Coveted

Chapter 3- Have You Seen This Witch?

The next morning, Luz awoke with a terrible headache. She had spent all night worrying about Amity and whether she would really go through with it. She had no way of knowing, as her phone was not exactly compatible with the witch's scroll. All she could do was ask her at school today. In a slight twist, she almost hoped that Amity got in, as she would rather see her beam with delight when telling her the results than see her suffer. But of course, she was still a little selfish. Reluctantly, the human sat up and checked her phone, which she was keeping alive with a lightning spell she had recently modified from her light spell. 9:36- she had slept in. "Oh, cramity!" she yelled as she jumped out of bed. She rushed to get dressed and stuff her spell glyphs into her bag. She didn't even notice the 'good morning' text from her mother, or the date: September first. She should be returning from summer camp today.

Eda heard Luz come down the stairs and walked into the foyer holding her mug of apple blood. "Hey, kid, we won't be-"

"Can't talk right now!" Luz frantically squawked, "Late for school!"

"Okay, whatever you little nerd." Eda took a sip before yelling after her, "Love you, Luz!"

"Love you too, Eda! Bye!" And with that, Luz shut the door and sprinted to Hexside.

When she reached the entrance, her first thought was to search for Amity. She scanned the premises, but it was empty. Everyone's probably in class already, she reminded herself. She walked in and knocked on the door of her history class, profusely apologizing for being late before taking her seat next to Willow and Gus.

"What's wrong?" whispered Gus, "you're never late."

"I slept in." Luz folded her arms on the desk and nested her chin into them. She wished she had gone back to sleep instead of facing the embarrassment of showing up late to class. Then, she remembered why she wanted to come: "Hey, have either of you seen Amity today?"

Willow and Gus shook their heads. "We haven't seen or heard from her at all since yesterday at school," explained Willow. "Why?"

"Oh, I'm just worried about her, that's all." Luz sighed and returned her head to her desk.

Just then, a sharp whisper caught their attention from the row behind them. "You haven't seen her either?" asked a concerned-looking Skara. "We were getting worried when she didn't update her Penstagram last night."

"I wasn't worried, I just assumed she was off doing weird dorky stuff with you three," Boscha scoffed unconvincingly.

Amelia, the green-haired third member of their posse, chimed in as well, "It's all a little suspicious. Maybe her older siblings know where she is?"

Luz thought about it, then agreed. "I guess we could try asking them," she figured, "Anyone know where I can find them?"

Skara and Amelia looked to Boscha, who was close enough to Amity to know her siblings as well. "As if I would tell you," she snarled, until her concern for her former best friend finally got to her. "... but if I wanted to, I'd tell you that they usually hang out in the back of the school during lunch to play pranks. Amity and I walked in on them once and Amity wanted to tell Bump." She chuckled softly at the memory of a pre-teen Amity whining to the principal.

Luz, Willow, and Gus were surprised to find Boscha genuinely helping them for once. "Thanks, Boscha." Luz said with a tinge of nervous shock. "Maybe you aren't as bitter and cold as we thought."

"Yeah, well, if any of you tell anyone I was nice to you, you're all dead." There was the Boscha they knew.

Even with this information, Luz couldn't shake the feeling that something was very, very wrong. What if Em and Ed didn't know where she was either? The only thing worse than never seeing her on the same side again was doing so without leaving on a good note, or even with so much as a solid goodbye. So, when the bell rang for lunch, she desperately rushed to find the older Blight siblings.