final bell rang and the Hexsquad could be seen exiting the building as a group. It was a strange day for sure. Most of the day had involved just about everyone at school coming up to Flint and asking if he was okay. Heck, even Boscha had come up to him, the event having even struck her to the point she had been worried about him. It was sweet…in an odd way. He still didn't like the girl, but it was kind of nice to know she wasn't completely heartless.
When they got to the bottom of the steps, Flint and Luz shared a nod as they turned to their friends.
"Hey guys!" Flint began with an eager smile.
"We've got some things for you!" Luz continued with the same smile.
Luz then gestures dramatically to Flint, who traces a spell, summoning three sets of familiar-looking gloves like Luz's. One set is green with the design of a willow tree on it, another is light blue with a hand mirror design on it, and the last is a mix of purple colors that gave it a wavy pattern.
The three look on in surprise before noticing something familiar about them.
Amity's eyes widened. "Wait! Are these-"
Luz's head nodded rapidly with her smile somehow managing to grow even wider.
"Awesome!" Gus cheered, swiping the light blue gloves and putting them on. "How do I do it?!"
"Just think of the glyph on whichever side of the hand you want, then press it against a surface. You have to think of what you want it to do, just like with your spells." Flint explained.
"Here." Luz pulled out three sheets of paper and handed them to the three.
Gus thought hard and went with the first of the glyphs he could remember. A Light Glyph appeared on his glove and he clapped the paper between his hands similar to what Luz had done earlier to show Alador. The paper crumpled into a ball of light that hovered between his hands as he squealed excitedly.
Willow and Amity put their gloves on and did the same. When their hands opened, Willow's revealed a big flower sprouting from the page, and Amity's turned into a ball of fire.
"I love the design on them." Willow complimented as she inspected her design.
"I'm glad you like it," Flint responded.
"Cool! So you designed these after our tracks?" Gus asked, pressing the ground with each hand and making two more balls of light.
The two humans smiled brightly. "Yep!" They said in sync.
"I handled actually making them," Flint said.
"And I came up with the idea of giving them all designs!" Luz said.
Amity smiled at Flint. "I guess this is what you meant about giving me something better to wear."
Flint shrugged. "I was actually thinking of a smile, but that works too." It was just too easy to get Amity to blush like this.
Luz beckoned them forward. "Come on! You guys should hang out at our place for a while and we can show you a bunch of tricks." Luz suggested.
Eager to hang out with their friend, Gus and Willow happily agreed. Flint was about to follow, only to find Amity's hand around his wrist.
"Flint. Can I…can I talk to you? Privately?" Amity asked hesitantly. The look in her eyes was almost desperate.
Flint turned back to the others. "Hey, why don't you guys go on ahead? Amity and I will be right behind you."
Gus looked in confusion, Luz with a hint of curious suspicion, but the corner of Willow's lips twitched upward. "Yeah, sure thing," Willow said. The plant girl knew what this would be about. She remembered Edric and Emira coming over one of the first days after the ceremony with Amity hogtied, dropping her off, and telling her to try and calm their younger sister down.
As the three went on ahead, Flint and Amity were left to their own devices, as both of them hesitantly tried to bring themselves to speak up. After a minute, Amity finally mustered up enough courage to speak-
"You've been having nightmares again, haven't you?"
-only for Flint to cut her off.
Amity pursed her lips. "Yeah…I have…" Amity said softly.
She was then brought into a hug by the boy. "I am so sorry," Flint apologized. The warmth radiating from his body was soothing, and Amity just wanted to stay like that.
"I know you didn't mean to. And it wasn't your fault anyway, it was Belos'," Amity responded.
Flint sighed as he separated from her, but still held Amity's arm. "Luz wasn't much better those first few nights either. I ended up finding her curled up with me in the morning those days."
Hearing that made Amity a little bit jealous, remembering that the two not only lived together but shared a room. Not only that, but Luz curling up, vulnerable, hurt Amity to imagine.
"But Luz…she was blaming herself. She thought…she got it in her head that she got me killed because she was the one that caused us to come here in the first place." Flint revealed.
Amity looked horrified at that. "What?! No! That's-that's not her fault! That was Belos!"
"Exactly." Flint agreed before his expression became firm. "But at the same time, I feel awful for making you so worried. I should have come to see you as soon as I could, and for that, I'm sorry."
"It's fine. I know you didn't mean it. But…" Amity's face filled with dread. "I…I saw you die. You've done so much for me, I couldn't bear the thought that…" Amity trailed off, tears welling in her eyes.
Flint gently brushed her tears away. "It's okay now. I'm here. I'm alive. That's what's important." Flint said, before giving her another soft hug.
Amity closed her eyes in his embrace. It felt so nice just to feel his presence and the warmth of his body.
"And I'm also sorry for…not saying something about this sooner," Flint stated suddenly.
The statement confused Amity. What was he talking about?
Flint traced a spell that summoned something into his hand. It was a note. A very familiar note.
It was her Grom note.
Amity's face lit up in embarrassment, realizing what this meant. "O-O-Oh…y-you…" Amity was barely able to get out, shyly averting her gaze.
Flint smiled softly, rubbing his thumb in a circular motion on her wrist. "I did. And by the way, I would've said 'yes'."
Amity's heart fluttered. "R-Really?"
Flint nodded. "Yes. Really. And I know Luz would have too."
ERROR! Amity-dot-exe has stopped responding!
"…eh?" Amity's head tilted slightly to the side, trying to figure out if she just heard that right.
Flint chuckled at her reaction. "Yeah, she's into both. Kinda like you." Flint said.
Amity sighed, her face now in a perpetual blush. "When did you figure it out?"
Flint shrugged. "Reading your note gave it away. I didn't mean to look, I was just planning to throw it away, but then I saw my name and…" Flint trailed off.
"Okay. So…what now?" Amity asked nervously, desperately trying to calm herself.
"Well, me and Luz already became a couple after the petrification ceremony-"
Amity went pale. She should have known it would happen. Of course, they would, and now here she was-
"-but that doesn't mean there isn't room for another." Flint finished.
'WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!?' Amity screamed in her head.
"I'm sorry. What?" Amity asked. All these rapid emotions (and being tired as shit) were starting to wear her out.
Flint just smiled. "If you're interested, I'm not against the idea of all three of us together. I know we didn't start off on the right foot, and I've caused you some trouble with nightmares, but I genuinely don't think I can imagine my life without either of you by my side. So, what do you think?" Flint asked, a tad hesitant as he held out his hand.
Amity looked down at the hand and paused as she reached out for it. "I…you two have done so much for me, I don't think I even could hold a grudge for any of that. And I guess I was just…worried because I hadn't seen you since the ceremony."
Flint smiled softly. "So…?"
Amity steeled herself. "So…I'd like to give us a shot," Amity said, taking the offered hand. She held it tightly and looked away bashfully, her face lighting up.
Flint began to blush a bit too. "We don't have to ask Luz quite yet. Things have been really stressful lately, so why don't we just focus on having a good time with everyone else for today?"
Amity nodded her head quickly. "Yeah. That's fine with me. I could use just a nice day to relax."
Flint nodded and the two began to head toward the Owl House hand-in-hand. "Do you want me to ask Luz for you, or-"
"I should do it myself." Amity interrupted. "But…even after all you said, I'm not sure I can muster enough to do it," Amity said.
"We could always use your Grom note," Flint suggested.
Amity hummed in thought at that.
After a bit of a walk, Flint and Amity decided it would be best to let each other's hands go (even if Amity reallydidn't want to) before they reached the house. When they arrived, they were met with the sight of Gus and Willow testing out their Glyph Grafters some more, some targets having been set up as they practiced their aim. They weren't the only ones though, as Luz was instructing them, Eda drawing out a glyph on a sheet of paper, and-
Amity shot a glare at Lilith.
Eda looked up and smiled. "Hey look, they're finally here." Eda got everyone's attention.
Lilith turned to see Amity glaring at her and winced. "Hi…Amity." Lilith said awkwardly.
Amity's face was neutral before turning to Flint. "Why is she here?"
Flint inhaled sharply. "She's…been living with us since the petrification ceremony. She lived in the castle and, well…" Flint trailed off.
Everyone stood still for a moment, as the tension in the air could be cut with a knife as Amity looked at Lilith with a scowl.
Eda chuckled nervously. "Hey, speaking of Lily, the two of us discovered something about the glyphs," Eda said, changing the topic.
This seemed to snap everyone's attention away from the silent staredown. "Really?" Flint asked.
Eda nodded, holding up the sheet of paper and displaying the combination from earlier. She tapped it, and a burst of fog was spat out from it. "We think you're right about the glyphs. Any other spell you want to cast needs to be a combination," Eda said.
Lilith nodded, summoning the fog combo on her hand and letting it shoot a small stream of fog. "And they work with the Grafters. However they need to be shrunk to fit, so their power will likely be far more limited. But this is still great news! As long as we find the right combinations, we can cast more spells!" Lilith said excitedly.
Amity stared at Lilith again, the girl's gaze making the woman uncomfortable. Seeing this Luz spoke up.
"Hey, Flint talked about just sitting down and watching a show or something, so why don't we do that instead?" Luz suggested.
"You got any human shows?" Gus asked curiously.
Flint grinned. If he were wearing glasses, he would've pushed them up on his face. "'Got any human shows'? Ha! Allow me to introduce to you one of the greatest cartoons of the 2000s!" Flint said, pulling out the three DVD cases containing all 3 seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
…
"Okay, seriously. Where were you keeping those?" Willow asked.
"Honestly, I've never been all that sure myself," Flint stated. "I found my notebook once when opening a storage spell, so I'm starting to think I somehow managed to access that weird pocket dimension," Flint said thoughtfully. "Then again, Trixx was somehow able to learn it when I showed her some MHA, so now I'm wondering how it even ended up in the storage spell in the first place."
"I'll go find that portable player you found," Luz said, with Gus and Willow quickly running after her into the house. Trying to figure out how he did that was starting to give them headaches.
Flint and Amity walked forward. Flint pulled out a pair of red Glyph Grafters and handed them to Eda with a smile, as the woman pumped her fists. Amity meanwhile walked past Lilith with a neutral expression, the woman dropping her head in shame.
But even despite everything that happened, Amity slept a lot better that night.
Canon Omake: Inside the Mind of Alador Blight
Alador Blight had a lot to think about now.
Alador was sitting within his workshop as he tampered with one of his abomatons. Given the improvements he needed to make after Amity annihilated the previous model (he would've been proud if it hadn't been at the cost of her breaking down like that), he needed to make some adjustments to the design. He took a wrench in his hand and tightened one of the bolts connecting the plating.
He had gained a newfound drive since he got back from the meeting with Hexside's principal and meeting Flint. Alador had to admit, that kid is something else. To think he was able to devise such an ingenious creation all on his own. The man hadn't been lying, he was quite impressed by the boy's ingenuity, not to mention his duel with Mittens proving he was also quite the capable prodigy, both in science and sorcery.
His palisman scurried over to him with another tool in his mouth. Ah yes, he forgot he hadn't hammered down that one spot yet. Alador and his palisman, simply named Rat Alador, worked well together. As the name suggested, his palisman indeed was a rat with facial features akin to his own. The hair, the tiny little goggles, and the eyes all matched his partner's. The two worked well together, with the palisman often doing well to remind Alador of something he had missed or forgotten to address in his projects.
It was actually quite funny looking back at how the palisman came to be. When he had been given his palistrom wood, he hadn't really had many ideas as to how he wanted his partner to look. The man thought rats were neat, and he wanted a palisman quite like himself, so making a rat version of himself just seemed like the best way to go. Admittedly, everyone in his class had thought it was quite amusing, even having come to calling the little guy Rat Alador. The name stuck, not to mention no one could come up with any good pun names for the guy, but hey, that's what the little guy was after all. Sometimes he wondered if that was why Odalia had seemed to find him so interesting. Perhaps she thought he had simply been confident enough that he wanted a palisman that would represent that.
"MPFH! MPFH!"
Oh, right. Alador knew there was something he was forgetting.
Alador grabbed the jewel and just as Flint had instructed, the chains released his wife at long last and dropped her on her rear. As she began to violently curse Amity's friends to the point her words became nothing more than unintelligible growls and grunts, Alador thought more about the meeting. He had to give credit where it was due, Flint was certainly a bold one to have done what he did to her by ignoring her, chaining her up, and even spouting off a surprising batch of insults (seriously, where did he learn to speak like that?). Alador couldn't deny that Flint seemed like a good person and it was a rather refreshing sight to the man. The boy clearly had a ton of potential and Amity at least seemed to genuinely care for him, if his apparent death was able to cause her to look concerningly more like himself with the eyebags.
Alador couldn't help but sigh as he tuned Odalia's ranting out. He…really messed up. Had he really become so complacent with Odalia? Had he really pushed his children away so much?
Alador frowned. No. Odalia had pushed him away from them, trying to control everything about them, even making Amity dye her hair that awful shade of green. And he just…let it happen. Flint was right. It was time he started doing more as a father. All he could wonder now was if his children would let him.
Actor AU:
AND CUT!
Alador let Amity down and stepped back, only for Odalia to bolt up to her daughter and wrap her in a bear hug with tears streaming from her eyes.
"I'M SO SORRY! MY POOR BABY!" Odalia wailed.
Amity sighed in embarrassment. "Mom, you know it's fake, you don't have to apologize."
Odalia didn't let go of her daughter as a waterfall of tears streamed from her eyes. "But I feel awful even just faking it! And you're acting is just so good!"
Alador sighed as he was using a mirror to check his eye-bag makeup. "Honey, you're going to cry off your makeup. Again."
Edric looks to the ground and sees the rapidly forming puddle. "Damn it. Yo! Somebody get the mop!" Edric called out.
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