The horrified expression that encapsulated Luz's features was enough to make Amity's heart shatter. She braced herself to intercept her mentor, but before she could move a muscle, Eda was in front of her, the palm of her hand pressed against the bottom of Lilith's neck.
"Putting my student in danger to benefit your own agenda is a coward's move," the Owl Lady spat.
Lilith stared impassively at Eda. A slight smirk played on her lips as she answered. "Any work done in the field of magic is dangerous. It's not my fault that you decided to take on a fragile human for a student."
"And it's not my student's fault that she's a fragile human!" Eda shot back. "She's been working very hard these past couple weeks. She already knows three spells!"
Amity glanced at Luz, and from the blank expression on her crush's face, it seemed like Luz didn't know whether to be proud or offended.
"Three spells," Lilith scoffed. "She'd barely make the baby class at Hexside. She'd be no match for my protege, really. But would it be better if I had to go against you? I know the curse has left you a shell of your former self, Edalyn."
Amity watched Luz's eyes for any spark of alarm, but Luz remained startingly impassive. She must already know about the curse, Amity realized.
"Even with the curse I'm stronger than you have ever been," Eda growled.
Luz sidled towards Amity. "I don't think I can watch our teachers... tear each other apart like that," murmured the human. A chill seemed to strike her, and she shivered.
Amity's heart swelled with sorrow. "I know. But we have to let them. I could never fight you."
Luz glanced at Amity. "I could never fight you, either," she whispered, and for a moment, while their faces were mere inches apart, the sound of their mentors' argument faded into the background, and Amity once again lost herself in Luz's kind brown eyes.
A small corner of her mind whispered to her to close the distance. That's ridiculous, she scolded herself. Luz has only known you for two weeks, and Eda's life could be on the line if we don't figure out what to do! So, she shook her head and tore herself away from Luz's captivating gaze. "I just wish there was a way to save her," Amity muttered.
"Me too."
"If you would just join the coven already, we wouldn't have to fight at all," Lilith was saying. Eda had drawn back, and was now standing protectively in front of King, who was grasping Eda's leg tightly. Willow and Gus were nowhere to be seen. Amity didn't blame them for running off. It was taking most of her strength to stand and watch the argument, but she knew she needed to do something to save Luz and her teacher.
She thought back to the last covention. Both Eda and Lilith had cheated, meddling in their students' duel in a way that was entirely illegal and definitely under Lilith's usual standing. Lilith must have known that she was no match for her sister. That must be why she wants Luz and I to fight- she knows that I could beat Luz with a wave of my finger.
If we let Eda and Lilith fight by themselves, someone could get hurt.
But if Luz and I fight, we already know how it would turn out...
"Stop," Amity blurted. Both sisters turned to look at her. She swallowed. Was this really a good idea? She'd barely had any time to consider the nuances of the plan. She had only a vague idea of what was going to happen, and whether it was actually going to work or not was another question entirely. Was she putting herself and Luz in even more danger?
"We'll do it," Amity continued, voice shaking. "Luz and I will duel for you."
"You will?" Eda and Lilith exclaimed.
Luz's expression morphed from fear to shock in an instant. " We will?"
Amity nodded. "We will. Lilith, Eda, we'll be waiting inside the auditorium in an hour." She made her way to Luz and leaned over to whisper in her friend's ear. "Don't worry. I have a plan. Come with me and I'll tell you what we'll do..."
~
An hour later, the auditorium was packed to the brim with spectators waiting for the duel between the students of two of the most infamous witches on all of the Boiling Isles. It had taken a while for Amity to solidify the plan of attack with Luz, but once she had, she was far more confident in its chance of success. Plus, Luz's boundless determination was contagious, and as long as Luz felt self-assured, Amity felt self-assured too.
Now Amity and Luz stood at opposite edges of the sandy arena, waiting for the duel to begin. Though her heart felt like it could pound out of her chest, Amity forced herself to calm down and examine the arena as closely as possible. It'd be integral to her plan. Now that she was looking for them, it was much easier for Amity to make out the strange lumps of sand scattered across the stage. Even now it wasn't above Eda to cheat, she mused. Of course, neither was Lilith. The construction glyph was definitely stuck to the back of Amity's neck. She'd felt Lilith slip it on just as they'd entered the side door into the arena, and she wondered how she hadn't noticed it last time, with its uncomfortably sticky texture and the way it made her neck feel stiff.
Luz hadn't asked why Amity knew that Eda was going to booby-trap the duel, and she hadn't seemed to wonder how Amity had presumably snuck in and watched Eda place the traps herself. She'd simply hung on to every word of the Amity's plan, and when they'd sorted out the details, she'd nodded briskly and- much to Amity's panic-slash-delight, taken both her friend's hands in a show of solidarity and didn't let go of them for several seconds.
Now they watched each other from several yards away, waiting for their signal to fight.
"Beloved citizens," Lilith began from where she stood at her student's side. "The Emperor's Coven proudly presents an impromptu demonstration from two of the Isles' youngest magic students." Amity noticed that this time around she hadn't been referred to as "the sort of witch the coven seeks every year"... did that have something to do with being caught associating with Luz? Not that I care anymore. I don't want anything to do with this group of the Emperor's monsters.
Even across the stage Amity saw Luz tense up with nervousness. She longed with every fiber in her body to rush to the other side and comfort Luz- but there would be time for that later. She waited as Lilith carried out the rest of her spiel.
"Introducing Amity Blight."
The crowd erupted into a roar of applause. "Woo, Amity!" one particularly shrill voice called, and Amity suppressed her amusement at knowing that she still had her admirer around.
"Versus... some human girl."
Luz took a brave step forward. "My name is Luz Noceda!" she shouted, puffing out her chest. "And I'm training to be a witch!"
The crowd went silent, save for a few underwhelmed grumbles.
They might be able to, but I could never express how proud I am of you, Luz.
Then, the bell screamed, and the duel began.
Both girls remained stoic for a moment. Amity discreetly jerked her head to the side and Luz's eyes widened in realization that it was her turn to move. She dashed across the arena, avoiding Eda's traps on the way, and stopped just short of where Amity stood at the edge. Then, she bent over and traced her finger through the sand, traveling all around the arena and making a huge circle around a mound in the center. As she moved back the middle and began to trace a glyph, Lilith leaned over and hissed in Amity's ear. "Why are you just standing there, dithering like a human? Do something!"
"Just a moment," Amity murmured back.
As soon as Luz's glyph was complete, Amity summoned some abomination goo from the ground and rode it like a wave towards the center mound. Luz arrived in her position just in time for Amity to scoop her up and carry her to the center as well- even now, even with these stakes, Amity's brain still short-circuited at Luz's proximity.
The goo deposited them just below the center mound. Amity kicked the mound with her heel as Luz leaned down and touched her glyph. A pillar of fire erupted behind them and, with one more well-timed abomination spell, the entire arena was dazzled in a harsh white light. Amity and Luz now stood a story above the other spectators on a tower of abomination goo. Though the fire still burned hot at her back and the strength of the light spell had temporarily blinded her, Amity couldn't ignore the rush of triumph that flooded through her veins.
"I can't believe that actually worked," she whispered to Luz as the light spell began to fade.
Luz took her hand and squeezed it. "It was certainly... showy."
Amity grinned. "And that was just the beginning."
By now the light was beginning to fade, leaving the spectators groaning and rubbing at their eyes. Annoyed as they might have been, Amity and Luz had definitely been able to grab their attention. Surely by now they knew that this wasn't any old witches' duel. They were about to see something they had never seen before.
"I almost lost my ability to see you, Amity!" wailed the distinct voice of Amity's fan. Amity blew a kiss in his direction.
Now all eyes were on the two of them. "Are you ready?" Luz asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be."
"Then here goes nothing." Luz lifted her chin and took a deep breath. Her hand, which she'd never taken out of Amity's, was beginning to shake, so Amity gave it another reassuring squeeze.
"Thank you for giving us your entire attention," Luz began. "My name is Luz Noceda. I'm a human training to be a witch, but this is not a witches' duel." She nodded to Amity. "This is Amity Blight, the most talented witch student I've ever met. I haven't known her for very long, but what I do know is that she's one of the best friends I've ever had. Now, I know what you're thinking." The audience had begun to growl about the human witch again, and it seemed as if Luz was fighting to keep her voice steady. "A lowly human and a talented student of magic, friends? Incredulous! But it's true. We work very well together, surprisingly."
Briefly Amity recalled Grom. Luz was right- she'd never felt stronger or more capable than when she was fighting by Luz's side. Perhaps there was some sort of deeper magical connection there. The idea made her blush.
Now it was her turn to continue their speech. "This is the very reason we're here today. It was requested of us that we duel on behalf of our teachers- but considering that my teacher is a cheater, we decided to come together in peace instead." She ripped the construction glyph off the back of her neck, wincing as she did so, and held it out, hoping the audience would be able to see it. There was a shocked gasp- most notably from Lilith below them, as well as a sharp howl of laughter from Eda.
"That's right," Amity went on. She fed eagerly off the energy of the crowd, and how clear it was that they too were beginning to turn against Lilith. Yes! Yes! Look at me! Look at us! "You have proof here that the leader of the esteemed Emperor's Coven is willing to use violent means in order to hurt a young human student with lower than average magical knowledge. Is this the kind of system you want to follow?"
The feedback to her announcement seemed to be very... varied. Some of the crowd members instantly yelled out their support, while others yelled out in defense of Lilith, and before long a chant of "Praise the Emperor! Praise the Emperor!" was spreading through the auditorium.
With the sound of conflict ringing in her ears, Amity allowed the abomination tower to slowly collapse and let her and Luz onto the ground again. "Oh, sweet sweet ground!" Luz sighed when her feet touched the sand. It didn't take long for Amity's eyes to meet Lilith's, and from the look of it, her mentor was not happy. Bring it on, she thought.
Lilith was practically bristling like a cat when she reached Amity's side. "I can only think of one thing to take from this... demonstration today," she hissed.
Amity looked down and pretended to examine her nails. "Mhm? What?"
"You're a disgrace to the Emperor's Coven," Lilith replied. "You and your alliance with the human and with my sister. I'd expected more from you, Amity Blight. And thus, from now on, you will no longer be my student."