Coveted

Chapter 2- The Audition

Luz's words replayed in Amity's mind over and over again all afternoon. It was all she could think about during the long walk home, even drowning out Edric and Emira's usual mix of mocking and congratulating.

"We never expected you to surpass us this quickly, Mittens," cracked Edric as he flicked her ponytail.

"Yeah," Emira butted in, "we definitely thought Mom would consider us for the role first, seeing how you're still a baby." She squished her little sister's cheek, which Amity responded to by coldly slapping her hand away.

"Besides, we thought Mom saw you as a disappoint- OW!" Edric's taunt was interrupted by a slap on the back of the head, as Emira saw he was going too far.

"Rude, Ed," scolded Emira. "Clearly, she's not a disappointment. If anything, she's little miss perfect."

Amity didn't pay attention to the teasing. After all, her mother was not the one she was most afraid of disappointing.

When the three reached home, Amity retired to her room without grabbing a snack or greeting her father, who was in his study. She flopped on her bed and stared at the ceiling, still seeing Luz's anguished face in detail. She buried her face in her pillow to stop this vision, but closing her eyes only made it worse. She wished she could do something to stop this, to somehow go back and forget about the whole affair, back to when Luz's face lit up the hallway when she saw her. It was at that point that her door opened and she snapped back to reality.

"Amity, why aren't you practicing for your audition this evening?" her father asked in a tone that wasn't hostile, but wasn't quite comforting, either. "If you want to make it in, I suggest you spend your remaining two hours preparing. Come along now, dear."

"Yes, Father." Amity rolled out of bed and followed her father into the courtyard, where she prepared what spells she would do and in what order in her head. Her father simply stood at the edge of the deck and waited for her to start. Eventually, she had formulated a solid plan, and began her routine: first, she would create an abomination of incredible size. Then, her fire spell, which she would set to create a ring of fire around the abomination. And finally, her abomination would bow, and she would detonate it, while casting a multitude of light spells that would create the illusion of the abomination exploding into balls of light. This was her subtle tribute to Luz, who she would always associate with that simple but effective spell.

When she finished, she turned to her father. At first, he seemed impressed, and when he walked forward Amity thought he would praise her work. However, when he reached his daughter he did not face her, instead turning the same direction and doing the same spell combination again, this time more concisely and with added flourishes of movements from his much neater abomination. It was after this display that he turned to Amity with a cold, expecting expression. "Too easy, dear. You can do better." Amity stood dumbfounded, still in awe of the power of his demonstration. As Alador walked away, he calmly called back, "Try again." Amity obliged.

By the time she was expected to go to the audition, Amity had practiced her routine nearly 30 times. Each time, her father added new details to it that rendered it much more difficult and exhausting, to the point where it was almost unrecognizable from the original plan, and poor Amity was out of breath. At one point, Ed and Em came out to watch bearing refreshments, but their father declined Amity the chance to have one, telling her to "focus." Eventually it was just past 4:30, and Amity needed to head to the Emperor's Coven.

As she walked out the door, Alador walked up behind her. "Remember, Amity, The Blight name is on the line." Amity assumed he thought this would make her feel more confident, but it just worsened the pressure. She left with what felt like the weight of the entire Isles on her shoulders.