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At last, Amity is getting the sprawling Blight manor to herself.
She glanced at her departing family loitering just outside the doors of the house. Bidding farewell to the four green haired witches with a forced smile, she mentally noted the amount of time her family will be gone. Until five past midnight. For once, it’s not me that’s stuck in a stupid business meeting until the dead of night!
At that thought, the grin on her face became real for a moment. Her lips quickly returned to its controlled smile as Odalia Blight turned back to Amity. “Don’t think for a moment that we’ve forgotten about you, dear.” She eyed the youngest Blight coolly. “While you may not be the biggest stain on the Blight name, it doesn't mean you can slack off.”
Her elder sister, Emira, stuck her tongue out at Amity, which she returned in kind. Her elder brother, Edric, was too busy groaning at his twin to even notice.
“I can’t believe this, Em. We were this close to not getting caught. Now, Mittens gets to stay home, while we’re getting hauled back to school! All because you had to go and–” He’s silenced by both Odalia’s glare and Emira’s elbow to the side.
Serves you two right. Your antics had to catch up with you eventually. Amity thought to herself venomously.
And with those parting words, the witches depart into the setting sun. Once she’s sure they’re out of sight of the manor, she slams the doors closed behind her, and rushes to her bedroom.
Finally, with the break arriving, the sixteen year old girl has the freedom to indulge in her one past time. Opening her lock box, she gingerly pulls out a pristine copy of The Good Witch Azura 5 . Cracking it open, she enjoys the scent of a fresh new book, before settling into her bed, under a thick amorphous purple blanket.
Nothing could ruin this moment now. Not her infuriating “friends” she’s been instructed to “network” with, nor the petulant siblings that terrorize her every waking moment, and most certainly not her oppressive parents who are determined to construct her into the perfect Blight, and nothing more or less.
—
It’s when she’s finished the book, slowly nodding off, and writing a post to Penstagram when she notices the first indication that something was wrong. Namely, when the manor shook from foundation to roof. The second indication was when somebody was doing their hardest to beat the doorbell to death. Or at least that’s what Amity assumed it was, given the non-stop screaming for the past half a minute.
She tries ignoring it, deleting her draft and scrolling through the usual grim news of captured wild witches. But she quickly loses her patience, and with one swift twirl of her fingers forming a glowing purple circle in the air, her blanket condenses into a hair tie.
Running to the front door through empty hallways, she gritted her teeth as she wrangled with her hair back into its usual ponytail. Finally arriving at the towering entrance, she whipped the doors wide open, ready to blast a hole through whoever the hell interrupted her night.
Standing in the dim moonlight is a girl, seemingly about her age, and clutching at a palisman. Through the light of the chandeliers pouring through the door, she could barely spot the frayed state of the strange hoodie the girl was wearing, a book hugged tightly to the girl’s chest, and her glistening hazel eyes.
Amity stood there, mouth agape. About to demand to know who the hell she is, she’s beaten to the punch by the other girl whimpering out, “Please… please let me stay for a bit.”
She’s not given any time to think, as the mystery girl’s legs give out not a moment later, collapsing to the ground and sobbing.
Damnit. Amity thinks to herself. Is this another test by my parents? The twin’s sick idea of a prank? Otherwise, who the hell thinks to ask for help from the Blights?!
As she stands hesitantly at the doorway, scrutinizing the girl, Amity suddenly notices three things.
First, the mystery girl’s ears are round.
That’s not normal .
Second, the palisman is cracked, the staff itself nearly being snapped in two.
Third, the book she’s carrying is The Good Witch Azura .
She stands there for a long moment, the other girl still on her knees letting out guttural sobs. Amity pinched the bridge of her nose, chiding herself for the impulsive and stupid decision she was about to make.
—
Amity was almost glad that she was dead tired from school. She barely has enough mental capacity to figure out what to do with the almost dead human that appeared at her doorstep, much less worry about the fact that she’ll probably be grounded for a year if her parents find out about this. Or locked away in the Conformatorium. She reckons there’s probably some law against helping humans, but she can’t quite remember given the circumstance.
Not that it was any physically easier. Trying to support the girl to walk in proved to be futile, as the tan skinned girl was essentially deadweight. Instead, Amity slowly lifts the girl up, barely managing to scoop her in her arms, bridal style.
As she steps into the cool abomination indigo lights of the manor, Amity freezes for a moment. The girl’s arms and face are covered in a number of cuts and bruises, and her left eye is beginning to show signs of swelling. She forcibly quiets the voice in her head urging to just throw her back outside.
Shuffling slowly towards her room, she mentally cursed herself for quitting the Grudgby team, as she strains to not drop the girl to the immaculate carpets. She’s almost tempted to just summon an abomination to do this for her, only stopped by the fact that the exams have completely tapped her out for the day.
The battered girl, still maintaining a death grip on the palisman, has closed her eyes tightly, her tears staining Amity’s shirt. Amity examines her closer, as the beaten up teen murmurs something before drifting to unconsciousness, the book slipping to the floor and thudding against her foot.
Now mentally cursing the mystery girl, she grimaces in pain, but continues going forward while eying the girl.
Yep. Definitely round ears. Definitely real blood. …and probably not an illusion, because that book hurt like hell!
She pushes aside the thought, since the dull throbbing was rather minor compared to the condition of the girl she’s carrying. She then takes a closer look at the palisman in the girl’s hands, and is dumbstruck that it’s still in one piece.
The bottom of the staff has been utterly charred to a crisp, which is only connected to the upper half by a thin strand of wood, the rest having been torn off it seems. She stares at the web of cracks at the top of the wooden owl, seated at the top of the staff with lifeless eyes.
Then she looks at the girl. From the front, she looked in a remarkably fine state, considering the damage the palisman went through. But as Amity shifted her grip, she realized she wasn’t feeling fabric, but skin. Looking down, she sees the entirety of the back of her hoodie had been burnt away.
She almost heaves right there. But she catches herself, and changes course from her room to her father’s study, and pushes herself to move faster.
Yeah, I’m gonna get grounded for a decade. But I’ll live. She stares at burnt edges of the hoodie. Unlike this girl .
Arriving at the study, she gently rests the girl on the floor, against the wall. Steadying herself for a moment, she pushed the heavy study doors open. Momentarily blinded by the fluorescent lighting of the room, she steps in.
Scanning the room cautiously, she spots the open cabinet filled with brightly colored and bubbling potions, dashing towards it. Frantically glancing at the labels, she spots a giant round, red bottle labelled “HEALING POTION.”
After a split second, she snatches it, and darts past the chaotic assortment of inventions and tests littering the room. She lets out a sigh of release upon seeing the human still breathing. Although it’s more akin to pained wheezing at this point.
With trembling hands, she uncorks the bottle, letting out a sickeningly sweet smell of nectar. Forcing open the unconscious girl’s mouth, she begins dribbling the potion into her throat. This causes the tan skinned girl to cough and sputter, eyes flickering open.
“Drink,” instructs Amity. Too weak to protest, the girl opens her mouth again, although there’s a clear grimace on her face when tasting the concoction. She then lets out a pained noise, as she tries getting up.
“Hold still!” Amity nearly shrieks. The other girl just blinked a couple times, before making a small nod with her head.
Trying to calm her breathing, she looked into the girl’s eyes to avoid the sight of blackened flesh. Somehow, it almost looked like the hazel eyes staring back at her had a hint of concern.
After downing around a quarter of the potion, Amity placed the bottle gently onto the floor. “Alright, I’m going to need to turn you over. I, uh…” Amity trails off.
She’s completely out of her depth here. Excluding the occasional healing spell in a Grudgby match, she has no clue how to be treating a patient, especially with injuries this serious. She almost wishes Emira was here, before quickly perishing the thought.
Closing her eyes for a moment, she continues. “I think you have some really bad burns on your back.” The girl simply nods, and lets out a raspy, “Okay.”
—
Amity’s heart sinks as she rolls over the girl. Splotches of blackened skin adorn her back, with blood and flesh flaking off. Amity looks away again, steadying her breathing. Grabbing the red bottle again, she grimaces as she dumps the liquid onto the girl’s back from the corner of her eyes.
To her credit, the mystery girl doesn’t scream, but given how she’s hissing in pain, Amity suspects she’s simply too worn out to make a noise louder than a whimper.
Taking in a couple more breaths quickly, she conjures a pair of gloves from abomination goo, and begins spreading out the potion over the wound. Both girls have clenched jaws and furrowed brows. Amity worked in rapt concentration as she lathers the red potion over the burns, essentially the whole back of the injured girl, while the injured girl fights to remain conscious.
By the time she’s finished, she has to remind herself it's a potion covering the girl’s back, as it more appears that somebody had just bled out in front of her father’s study.
Amity held her breath, hoping that the potion worked. “Feeling any better?” She whispered. After an agonizingly long ten seconds, the pained gasps of the teen on the floor have slowed to forced deep breathes, and she manages out a nod.
Unfortunately, Amity doesn’t have time to relish in her success, as she hears the chiming of the grandfather clock. It’s midnight. Her parents and siblings get back to the manor in five minutes.
Actually, if we get caught, she probably still ends up dead, and my fate can’t be much better.
She looks over the enormous burns and slick red liquid, and mulls over the options in her head. Then she rests her gloved hands back on the wounds, before drawing a small magic circle in the air. The gloves suddenly melt away from her hands and cover the burned away parts of the hoodie. Not a moment later, Amity has again lifted the girl up, and begun sprinting to her room.
Thankfully, she hadn’t bothered closing the door on her way out, so she sprinted through and put the other girl down onto her bed, before dashing back out into the hallway. She takes a quick glance at the clock as she makes for the entrance.
Three minutes.
There’s not any obvious signs someone beaten half to death had been through here, as the poor girl didn’t have the chance to tread blood in. Closing the main doors shut, she picks up the fallen book, before beelining it for the study again.
Taking a quick glance into the study, she feels relatively confident that nothing is out of place. She hadn’t touched anything in there. Nothing, except…
Oh, right. The potion.
She looked down to stare at the bottle. Completely emptied. At least Amity was careful when applying it, not a single drop of the crimson liquid stained the carpet. But she could only hope that her father wouldn’t notice the suddenly empty potion bottle.
Snatching it from the ground, she quickly returns it to its original place, before slinking out of the study and closing the doors behind her. And as they do so, she hears the doors of the main entrance swing open.