Chapter 5: Knifepoint

Summary: Everything goes to chaos.

Amity held the abomination-made knife to the blonde's neck.

Every day her magic grew weaker, and she just hoped she wouldn't burn out before Luz was safe.

The surrounding people froze, and Amity could see the fear in their eyes.

Scared people would be fidgety and make sudden movements, but as long as they were nervous they would obey. She'd been told all about how to push people around by Boscha.

Maybe that information will be used for good anyways .

Now to state what she wanted.

"This doesn't have to be difficult," Amity started, the tip of the knife drifting ever so slightly, "just give me Luz and your friend doesn't die."

A tense silence fell between the group. The two strangers on either side of Luz glanced at each other with worried faces. One looked close to tears and the other was trying to stay calm.

"We-"

The sudden noise startled Amity a bit and she tightened her grip on the handle of the knife, causing the brown-haired girl to raise her hands in front of her, as though to show she was peaceful.

"We don't mean any harm…" she said, her voice shaking. 

"I promise we haven't tried to hurt Luz." She reached for Luz's wrist and a goopy spike of abomination flew right past her head. The moment it touched the tree behind her, it melted down to a puddle.

"Okaay, touching is a nope." The girl popped the 'P', fiddling with her index fingers.

Luz stood up on her own, eyes round as they stared into Amity's soul. "Hey Amity, this is all really sudden and everything…"

With a splash, the second stranger from in the river leaped and tackled Amity to the ground, forcing the weapon out of her hand and rolling until she ended up above her, teeth bared and fins twitching.

Amity narrowed her eyes and twisted, kicking the girl off of her and jumping to her feet, getting her hands ready. The girl landed clumsily with a thud, getting up and hissing. Her eyes, specifically her pupils, were small and darted around the space they were fighting in, coming up with a plan. For someone who looked like a fish, she sure was intelligent.

The stranger ran and jumped at a tree, pushing off against it and hooking onto Amity's back with sharp claws, causing her to topple over and forcing them both on the ground. They raced to be the first standing again, and once she was up, the witch lashed out with a vine of abomination slime and pulled the other towards herself, a sharp laugh escaping her as she prepared to end this fight with a final strike.

"Amity, stop!"

"Marcy, no!"

Luz and the first girl darted between the two, both helping restrain their friend in some way.

Amity was pulled into a tight hug, and her abomination creations became puddles on the ground.

"I missed you too…" Luz mumbled, and Amity's face warmed as she hugged back.

The two pulled away from each other after a moment, and Amity yawned loudly.

"I am… super tired." She groaned, rubbing at her eyes for a moment before letting her hands fall by her sides.

She noticed the stranger she had been fighting seemed… familiar, now that they weren't trying to kill each other.

Black hair, wide brown eyes, white shirt, brown leather chestplate, and a green skirt with patches on it. She was missing her cape and had fins and gills now, making her look more fish-like, but she was definitely the same person.

I should say something, right?

But before she could open her mouth, the stranger began to speak,

"Hi! We got off on the wrong foot yesterday, um… I'm Marcy!" She held out a webbed hand for Amity to shake, which she did with a small smile.

"I'm Amity. Sorry for trying to… kill you."

Marcy chuckled, "it's fine. Fun fact, not the first time someone's tried to murder me." Something with her mood shifted and her smile vanished for a split second. Quickly the brunette girl pushed in between the two.

" So , should we do the rest of the introductions? My name's Anne, and that over there is Sasha." Anne gestured to the blonde from before, who was brushing off her clothes after being thrown aside.

"Sash, this is Amity." 

Amity waved gently. She struggled to not collapse from exhaustion, but it was a possibility.

Sasha nodded in acknowledgement.

Luz placed a hand on Amity's shoulder with a smile. 

It had taken so long to finally find her, a week of no sleep really messed up your body. But now that she had… everything felt good again. It felt right . Even though Sasha might've wanted to kill her, everything was finally okay.

A tiny squeal cut through her thoughts. Amity looked up and saw Marcy holding a journal and pencil, excitement barely being contained.

"Can I ask you a few things?!" She requested, bouncing on her heels. Amity nodded slowly and Marcy began.

"Why are your ears pointy? Was that magic? Can you create goopy purple things from nothing ?" she gasped, "How do you do magic ?!"

"Uh… my ears are pointy because I'm a witch, yes that was magic, abominations usually come from thick mud or specially crafted substances, and every witch has a bile sack attached to their heart that allows for magic to be used." Amity explained, drawing a lumpy circle and creating a small abomination spike.

"That's so cool ! Can you make it into any object you want?"

"Pretty much. It's all sloppy right now because I've had an hour of sleep this week." Amity swung the sharp spike around in the air.

"Careful, you might poke someone's eye out." Sasha warned.

"No, it's fine. I've been practicing this stuff for years -"

There was a sickening squelch and everyone froze, shocked and/or disgusted looks on their faces.

Marcy was missing her right leg.

"Th-that's not good…" She tried with a pained laugh, before collapsing onto the ground.

The group erupted into chaos.

"MARCY!" Anne cried, rushing to her side while Amity swiftly created a fake leg of abomination that fit into place of where the old one once was.

Luz screamed in horror, backing away rapidly and choosing to hug a tree. Sasha gagged and looked away, an equal expression of fear in her eyes.

Amity worked quickly, yanking some vines and flattening them with a hammer of abomination goop, then tying the prosthetic leg to where Marcy was bleeding.

She was still conscious, and was gripping the grass with gritted teeth and eyes clenched shut.

"The fake leg is on now, she should be able to walk." Amity sat back on her knees and let out a relieved sigh.

"Marcy? Can you hear me?" Anne tried. Macy opened one eye slowly and grunted, there was too much pain for her to properly form words.

"Try to sit up." Amity suggested, making sure the binding on the leg was tight enough.

Marcy tried to take a breath and her eyes widened in panic.

"She can't breathe!" Anne explained, struggling to pick her up. She got about halfway there before Sasha shoved her aside and scooped up their friend easily, running to the river.

Amity followed at a slower pace, making sure to reinforce the bandages and fake leg.

Sasha lowered Marcy into the water carefully, making sure she didn't drift away.

Luz caught up with the group about a minute later.

Amity shuffled away slightly, feeling awkward and unwanted.

"I- I…" The others turned to her and she took a deep breath, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for any of that to happen, I thought I had everything under control…" She brushed her hair out of the way of her face, "...but I didn't. This has been rough since we met not even fifteen minutes ago, I'm just really tired and… I'm sorry."

She raised her head.

Sasha looked like she was about to explode with fury, but Anne seemed more understanding and held her back.

"Amity, what you did was… an accident, and I think I speak for Sasha too when I say it's going to take a bit for us to fully forgive and trust you again." Anne spoke, glancing down at the water where Marcy was recovering and poking the top of her head up every now and again.

"But thank you for saying sorry."

Luz stepped up beside Amity. "And now you need a nap." She said, grabbing Amity's hand and leading her away.

"Oh yeah! Let me show you where Sasha, Marcy, and I slept last night." Anne walked with the two, leading them to a little clearing with thorns and vines creating tall walls to keep out intruders. There was a cliff overhead and a large, fluffy-looking bush in the center of the makeshift camp.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Amity double-checked, she still felt guilty about almost murdering their friend.

"Yeah! For sure. You take as long as you need for a rest." Anne confirmed with a smile, patting down the leaves that were slightly sticking out of the fat bush.

Amity sat down on the bush and immediately sank into the fluffy leaves. She sighed with contentment as the feelings of sleep deprivation caught up with her. She heard Luz and Anne walk away and closed her tired eyes.

She felt herself finally slip into sleep as her final thoughts of guilt slowed.