Rectification

Chapter 19

When Amity and her siblings got home that night, her parents weren't there, so she was able to go quietly to her room and relax. As soon as she sat down on her bed exhaustion swamped her, and her eyelids began to droop. She put her Grom crown on her nightstand and placed her scroll next to it. She was just about to lean back and shut her eyes for just a moment when her scroll lit up with a notification. It was Luz. (Amity was still surprised that scroll numbers even worked in human cell phones.)

HEY AMITY!!! JUST WANTED TO LET U KNOW THAT I HAD AN AMAZING TIME TONIGHT AND I LOVED DANCING WITH YOU WAS JUST GDUYUHSFVEGWYUGQY!!!!!<3333333 ALSO I WAS RIGHT ABOUT YOU LOOKING STUNNING IN A SUIT LOLL

(Luz tended to, more often than not, display her excitement very clearly in her texts.)

You have quite a way with words, Amity replied. But it's okay. I feel the same way. Dancing with you was seriously awesome. :) And you were absolutely beautiful too!

Luz sent back a few more exclamation points. Then her three little bubbles popped up again, and another text came through.

BY THE WAY!!!!! I HAVE GOOD NEWS!!! BUMP PULLED ME ASIDE AFTER YOU LEFT AND TOLD ME THAT I WAS ADMITTED TO HEXSIDE WHOOOO!!! AND HES LETTING ME START ON MONDAY!

Amity let out a breath of relief. Sure, maybe this was a bit anticlimactic, but at least it had happened. Congratulations! I'm so glad!<3 she texted.

I GUESS HEARING GROM CONFESS ABT THE FIRE WAS ENOUGH!!

Thank goodness.

ALSO ARE U GOING ON THE FIELD TRIP TUESDAY? IT LOOKS SUPER FUNNNNN AND IM ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO GO

The field trip. Amity's heart skipped a beat. The trip to the Emperor's Castle. The trip that had marked the beginning of the end. The trip that was part of the reason Amity was where- or when- she was.

I'm not sure... I'll get back to you later.

TONIGHT??

I hope so. But my parents aren't home and I need to ask them to fill out the permission slip. Now that she thought about it, Amity knew exactly where the permission slip was- tucked away in the back of the history textbook she hadn't yet opened this semester. As soon as she'd received it from her teacher, she put it away where she wouldn't have to deal with it. But she'd forgotten that Luz would have no idea about the trip's disastrous outcome, and that her sometimes fatally curious girlfriend would probably want to go herself. Amity had been signed up for the field trip last time, but... she'd been hurt. Since Boscha had been relatively quiet all week- save for her forlorn staring at Willow during class- she'd figured that this time around, there wouldn't be a Grudgby game to get hurt in.

WELL LMK WHAT THEY SAY

Sure thing. I've gotta go to bed now. I'm tired. Amity wasn't actually tired- in fact, she felt more awake now than she had a few minutes ago- but now the issue of the field trip weighed heavy in her mind.

GNIGHT AMITY!!! <3333

Amity put a heart over the message and laid her scroll facedown on her bedside table. Then she flopped onto her back and pulled a pillow over her face. She was consciously aware that she was still lying in her itchy green suit, and that she could probably change, but for now, she just wanted to lay down and contemplate things.

Like how in the universe she had forgotten that the field trip to the Emperor's Palace was coming up in three days.

Three days.

She should be able to solve this problem easily. She should be able to warn Luz to not go on this field trip, to keep herself and Eda safe and as far away from Lilith and the Emperor as possible. But Luz couldn't know what Amity was doing. She couldn't know what Amity knew.