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“So,” Hunter teased, “Amity Blight, huh?”
Luz stiffened, and furiously commanded her cheeks not to change color. “Yes,” she answered in a tone that she hoped sounded normal and completely in control of her completely chill feelings. “Amity and I are classmates, and she’s one of my best friends.”
Luz and Hunter had entered into an odd place following the palisman incident. They weren’t exactly friends, but their rivalry, if one could call it that, had taken on a new shape. Despite the ocean of differences between what their opposing mentors wanted for them and for the Boiling Isles, they were able to meet in private without fear of the other trying something. They were even able to talk to one another as normal teenagers do, about what normal teenagers talked about. Luz was prepared to shoot down Hunter’s attempts to get her to open up about the Owl House, its secrets, and its denizens, just as she was sure that he would block any of her attempts to wring information about Belos out of him. She would never have guessed that they had gotten to a point where Hunter would start asking about her friends, or about Amity in particular, but here they were.
“You know about her family, right?” questioned Hunter, his cocky tone annoying her more than normal.
“Yes, Hunter,” she replied in an unsubtly defensive manner. “I’ve met her parents and siblings. I can’t say that I get along with Mr. and Mrs. Blight, but Edric and Emira are really cool.”
“The Blights are legends,” he continued, an arrogant smirk on his lips. Why the sweet little cardinal had chosen him to be their witch was beyond her. “Members of that family have been major players in the politics and magical studies of the Boiling Isles for centuries. Odalia and Alador are just the latest in a long line of schemers and creators.”
Her eyes narrowed into an unamused glare. “Is that supposed to scare me?”
Hunter shrugged, his smile unchanged. “Maybe it should. If Amity is anything like the rest of her family, with all of their ambition, cunning, and duplicitousness, then she isn’t exactly someone who can be trusted. You wouldn’t be the first ally to be stabbed in the back by a Blight-”
Luz squeezed her hand into a fist, and Hunter witnessed the last shred of her patience die in her enraged shaking. “Amity is more than her family’s name or legacy! She’s more than whatever her parents do or have done to her! Amity is her own person! She’s smart, and brave, and strong, and the kind of person I would want to watch my back! She’s one of the best young witches on the Boiling Isles!”
Hunter listened to her sudden outburst in stunned silence. His words weren’t fully intended to provoke or undermine her. The Blights had a well-earned reputation, in more ways than one. All he really knew of Amity Blight was her name, her status at Hexside, and her connection with Luz, though he had underestimated the nature and strength of that connection. He had never expected Luz to defend Amity as if she was her champion. “She means a lot to you.”
Luz paused, her impassioned defiance broken by his simple, quiet statement. Her hand scratched the back of her head as she looked away from him. “We didn’t get along at first. On our first day, she bullied Willow and almost had me dissected.”
“She tried to have you dissected?”
“Then, slowly,” Luz continued without explaining, “we got to know each other. I learned about what she wants for the future, how hard she works, how she reads fantasy stories to kids. We haven’t known each other that long, but we’ve had more than our share of hijinks and wacky misadventures. Outside of the Owl House, Willow, and Gus, she was the first person to have faith in my future as a witch. It’s hard to think we went from dueling each other to dancing together to beat Grom.”
Luz raised a soft hand to her left cheek. “...of all the surprises I’ve been hit with since coming here, Amity is definitely one of the best.” She took a brief, deep breath and looked back into Hunter’s eyes, her unwavering faith shining from her smile. “Amity means more to me than you’ll ever know. She’s the Hecate to my Luzura.”
“Aww,” Hunter smiled. “I have no idea what that last part means.”
Luz smirked and started to reach into her bag. “How would you like a little ‘get-to-know-me’ reading?”
A few days later, Hunter asked a similar question. “So, Luz Noceda, huh?”
Amity blushed furiously. “Who the hell are you?”