The Wolf & The Witch

*~*Chapter 1*~*

Amity felt the cold deep in her core, sending a shiver down her spine, she longed to go inside her warm home to curl up in her bed but she refused to leave her front yard while yelling could still be heard from the house. The twins had warned her to stay outside, god knows what they did now, but they had a paper that their parents would have to sign before they could return to school. While Amity herself had done nothing wrong their parents weren't exactly the kind of people to just let things go when angered, usually if one was in trouble all three of the Blight children were in trouble. Heading the twins warning about waiting to come home she sent her mother a quick message saying she would be at her friend's house for studying after school, not angry at the time her mother was delighted to hear her daughter's plans and gave her permission instantly.
The screaming had never gone on longer than a couple hours before so Amity figured she could hide in the bushes propped against her favorite tree in the front yard, get her homework done and then come in to slip into her room. Now however the sun was starting to set, the cold seeping into her, whatever the twins did this time was bad. An annoyed puff of air left Amity as she pulled her arms tighter around herself in an attempt to keep warm, desperately wishing she knew how to conjure fires instead of cold slimy abominations. "Useful for most things, but not this time." She grumbled to herself.
A soft snap of a twig caught her attention, pointed ears perking for a moment, golden eyes shooting around the foliage for any sign of life. "Probably just a bird." She tried to reason with herself, eyes remaining on the bushes just to be sure. A beat passed, a soft breath escaping Amity as her tense shoulders dipped down again. Until a bush shook slightly out of the corner of her eye, instantly turning her attention on the source of the noise it quickly stopped. Amity narrowed her golden eyes, setting her jaw in an effort to appear more confident than she felt.
"Who's there?" She growled, her voice unwavering as she spoke. She was met with silence. "I said, who's there?" She repeated herself, narrowing her eyes to slits, considering summoning an abomination to protect her. Another moment of silence passed, before Amity could speak again however the rustling returned. Amity's body tensed as she readied her hand, the words to her incantation on the tip of her tongue, but what stepped from the bushes stopped her dead in her tracks. Her eyes went wide in surprise, hand slowly lowering as she peered at the sight before her.
It was just a dog. 'Or wait.. is that a wolf?!' It wasnt a huge canine, definitely tall, only a head smaller than her, with only slightly built muscles and huge paws. Wolf or dog, this creature definitely had some portioning out to do. Nonetheless Amity relaxed, the canine was approaching slowly, careful to keep her head down and tail tucked. A small smile tugged at Amity's lips, turning herself slowly in place so she could face the canine.
"Hey there, it's okay." She cooed, slowly reaching a gentle hand out to let the dog sniff her palm. The dog slowly looked from Amity's face to her outstretched hand as if considering if Amity was to be trusted, after another moment of silent hesitation however the dog shoved her face into Amity's open hand. The green haired girl giggled delightedly, gently scratching the soft dark brown cheek fur. "See, I'm friendly." Amity murmured, slowly reaching her other hand up to move up the dog's head, gently scratching behind fluffy ears earning her a happily wagging tail. Amity giggled again, earlier tension now gone from both of their bodies. Slowly pulling back to bring her hands back to her lap the dog whined softly, plopping down on it's stomach to slowly army crawl towards the girl to place it's head into her lap. Amity smiled, running a soft hand over the creature's head grateful for the warmth it brought.
A loud crash brought Amity back to reality, head shooting towards the Blight Manor as her hand stopped mid pet. The dog raised her head once more, following Amity's gaze to stare at the house, a soft growl rising from it's chest. Amity glanced at the canine, a soft look to her as she noticed her reaction. "Yeah, I don't like when they fight either." She murmured, reaching a hand out to grip the dog's fluffy fur in an effort to seek comfort. "I don't know what Em and Ed did but Mother and Father are not happy, and when they're not happy nobody is." Amity tore her eyes away from the house to see the dog was looking at her thoughtfully as if she was listening to every word she was saying. A soft sigh escaped her. 'If only that were true, I could have someone to talk to.' She thought wistfully.
"I know you can't understand but thank you for listening." It felt off to thank the dog but Amity hadn't spoken to anyone since Ed and Em had disappeared into the mansion of a house hours ago. She had to kill time somehow. "Ed and Em are my siblings, I love them a lot but they get in trouble a lot. Which gets me in trouble a lot, so I hide out here when they're in trouble so I don't get mixed in with it." Amity explained, the canine softly whined in response gently plopping a paw into the girl's lap as if to comfort her. The witch chuckled, it was a sweet gesture, she placed her own hand over the overly large as if they were holding hands. "Wow maybe you are a wolf, your paws are giant." Amity commented, running polished fingers slowly over the paw digits. Amity looked up to see the canine had kept her eyes on Amity, eerie orangish eyes gazing at her with a softness she had never seen come from an animal before. "Well if you are a wolf, you're the friendliest wolf I've ever met." The dog yipped in reply to this, tail happily wagging at the comment earning a soft giggle from Amity.
There was another loud bang that met their ears, this time however it sounded like slamming doors quickly met by silence. Amity sat frozen for a while as if moving would give away her hiding spot, but once she was sure the manor would remain silent a soft sigh of relief escaped her. "Finally." She grumbled to herself, slowly rising to her feet dusting herself off as another gust of wind sent a shiver down her spine. She grinned at the dog who was gazing up at her, head tilted curiously. "Thank you for staying with me, but I have to go inside now."
Amity bent down to give the dog one more quick scratch behind the ears before taking a step out of her hiding place and towards her home. She was stopped however by a soft whine and a tug at her shoulder bag. Amity raised a brow as she glanced down at the pup that was now holding onto the strap of her bag gently, soft whines emanating from her as she stared up into golden eyes with a pleading look. Amity's heart melted. "I'm sorry I have to." A soft whine was all she was met with and Amity's frown deepened as she couldn't help but wonder. 'Is she worried?' It was a ridiculous thought but it was a comforting one.
"I'll be ok, I promise." The soft words seemed to convince the canine as she hesitantly let go of her shoulder bag allowing Amity to slowly make her way to the house. When the green haired witch opened her front door she glanced over her shoulders to see she was being watched still. A soft smile tugged at her lips as she gave a small wave of goodbye before stepping into the manor and shutting the door with the softest click she could manage.
XxX
It had been a cold tense night in the Blight Manor, Amity did all she could to avoid her family before falling into a tense restless sleep. The next morning could not have come fast enough as Amity scrambled out of the house to school, siblings a few short steps behind her. Not one word passed between them until they were out of the house and well down the road. Glancing over her shoulder to see the twins usual smirk of mischief slowly returning she felt her own shoulders sag in relief.
"What did you two idiots even do?" Amity growled, earning a pair of giggles from her older siblings.
"Oh you know." Edric shrugged nonchalantly at the vague answer.
"Little of this, little of that." Emira added a playful edge to her voice. Amity shot them a sharp look but didn't push, she knew they were trying to keep up their usual charm but they must've gone through a lot last night. Amity sighed, turning her head to look forward instead as the three made their way down the road to their sanctuary, their beloved school, Hexside. Speeding through the grand gates Amity couldn't help but feel warmth run up her spine and down her limbs, her earlier anxiety faded away.
"Alright Mittens, see you later!" Emira called over her shoulder as the twins dashed past her, quickly running their hands through her green hair which earned them an annoyed groan. Pulling her shoulder bag closer to her body, Amity let a puff of annoyance escape her as she made her way through the school and to her home room, no one not even the teacher had entered the room yet. Amity curled up in her seat near the front, slowly pulling her notebook from her bag to mindlessly doodle as she waited for her classmates to join her.
It wasn't that Amity was unpopular or disliked, quite the opposite really she was one of the most popular girls in the sophomore class, but the extra moments of silence every morning in her safe place helped her feel at peace with the earth for once. Made her feel like the rest of the world did not exist for those extra moments, made her feel like she was just floating instead of existing. At least that was usually how her mornings went.
A student had entered the room, Amity hadn't even spared them a glance but now she could feel eyes on her. They were standing there staring at her, like some kind of idiot. "Can I help you?" Amity's voice was flat but had a bite to it, she didn't look up but she was almost sure she heard a small eep of fear.
"S-Sorry." Whoever it was sputtered out. A moment of silence passed, Amity puffed out an annoyed breath as she stopped her doodling to spare a glance at whoever was staring at her. Golden eyes met warm dark eyes, Amity could feel her heart do a flip but always the one to keep emotions hidden she only frowned at the girl before her. She was nervously running a hand through her short dark hair, she was smiling brightly but it seemed to be a bit awkwardly forced.
"What?" Amity questioned her again, this time snapping a bit more forceful.
"Sorry." The girl apologized again, sucking in a deep breath as if to calm her nerves. "I'm Luz, I start today." The girl, Luz, stuck her hand out for Amity to shake it. The witch looked at the hand for a moment before letting her eyes drift back to her face. Luz seemed to catch the message and dropped her hand back to her side. "I just wanted to get here early to ask the teacher about seating and uh- heh guess he's not here yet." Amity stared at the girl blankly as she rambled, raising a brow as she slowed in her rambling for a moment to awkwardly chuckle. "So uh- is this seat taken?" Luz gestured to the chair next to Amity, the witch finally realizing what the girl was trying to ask, she felt a warmth spread through her though she would never show it.
"Oh. You could've just asked that." Amity grumbled, annoyance edging the tips of her voice as she turned back to her notebook. She considered lying to the girl for a moment so that she could go back to her earlier peace, but decided against it. It felt wrong to send the sweet girl away. "Nobody sits there but don't bother me or you won't either." Amity finally responded, Luz made an excited noise as she plopped down beside the green haired witch. A moment of awkward silence hung in the air, Amity did her best to push away the feeling and began scratching doodles into her notebook again.
Luz was staring, Amity could feel the intense stare, it was quite unnerving to be stared at like that. Like a predator staring at prey. "It's rude to stare." Amity commented lightly, Luz made a surprised eep at the comment and Amity spared her a second glance. "What? Were you raised by wolves?" The comment eliciting a soft giggle from Luz, Amity resisted the urge to smile.
"Sorry, you're just really good at drawing." Amity felt her face heat up at the compliment.
"Thank you." Amity muttered back softly, refusing to spare Luz a third glance. 'Weirdo.' "I'm Amity by the way." She added quietly as an afterthought, Luz seemed to brighten as she gave her name.
The silence settled over them again, less tense this time as Amity continued to work on her drawings, Luz staring still but less obvious this time. Instead staring at the green haired witch from the corner of her eye. By the time the start of class had rolled around Luz had laid her head on the table to openly watch Amity again. Amity didn't mind as much this time, more amused than annoyed with Luz's staring.
"Good morning class." Ms.Clawthorne cooed as she walked in, smiling brightly as her mint green eyes rolled over each of her students with pride. Stalling slightly as her gaze fell on Luz, her bright smile wavering for just a moment. Luz was staring back, her earlier soft smile a stiff frown now. "Well hello Luz, I knew you were starting here today but I didn't realize you would be in my home room." Amity looked between the two, Ms.Clawthorne doing her best to keep her smile while Luz did her best to force her own grin. They both seemed tense at the sight of one another. 'How do they know each other?' Amity couldn't help but wonder as her golden gaze followed between her favorite teacher and the new student.
"Lilith." Luz greeted her tightly, this time Ms.Clawthorne's smile finally dropping into a frown. Amity flinched a little as Luz so casually let Ms.Clawthorne's name roll off her tongue, it wasn't a disrespectful tone but there was definitely an edge to it. This caught the attention of the other students in the class who now were quietly staring at the exchange now.
"Ms.Clawthorne while we're at school, Luz." Ms.Clawthorne corrected the girl slowly, almost thinking over each word carefully. Luz simply nodded in reply as the older woman cleared her throat to address the class again. "Good morning everyone, it seems we have a new student today." Luz's spine straightened slightly as Ms.Clawthorne introduced her to the class. "Luz Nuceda, welcome to Hexside. Give my sister my regards when you get home tonight."
XxX
Luz kept her eyes on Lilith the rest of class, watching her with an intense stare that would've made most people squirm. Amity didn't pry but she didn't feel it was her place but she couldn't help the curiosity that nagged at the back of her mind, home room was over all too soon and Luz was gone without another word in a blink of an eye. Amity couldn't help but stare at the place that Luz had sat just moments before, shaking off the odd feeling in her chest as she made her way out of her home room going through her day in a silent haze. She usually kept to herself and her friends, if you could even call them that, mostly keeping her attention on her classes. Today however felt odd, she was curious about the new girl, the odd way her and Lilith seemed to know each other. 'How would Luz know Ms.Clawthorne's sister?' Amity pondered, unable to come up with any real answers she found herself hoping for some reason she would catch sight of the new girl again.
Amity was picking at her food during lunch, the sound of her friends speaking sounded like static in her pointed ears. Her golden eyes wandered over the cafeteria, she told herself she wasn't looking for the new girl but a part of her knew that was a lie.
When her gaze fell on Luz she could almost swear her heart stopped, there she was laughing and talking with a pair that she recognized. Willow and Gus, they were nice, her and Willow had been friends a long time ago. She could see why she would instantly bond to Luz. Amity found herself staring, Luz seemed less tense than earlier, she seemed almost goofily joking with her new friends.
"Amity? Hello?" Boscha's voice snapped the green haired witch back down to earth, averting her eyes back to her pink friend sitting before her. "What're you staring at?" Bousha drawled, looking over her shoulder skeptically in an attempt to find what Amity had been preoccupied with.
"Nothing." Amity quickly lied. She pushed down the odd longing feeling she had in her chest, letting herself become stoic again to come back to reality with her friends. Until she looked up again and realized Luz was walking directly towards her, a defiant grin on her face. Her heart sank.