Chapter Text
“Amity Blight! Present yourself and that ridiculous hair of yours in the living room, right this instant!”
Amity cringes at the sound of her mother shouting up the stairs. She stands, leaving the schoolwork on her desk. Pauses to look at herself in the mirror, at her hair. Places each hand on the opposite shoulder, hugs herself with arms crossed across her chest. Takes a deep breath, her anxious expression turning deadpan, with eyes half-lidded, armoring herself.
When she enters, she finds her mother standing by the fireplace, striking an intimidating pose, one hand on the mantelpiece, tapping her fingers impatiently against the marble. Her father is behind her mother, slouching by the window, staring vacantly outside, occupying somewhere else entirely. He yawns, rubs at a mark on the glass with a fingertip.
“And what took you so long?”
“I- I was studying.”
“As you should be. But still, be more considerate next time. Your parents are very busy people, and I expect you to be prompt.”
“Yes, Mom.”
“Now, Mittens, your father and I have been talking. And we’ve decided together that there will be some changes happening around here.”
If Alador had been actively involved in this conversation, or whether he cared remotely about the outcome, he gives no indication.
Amity feels somewhere far off that her heart is sinking, but it is as if it belongs to another. “Changes...?”
“Yes, Mittens, changes.” Odalia’s empty blue eyes pierce through Amity’s emotional armor like a knife, and her purple lipsticked lips twitch upward, knowing this. “Firstly, you will be leaving Hexside, and will be getting home-schooled by a private tutor. Your father and I have already picked one out, an experienced witch skilled in abomination magic. Secondly, you will from this moment on be forbidden from leaving the house, unless you are participating in some extracurricular recreational activity with my express permission. And thirdly, you shall be allowed to see that contemptuous human girl only after your lessons and all additional work for extra credit have been completed to my satisfaction, here, under my supervision, at most one day a-”
“W-what!?” Amity’s mouth falls open and her eyes go wide, horrified. She feels like she might be sick.
“...Let me finish, Mittens.” Odalia interjects smugly, her lips now curling completely into her trademark smirk. “I was explaining what will happen, unless you agree to our list of demands, and promise to do exactly as you are told, exactly when you are told to do it, like a good, well-behaved daughter.”
Amity feels as a young child again, with her mother towering above her.
“What is it... you want me to do...?”
Odalia’s smirk parts slightly to show a sliver of teeth.
“The first thing you shall do is dye your hair green again. There isn’t much we can do about you cutting it, we’ll have to wait until it grows out enough that you might style it properly again. But I cannot stand to look at the silly shade of pink a moment longer-”
“I-it's lilac! And I-I won't-”
“And then, you shall tell that contemptuous human girl you will not be dating her any longer. I have, against my better judgment, decided to allow you to remain friends, but a stranded, magic-less human from a family of neither wealth nor reputation, or indeed perhaps without any family at all, is no suitable match for a Bli-”
“STOP! STOP IT!” Amity cries out, like a wounded animal, pained and desperate, and tears well up in her eyes.
“How dare you interr-”
“S-STOP CONTROLLING MY LIFE!!” Amity has never made such a sound before, not once in her fourteen years. She screams it, shrieks it, howls it all at once, loaded with her terror and her misery and her rage, her lungs are full of it and she projects it across the room, projects it at her hateful mother.
And then she rushes from the room, her vision clouded by tears that now stream relentlessly. Tears that form rivulets of black down her cheeks, as her mascara runs, and fall from her face, blossoming darkly in the fabric of her dress. She clasps the handle of the front door with both hands, heaves it open, and flees from that place.
King stands fretting in the doorway to the Owl House living room, watching Luz pour over the myriad books and papers on portals and anything tangentially related to them that she has spread about the floor. Her expression is one of grim determination and focus.
He backs out, not wanting to interrupt, and goes to the kitchen to pace back and forth, but meets Eda there.
“She’s really not herself, huh?” Eda asks worriedly, over what is probably not her first cup of apple blood that evening.
“She must really be homesick...” King trails off.
“I thought she’d be happy after seeing her mother... but I suppose she was just reminded of what she was missing...” Eda sighs.
“There must be something we can do to help!”
“You’re right.” Eda puts her cup down, with the firm purpose of someone reaching a resolution regardless of their hope of success. “I’m going to look through all my books and scrolls again. In case I missed anything.” She stands and strides past King, heading for the stairs.
Alone now, King begins to pace, deep in thought. Yes, there must be something he can do. Luz’s attempt at building a portal hadn’t gone to plan... all the pieces should have been there, yet it came out all twisted and misshapen. So maybe it was missing something, something that wasn’t mentioned in the instructions Luz had pieced together? How reliable could a mouse be anyway? But... what was missing? All his knowledge on demonkind was useless here. And all the books in the world didn’t seem to be helping Luz at all.
Maybe there was someone he could ask. But who would know something so obscure and very probably forbidden? And then King remembers his trips to the Night Market with Eda. There were times she’d sought advice from the shady characters there. And there was even a chance there’d be a stall selling exactly what Luz needed! He could be out and back again before anyone was any the wiser.
He sneaks upstairs, and while Eda is occupied riffling through a chest of scrolls, tiptoes into her bedroom and swipes a pouch full of gold snails. They’re still living comfortably thanks to the golden selkigris vomited up in thanks by the Selkidomus, so the money shouldn’t be missed... and anyway, it’s for a good cause!
Returning to the kitchen, he lets himself out the back door, and is about to congratulate himself on his stealthy prowess when an unwelcome and perfectly irritating high-pitched voice pipes up by his side.
“Hey little de-man, where are you going so late on this lovely evening!?”
“It’s not a lovely evening! Luz is miserable! How can you be so cheerful? And ugh! Stop calling me that! It's horrible. HORRIBLE!”
“Okay, okay, King, jeez! And I’m just trying to lighten the mood, lift some spirits, I didn’t mean to be insensitive...”
“That’s not something anyone wants right now! Why are you even bothering me?”
“I heard someone walking outside. House security is my responsibility after all! I didn’t know it was you. But you’ve piqued my curiosity! What are you doing outside, hoot?”
“If I tell you, Hooty, you have to promise to keep it a secret.”
“A promise!? A SECRET!?”
“Will you be quiet?”
“I love secrets! You can put your faith in your old pal Hooty! I’ll take it to my grave! No temptation could get this owl to break a promise!”
“Enough already! I’ll tell you, if you just stop talking!”
“You’ve got it! No more talking!”
King glowers at Hooty for a moment, sighs, and explains: “I’m going to the Night Market to see if I can find something for Luz. Something she can use to make a better portal.”
“Going to the Night Market!? But that’s dangerous!”
“I’m not a baby, Hooty! And I have my voice powers now!”
“Maybe I should come with you. Four eyes are better than two!”
“NO- err, actually, I have a mission for you.”
“A mission!?” Hooty gasps, voice quietened by this honored duty.
“Yes... it’s... to... keep Luz and Eda distracted while I’m gone!”
“You can count on me! They’ll be so distracted the evening will just fly by!”
King shudders. “But Hooty, you have to remember to be sensitive. The last thing Luz needs right now is for you to be annoying, irritating, infuriating!”
“Jeez, I get it, you don’t need to be so mean. And I’ll start by baking cookies. Everyone loves cookies!”
“And no sleeping nettles this time, riiight?”
“No sleeping nettles!” Hooty shoots off, looping back around to the front of the house.
King breathes a sigh of relief, and then immediately feels guilty. “Sorry, Luz...”
He sets off for Bonesborough before anything else can go wrong, clinging tightly to his bag of snails.
Amity careens across the light yellow brick concourse outside her parents’ home, barely keeping her balance, the soles of her pointed shoes slipping on the smooth surface. She hits the stone steps down to the road without slowing down, taking two at a time, picking up barely controllable speed. Reaches the bottom, and her foot lands on a loose slab. Her heart skips a beat.
The slab gives slightly and she trips, falling forward. Fists at that moment balled rubbing freely-flowing tears from her eyes, she puts her hands out too late and lands on her knees and elbows, skidding across rough stonework. Her short sleeves do nothing to protect her and her forearms are badly scraped; many shallow dirt-speckled gashes start to bleed, but she barely registers the pain. She’s already on her feet again, running through the open wrought iron gate, under the arched sign that proudly declares: “Blight Manor”, brushing the loose gravel from her arms, running... somewhere. Anywhere but here. Anywhere but that house.
After trying what must have been more than half the stalls at the Night Market, King’s hopes start to dwindle. Of the vendors that had paid him any attention at all, all had proved unhelpful. Though he thought one had only feigned ignorance, that didn’t get him any closer to his goal. They had all either shaken their heads, and told him to ask somewhere else, or tried to sell him something he really didn’t need.
And when one of them realised he wasn’t buying into their thinly-veiling scam, and eying his heavy pouch of snails, they turned threatening, and King had to deploy a warning shot “Weh!” over their heads, and blew out the back of their shady shop.
He was taken a little more seriously after that, but still his trip here had proved fruitless so far. Nonetheless he resolves not to give up, not to leave before trying every stand, tent, and hole in the wall.
Eventually, Amity stops running. She used to play grudgby, but she hasn’t had a proper exercise regimen in quite some time. And with her adrenaline all burned up, she doubles over, hands on her knees where her leggings are all tattered, haggard, gasping ragged breaths. Her legs ache, so much she barely feels the scrapes on her knees.
Slowly she straightens up, her breathing slows, and the hammering of her heart in her chest is replaced by a gnawing nausea in her stomach. Amity doubles over again, retching, but nothing comes up. In the habit of avoiding family meals with the excuse of homework, she hasn’t eaten yet.
She looks around, for the first time since she fled registering her surroundings. She stands on a dirt path, flanked by coarse bushes, with a rocky slope rising to her left. Tall trees hem her in, sprouting irregularly from the loamy soil like crooked teeth, thick on all sides, obscuring her view in all directions. An unsettling place to be after after dark, but she is not uneasy. She feels a familiarity here.
Walking forward a little ways, expectantly, Amity comes across the muddy bog in which Luz had declared she would face Grometheus on her behalf. Amity had never had a champion before... and had just stared, mouth slightly ajar. Not that she’d had much time to process having one, before a horrifying spider crawled around Luz’s head and Luz had face-planted in the sludge-like mud.
Amity’s lips slowly form a small smile. She’d also never known anyone who thought sticking their head in a swamp and doing a forward roll through brown goop was a good way to get a fearsomely-pincered arachnid off their face. Her heart beats faster, and for the first time that night it’s not out of fear.
She follows the path, the trees begin to thin, and she emerges from the forest, arrives, without ever consciously intending it, at the Owl House. Her heart soars... and then sinks like a stone as she remembers the burden she brings with her. The burden that she is.
Luz... hasn’t been herself lately... ever since she built that portal, and went to the human realm to visit her mother. In her thoughts, Amity punishes herself. If only she had kept that key! She thought that breaking it, letting the Titan’s blood soak into her glove... would have been enough. She thought she had been so smart! But the portal hadn’t worked as it was meant to, and she was so sure, sure with the certainty of someone who has always been taught nothing they do can ever be enough, it was all her fault. She’d been holding that key for Luz! Her way home! And she’d been so careless, to let it slip out from under her coat.
Amity shrinks back amongst the trees. But where else would she go? The thought of turning up at Willow’s house fills her with shame, and she isn’t even sure where Gus lives... and there’s nowhere she’d rather be than here.
She’s torn between a fantasy that in only a few steps, only a few minutes she might be sat beside Luz on the Owl House couch... and her reality that she does not deserve that, that she has nowhere but Blight Manor... that she should go home and face her mother’s wrath. Fear flashes through her. Amity has never done anything like this before. She has no idea what her mother might consider an appropriate punishment, and that horrifies her.
Guilt before her and terror behind her, she circles through the trees and shrubs, around to the side of the house, where she won’t be seen if anyone should leave by the front door. With nowhere else to go, Amity sits on a fallen tree, stares at the inviting yellow lights shining from the windows of the Owl House, and cries again.
King shuffles back through the wood, dejected, his expedition a miserable failure. No new words of wisdom, no new gadget to build a portal. Nothing to cheer up Luz. He kicks a rock in frustration, sending it tumbling down the slope to his right, where it disturbs some loose shingle, causing a rockslide in miniature. Considers “Weh”-ing a boulder to cause a real one. Sighs, and walks on.
He emerges from the forest through a bush at the back of the Owl House, beside the ruined round tower. Pats loose leaves from his fur. Hooty doesn’t rush out to meet him, so King supposes he’s still busy on his ‘mission’. Hopefully he hasn’t been too irritating.
Heading for the back door, intending to sneak into the kitchen like he’d never been gone, he glances to his right at the sound of a bird’s cry. Sees someone he certainly hadn’t expected to see here tonight, let alone sitting lonesome on the red moss-covered trunk of an uprooted tree. Her lilac hair a mess, head hung, arms crossed across her chest, hugging herself.
Amity Blight, Luz’s girlfriend. And is she... crying? King tries to reconcile the sight he’s seeing with the image in his head of Amity fighting alongside him, with a cold determination, against that Golden Guard boy at Eclipse Lake. Clearly something is very wrong. He rubs his paws over one another, hesitant and worrying, thinking, and pads over to her. As he draws near her, he sees that her leggings are tattered at the knees, and her forearms are covered in fresh cuts and scrapes.
King calls her name, and when she looks at him, he tries to hide his shock. Her eyes are red like she’s been crying for hours, and her makeup has run down her face, leaving streaks of black stark against her even paler than usual skin. And in her eyes, a look of intense desperation and hopelessness.
“...Amity?”
The gently questioning voice spooks Amity so much she nearly falls off her uncomfortable perch. She looks up with a start.
“What’s wrong? What happened to you?”
She stares at the little black-furred, horned demon in front of her and she has no idea what to say. Of the Owl House residents she thought might come out and spot her, King was the last one.
“Did someone hurt you?”
Finding her voice is hard, and it comes all rough and scratchy. “No... I fell.”
“Why are you sitting outside? Did something happen with Luz?”
Amity shakes her head. “No, she doesn’t know I’m here.”
“Why haven’t you gone inside? It’s late, you shouldn’t be out here by yourself...”
She wipes her eyes and looks again at King. Thinks about what she’s shared with him. They barely knew one another when they went to Eclipse Lake together... but he’d shown her how to read those strange human symbols, just when she’d been sure Luz was going to break up with her if she couldn’t bring back Titan’s blood. It seemed so silly now, that she could think that Luz, of all people, would do that! But in the moment she had been so certain... so completely convinced...
In part King had just been there at the right time... but there was more to it than that. She couldn’t have told just anyone that fear. Eda, or Willow, or Gus... she probably couldn’t have told any of them. Something about the little demon had made her feel as though she could trust him. And he had repaid that trust with the greatest gift imaginable!
Turning the odd human contraption on its side, all had become clear, her fear and self-doubt swept away in an instant leaving a new clarity like she’d not felt before. A realization that her own mind had been tricking her! She wonders whether King understands just what he’d done for her, realizes she hasn’t even thanked him properly. Distracted by her catharsis at the time, she hadn’t thought to. She feels guilty now, resolves to repay him somehow.
And it wasn’t just the symbol reading. When her attempt to reach the Golden Guard had turned catastrophically back on her, she’d been frozen, reeling from the mess she’d made. And King had leapt between them, protected her with his demon power yell. Without that moment to collect herself, maybe she wouldn’t have managed to bring back even a blood-stained glove...
Something clicks into place. She trusts him!
“I... don’t know what I’m doing, King... I think I ran away from home...”
King closes the last few steps between them, and scrambles up to sit beside her on the tree. Places a hesitant paw on her upper arm.
“Did something happen?”
“Yes... but... it’s not... new. My mom... she’s... not nice... and my dad... he does nothing... to stop her...”
“...How long?”
“Since... always.” Amity feels it all bubbling up incoherent, everything she’d hidden, left unspoken, fled from even in her own thoughts. “She... controls everything. Everything! My whole life! Everything, she decided. Even my hair, she made me look like her. Sometimes I’m not even sure... who I even am. Until I met Luz, I don’t know if I wanted anything, I thought I did, the Emperor’s Coven, but now... I just don’t know!
“And... I’ve always tried to do everything she tells me to, but it’s never enough! No matter how hard I try it’s not even okay! And she... she’s really cruel. I have to be the best, or I’m punished, but then she punishes me for even getting close! No matter what I do I’m just wrong! She made me look like her, but, King, I think she hates me. She’s always hated me.
“And I used to... sometimes I acted like her! I didn’t mean to... but it just happened! She gets inside my head... and she made me wear this necklace, and she used it to speak into my thoughts... no matter where I was, I couldn’t stop it... sometimes I wasn’t sure which thoughts... originally came from me...
“And my dad... he just stands there like... like he’s not even there! He doesn’t even look at me, he acts like I’m not there. And he just lets her. Sometimes, he joins in with her... and then he’s back to acting like I don’t exist... my mom hates me, and I don't think my dad feels anything about me... King... I don’t know what to do...”
King sits in silence for a few moments, and then hops down from the tree. Amity feels the tears coming again. Then she feels a clawed paw take her hand.
“W-what are you doing?”
“You can’t go back there.”
“I don’t have a choice!”
“Yes, you do. Amity, you can stay here.”
“W-what?” Amity is suddenly uncertain, but almost hopeful; a kind of hopeful that's fearful that hope will just lead to a deeper despair.
“I’m sure Eda will let you stay. You just have to ask her. She’ll understand.”
Amity looks at the ground. “B-but... Luz... she... she’s... I don’t want to... to be a burden...”
“Don’t you see? You staying is just the thing to cheer her up! I tried to help her, but I couldn’t do anything. But you can! Just by staying.”
She looks at him, hope swelling beneath her chest. “You... think so?”
“I do!”
She’s so close to being convinced.
“I’ll come with you, to ask Eda. We’ll ask her together.”
Amity begins to cry again. She wants to hug this demon but she doesn’t know how. Would he find it weird? She’d need to pick him up. Would that be rude? Probably, if she didn’t ask first. She should ask first. But would that be weird? She doesn’t want to upset him now... doesn’t want to ruin whatever miracle is somehow happening to her. But he’s holding her hand... so it’s probably okay to ask?
“King...” She sniffs.
“Yeah?”
“Can I hug you?”
King takes several moments to reply, and her heart sinks, but then his voice comes, kind and surprised: “Sure.”
So she picks him delicately up and wraps him in an awkward hug. She’s not a natural at this like Luz, but it’s nice all the same.
“There’s just one thing...” she says, eyes shut. “I don’t want Luz to see me like this.”
King checks inside the kitchen to make sure the coast is clear, peeks around the corner to the living room. Hooty is still there, chattering inanely at Luz while she tries to read an old and dusty book. Beside her is a half-empty plate of owl-shaped cookies. King sighs. At least Hooty completed his ‘mission’ half-right. He returns to Amity, takes her hand again, and hurries her through the kitchen and up the stairs.
He finds Eda in the hallway outside her bedroom, back turned, rummaging through the bottom drawers of a glass-doored cabinet. Coming to a stop, he swallows, and without letting go of Amity’s fingers, speaks.
“Eda?”
“Yes, King?” Eda asks, through a mouthful of something. “I’m kinda busy right now.”
King looks up at Amity. She looks back at him, eyes like a tiny demon in a beam of lantern light. “Eda, we have a visitor.”
Eda turns, blinks twice, dumbstruck, and then spits the papers she has held between her teeth.
“Boots!?” Eda’s voice is shocked, and she casts aside her armful of scrolls. “What in the hell happened to you?”
Amity rubs her arm awkwardly, struggling for words, so King steps forward.
“She ran away from home. I saw her outside, and we talked. Eda, she told me some really bad things about her mom and dad, and she really can’t go home. She doesn’t have anywhere else to go, so can she please stay here? She could share Luz’s room.”
Eda takes several moments to process all of this, and her stunned expression morphs gradually to one of understanding, taking on the motherly air she has around Luz and King. A child is in serious need, and she adapts, naturally parental. Not that it occurs to her now, but she has on impulse rescued one child before, and sheltered another.
“Of course you’re welcome to stay here, Boots. I’m afraid it’ll be a little cozy, but I’m sure we’ll manage.”
Amity makes a little strangled gasp and King looks back up at her. She’s trying - and failing - not to cry again. Eda steps forward and does the parallel arm thing, hugging her.
“There, there, Boots. You’re safe now.”
King lets go of Amity’s hand, and hugs her leg. Amity’s arms hang limply by her sides. Overwhelmed by the first motherly gesture she’s ever experienced, her tears pour. They stand like that for a few minutes, Eda occasionally rubbing Amity’s back.
Eventually, Eda questions gently. “Since Luz isn’t with you I take it she doesn’t know you’re here?”
Amity shakes her head without removing her face from Eda’s dress.
“Shall we get you cleaned up before going downstairs?”
Amity nods, and breathes in, a jagged sound, like she’s trying hard not to cry again.
“King, can you get some clothes from Luz’s closet? Something with long sleeves. We’ll be in the bathroom.”
“S-sure, I’ll be right there.”
A short while later Amity stands looking at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her hair brushed, the ruined makeup washed from her face, the cuts on her arms and knees cleaned and bandaged and covered by fresh clothes... Luz’s clothes. Amity blushes at the thought, and not for the first time since she put them on. Her eyes are still red and puffy from crying so much, but there’s nothing that can be done about that. She hopes Luz won’t notice.
“You ready, Boots?” Eda asks gently from the doorway.
Amity turns and nods. “Y-yes, I think so.”
Eda puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder as she passes, and walks her down the stairs to the living room. King joins and follows closely behind.
“Hey Luz.” Eda calls. “We have a guest.”
Luz looks up from the book she’s reading. “A-Amity!?” She jumps up from the floor, astounded.
“H-hi Luz...” Amity says weakly, abashed.
Slowly, Luz’s look of incomprehension changes to one of excitement. “It’s so great to see you!” She sounds overjoyed. “What are you doing here so late?”
Amity has been thinking on an answer to this question since Eda said she could stay, and she still hasn’t found a good one.
Eda steps in. “Something happened at home, and Boots is going to be staying here for the foreseeable future.”
Luz’s face falls. “Something... happened? Did your mom do something?”
“I- She-”
King interjects. “Let her get settled in before you start the interrogation!”
Luz looks at King, expression cycling from worried to momentarily thoughtful, mind changing track, looks back at Amity with a beaming smile again. “It’s so cool that you’re staying!”
“Hiya Amity!” Hooty’s head appears above Luz’s.
“Hello, Hooty...” Amity looks at him, awkward.
“Allow me to be the first to formally welcome you to the Owl House, hoot hoot!”
“Not the first, actually,” says King. “The last, actually.”
“Sheesh! Someone moves in, and you tell the house last!?” Gives an irritated: “Hoot!”
“Sorry Hooty.” Eda apologizes with a faint smile. “It sorta happened suddenly.”
“I’ll let it go this time, but it better not happen again.” Hooty sounds peeved.
Eda turns to Luz. “We thought she could share your room, is that okay?”
“Huuh!? Of course! It’ll be like a slumber party! ...A permanent slumber party!” Luz does a little spin on the spot, dashes forward, grabs Amity by the hand, and has her halfway to the bottom of the stairs before she’s finished her next sentence. “Let’s go to my room! Oh, I guess your room now too!”
Eda looks down at King with a grin that speaks volumes; that everything just happened exactly as she expected. “Well, that seemed to go okay. Give them a few minutes, then go upstairs and make sure Luz doesn’t talk that poor girl’s ears off. She could probably do with a good night’s sleep.”
King nods and heads for the door.
“Oh, and King...”
He turns his horned head.
“You did a good thing today. I’m proud of you.”
Go to Chapter 2: New Routine, New Revelations
Or read me ramble analysis below...