[Okay so i really wanna write in 1st person and maybe I'll do that for the rest of the chapter idkkk. Uh so yeah hope you enjoy this one! :D ]
Here ya go, a nice 4000 word chapter like how it should be!
Luz's POV
"What are you doing here?" I hissed, gripping Amity's hand, pulling her further behind me.
"I could ask the same thing yourself!" The girl replied, her voice silky tainted with her taste for conflict, "I thought you were supposed to be at Summer Camp."
She came up to me and grabbed my wrist tight before I could attempt to wrench it out of her grasp.
The others took a few steps closer to us, grins plastered their faces.
This was obviously going to end badly, but I didn't think it would be worth starting the fight so soon.
I was only able to be free from them for a couple of sweet months. Now it was happening all over again.
Amity tugged at my hand, beckoning me to turn around. But as I did so, she bumped into a huge figure of a boy behind her. She almost jumped out of her own skin.
"And it looks as if you've found a new friend!" Via exclaimed as Amity tried to draw a spell circle but stopped halfway in dread as she realised she couldn't do magic. The boy leaned in to touch her hair, but Amity whipped out the way, shouting "Hey! Watch it!"
"Don't you dare lay a finger on her," I almost growled.
It's her, it's her oh gods are you actually serious. The o d d s of this happening. Of all the days, of all the times, of all the places. Now? Fear gnawed at my stomach as the group of people nudged us closer and closer into their circle that was decreasing in size.
"Oh, so you care about this friend of yours, don't you? I wonder what she's like. Maybe another weirdo like this Luzer?"
"Don't talk to her like that!" Amity snapped back.
Without warning, one of the boys grabbed her wrist so tight that I saw the skin around his grip turn paler.
Why can't I do anything?
Amity punched his stomach with one hand as she yelped in pain when he twisted her arm before kicking him hard on the chin.
Why won't by body move!?
Seeing that the boy was stunned by such immediate attack, Amity whipped her head around to see another boy and two of the girls around me.
I need to help Amity!
One of them grabbed me from the collar of my T-shirt. Frustration boiled in my mind. What the actual FRICK was wrong with me? I was frozen again, just waiting for them to beat me up.
I was there again. On the floor, bruised and broken. I remember the muffled chuckling of the group as they aimed one last kick at my body on the ground. The feelings came flooding into me again. The pain, the fear, the hurt. They turned and walked away as if nothing happened. I lied on the floor, the concrete against my bruised skin. It had happened so many times before but that day was the worst of it. I didn't know why they kept doing it. I don't know why they picked on me just for being weird. For liking girls. For being a nerd. I wasn't doing anything to harm them! Rage churned inside me but it was put out by despair and I felt the hot tears coming down my face.
I cant let this happen again.
I cant
My mind snapped back into reality when my mind clicked when I heard Amity's whimper from my side.
Amity.
I had to protect her but it was Amity that launched herself towards Via.
"Luz!" She cried desperately for a response.
"Sorry," I muttered as I stood now ready to fight them.
This was useless. The five of them versus the witch and the human.
But that was okay. As long as Amity got out of this unharmed, it would be alright.
Forgetting the pain which spread through her torso from where she got punched when Amity wasn't looking, I lunged at one of them.He skillfully dodged before grabbing my arm and pulling me towards him so that she would be met by a punch that almost knocked the air out of me. Pain flooded my mind as I struggled to take in a breath.
"I don't know why you guys bother with me." I panted, trying to regain my composure before being hit on the back. I stumbled a few steps forward at the impact but right now i coudlnt concentrate on the pain I was in, but only finding a way to get Amity out.
I threw myself at the girls that cornered Amity back against the wall.
"The hell-" one of them exclaimed with gritted teeth when her side hit the wall.
Amity's eyebrows were furrowed with determination but there was also some fear in her eyes. I pulled her out as fast as I could before a hand wrenched my shoulder. I yelped in pain.
"Amity, you need to get out! RUN!" A yelled at her. "GO AMITY!"
She was still standing there, eyes fixed on me, her green hair shining on one side from the street lamp light that seeped to the window.
"No! I'm not going to leave you!" She yelled as I dodged a punch and landed one on someone's neck. Why wouldn't she just leave?
"Amity-" I was cut off by the guy scooping me up, locking his arms around my chest, not allowing me to move my arms.
"Aww, you two really care about each other dont you?" Via said, an eyebrow raised as she eyes us up and down. The fight subsided, but I kept flinging my legs and banging my hand again his chin, but he squeezed my even tighter. I felt as if the bones in my body would be crushed at any moment. The places where I was hit were pulsing with pain and since I had stopped fighting, it only got worse.
Suddenly, the other boy trapped Amity too, the same way other held me. The witch let out a grunt and tried to move, only making the grip on her tighter too.
"No!" I yelped, my lungs burning , locking eyes with the redhead's fiery gaze. "Please..." I begged. Anything but her. "Don't hurt her, Via."
Via looked at us up and down, the silence deafening us. She glanced at the members of her group, seeing how deshelved they looked. We did a somewhat good job considering the fact that there were only two of us. Even Via's hair was a little out of place and there was a bruise on her arm.
"Fine, I'll have mercy on you." She concluded as I breathed out a painful breath in relief. "I guess we've had enough fun for tonight."
Just as I thought they'd leave us, she turned around and took a few steps towards amity, her shoes clicking. She better not dare touch her.
"So tell us, who is this friend of yours? Amity I heard you say?" She glanced back at me.
"Eww!" One of the girls said, "her ears!"
Amity glared at them as Via leaned in to see them.
"What the f-" she cursed and step back,
"...The hell did you come from?" Her face scrunched up in disgust but Amity kept her amber eyes right at hers as strands of hair fell down from her half ponytail.
She scoffed and gestured for them to back down and let go of us. My legs screamed to get to Amity the second they left but before I could even breathe properly, the boy shoved me against the wall with one powerful arm and I hit my head on the wall. The pain shot through my spine and the rest of my head as it made a sickening thump. A ringing bellowed in my head and the next moment I was on my knees, the footsteps of Via's group fading away.
Amity. I need Amity.
"Ammy," I could barely whisper and I felt her arms around my aching body as I fell forwards. Her hands made her way up to my face and she lifted it so that I could see her face.
"Luz! Oh Luz!" Her eyes were tearing up, which made my heart ache but I was content that she seemed better off than me. Her hair was half out now.
"Are you badly hurt, are you?" I asked and Amity immediately shook her head vigorously.
"No! What is wrong with you? I should be asking you that!" She frowned, her eyebrows furrowed, her ear twitching.
Leaning into the softness of her now cold hands, I drew in a breath. It was a little hard to breathe but it was a relief that the pain was starting to go away except for the back of my head that made the back of my brain feel as if it were melting into a hot, sticky mess.
"I think I'm fine, it's just that my chest hurts a bit and my head is throbbing. But don't worry about silly old me!" I tried to let out a chuckle but my stomach burned with pain, making my eyes shut tight. I opened them again quickly to face the concerned witch's gaze.
"Of course I'm worried about you Luz! Here, let me feel your head," she brought one of her hands and I noticed how the other one lay limp on her lap.
I sat myself up, my head still heavy as I backed away from Amity's hand.
"Amity, your h-"
"No, Luz, just let me see if it's bleeding." Her hand made her way up to my hair and she gently brushed her fingertips against the back of my head. She let out a sigh of relief. "Thank the Titan." She uttered.
I gave her a genuine smile, hoping that I could lighten the mood a bit. Everything else was just a little sore, but, hey, things could've gone a lot worse.
Amity attempted to return it, but I could tell that she was still concerned. So that she could direct her attention away from me, I gently held her hand that was behind my head and brought it back to her lap.
"Amity, your arm. There's a huge bruise on it..." I said, my voice quivering with seriousness. I wanted to hold her arm up to see exactly what caused it but a) I have barely any medical experience despite my mother being a nurse, and b) it'd only put her in pain.
"Whattt, pffff that's nothing!" She pulled down her rolled up sleeve and moved her shoulder back so that her arm was pulled further away from my view. She was acting like on the Grudgby field again.
"Of course it's something!" I said with frustration in my voice. "Show me."
I flinched at my own tone of voice and so did Amity. She simply stood up and turned her gaze away from mine.
"I'm sorry for snapping," i said more gently. Hesitantly, I got up to and slipped my fingers into the palm of her good hand. Thank goodness she took hold of mine and looked back at me, her cheeks brushed with light pink.
"Can we just go home now?" She asked, "we could find some quick healing spells in one of The Owl Lady's books."
"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." I reassured her with a smile. Finally, she smiled back. I took the key out from my pocket and ran my thumb down it's smooth crimson brown surface. "We've just gotta find a door."
We traveled slowly through the half-tunnels until there was an old mysterious-looking door, painted a strange green that almost blended in perfectly with the brownish bricks.
"Ancient, weird-looking door! Just what we needed!" I said as I put the key into the hole. It clicked open and the bright wight light flowed my vision.
"Come on, let's go home now." I said, my hand outstretched to Amity, who gladly took it, her eyes squinted whilst facing me and the door.
I opened my eyes to find myself back in the owl house. This time, we came through a different door of the house. Hmm, that's strange. I'd expected that we'd end up in some random place, but this was a huge relief.
"Oh great gods," Amity breathed out and walked toward the lit room.
"Hoot! Hoot" came a voice from the window beside us.
"Aaack!" A yelled as I stumbled back, making me wince at the pain throbbing down my back. "Hooty! Don't scare us like that!" I told the bird tube that peeked over the window ledge with some snow on his head. Seeing it made me realise how cold it was.
"Jeez, no need to snap! Hoot! Did you know I felt this reaaaaaally weird thing and it turned out you two were opening a portal! I can't wait to tell Ed-"
"NO!" I cut him off, "You are not going to tell Eda a single word!" I felt a little bad shouting at the owl tube. It was probably just because of how tired I was.
"Hmmmmmm," Hooty said while turning his head round in circles.
"I don't have time for this!" Amity stepped out in front of me and grabbed Hooty tight with her good hand. Before I could say a word, she hissed, "If you tell anyone anything without Luz's permission, I will make sure you regret doing it the second the words come flying out your mouth."
I couldnt help but smile at how cute she looked when she was mad. Her little ears were perked up and her face was red.
"O-okay, hoot, h-hoot..." he whimpered as he slithered away and shut the window.
"Amity," I started as she whipped her head around, her pools of amber still blazing with fury. "Woah, woah there!" A chuckled and held my hands out in front of me.
"What's so funny?" She said, the anger in her voice toning down.
"You're so cute when you're angry like that!"
I smiled even more when her ears flapped down now on embarrassment, her annoyance subsiding. She turned her face away, crossing her arms, her lips pursed.
Once my laughter subsided, I let out a sigh.
"We're really filthy now, aren't we? As much as I wanna go to bed now," I paused to yawn, but as I did, a sharp pain pierced through my neck and stomach. Amity dashed over to me, holding my shoulders, one hand gripped loosely.
Tears pricked at my eyes as I stood still, my back curved forwards, waiting for the pain to go away.
"Luz?" Her voice filled my ears as I kept staring down at the floor beneath us, wide-eyed.
It was going away now. Good. I let out the breath I was holding and I tilted my head up, my head feeling heavy.
"We really need to find those spell books," Amity's gentle voice spoke as she looked around at the shelves of books surrounding us.
"I'll do that then. You should go and change your clothes" Before I could protest, she carefully nudged me in the direction of the hallway.
"Come on," she put her hand on my back, which made my body buzz again, despite how tired I was. She cares about me so much, I thought, glancing at the determined witch.
"Thank you, Ammy," I rasped, a bit surprised by how croaky my voice was all of a sudden, "thank you so much," I continued.
Amity stopped and turned to face me, her cheeks red. I brought up a tired hand to her smooth, perfect face and she tensed up at the impact, letting out another one of her squeaks. I brushed my thumb lovingly along her radiating cheeks. For a moment, my throbbing head stopped being an absolute nightmare when I got lost in her beautiful eyes.
Not knowing what to do next, I awkwardly put my hand down again. It drooped down to my side as if it were sad when the warmth of her face wasn't against it anymore.
"Uh~ I think I should go and take a quick shower now." I said, rubbing my hand behind my back, internally flinching at the pain that coursed through my body. I didn't know how long I could keep acting as if I were alright in front of Amity. I didn't want to worry her.
I quickly turned around and hobbled towards the bathroom and turned on the shower. Taking off my clothes, I realised just how bruised I was. With a small grunt of frustration I got into the shower, letting the warm comfort of the pattering water drip down my back.
I came back out a few minutes later feeling a lot better. The throbbing hadn't stopped though, but it was less than before. I discovered that it only got worse when I kept my head in a certain position of it I pressed against it (and, of course, me being an idiot, I learnt it the hard way whist experimenting)
I sat on my bed, still wrapped in my towel and sat there thinking. Just as the water on my skin was starting to dry, I jerked up, sitting straight.
LUZ WHAT AN ABSOLUTE STUPID IDIOT I AM!
It only just dawned upon me that I had put Amity in danger. She got hurt because of me. I let her get her.
I hurt Amity.
Why did this only register so late?
We should never have gone through that portal.
I put us into danger. I decided to violate my possession of the key. I am the one to blame for all of this. She didn't even ask me who those people were! She just wanted me to be okay and that was enough.
I smacked my forehead, tears forming in my tightly shut eyes as I scrunched my face in frustration. I put on my clothes as fast as I could and speed-limped towards the room of books (the spare room, basically) that we were in earlier.
"Amity!" I yelled, slamming my hands on the table. Amity looked up in panic from the books she was looking at whilst the spell that she was doing disintegrated into thin air.
"Amity, I am so sorry," i ran to her chair, wrapped my hands right around her and buried my head into her shoulder, rocking back and forth. Now the throbbing was back again because of the pressure in my head from crying. Amity was frozen, I could feel her limbs tensing up.
"Amity I am so, so, sorry I should never have brought us through to the human realm. Via... Via and her stupid group of friends..." I tried to say, in between painful sobs, "I'm so sorry I let them hurt you."
Sniffling, I lifted my head from her now wet shoulder.
"Hey, Luz, please," Amity started to relax, but her eyebrows were furrowed again, her eyes glistening. "Luz, please, you can't blame yourself for this. Don't you even think about doing that!" Her voice softened, barely above a whisper.
"Who were they? Were- were they bullying you?" She said in a hushed voice, saying it so that it wasn't insensitive in any way. She couldn't just asked that question earlier, but I realised she didn't because she knew. "They were, were they?" Her voice whispered in my ear as I put my head on her shoulder again, trying to breathe through shaky breaths. I tried to nod.
"Oh, Luz," she brought her hands to my head, very careful not to touch where it hurt.
"None of this was your fault. I had an amazing time with you, Luz. If we hadn't gone there, none of this would be happening. But I was the one who let you get hurt. I blame myself for that. I should have done more to prevent you from getting this hurt!"
Her fingers ran through my short hair, her palm brushing against my temple each time she brought her hand forward again to stroke it.
"No.." my voice trailed off. I was too tired to speak but my chest was still aching from how sincerely sorry I was that she felt that way.
I calmed down almost immediately, immersed in the feeling of her hands, sinking deeper into her shoulder.
Suddenly, my eyes flickered open.
"Amity, your hand! It's fixed," I could barely exclaim, as she stopped stroking my head. I leaned back on her lap so that I could see her hand properly. The bruise was all gone except for a little redness. "That's amazing," I breathed, eyes wide with surprise and amazement.
"I just followed the steps of a simple spell. It took a few times to get it right though..." Amity replied, the corners of her mouth twitching in a bit of embarrassment.
"Woahhh"
"Well, I guess it's time for you to be healed too. Do you mind sitting down here?" She gestured towards the chair.
I slumped down on it, a bit upset that I was off her lap. Amity saw this and blushed a little before speaking.
"Can you show me where it hurts the most?" She said, holding her hand above my stomach, urging me with her other hand to guide hers.
"Here," I said, holding slightly to the left at the bottom of where my rib ended.
"Okay," she said in response and paused, building her concentration on her hand. Slowly, she drew a spell circle in the air and tapped the middle. Instead of disappearing, it turned into a vertical disc of light and she held it there for a bit. A buzzing sensation went around the area. It wasn't exactly pleasant or a terrible experience either, but now the pain was a lot better.
"Thank you so much, Amity!" I said, seeing her face flush red before she stood up and walked behind me before doing the same to the back of my head.
As she did the process again, but this time to my head, of course, I felt as if my last brain cell was going to die from the buzzing sensation. Imagine having not very painful pins and needles on your head. That's what it was like.
"There we go," she said, her voice a bit higher in pitch than usual, making her way round to face me.
"I- I feel so much better. Thanks so much!"
"My pleasure," she said, dipping her head. "Well, I think I'm going to head for a shower now." She turned quickly and started to head out.
"Wait!" I called. "You're not hurt anywhere else, are you?"
She shook her head.
"Okay," I muttered as she left the room.
I waited in my room for Amity to come back in her pyjamas. It was a hard battle against sleep, but I was determined to stay away until Amity was back.
The room was lit only by a few light spells around the bed.
The door creaked open as Amity shuffled in quietly wearing pink and white matching pjs.
"Hey there," I said, my voice groggy with sleep.
"Hi," she replied, her face turning red and she sat herself down on the foot of the mattress by my feet.
"Sorry to disturb you, but should I go and sleep on the couch downstairs?" She started.
"What? Downstairs?" I said, eyes wide, "Of course not! Come on, sit here, with me. There's room for the two of us." I continued, patting the side of my pillow after rolling over to give her some room which used up almost all my remaining strength. I didn't care what time it was, but I sure was tired.
Amity sat there, staring with her flapping ears.
Aww, they're flapping again!
Her face was a tomato now, there was no difference between the two if you held one right next to her cheeks and ears.
Slowly, but surely, Amity laid her head down on my pillow, her red face facing mine as she tried to keep as much distance from me as she could without falling off.
I couldn't take waiting for her to snuggle with me any longer so I flung an arm around her and pulled her closer to me, making her squeal. Her face was so close to mine, I could almost feel the air between us mixing. A looked at her, mesmerised by her beautiful features with my eyelids half closed. Finally being able to properly relax with her near me, I moved my hand to hers and gave it a light squeeze.
"Am I making you uncomfortable?" I asked, the words slurring as I spoke.
There was a long pause before Amity breathed out, letting herself relax.
She let out a hum of content, implying she wasn't.
And with that, sleep hit me like a wave of darkness, the last thing I remember was the warmth of her hand as I felt her thumb go back and forth the back of mine.