Chapter Text
She hears about it on the news.
Amity is stuck in bed, injured leg elevated in a sling. She’s been rendered basically immobile, and she’s bored and still grumpy about missing yesterday’s field trip to the Emperor’s Castle. She had hoped her friends would get in touch last night to tell her about it, but she hasn’t heard anything.
The lack of communication from one friend in particular is hitting her especially hard, and Amity can’t help wallowing a little in the tragedy of her clearly unrequited love. She imagines Luz, having a great time on the field trip with Willow and Gus, not thinking about Amity at all.
Then, the orb in her room lights up with an incoming broadcast.
“Perry Porter, coming to you live from outside the Emperor’s Castle. Edalyn Clawthorne, known commonly as Eda, the Owl Lady, has been captured, and has been brought before the Emperor.”
The shot switches to the Emperor’s assistant, Kikimora.
“For the crime of attacking a Coven Leader, and refusing to join a Coven, Edalyn Clawthorne’s body shall be petrified in stone! Today, sundown, at the Conformatorium.”
Wait. What?
Did Amity hear that right? Eda, Luz’s teacher, her guardian here on the Boiling Isles, captured? Sentenced to petrification?
She’s stunned. She knows that her mentor, Lilith, is Eda’s sister, and that Lilith has been trying to bring Eda in for a long time now. But, even though they duelled at the Covention, the two sisters still seemed to care for each other. Amity finds it hard to believe that Lilith would want Eda dead.
She did force me to cheat, Amity remembers, thinking of the power glyph that Lilith had put on her without her knowledge. How well do I really know her, after all?
And then there’s Luz. Poor Luz! How is she taking this? Amity wonders, thinking of the bond that Eda and Luz share.
She must be frantic with worry.
Knowing Luz, frantic enough to…
Oh, no.
Amity knows Luz. She knows there’s no way Luz will sit idly by and let Eda be petrified.
She’s going to try something, I just know it.
For the hundredth time, Amity curses her injured leg. She wants to find Luz - wants to know what she’s planning to do. Wants to help her, if she can.
She needs to be there, to make sure Luz doesn’t get herself killed.
Somewhere in the back of her mind is the knowledge that Lilith is her mentor, that she’s supposed to join the Emperor’s Coven one day. But the thought of Luz in danger overpowers everything else.
If she wasn’t injured, she’d be out the door already. But as it is, she’s stuck. Her mother is home, and there’s no way Amity can sneak out on her crutches. The doctor was very clear about the need for rest, and her parents are making sure that she follows orders.
Even if she could, what good would she be to Luz like this, anyway? All Amity would do is slow her down.
So. She’s useless to Luz in her present state. The knowledge hurts, but she can’t afford to dwell on it now. She has to do what little she can. And she knows who can help Luz.
Amity grabs her scroll and finds Willow’s name. She tries calling her.
No answer. Amity sends her a frantic message, asking if she’s seen the news and if she knows what Luz has planned. She practically begs Willow to keep Luz safe.
Amity is pretty sure Willow suspects she has a crush on Luz, and she’s aware that in sending such a message, she’s basically just confirmed it. But she can’t bring herself to care.
Luz’s safety is all that matters.
It’s a long wait until sundown. Willow doesn’t get back to Amity, and Amity tries calling her a few more times. She sends a few more messages. Anxiously, she watches her orb.
When the petrification finally begins, Amity can barely stand to look at the screen. She’s terrified.
Eda is caged, almost unrecognizable in her cursed form, though her eyes are the same. She’s quickly joined by two others: King and… Lilith? That’s a surprise, though Amity guesses it’s because Lilith wasn’t actually on board with her sister’s execution.
There’s no sign of Luz.
The statue’s eyes glow green. Perry Porter is describing the scene, when suddenly Gus and Willow appear. Amity has never been so glad to see them.
Willow takes the microphone from Mr. Porter, and then the broadcast abruptly cuts out.
What?! No!
Amity stares at the blank orb, willing the broadcast to resume. She waits for maybe ten minutes. It feels like hours.
When the orb lights up again, Emperor Belos is addressing the crowd. His mask is damaged, and the sight makes Amity’s stomach clench in fear.
There is no sign of Eda, or Lilith, or King. Or Luz.
Oh Luz, what did you do? Where ARE you? Please don’t let him have you. Please, please don’t let him have you.
But Emperor Belos is saying that the Titan told him to spare Eda’s life. Amity infers that she must have escaped, which hopefully means Luz escaped with her.
But what if she didn’t?
Amity has no way of knowing. All she can do is wait.
***
Eventually, Willow calls her back.
Amity has spent the past few hours catastrophizing, imagining all of the horrible things that could have happened to Luz. She’s been crying, and she hopes Willow can’t hear it in her voice when she answers the call.
Willow tells her that Luz escaped with Eda, Lilith and King. Willow saw her stop the petrification and free them, but she doesn’t know any more of the story than that. Willow doesn’t think Luz was hurt.
It’s obvious from her tone of voice that Willow knows how Amity feels about Luz - she’s very clearly trying to reassure Amity and calm her down. Amity will probably care about this later. But right now all she can do is thank Willow, end the call, and then curl into herself as she cries uncontrollably, muffling her sobs with her pillow.
They’re tears of relief, and they do bring some degree of catharsis. Once she’s cried herself out, Amity is finally able to sleep.
The second her parents and siblings leave for work and school the next morning, she’s up on her crutches and heading for the Owl House - doctor’s orders be damned.