Chapter 2: Marcy Makes An Enemy

Summary: Marcy spends the day creating a curse.

Marcy woke up in a cold sweat, panting for air. She couldn't remember exactly why she was so panicked, but something had freaked her out. She gripped the front of her shirt where her chest was and sat up with a small groan.

Both Sasha and Anne were still asleep, buried in the leaves of the bush. Marcy tried to calm herself down, tapping on her knees with her pointer fingers.

Anne and Sashy are safe, I'm safe, everything's fine, we're in a new world…

She listed the things that might've spooked her and found a few reasons nothing.

It's nothing. Nothing's happened. I'm fine.

Thirteen orange eyes flashed in her vision and in her panic she fell out of the bush onto the hard earth with a grunt.

Marcy struggled to a stand and took a few deep breaths. She picked up her discarded journal and began to write about the strange feeling. The wind tugged at the pages of the book and flipped to a random page when Marcy was finished writing.

"Huh."

It was the one she'd used for taking notes about potions and magic. Her time with Maddie had been memorable and fun. Maybe doing some curse-making would take her mind off the feeling.

Marcy smiled and quickly tore a corner from a random blank page in her journal, writing a quick note on it and sticking it in Anne's hair. She placed her journal in Anne's backpack along with the pencil she got and set off into the forest with it. Her friends probably wouldn't need the backpack for a day.

The sun was just beginning to rise by the time she left, some of the huge stars and shining meteors were still visible in the purple-pink sky.

"Maybe," Marcy spoke to herself, "I can mash up random plants and leaves, and see what they do!" It was a great idea- and so she began to collect interesting-looking things and fit them in the backpack.

A medium purple bug with three big, beady black eyes (she shuddered and shoved it quickly into the bag), a couple of leaves from the tallest tree she could find, some sand from the bottom of a river, a bit of the river's water, and a droplet of sap from a younger tree.

She took the bag from her shoulders and put it on the ground, laying out all the items.

Carefully she dug a shallow hole in the ground and placed what she needed in it. Marcy began to crush the objects with the end of a big rock she found nearby. Once they were all mushed up into a gross, dark turquoise colour, she scooped it up into a huge leaf and tied it into a bundle.

She set down the curse carefully and wrote some quick jot notes about the ingredients, detailing the description of the strange bug with a doodled picture of it.

The bushes surrounding her rustled, and she froze for a moment, leaving the note unfinished and setting down her pencil. She grabbed the pouch and stood up, pushing past the many vines and twigs. She emerged into a small clearing with a cliff near the edge. Sunlight shone down on her from the sky, and somewhere nearby was the low humming noise of an insect.

Marcy felt a shove from behind and she fell forward with a yelp, now only a few feet from the cliff's edge. She looked up and saw someone she didn't recognize holding a sharp spear-like weapon made from what looked like purple slime. Lavender hair hung by her shoulders, and she had a look of pure fury on her face. Another thing Marcy noticed was her ears- they were pointy, like an elf's!

"Where," the stranger growled, "is Luz?"

"I- who?"

"Where is she?!" The weapon was jabbed closer to Marcy's neck, who shuffled away slightly.

"I don't know! I don't know who you're talking about!" this strange cotton-candy haired elf seemed wrecked, her shoulders slumped and there were bags under her eyes. Her hair was a bit of a mess, and her clothes were stained with mud. It was like the only thing keeping her awake was a burning desire to find whoever Luz was.

"I heard her, I heard her near you." She snarled, wiping away a tired tear.

"Um… well, I might have a guess at what that could be from," Marcy said hesitantly, making a mental note at how many estimated days the girl might've been awake for. Around four or five, it seemed.

"Have you slept recently? If you're emotionally close to Luz, you could be… hallucinating…?"

The stranger seemed to consider this for a moment before she snapped back to rage.

"Are you calling me delusional?!" She dragged the weapon towards herself and, drawing circles with her pointer fingers, changed the shape of it entirely to be two huge arms that grabbed Marcy by the shoulders.

"N-no! Well, yes, but-"

Marcy cried out as she was whipped towards a tree, groaning and rubbing her head.

"Woah!" she rolled out of the way of a giant goopy hammer that slammed against the trunk of said tree.

Marcy lifted her arms to protect herself and the little curse pouch from an oncoming sharp piece of goop, and realized she wasn't holding her creation. She ducked under the weapon and stumbled dangerously close to the cliff, standing and preparing to run for it. She froze when she noticed the elf pick up her little curse and took a step back. Her heart pounded in her chest as she raised her hands in front of her. "I- I'm sure we can come to an agreement here-"

The strange elf, noticing her fear, grinned wildly and threw the curse straight at her. It exploded into a cloud of sparkly teal dust, enveloping Marcy and wrapping around her like a tight blanket. Marcy coughed and waved her arm to get rid of the smoke, and it was only then she realized she couldn't breathe. She gasped and clawed at her throat in a haze of panic, and, not remembering she was on the edge of a cliff, took a couple of hasty steps backwards and fell off. Her stomach felt like it flipped over as she fell, reaching desperately towards the sky that was rapidly fading away.

There was a loud splash, and suddenly Marcy took in a deep breath. She had landed in a lake she hadn't even noticed. And she could breathe!

The surface of the water was deep blue from below, and she noticed multiple little sea creatures darting around her feet. 

What the…?

She blinked as she took in steady heaves of air. It was strange, breathing through liquid. It felt like breathing normally, but your mouth filled with water.

Marcy looked down at her hands and gasped excitedly. In between her fingers were fins. Actual, real fins. They glowed a green hue in the blue of the lake, and fluttered with the gentle pull of the current. Quickly Marcy looked around for some sort of reflective surface, wanting to see what she looked like now that the curse had landed on her. Seeing none, she spread out her fingers and pushed herself forward through the water. It turned out that gliding along the bubbles was easier when you were almost a fish. Marcy giggled and spun around, first in loop-de-loops, then like a tornado (which made her dizzy).

She laughed happily and dove down deeper into the great blue abyss. The fish here were so strange, some of them looked like underwater versions of bats! Marcy made a mental note about that, spotting their sharp teeth and frilled ears.

She noticed a small shimmer from below her and stopped.

It looked like the entrance of a cave, only a few feet under her and something sparkled inside.

Feeling pulled towards it as if by nature, she swam in and her eyes widened.

It was a cave of crystals. Huge, beautiful underwater crystals!

Marcy turned her head to her left and saw a reflective crystal. It was like a mirror, tainted sea foam green from the bubbles sticking to it. Marcy stared in shocked silence. A small part of her was disgusted, while the rest was absolutely bewildered.

Gills flapped from her neck as she breathed, her ears were now pointier and scale-y, webs stretched all along her body, seeming to grow out of the skin. She shuddered. There were little blue-green scales dotting her skin everywhere, and it felt amazing when the current tugged at her skin.

I have to show the girls! Marcy thought excitedly. She imagined herself popping out of a river to scare them and a sly smile crossed her face.

Flexing her new fins and webs, she torpedoed forwards, causing thousands of little bubbles to appear and flee from her.

She spotted the surface once again and made her way up towards it. The top of her head poked out and she saw, to her luck, two very familiar faces making their way down the side of the cliff.

Amity Blight was not a fan of mud. Sure, abomination goop was a similar substance, but it was actually cool and magical, unlike the boring brown muck. This stupid forest was full of gross stuff, including lots and lots of mud. The only thing it was good for was keeping her awake. Whenever Amity felt tired, she would submerge herself in the disgusting stuff and slowly sink until she couldn't breathe, forcing her to wake up and continue.

She wouldn't rest until she found Luz. She couldn't rest until her batata was safe.

"Amity!"

"Luz?!" Amity whipped around, scanning the trees. Nothing. But she was sure…

"If you're emotionally close to Luz, you could be… hallucinating?" the voice of the strange girl rang in her head.

"No," Amity decided, "I am not hallucinating. I heard her." she would not give up. Not while Luz could be in danger. Pushing that idiotic person off the cliff was just the first step to protecting her.

Sure, Amity's hair was a mess, and yeah, she hadn't slept for… a long time. The days were going by far too quickly, while the nights stretched on forever and ever. That didn't mean it was a bad thing not to sleep! Those countless nights of rest were just like what Luz had done when she was preoccupied in finding a portal back to the Boiling Isles.

"Amity!" 

"Luz! Where are you?!"

There wasn't a reply. Every time this happened, every time Amity heard her girlfriend, she would call out asking where she was. And Luz wouldn't answer.

It was driving her insane. 

"Luz, where are you…?" her voice broke from desperation and overuse. She was thirsty, hungry, exhausted, and she couldn't find Luz.

"You are a disappointment," Amity kept walking, using abomination goop to whack plants out of the way.

"Amity, your grades have been dropping lately."

"I don't care, Mom." Amity sped up, ignoring the voice of her mother. She knew it was fake. It had to be fake. But if it were fake, then was Luz not actually…

"Amity Blight! You are home far too late. Do you care to explain yourself?!"

Amity stopped and gasped. In front of her, the forest parted to reveal a scene she knew all too well.

"Mom, I…" She saw herself, younger and with brown hair, probably around the age of nine.

"You're grounded! Go to your room!" Odalia commanded, pointing with a finger.

"But-" Little Amity didn't want to go to her room, she hadn't even done anything wrong!

"GO!" she nodded slowly, dropping her head and beginning to walk away.

"Yes, mother…"

The real Amity, who had just experienced this moment once again rushed forwards with her abomination goop at the ready. She slashed at Odalia over and over again, only stopping when the hallucination vanished and she was too tired to even stand. She collapsed on the ground, panting.

"No, no- I have to- I- Luz-" she slowly felt

the world beginning to slip away, and couldn't fight it this time.

"Luz… please..."