Chapter Text
Midnight air slaps against my coat as I haul myself towards the peak. The practice wand is tucked safely against my chest in a side pocket. It jostles as I walk forward, desperate to reach the Knee and test out a new spell. Hot breath curls in front of my face and the distant rumble of monsters spread out on the snowy slopes.
I grumble as the cold seeps into my boots. My fingers fall numb, and every inch of my body shivers with cold. But the Knee is the only place far enough away to try the spell. The script promises that the spell is so difficult, only the most powerful of all witches can perform it. It has been in my family for generations, but none have succeeded.
“C’mon, Amity, you can do this,” I reassure myself. I crouch against a bolder and readjust my earmuffs. Shakily, I pull out the wand, focus on the page in front of me, and shut my eyes tight. I mouth the words. I feel my chest glow, the tips of the wand reflecting that with a bright spark and shimmer.
Slowly, I trace a circle in the night sky. The colour lights up in gold and a fiery ball of light erupts the moment the circle becomes full. It pushes me into the boulder and I shield my eyes. Suddenly, the brightness fades and I turn to see the outline of a door.
“And this was supposed to be difficult?” I scoff, pride filling my head. I reach for the door handle and grasp it with my mittened hand. But before I can turn the handle, it bursts open, and some figure topples out. I let out a piercing shriek that sends the birds scattering from treetops.
The door swings shut in the wind and disappears. “No!” I cry, swinging my hands in front of the place the door had appeared. I groan. “Thanks a lot, you just ruined my spell.” I turn to the person on all fours, hands buried beneath the snow.
“Spell?” the voice answers.
“Yes, my spell. You ruined it,” I shoot back, eyebrows furrowing. The person stands on their feet and breathes heavily, almost like they were running from something.
“Where...where am I? Who are you?”
“Who am I? Who are you?” I snip back.
“Luz. My name’s Luz Noceda.”
“Well, Luz,” I begin, “as I was saying, I was in the middle of a spell, so if you wouldn’t mind-”
“It’s snowing,” the girl interrupts. I raise an eyebrow.
“Yeah, it always snows on the Knee.” I tap the side of the girl’s head with my wand. “You concussed or something?”
“No, I’m not concussed,” the girl whispers back. “Please, just tell me where I am.”
“As I said, we’re on the Knee.” But the girl isn’t listening anymore. She’s walked to the edge of the slope, glancing out towards the Titan that makes up the Boiling Isles. “Hello? Luz? Are you okay?”
“What on Earth…” Luz falters for a moment and nearly trips down the mountainside. I grab the hoodie of her shirt before she does.
“Earth?” I question, narrowing my eyes. Then I see it. The rounded ears, the dazed look, the lack of knowledge about the Boiling Isles. “You’re a human...aren’t you?”
She turns around, dark hair bobbing around her face. “Of course, I’m a human! What else would I be?”
I sigh, both perplexed and annoyed. How did my spell conjure a door to the human world? “No matter, I’ll just redo the spell. Don’t worry about a thing, human, you’ll forget this place even existed.”
I return to my spot and cast a light spell to look over the words one more time. I perform the same spell, eyes closed, hand gripping my wand tightly. The human stands off to the side, bewildered and in awe. The strong light emanates from the wand, but something’s off. The power isn’t coursing through me anymore. I open my eyes and see the weak rim of light that only formed a half-circle.
I glance sideways at the human, at Luz, who’s staring at me with wide brown eyes illuminated by my floating light spell. “You just did magic!” she squeals, jumping up and down in the snow.
“Shh, I’m trying to concentrate,” I scold, and return to my scroll for a second attempt. It’s probably because she’s distracting me . I try again, words at the ready, hand out and magic pumping. This time I complete the circle, but everything falls apart.
“What’s going on?” asks Luz, stepping closer to me. “Are you okay?”
“Shh,” I mumble, pushing away the doubts that crowd my head. “I just need you to be quiet. I can do this.” I try once more, this time focusing every inch of energy into the wand and tracing a perfect, balanced circle in the air. I open my eyes, the glow of my magic still solid in the night sky. But nothing happens, the magic doesn’t fade away and summon a door. Instead, the glowing light slowly ebbs away and I’m left in the mild dimness, cold and confused.
“What’s your name?” The human - Luz - asks.
“None of your business,” I whisper harshly.
“Sorry?” Luz questions, inching closer. “I didn’t hear that it’s windy up here.”
With a sigh, I respond, “I’m Amity Blight. Welcome to the Boiling Isles, human.”
“The Boiling what?” she replies incredulously. “Where on Earth is that?”
“You’re not on Earth.”
“Well then...where am I?” She takes another sweeping look around the dark silhouettes of trees and the glowing lights from the town below. A three-headed bird squawks and passes over Luz’s head. “Is this another planet? A parallel universe? A different dimension!”
I raise my eyebrows and tuck my wand away. “I suppose that’s what you’d call it. Now come along, human. I have to hide you before my parents find out about this.” A sinking feeling settles in my chest at the idea of my parents scolding faces. I dust off the snow from the front of my jacket to distract myself and then begin to trek down the Knee.
“Hey, wait!” Luz cries, chasing after me, the sound of snow crunching beneath her shoes. “It’s dark out h-h-here,” she chatters, her face flushed from the cold. I roll my eyes and begin to take off my coat to give to the human.
“Here,” I say, the cold air now exposed to my skin. Luz looks up at me with a toothy grin.
“Thanks,” she whispers and puts the coat on. “Thank you, Amity.”
“I suppose it’s the least I can do for summoning you here,” I reply, eyes facing the snow. “I’m going to find a way to do that spell and send you home.”
“I’m sure you will,” she says sympathetically. “Not that many people will be searching for me, anyway.”
We start to reach the bottom of the Knee where the air is slightly warmer, but still chilly enough to want a coat. I glance over at Luz’s half-hearted smile and shake my head.
“Surely someone back home misses you,” I find myself saying. “You seem...nice.”
She giggles stupidly, shoulders shaking. “Thanks, I guess. But that’s not what most people would describe me as.” Her tone isn’t sad, it’s pointedly matter-of-fact. “According to everyone else back home, I’m weird. I’m different. Haven’t really had any real friends in a long time.” Luz gazes distantly ahead of us at a pair of kids running through the street.
I don’t know how to fill the silence for a while, but Luz cuts in. “I don’t know why I’m telling you all this.” She shakes her head disappointingly.
“It’s okay.” For some inexplicable reason, I feel the need to be honest too. “I haven’t had any real friends in a long time either. The ones I have now...they’re not people I want to be around. It’s a status thing.”
“That seems hard.”
“It is,” I reply, tears pricking my eyes. I look up at Luz who’s smiling softly and empathetically at me. “Just don’t mention this to anyone, alright?”
“Of course,” she beams. “My lips are sealed.” She mimics zipping her lips shut and rears back to throw an imaginary key far into the distance. Her silly laugh is contagious, and soon the two of us are giggling all the way back to the manor.
“Now that we’re close, we need to be as quiet as possible. There’s a spare room in the basement that’s locked off for all house members except for me and my siblings. I can hide you in there and convince my brother and sister to stay out. I don’t know how long you might be here for, Luz. I’m sorry.” Luz shrugs in response, seemingly nonchalant about the whole situation. She seems to have grasped the concept of magic quite quickly. I thought humans would lose their minds over a place like the Boiling Isles, or at least, that’s what I’m told would happen.
“So...Luz,” I continue as we sneak around the back of the house. “Do you have any questions about the Boiling Isles? Or magic? Or anything...really.”
“Nope,” she replies, popping the ‘p’. “I always knew this place was real.”
“You did?” I ask a little too loudly. I slap my hands over my mouth and drop my voice to an almost inaudible whisper. “How?”
“Well, I mean, maybe not this place exactly. More like some awesome magical realm of witches and warlocks. I’ve always believed in magic.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Actually, I guess now that you mention it, I wanted to ask if humans could maybe possibly do magic.” I turn to Luz, who gazes back at me hopefully.
“Not that I’m aware of,” I say apologetically.
“Oh. Well, I guess I’ll just have to make do with being a plain old boring human,” she responds optimistically.
“I suppose. Oh! Here’s the door to the room. Let me just-” I attempt to push the door in with my shoulder and it finally gives through. Luz takes off the coat slowly and hands it back to me with a grin. I drape it over the back of a chair and take off my earmuffs and gloves and then shut the door behind us as quietly as possible.
“There’s a bed, table, vanity, bathroom. Everything you need to stay completely out of my parent's line of sight.” I spin in a circle and take in the weathered boards, creaking floor, and dusty sheets. Memories of playing enchanted board games with Ed and Em in this room fill my heart with nostalgia.
“Whoa, this is so fancy!” Luz says, admiring the vase with a wilted bouquet of flowers. She picks out the most alive of them and reaches over to place it behind my ear. Her cold fingers brush past my warmed ears and I shiver slightly.
“Oh...I- thank you,” I stutter, heat rushing to my face.
“I guess I should get some sleep.” She untucks the sheets of the bed and kicks off her shoes before clambering in. “Comfy!” she giggles and pats the pillow behind her head.
“Goodnight, Luz.”
“Goodnight, Amity,” she whispers in reply, eyes already begin to flutter shut. I walk up the stairs with my things and lock the door once I step onto the landing of the first floor. The manor is eerie and quiet, and not even the help is around to see me.
I clamber up to my room quietly, wash my face, change back into my pyjamas, and then settle into bed. I just need to find a way to summon that door and everything will go back to normal, I try to convince myself. I close my eyes, letting the tiredness of the midnight endeavour wash over me. Goodnight, Luz , I think once more to myself before drifting off to sleep.