Rectification

Chapter 18

Amity had taken Luz's reassurances to heart. Too close to heart, in fact. She'd let herself be lulled into a rather foreign sense of calm by her girlfriend's quiet optimism far into Saturday afternoon, and when she'd finally gotten around to training with Luz, she was far more confident than she realized she should have been.

They'd gone over every fear that Amity was willing to admit to. The darkness, the sea, being caught in a boiling rainstorm. Failing a class. Being sent to the Conformatorium. All these shallow, generic fears that probably plagued a good percentage of the Isles' population. But she didn't want to tell Luz what she was really scared of, so she didn't.

Maybe she should have, because the debilitating sense of unpreparedness that clung to her now was very nearly overwhelming.

Cheering rose up around Amity as she descended into the darkness. The noise made her ears ring, but she forced herself to keep her concentration. Grom could sneak up on her from any direction and she had to be ready.

Luz, I hope you're up there.

The small wormlike shadows swimming in the dirt began to converge into one gigantic pitch-black shape as soon as Amity set one foot within the arena. It rose up, twice as tall as her, and though it didn't have eyes, she knew that it was scrutinizing her and picking her apart from the inside out, looking deep into her brain for any miniscule detail that would truly break her if presented to her head-on. She tried to concentrate her thoughts on anything but her growing terror- Think of Luz think of Luz think of Luz- but her mind was always forced back to Grom as if Grom were controlling her mind itself.

Grom split and took on two humanoid forms, both about a head taller than Amity was. Their identities were unclear for a moment until Amity spotted the telltale bun-shape on the back of one's head and the outline of what appeared to be a beard on the other.

"No," Amity whispered. She wanted to run, wanted so badly to escape, but she was rooted to the spot. She gripped the sword so tightly in her fist that her knuckles turned white. She didn't want to fight. But she had to.

Glowing eyes appeared on her parents' faces, and they faded into color. Both Odalia and Alador wore stern but almost neutral expressions as they gazed disdainfully at their daughter. They didn't look particularly upset, though. Amity knew that they looked at almost everyone that way, sometimes even each other. That was what made them so terrifying- the fact that their faces never gave anything away.

"Miss Amity," Alador addressed her, his low voice a growl in his throat. "Did you enjoy your time at Grom?

"You're not real," Amity choked out. She brandished her blade and held it at arms length, silently daring the illusions of her parents to come closer.

"Is that a sword?" Odalia murmured. "My dear, put that away. Would you really consider hurting your own parents?"

"You're not my parents!"

"I'm glad you had a pleasant time at the dance," Alador continued as if he couldn't see the sword at all. "Who did you spend your time with?"

"Nobody! Just leave me alone! You're not real!"

Odalia's gaze hardened. "Did you say Luz?"

"What? No!"

"That name sounds familiar," pondered Alador.

"Isn't she the human?" the Blight parents said in unison. Chills raced down Amity's spine.

"Luz has nothing to do with this."

"Our daughter, going to Grom with a human?" her parents went on. "That's scandalous behavior. Are you even really a part of the Blight family?"

The only thing worse than enduring ridicule from her parents was knowing that Luz was sitting helplessly up the bleachers, listening to her parents say these things about her. Would she think that Amity didn't really like her?