Chapter Text
It’s been three years since Luz left through the portal, leaving a raging rebellion, Willow, and Gus.
Leaving Amity.
But she’s back now, Eda finding a way back into the human world. And it’s as if Luz hasn’t changed. Sure, she’s a little more mature now, but she’s still reckless, and fiercely loyal. Blindly believing in everyone.
Even Amity.
Who, unbeknownst to everyone, is in imminent danger.
Amity, the brave and reckless witch, seemed to have been following the path her parents laid out for her. The path that seemed barren and friendless.
But she’s brave, Eda reminds herself. Even if she, as the leader of the rebellion, is the only one who knows Amity is the spy they had been utilizing.
A lot has remained the same, Eda explains to Luz, but a lot has changed.
“Amity is not on our side,” Gus explains further, when Eda falters. While Eda had not been particularly attached to Amity prior to Luz’s return to the human world, and, whilst Eda would deny this with her dying breath, the green-haired witchling had grown on her. But no one can know. The more people who know of Amity’s spy status, the more Amity is in danger.
And being a spy in the Emperor’s Coven, especially with how high up she is, is dangerous already.
Eda’s heart twists painfully in her chest when Luz’s face scrunches up in pain. At 21, Luz knows that not everyone is pure like she had believed, even at 18 when she had to leave the Boiling Isles, but Amity’s ‘betrayal’ still stung.
Especially after putting so much faith in the green-haired woman.
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It’s not until much later, when everyone is asleep, that Eda slips out of the Owl House. With her house having become home base to the rebellion, being the only house in the Isles that is impenetrable by the Emperor’s Guard, she has to be sneaky. If anyone becomes curious at who the spy is, both her and Amity could be in serious danger.
It’s now that Eda is grateful that Gus managed to teach a disguising spell when she comes face to face with Amity, the beacon of bright green hair being muted to a much less noticeable black. It’s a far cry from Amity’s natural hair color, meaning that it’s even less suspicious. Even though they meet in quiet, and in dark, with Eda’s light spell being the only visible light, they keep hidden, so both Amity and Eda have plausible deniability if either one is trailed. Amity’s hood, that she illusions to being a blue instead of the notorious gold that matches her eyes, falls to her nose, so that only her mouth is visible. Eda has a more simple disguise, wearing a headwrapping that covers her hair, and she unscrews the fake fang she wears. (She still curses Lily for knocking them out by accident when she was 16, but no one has to know about that besides Lily and Amity.)
“Belos is making a move on the Blue Moon,” is the first thing out of the spy’s mouth. Eda frowns.
“It’s a good plan,” she admits. “With him being a titan, his powers won’t be diminished, while ours will.”
The Blue Moon, a once a decade event, weakens a witch’s powers. But Belos is no witch.
Amity takes a deep breath. “And there are no suspicions on your end on who I am?”
“None,” Eda confirms. “But Luz is back. She’s… less reckless, than she was when she left after Hexside’s graduation. But she’s going to want to be in the middle of everything again.”
“Do your best to prevent that.”
There’s a beat of silence before Eda responds. “I will, but you know Luz.”
“I did,” comes the reply, stilted and tense. “Belos wants into the human world. To get to Luz.”
“I know!”
“Then keep Luz out of this!” Amity hisses. Dimly, in the muted light of Eda’s light spell, she sees the glint of Amity’s fangs. “I am so close to being his number one. So close to being able to assassinate him myself. The war could be won with minimal bloodshed, but if Luz interferes, I cannot guarantee that.”
“You can’t guarantee that anyway,” Eda says, her heart aching for the young woman, who, at the mere age of 21, holds the weight of the world on her shoulders. Eda raises the light spell and reaches out to tilt the witch’s head up, braving a look at Amity for the first time in three years. She can’t prevent a gasp that slips past her lips when she sees Amity’s face, and she understands why Amity insists on wearing cloaks in public. There’s a scar that extends from above her right eyebrow, down to her cheek, then across her nose, finishing just above her lip on the left side.
It looks as if someone slashed a weapon at her.
“Even just a little deeper and I would have lost my eye,” Amity confirms what Eda thinks. “Belos did it. After the Battle of the Fallen Root. He believed I wasn’t doing my best, which was true. Told me that if I hesitated to kill Willow again, I would get worse than a scar. The only reason I wasn’t killed is because I used to be friends with her. Hence why I’m not in battles, much.”
The story twists Eda’s stomach. She used to think she was a jaded old woman, unable to be surprised by anything, but it turns out it isn’t true.
“What if we utilize Luz,” is what Eda blurts instead of her first instinct, which is to call off the spying. If such hesitancy over killing someone is punished, she isn’t sure if Amity should remain in the Coven to be their spy. “Glyphs don’t use bile sacs, so it won’t be influenced by the Blue Moon.”
Amity pulls her hood down and swipes away the light before she responds, leaving the two witches in complete darkness. “Teach everyone the glyphs, but under no circumstances should she be on the battlefield. I can try my best to protect you, Willow, my siblings, and Gus, but Belos will stop at nothing to capture Luz. Not even my former friendship with her would save her.”
Amity summons her staff with those final words, and she flies off into the dark, though Eda doesn’t move until she can no longer see the youngest Blight.
---
Eda is dying to tell Lilith about Amity, and the danger she is in, but she can’t, and it almost physically hurts.
As the Blue Moon comes closer, Eda becomes more and more worried for Amity. She misses a check-in, and, while she sends a letter through Viribus, Amity’s palisman, it worries Eda that she’s getting reckless.
And she can’t even confide in her own sister, who knows Amity best, next to Eda herself.
Viribus flies away, the dragon’s wings carrying it’s body as fast as it can, and Eda silently curses Amity. Sending her palisman is dangerous.
Eda curses Luz for making her go soft, then teaches the rebels glyphs for the upcoming battle.
---
The day of the Blue Moon arrives, and Eda begins briefing the rebels on their plan. She and Luz teach the glyphs, confident in their ability to defeat the Emperor- at least in this battle. And the battle starts off like every other battle.
The wind bites chill into the rebels’ bones, and the rustle of the leaves moving because of the wind gives the rebels some cover as they fight through the forest to find Belos’ army. The grey sky sets the mood for the witches, both young and old, and Eda fights a shiver.
She has to show her troops that she’s fearless. Even though she isn’t. She fears for Luz, who she thinks won’t stay at the Owl House like promised. She fears for Willow, who is amongst the most targeted, being one of the most powerful witches in the Boiling Isles, and being the most powerful plant witch. She even fears for Gus, who has been a major help in creating pamphlets to convince people to join the rebels, rather than the loyalists.
But most of all she fears for Amity, who is caught in the middle. Any rebel hates her, but if she is found out by any loyalist, she’s as good as dead. But there is no other option. Only Amity could become the spy, only Amity was a shoe-in to the Emperor’s Coven, while still being trusted by Eda.
The rebels spot the loyalists before the loyalists spot them, and Willow leads the plant troop to trap the loyalists into a small area. So, the battle starts off like normal.
But it doesn’t continue being normal.
Belos has gotten his hands on glyphs, and his side is using them- almost better than the rebels. Then she sees a golden hood, and fights a gasp. She watches fearfully as Amity flights some of the rebels, who don’t know anything but that the golden hood is a close confidant of the Emperor, but even Eda can tell she’s letting the rebels win against her. She almost screams out for Amity, but forces herself to focus on Belos, who in turn focuses on her.
The Titan is using magic like he would normally- without drawing circles in the air. He believes this gives him an upper hand, as if Eda doesn’t see his entire body twitch before he casts a spell.
But Luz’s scream tears both Belos and Eda’s attention away from each other, and catch sight of why Luz screamed.
Amity.
The green-haired witch’s hood has been torn from her head, leaving her scarred face out in the open for all to see- and everyone previously not paying attention to her does now.
“Blight!” Luz practically growls, and Amity takes a deep breath. She won’t fight Luz, that much Eda knows, but she doesn’t know how Amity plans to keep both herself and Luz safe. And then Eda realizes.
She won’t.
Eda knows that, in a battle between Amity or Luz, Amity would win. Luz hasn’t been able to do magic in three years, and Amity’s powers have only grown, but Amity has always been fiercely protective of the human. Eda doesn’t blame her, but it means that Amity would rather get hurt than fight Luz. And anyone would see why.
And Amity will be in danger.
And she is, Eda realizes, when Luz, Willow, Gus, and a handful of rebels turn to attack her.