(Not) On the Same Page

Chapter 1: Discord

The bell screamed, making Luz jump as she added the witch hazel to her sleep draught. The ingredient slipped out of her hands, and the entire bottle went into her cauldron. Instead of a pale lavender, the concoction turned a stark violet. Luz cursed under her breath and ran a hand through her tousled hair.

Around her, classmates began to pack up their things to head to lunch. Luz sighed and decided to discard the ruined potion, she would just have to start all over again next class period. After disposing of the potion and cleaning up her work area, Luz shouldered her bag and made her way to the cafeteria, where Willow and Gus were waiting for her at a corner table.

"There you are!" Willow cocked her head. "What took you so long?"

"Yeah!" Gus added. "We were barely able to save some of today's special for you, cockatrice egg omelettes!"

Luz smiled gratefully as her stomach rumbled. She plopped down next to Gus and dropped her bag on the floor.

"Thanks guys, I'm starving," She started to dig into her food. "Sorry I'm late, I had to scrap a potion I had been working on in class cause I messed up. It took longer than expected to clean up."

Willow waved a hand in the air.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," Her eyes brightened. "So have you heard the news?"

Luz's brows furrowed.

"Uh, no. What's up?"

"Coven applications are finally open," Willow grinned.

"And guess who's already halfway done?" Gus pulled a relatively thick packet of parchment out of nowhere. "The Illusion Coven won't know what hit them!"

Luz smiled.

"That's great! It looks like we'll be able to finally put our grand plan into action!" Thinking of their plan made her remember something, or rather, someone. Luz glanced around. "Wait, where's Amity?"

Willow shrugged.

"Dunno, last I saw of her she was pushing through the crowd to get to the Emperor's Coven applications."

Luz's stomach dropped. Her fork slipped from her hand and clattered loudly as it hit the table.

"What?" She croaked.

Willow gave her a confused look.

"You didn't know?"

Luz leaned back in her seat and frowned.

"I thought she was going to apply to the Abomination Coven."

"Uh, Luz it was your idea to have someone get into the Emperor's Coven," Gus pointed at her with his fork. "For the plan, remember?"

Luz shook her head.

"I only brought it up as a suggestion," She felt sick to her stomach. "I didn't think Amity would..." She trailed off.

Willow reached across the table and took Luz's hand, giving it a light squeeze.

"I know you're worried about her, but you know as well as I do that Amity's perfectly capable of handling herself."

Luz pressed her lips together. Willow was right, but that didn't make Luz feel any better about one of her best friends going undercover with an oppressive police force so they could try to gain an upper hand against Belos. There's no telling what could happen, and so many things could go terribly wrong.

Yet, the root of Luz's concerns ran a little bit deeper.

The truth was that-

"Hey! Sorry I'm late!" Amity sat down next to Willow and slipped off her bookbag. "The line for coven applications was a nightmare."