Amity sat down on a rock on the beach. The young girl hadn’t wanted to be stuck there but everyone else agreed that a pissed off, tired as hell Amity was the last thing any of them wanted getting lost in the dark. Best case scenario to a lot of them was that she passed on the beach. She had tried to object but when even Luz could push her down back onto her rock, she finally relented. Besides, they were right that they needed to focus on the search, which had led to the two strangers being very quiet as they focused on marking what parts of the Isles were most likely to hold Bright, and worrying about Amity would throw them. So here she stayed, ready to greet the lost girl if she got smoked out her way.

A figure watched all of this from the shadows. She wanted to come out once Dalia and Cam had showed up but she couldn’t step out, not yet. Not while Bosha, Amity, and Luz were there. If they managed to find Bright though, she would be able to easily get all three of them to come to her without much of a fuss with one or two spells. She would have just started with the call but it required them to want to come to her. If Bright ran away because of her…

She glanced to her side as a hand placed itself onto her shoulder. She looked over to see a pair of brown eyes looking at her before the shade wrapped her in a tight hug. It was exactly what she needed at the moment, even if she didn’t like that it was there. She was supposed to be keeping her magic under wraps. Fortunately, the kids hadn’t seemed to sense her in spite of it. Maybe she worried too much about it most days. Then again, when was that new.

She smiled as she looked back at Amity. She was young to still be so young. To only need a hand to rest your head on and a nice, cool night to sleep. To dream of those you love and the fancies that turned your face bright red from the thought of just holding their hands. A small part of her wanted to do something to see about trying to make sure she could keep it that way but her mind immediately flashed to Odalia and she dismissed it. It was too dangerous. This whole thing had been too dangerous.

“Ah!”

The figure’s attention snapped back to Amity as the serious girl leapt to her feet. She’d broken out into a cold sweat and shook from unseen force. Her eyes darted across the beach front as her chest heaved before she ran to the water. Amity splashed her face a few times before pausing and then splashing it one more time. Then the figure in the treeline winced as the poor girl covered her mouth for a muffled scream. She must have not closed her eyes.

But she also probably meant to do that, especially with how she wasn’t covering her eyes from the pain. She didn’t even take off the small cover at the top of her uniform to have something to clean her eyes out with. It probably stung like hell, but would be effective at keeping her awake. It made the figure turn to shade beside her and glare hard enough to finally get it to raise a hand where it was missing one of its fingers.

Of course. She hadn’t considered it before now but it seemed obvious that it would seek out Amity. It likely wanted to see what she was like now. See if she was vulnerable. That, or to try to start integrating itself into her, just like it had with her. That second option wasn’t allowed, no matter how dangerous it was to fix it.

Or, she told herself that’s why she came out. At the same time she’d figured out what the shade had done, she’d noticed two things off about Amity. The first was that she was sobbing. How long had she been awake? How bad were her nightmares getting? She wouldn’t have anything to fight them yet so they must be torturing her. She hoped that the shade was to blame for that. But then there was simply something that hurt on a deeper level for the figure. The fact that there was no purple abomination on her shoulder. She should have had it by now. It should be trying to comfort her. Instead, she was alone.

She couldn’t allow that. “Hello.”

Amity shot back to her feet as she looked. It was a little hard to see through her tears but brushing her arm across her eyes mostly helped. The figure that had walked out threw her for a second. The voice was wrong but she couldn’t help but ask, “Lilith?”

The figure sighed for a second at the thought of the old coven leader. “Understandable you would think that. If it would help keep you calm while we talk, you may call me that.”

Nothing about that was ‘calming’. Amity rubbed at her eyes again before glaring at the figure. They were close to a spitting image of Lilith. Long, white cloak that was held only by the leader of the Emperor's Coven, straight up Lilith’s staff, unless she was seeing it wrong, and even the half bird mask over her eyes. “If you want that, maybe don’t talk like you murdered my mentor.”

The figure sighed and then extended a hand towards Amity. It was more in panic than anything. She shouldn’t be casting spells but the young girl still was trying to be smooth by beginning to walk around the stranger while dragging one of her feet through the sand. A magic circle. And, with her current curve, one that would take a lot out of a properly rested Amity.

The arm did stop Amity though as she stumbled back for a second. There was a genuine fear on her face. Did the young girl recognize her? Unlikely. The cloak was good at obscuring the leader’s face and she had even had the hood deepened since she didn’t need her eyes to see most of the time. Even if Amity saw her hair, she’d likely assume that it was simply shadows framing her neck and chin. She must look terrifying, especially to a young girl who’d been dealing with nightmares.

The figure pulled her hand back before saying, “Please, I only want to talk. “

Amity nodded before going back to her drawing. Even making the circle was theoretically going to make her collapse but she didn’t feel tired suddenly. This figure had her re-energized. Especially since that last nightmare, for even a second, had a figure that looked exactly like her. One that said it was her fault for having driven off those she loved, just as Amity would do too.

To say that thinking about her being swallowed by an abomination was… It didn’t help. She was still terrified and her body trembled at merely being close to this person. To the weird, amorphous black shape that shifted like goo and muck. She would swear that it was watching her too, even if it had no distinguishable eyes or the like. “Then stay right there and I’ll listen.”

She smiled a little. She was proud of herself, wasn’t she? Thought she was being clever. It made her happy. She needed it right now. “You’ve been infected. I can help you get what’s in you out.”

Amity opened her mouth to speak before her throat felt like it was constricted from within. Something that was grabbing the inside of her neck with all the force it could manage. She hit her knees as she tried to cough out whatever it was. It refused to go though. She managed to lift her head to try and look at the figure. They were reaching out to the shade behind them as they said, “Wait, you’ll hurt her!”

Wasn’t that what they were doing? Amity hung her down to try and deal with the pain as she lifted her other hand. The hand she’d spat on earlier today. The figure turned to it before pulling a sigil card out and slapping it between her hands. She then widened it in a circle to create a barrier in front of her. “Now stay still. I won’t have her panicking more.” She then winced as she heard Amity let out a ragged gasp. “And you know how I feel about that.”

The goo let out some sort of sad groan but it actually sank down to be mostly flat around the figure. Still even. That was perfect. Now she would deal with Amity’s fireball and-

BOOM!

Boscha, Luz, Dalia, and Cam all looked back to the beach. They’d only heard the noise of the spell hitting the figure but they could see the smoke coming from the hit. Then they felt the shockwave. It was... wrong to have come from the blast though. It stayed. It pressed against their minds and Luz and Boscha both hit their knees at the images that came with it. The words that whispered in their ears. The fear that gripped their hearts. As quickly as it came though, it seemed to be pulled back and out of them.

Odalia and Cam were hit by the wave of energy too but they had gained an immunity to the magic for a variety of reasons. The immunity also meant that they needed to get to the beach. The beach was also the last place they wanted to be.

Meanwhile, two other people were dealing with the blast as their cave threatened to collapse for a second from how hard the ground shook. Cluz whole body turned to smoke briefly as the essence of what she was made of felt like it was almost yanked out of her. She tried to clutch at her chest to push the magic back in but she merely had to watch as her body began to melt.

Then she solidified. Her essence came back under her own control as her blue glow was eclipsed by the miniature sun that Bright had become. The clone couldn’t even see the run away like this but that only made her increasingly concerned. After all, this sort of light was going to shine out of the cave and if anyone saw it, they’d likely come and investigate. She’d lose her new home and her charge. Her… She didn’t have a choice. Not with the light shining outwards. Someone would spot it.

The only two people who could have though were too focused on each other. Amity saw the figure’s mask fall to the ground and shatter as their black shade swirled around them. It had been just a second too late at realizing how strong the blast was to fully protect the figure but it had done well enough that, when it began to slow down, Amity could see they’d only moved because they’d slid back from the force of the hit. There wasn’t they weren’t singed, bruised, or had likely even come close to falling into the sand from the hit.

The figure then raised her hands to cover her eyes, needing both to do so properly, before saying, “You shouldn’t know that yet.”

Amity was going to drop all pretenses now as she made two circles on the ground. “What? A simple fireball? Sorry, but ‘abominations, rise’ is harder than that!”

The figure scowled at seeing the two abominations coming out of the ground. Amity was too tired to realize how large the blast had been. Or… Too scared. Damnit. She should have fallen to the ground. Made the young girl think she had a chance. A broken mask wasn’t going to be enough, especially now that the air was becoming distorted around her from the pressure exerted by her shade being riled up.. She couldn’t get her familiar to calm down either. She could only try not to suffocate Amity with the energy. “Amity, please. I know you’re scared but you’re so much braver than you think right now. If you don’t believe me for no reason, think about why you’re afraid. You’re smart enough to distinguish nightmares from reality. Don’t let them blend.”

Amity paused for a second, even as her abominations began to drag themselves through the sand. She hadn’t managed proper ones due to the shockwave’s effects having affected her more than she’d realized, but they were enough to get the job she needed of them as she took a step back. They could finish what she had begun earlier. But, at the same time, the figure… The figure was right. Just because this figure had appeared in her nightmare meant nothing. “Then… Then why are you here?”

The figure let out a long sigh of relief. Good. She would see reason. “I am here for the same reason you are. To find and help Bright.”

Amity’s eye twitched as the figure’s voice cracked for a second and the shade shivered at the mention of the name. She lifted one arm up while stretching the other to be close to her knees. “See, I might have believed that, but,” she said as her arms spun and one of her eye’s sclera became black, “you’re a part of the Emperor’s Coven and I won’t let you hurt them!”

For a moment the figure looked at her shade with a furrowed brow before the familiar moved in front of her. Suddenly a large maw formed in the mass of black just as a sigil sparked into being inside Amity’s spell circle. If she’d focused on them, she’d have recognized it as having a close resemblance to Luz’s light spell. However, she just wanted the threat gone. Needed it to disappear. She had justification for it now. A reason to be afraid. If the figure went away, she wouldn’t need to be scared.

At the back of the monster’s throat a large version of Luz’s fire sigil glowed bright before it roared and a large pillar of flame spewed from the shade’s mouth. It didn’t come close to the young witch though as she raised her now black hands and slammed them against the circle. Instantly, a beam of light met the fire and didn’t stop going so long as Amity kept her hands on the sigil that created it. The clashing energies stayed in a deadlock though, even as Amity yelled in pain from the exertion. This was taking too much of a toll on her. The figure sighed before taking a few steps to the side and telling her shade, “Abomination, stop.”

The effect was immediate. With nothing holding the spell back, Amity could envision it doing its job and was thrown back from the force of ending it. Before the spell hit though, a face on the side of the gooey mass formed to look at the mysterious figure in despair right before the whole thing was vaporized by the oncoming beam. A few scraps were left of course, but nothing from which could be used to fight Amity. That left the two women all alone now.

The figure took in a deep breath before sighing. Time to try to lie her way out of this. “I’ve lost. I have nothing left to fight you with. If you wish, you can tell me how to help you now, I only beg that you help me find Bright. Please, before anyone else needs to get hurt.” Not that she believed anyone else would get hurt. But Amity was stressing the level of protection she was afforded right now so if she went much farther...

Amity’s breathing sounded like it was taking every ounce of her strength to keep up with how labored it was to get even the smallest scraps of air in. Her entire body felt like it was burning up and her heart was beating so fast that she thought it might explode. Had she actually done it? Had she actually won?

She then looked up and noticed that there was no slide, no dive, nothing on the ground beside the figure. She had stepped out of the way. No panic, no last second dodge, and definitely no fear. Sure, it was in her voice when she mentioned begging to help find Bright but that could just because she was having to wound her pride just to toy with her. Amity wasn’t going to have it. Especially when she saw her circle glow briefly. Even during all of that, her abominations had obeyed her. She could end this.

The figure felt the energy beneath her before Amity moved. Felt lines being drawn across the sand that weren’t the girl’s doing. It was the abomination’s. The infection’s. It was a sigil she shouldn’t know. After all, she couldn’t have known this one. This one… No one other than her was supposed to know it. Ideally, no one ever would, but that was beside the point. Amity was going to kill herself if she used it and she couldn’t allow that.

This did give the figure an excuse to do what she had wanted to from the start. Her abomination rose out of the sand unscathed before creating a ramp pointed straight at Amity. The woman placed one foot on it before she was pulled along it with enough speed to mistake her for lightning. As such, it took her less time to get to Amity than for the serious girl to raise her arms. At the last second though, the sludge grabbed the figure’s arms and legs to stop her as Amity jumped from how her opponent had seemed to almost teleport in front of her. She then placed her hands behind her as she tried to start crawling away out of panic.

And then, just before she did, the figure wrapped her arms around the young girl. The woman’s body was shuddering and Amity almost immediately felt a tear fall on her cheek. What was she trying to do? Why hadn’t she just transformed her abomination into a set of blades and run her through if she was able to move it that fast? Did she want her to be more terrified? Because if that was the goal then… Then…

Then it didn’t work as Amity grabbed the other witch’s collar. “Why? Why am I so scared? Who are those two? Who is Bright?” She finally was able to get the questions out. Questions that had been running through her mind for three nights straight now. “Why would Boscha and Luz leave me? Is my magic evil? Am I going to hurt them?”

She felt another of arms wrap around her while another hand placed itself on her head. The arms belonged to someone who had a frame suspiciously close to Cluz’s if not for the fact that parts of her form rippled and shook as it appeared to be having difficulties not trying to move back towards its master. The other part of the abomination had a frame close to what she expected from what Boscha might look like when she was older. That left only one…

Amity watched as the other witch took one of her hands away and finally lowered her hood. She had long, messy, bright green hair that fell over her shoulders and had probably not been properly cut in years. Where Amity’s star was merely was the start to a darker coloration that ran down the front of the shaggy mane. But it wasn’t brown. It was pitch black, much like the abomination she controlled. Her yellow eyes were off too as they glowed. Like, literally. It made it a little hard to look her in the eyes and when Amity did she could feel her chest press in on itself as images from her nightmares flashed in her brain.

The older Amity then took a long breath to compose herself before getting onto her knees. She placed a hand on her younger self’s cheek while her other squeezed the young witch’s hand. The woman’s voice was soft and soothing and she could watch as the black in Amity’s eye began to retreat and her body seemed to relax properly for the first time that entire night. It made the older Amity wish she’d done this from the beginning, consequences be damned.

She then forced the other Amity to look into her eyes. She’d managed to calm them now so they were almost mirror copies to her younger self’s. She didn’t need to be scaring the girl after all. “Those nightmares are my nightmares. From my mistakes. From my life. You shouldn’t have faced them only so my familiar could say hi.” She then paused to look to Amity’s neck. The black goo almost immediately slipped out of the young witch’s skin and directly into the older Amity’s, with any other dregs following soon after. The moment the last one left was pretty easy to tell as Amity’s legs buckled under her due to the exhaustion it had been helping hold back.

The older witch made sure to lower her slowly until her head laid on her lap. The Boscha clone slipped her hood back over the adult Amity’s head now that the young girl could see the coven leader’s face even while it was up. Said coven leader was busy gently scratching Amity’s head as she continued to whisper to her. “And you might face them. But I meant what I said. You’re smarter than your fears and far braver than you think you are. You’re incredible, and your friends will keep telling you that. Make sure to listen to them and you’ll be fine. They’re not going anywhere and no matter how hard you might push them away, you know you’ll never hurt them. Not in a way that matters. Not after everything you’ve already gone through and everything you will go through.”

The older Amity scratched the young girl’s head one more time before making a circle in the air and summoning a pillow for the sleeping witch to lay on her head. She did take one more moment to be selfish and peck herself on the forehead. So young. So fragile. But so full of potential, just like her own kids. Or, this Amity’s future kids, so long as she hadn’t screwed anything up.

But, maybe, if she had, it would be for the better. She could only hope. This would be so much easier with her little Bright by her side. She could almost feel her warmth even but she still had no idea where she might be. Why had she even run in the first place? She pressed a palm to one of her eyes as the yellow in them began to spark and the glow came back just as the Luz clone at her side hugged her tight.

And then the Luz clone she had no control over spoke. “Hey, is this yours?”

Amity looked up to where Cluz was standing over her before her eyes widened. Bright. Her daughter. Why did she look so scared? So nervous? For a moment, her eyes darted to Cluz who just looked away with a sigh. No, she wasn’t a part of this. If she did anything to harm Bright, it was likely forcing her to come out here.

Her eyes then moved back to her daughter. Bright had calmed down at this point but all of the excitement dide mean that her light shone over her brown and yellow eyes. They wouldn’t meet her mother’s though, not until Amity forced her to by placing her hands on the young girl’s cheeks. The witch tried to see something there before-

I’m scar- Where i- How i- She’s no- Luz, I-

The connection was cut off as Bright slammed into Amity. The witch wrapped her arms around her daughter even as her body trembled. “I’m sorry. I’m not supposed to use that against any of you but-”

Bright put a hand on her mother’s lips before giving her a small smile and gesturing, “You never did anything wrong.”

Amity let out a sigh before reaching up to Bright’s head. Her own hand darkened around the magic her daughter constantly channeled but she had long ago learned how not to be hurt from it as she messed up the idiot’s hair, just like she did with her first wife. Just another part of her weird existence. Her eyes then watered for a second as she thought about both of theirs problems.

That only got Bright to hug her tighter and to smile wider. It was exactly what Amity wanted… which was also why she grabbed Bright’s shoulders and forced her off of her. “You ran away for a reason. And while I hope I didn’t see part of it, I don’t want you trying to comfort me until we have a proper discussion, understand?”

Bright sighed before sadly nodding as she rubbed her arm. With that put on the backburner, she turned to Cluz. “So, where do you fit in this?”

Cluz raised her free hand up as she let out a nervous chuckle. “Hey, I found her alone, freezing on the beach a few nights ago and gave her a place to stay. That’s it.” She then sighed as she glanced over at Bright. “She wouldn’t even answer my questions so I had no clue that it might have been your kid.”

“Yes you did.”

Cluz looked over to see Amity’s smile peeking out from under the hood. “I won’t touch you, don’t worry, just like I bet Bright never did. You can’t handle that after all, not if you can avoid it. Just like you were happy that she didn’t answer any questions because you could tell yourself any excuse you wanted for why she was sticking around, no matter how cruel to yourself.”

Cluz took a step back as her eyes widened. “What the hell?” She then turned to Bright and watched as the girl ducked behind her mother, but not without her cheeks radiating light, which actually didn’t stop being visible due to, you know, the glowing part to it. She assumed. Or… “Does it have to do with that?”

Amity looked back to her shade as Cluz pointed at it before sighing. “Yes. When I got it, I gained the ability to see people’s fears. Inflict them on them. Bright can too technically, but her ability is more inherent. Less intrusive. She can even sometimes soothe people but she has less control over that. But,” Amity said as she reached back and scratched the side of Bright’s head, “I have also never seen her not do everything she can to either make sure someone wasn’t scared.”

Cluz sighed at that before saying, “Sounds like me and Luz. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised about that though.” She then was silent for a second before looking up. “Did I succeed?”

The witch shook her head at the question. “Sorry, but I shouldn’t be telling you about us, let al-”

“Yeah, yeah, time travel bullshit.” Cluz then grinned as she slipped her staff behind her neck. “I’ll pray for multiverse theory then and that you’ll come right back to help me. For now, I need to go before my original gets here. It was nice to meet you though. And hey, Bright,” she gave the small kid a wink right before she turned around, “thanks for the company. You’re a good kid.”

Amity sighed before she heard Bright jumping up and down behind her. If Boscha here she’d mention how that would be decided after they got the full story but Amity couldn’t. She often tried but once she got emotional like this, it often became difficult for her to push her instincts down. The first few years were especially hard when she thought Luz was going to drop her children and that Boscha’s jokes about them being ‘well balanced’ were serious. She’d been so angry, but she was also having to learn how to deal with constantly being terrified too so…

She sighed and rubbed her temples before hearing someone finally run out of the treeline. It was Luz with Boscha close behind. In spite of the weirdness that the magical wave had inflicted on the athlete, she was still the best physically amongst the four kids by a pretty wide margin. They stopped pretty quickly as they saw that there were indeed people on the beach. Luz then pulled out two handfuls of sigil cards while Boscha pulled out twin fireballs.

Bright’s head glowed brighter for a second before she began to run out from behind Amity and wave her hands frantically to get them to stop. They needed to know that everything was okay! Her mother stopped her though and pulled her back. Amity then held a finger to her lips as she could finally feel her other two children again. The portals had cut her off which had been part of why she’d been so mad at herself. She tethered herself to them for a reason after all…

The figure’s shoulders slumping made Luz lower her cards, especially after Bright, she assumed, went to hug her but was stopped by the woman holding a hand up to stop her. She then shuffled closer towards Boscha, who looked like she was having trouble keeping her fireballs out. “Hey, is it just me or does she look pretty-” Luz’s face then turned red before she added in a panic, “-cool! Pretty cool!”

Boscha glared at the other girl but she was feeling off too. Looking at her was weird and the swirling, black mass only made her feel more stressed. The two gave off drastically different vibes though. “Luz, focus.” She then turned back to the figure as she asked, “Where’s Amity?”

The figure and Bright slipped to the side to let Amity be more easily seen as she slept on the beach. The older witch wanted to merely speak to them, put them at ease herself, but there was a vast difference between a scared, tired girl and two people who spent most of their time with her trying to figure out if she was stressed. Cluz only made it worse as it meant they both knew what one of their trio sounded when they were older so their brains wouldn’t dismiss the concept as quickly as she’d like.

As such, she made sure her familiar kept its mouth shut as a sigil within it glowed. She couldn’t have Luz learning any spells preemptively after all. Once cast, a pressure placed itself in Amity’s skull but that only meant it was working.

“Hello.”

Boscha and Luz blinked at the psionic message, especially since if looking at the woman was weird, having her in their brains was a whole different level of strange, even though neither had a clue as to why. The fact that the voice sounded neutral in every possible way didn’t help. Amity didn’t know about how the connection would affect them as she’d never had to use the spell on her two idiots before.. Bright then reminded her of what she should say next as the small girl put a finger over her lips. “You don’t need to worry about Amity. I simply helped her finally get some sleep.”

Boscha scowled before putting a fist on her hip. She wanted to be more severe but Amity did look at peace where she was laying. Still, “Sorry if I don’t exactly believe you. Giant smoke cloud and all.” She decided not to bring up whatever that wave of pressure had been. She wasn’t sure she wanted an answer on that.

But the older Amity couldn’t tell them the truth. They needed to discover that part of their magics on their own. She was still terrified that Amity would remember what she had done, which only meant once more forcing Bright not to give her a hug while she was in front of Luz and Boscha. She was also supposed to be angry at her daughter, or pretending to be, but the fear of the other two beat out her frustration by a mile. “That was indeed me. She was scared and I needed a way to get her to stop so I could help her with what has been hurting her for the past few days.”

Boscha’s eyes widened but Luz beat her to shouting. Only problem was that Luz yelled at her. “Is that what you meant by if she was doing better? Is that why she’s been avoiding me for two days? I could have helped her!”

Boscha turned back towards Luz and summoned a fireball that was much easier to keep out. “Don’t act like this is on me, or that you could have done more than me! You don’t know her fears as well as I do.”

Crack.

Boscha’s eyes widened before both girls looked down as a vial shattered between them. For a second, the two thought it was just water but the first hint of a tentacle made Boscha vaporize it before the eldritch summoning potion could grow any larger. Cam quickly stepped into the place of his quick summon as he let out a sigh of relief. It still worked for stopping his parents, even when they were this young. He then smirked as he looked between them and whispered, “I get you two are good at shouting contests but how about a quiet contest?”

Boscha’s face lit up with anger until her future son pointed towards the shoreline where Amity was somehow still sleeping. That only got the bully to glare at Luz again before turning away with a “Harumph.”

Luz turned bright red out of embarrassment as she looked before letting out a sigh of relief at seeing her friend be fine. The conscious Amity had to watch as Cam sighed though. He had a hard enough time getting the warmth he wanted at home without not being recognized. These past few days couldn’t have been easy on him, especially if he ever had to speak with Boscha alone. She’d need to make sure Boscha talked to him when she calmed down about him having run away. If only she could stop being so proud as to tell him why she got so angry whenever he vanished because he refused to ever believe her and Luz. But he was also a teenager. When he grew up, she was certain that him and Boscha made up. She hoped.

Speaking of problematic relationships, her eyes drifted up to the treeline and she saw a blur of green and pink as Dalia hid behind one of the trees. Did she have to be hiding? Amity kept trying to meet the girl on her level so she could help her but nothing she tried worked. She just ended up running off eventually and only Luz could get the girl to open up. And then she refused to tell any of them what was wrong because ‘counselor’s oath’ like she was a licensed therapist.

But it meant they were all here. Just like she had hoped would happen if she had to properly tap into her magic like she had. She extended the spell to Dalia and Cam before thinking, “Now, I believe it’s time for us to head home.”

Boscha and Luz turned towards the woman before they both brought their magic back out. Boscha barked out, “Oh no you don’t,” before Luz finished the threat with, “we still have questions for you!”

Amity sighed. Of course they had questions. There was a reason she’d tried to never let her kids know when she had figured out a temporal spell. She would bet Cam had snuck into her study one night though and stumbled upon it. She quickly considered the idea of him having made a potion that could manage replicating it before trying to push it to the side. She voiced her belief in him the most but she hadn’t been the one to threaten to beat Viney up if she didn’t let her son go into the best classes he could manage because a small part of her was afraid of how far Cam could go with his magics, or how far he would go…

But she had similar fears for each of her kids. Of her family. Of…

Cam’s eyes widened as he noticed Amity put a hand to her head. Her familiar began to morph and that was all he needed to reach into his pockets before wrapping his arms around Boscha and Luz’s shoulders so they looked at him before they saw the same clones that Amity had. He then winced in pain as Boscha grabbed his arm and slowly peeled it off of her. “No touching.”

Cam shut his eyes tight as he slowed his breathing. Of course she was only worse with her anger at this age. He yanked his arm away before saying, “She’s distracted, so we need to come up with a plan. I have some empowering potions here that should help us even the playing field.”

Boscha rolled her eyes before she hissed out, “Oh, and what makes you think we can’t take her?”

Luz kind of just turned to the other girl before saying, “Do you think you could take Lilith before she lost her magic? Because I’ll let her know if you say yes.”

Boscha paled a little at the thought of having to face whatever the elder Clawthorn might do about such a boast, even without magic, before taking the potion and downing it in one gulp. “Fine. So that’s… That’s…”

Cam blinked a few times before wrapping his arm around Luz’s neck tighter to get the human to choke and open her mouth. He then relaxed enough to make her be able to drink the potion before she was able to breathe. By the time that Luz’s vision began to swim, Boscha was already hitting the ground.

“Cam!” Dalia finally came out of her hiding spot and wildly flailed her arms as she tried to make sure she didn’t fall face first coming down the steep hill that separated the beach and the forest. “What did you do?”

The boy just rolled his eyes before popping out three more of the same, clear liquid. “Sleeping potions. What did you think?”

“I think we especially need to go now.”

Cam and Dalia both looked up as Amity now loomed over them. Bright helped keep them from panicking too much though as she waved excitedly at them from behind her mother. Dalia even managed to meet her mother’s eyes but Cam didn’t bother trying. He knew he was in trouble after all. He just had to wait for whatever she might choose.

Amity had a better idea though. “I’ll be leaving your punishment up to B.”

Cam’s face drained of color before growling at himself. Great. He imagined lab restrictions for at least the rest of the school year, if not confiscation of all of his reagents and potions to reset him on his research. He’d have rather A had sealed his magic or something similar but she probably knew that he’d barely care. It’s not like he cast spells after all. The ears were just for show…

Dalia stepped in front of him though as she gave her mother the best puppy dog eyes she could. “Don’t punish him! I caught him muttering to himself about Blight but I’m the one who stabilized the portal that Bright had found when I made him admit he wouldn’t be able to and might get trapped here.”

That wasn’t enough to stop Cam from looking away as Amity had sighed. The past year had been hard on all three of his parents. He’d always been trouble but it had gotten much, much worse recently. He only looked back at them when Bright hugged him tight. It only lasted for a moment before the mute girl stepped back and held her arms up in an X and shook her head fervently. With anyone else, he’d assume it was just dumb luck. But he knew it was her way of saying she didn’t see him as pure trouble. He then smiled at her as he tried to make sure Amity didn’t see him sign, “Tell me that next time I give you a potion that makes things into candy.”

Bright’s cheeks turned bright white before Dalia gave her sister a tight hug. “Can’t we focus on how good it is to have Bright back?” She then looked up at her mother with a tense frown. “After all, if we hadn’t come over, would we have found her already?”

Amity couldn’t help but think about how she could have avoided as much damage as tonight may have caused but she couldn’t take it seriously. Her fears would consume her if she didn’t try to look at them rationally after all. If the two hadn’t snuck away after their sister then Amity would have needed to find wherever it was that Cluz had been hiding, something she still didn’t know. Sure, she had watched the clone go into the woods but that meant nothing with her. Her children would never call her I after all. Amity preferred calling her Idiot Mom more too though and while Luz tried acting grumpy sometimes, she was more than happy being seen as the casual parent amongst her kids.

So finally she let out a sigh and looked at Dalia. She smiled a little at just seeing the three together again, especially as Cam messed up the shine spot on Bright. Her smile brightened though looking at her normally shy daughter. Luz kept telling her not to underestimate Dalia but the girl never stood up for herself. The fact that she’d try to shift away from blaming Cam not once but twice to her of all people was… It made her happy. “I agree, but I don’t think I’ll be able to relax until I have you all home.”

Cam nodded as he ignored Bright fuming about the middle child having just reminded her that she was the shortest of the three. Dalia joined him a moment later but her eyes betrayed her worry. All three of them were about to get in big trouble after all, especially if Amity had been there for more than just tonight. But that only made her squeeze both Bright and Cam’s hand before giving her mother the best smile she could. “I’ll see about making cookies when we get back.”

Bright’s spotlight turned off for a second as she turned ghostly pale while Cam covered his sister’s mouth. “I’ll make the cookies. We don’t need to add attempted murder to our crimes.”

It was the last thing that made Amity know she was going to have to leave it up to the other two to punish them. She just couldn’t do it after three nights without them together like this.