Claws of Truth

Investigation

Warning: this chapter contains swears.

"What the hell was that about?" Amity finally asked minutes into their walk, frustrated at Eda's strange demand to have the three of them leave out of the blue. The Owl Lady was typically laid back and didn't really care about when or for how long the three witches were in her house, so long as nothing happened to any of her stuff. She actually welcomed the company at times and would even referee their sparring matches, making sure nothing got too out of hand.

Kind of like it did earlier.

Regardless, it wasn't the first time something like that happened, so what was the big deal now? If she had a stick up her ass she would typically just kick them outside if they were in the house. But this time she actually made them leave and go home. And it was in such a strange way too. Something was off, and Amity was not the only one of the three who was bothered by it.

"I'm not sure." Willow replied. "I think this was the first time she ever kicked me out. Usually she'll just give us chores if something goes wrong."

"Yeah she never kicked me out either. Think it was because you got hurt?" Gus questioned.

"I doubt it." Willow answered honestly. "What was weird too was that Luz didn't say anything either. I feel like that'd be something she'd at least address as soon as it came up. But she didn't do anything!"

While Luz was pretty compliant with what Eda requested, sometimes demanded, she always spoke up when something was on her mind. That included excited screeches in response to something fun or adventurous, grumbling or murmuring for mundane activities, or straight up defiance regarding something opposite to her moral compass. But there was nothing. Not a peep. It was so strange, and again, the three witches could not make heads or tails of the situation.

"Maybe they had something planned for tonight?" Gus asked, a hint of desperation hinging on his question.

"Doubt it." Amity replied coldly. "She would've told us." She would have, right? She asked herself.

When Luz had first come to the Boiling Isles, Amity had only thought of her as an inconvenience to herself and her studies. A roadblock on the journey to taking over Lilith's position as head of the Emperor's Coven. She had shown up at the worst possible times, took part in stripping her top student status, and gotten her into uncalled for trouble. Even though Amity may have gone a bit overboard in that instance, but that was about four years ago. She had developed not only on a physical level, but on mental and emotional level too. And they say that if you don't cringe up at your past self then you have not really matured as an individual, so there was certainly some change in her and her attitudes toward others, especially Luz.

Ever since that incident at the library a few years ago, Amity had begun to tolerate Luz, mostly on the grounds that she had initially misjudged her and wanted to give her a second chance. The turning point being when Luz had given her the newest Azura book at the time, one that had eluded her grasp for what felt like an eternity, even though she had no obligation to do so. It was just the kind of person that Luz was. And that person was definitely someone worth sacrificing some academic time to build a friendship with. And here they were four years later, closer than she ever would have imagined.

Or so she thought.

"Well things do come up, Amity. And I'm sure that when you live with Eda, those things come up a lot faster than they normally would." Willow said. She always one to see the positive aspects in life.

"Do you ever see the bad in anyone? Like, ever?" Amity asked.

"Well think of it this way; our best friend lives with one of the Boiling Isle's most wanted criminals. Her list of transgressions is rivaled by no one, and nobody in their right mind would dare to even think of looking at her the wrong way. I believe that most of the inhabitants on the Isles who know her, or at least know of her, would place her in categories such as: unlawful, unstable, unpredictable, uncaring, unloving-"