Chapter Text
As much as Amity wanted to be a normal girl, she’d long come to grips that it was an impossibility. Not as long as she was a Blight, at least.
Amity came from a wealthy family, born the youngest in a long line of entrepreneurs who helped change the face of industry forever. Her family line found its way to fame and fortune all the way back at the start of the industrial revolution, when Alastair Blight, her great, great… however many more ‘greats’ Grandfather made his start. He invented and patented a steam powered conveyor belt that increased productivity tenfold, helping modernize the factories into what they were to this day.
Blight Industries in the present was a powerhouse of modern ingenuity. Mostly making products for home and private security, Amity’s parents had expanded the business to cover all matters of fields and specialities. You could hardly find a child who didn’t own some form of toy or gadget that had come from her parents' factories, or an adult who didn’t own one of their cars. Even Amity’s cell phone had been developed with her parents' tech.
As the Company Motto went, “If it’s Blight, it’s Right!”
Of course, with all this wealth came a lot of fame, and celebrity-like status. Which was why, when Amity was six, they had moved out to Gravesfield, Connecticut, an impossibly small New England town. Not to avoid the fame, no, if anything moving out to a small town like Gravesfield helped make her parents even more famous, at least locally. They brought a lot of revenue to the town, so much so they were practically treated like royalty by the mayor. No, the move was to get away from the paparazzi, who were always sticking their noses in the Blight's business.
Amity could hardly remember a time from her early childhood when there wasn’t a camera shoved in her face anytime they were out in public. She had just wanted to be able to go out and do normal kid things, like play at the park, but she’d never got the chance when they lived in the big city. She hadn't had the chance when they moved to Gravesfield either, but that was because Odalia just wasn’t the type of mother to take her children to the park. Not when they had tutors to study under, or trophies to win. Anytime Amity wasn’t studying was meticulously planned out for her by her parents down to the very last detail.
Case in point, as Amity closed her locker, finished packing her things inside her bag at the end of the school day, she was met with the bored expression of Clara Heartfield, resident mean girl, and one of Odalia’s chosen few that Amity was allowed to hang out with. Even her friends were preselected for her. Clara was, after all, the Head Cheerleader of their little school. Bright, popular, “going places” as her mother once put it.
From an outside glance, Amity and Clara could probably be mistaken for sisters. Relatively the same height, prim posture, carefully guarded expressions that masked their thoughts. The same brown hair that had obviously been dyed golden blonde. Clara had naturally tanner skin, a few shades darker than Amity’s own pale complexion, and a pink stripe to cover up her roots, but those were some of the only differences between them.
While they weren’t related in the slightest(and Amity had checked once, being curious), Clara did have one more thing in common with Amity’s actual siblings, Edric and Emira, in that Amity only tolerated their presence because Odalia made her.
“Do you need something, Clara?” Amity asked bluntly, carefully concealing the book she’d taken out by hastily stuffing it in her bag, not breaking eye contact so Clara wouldn’t look away, and see the cover.
“Not much,” the cheerleader shrugged, leaning her back against the cool metal of the lockers behind her. “I hear Jenkin’s is throwing a party this weekend, thought I’d see if you’d like to come?”
Amity raised an eyebrow, swinging her bag over her shoulder, “Jenkins? Isn’t he at the total bottom of the totem pole? Since when do we go to those kinds of parties?”
Clara grinned, “We don’t, but I thought it might be fun to crash it. I know he knows he didn’t have a shot at us coming, but to hear he didn’t even invite us? Now we have to wreck the place.”
Amity rolled her eyes at the cheerleader’s juvenile idea of fun, “That sounds more up Ed and Em’s alley, why don’t you go bother them about this? I have studying to do.”
It wasn’t exactly a lie, but it also made for a convenient excuse to not spend time with the other girl. Clara groaned, banging her fist against the locker, “Ugh, you always have studying to do! Can’t you ditch it just this once? Would it kill you to just have a little fun, Blight?”
Amity glared, her eyes becoming slits, “You’ve met my mother, so you should know the answer to ‘will it kill me’ is a very loud ‘yes.’ Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go to the library and catch up on some reading.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll drag your brother and sister along to the party instead. I’ll call you and tell you how it went afterwards.” Clara conceded, then sent Amity a little wave, “I’ll see you at the game tomorrow! Gotta cheer our star player on!”
Amity didn’t respond, instead gripping her bag’s strap tightly in her fist as she made her way down the halls of the school. That was another thing her parents controlled. Amity was the star rugby player, a sport that hadn’t even been played at this school until her parents had gotten their fingers all over it. A few meetings and suggestions about bringing some ‘culture’ to this town and the school, and the school board welcomed the idea of using the already strained budget to fund another sports team.
Of course the only reason Odalia had wanted it to be played was because it was the only sport she was a fan of, so if she was going to have to show up and support Amity, it was going to be something she wanted to watch. What Odalia wanted, Odalia got.
Amity… didn’t hate the game. She actually found it a good outlet for all of her pent up aggression that came from dealing with her family and the situations they put her through, but the fact that she didn’t truly have a say in joining the team, or even choosing it over the other sports, grated on her nerves.
The baseball team certainly had cuter uniforms for their girl’s team. Not that Amity cared about that. She absolutely had nothing to say about girls running around in cute uniforms. And she certainly didn’t find the cheer squared more distracting than they were helpful. Even if she did, it’s not like her parents would let her date another girl anyway. They probably already had some guy picked out for her to marry already, and were just waiting to drop that news on her when she turned eighteen.
Knowing her entire future was planned out for her made her think about just leaving it all. More than once she’d entertained the idea, a little fantasy in her head about tying a knapsack full of her belongings and a stolen pile of her family’s cash, and putting it on a stick to carry on her shoulder so she could go out on her own. Being free as the wind. She didn’t entertain the idea for long anytime it popped into her head. With the wealth and power at their fingertips, there was no running from the Blight family. They’d find her eventually.
She trudged her way to the school’s library. The place was small, underfunded, and rarely visited by the rest of the students, especially after school hours. The book selection was limited, so much that even with how small the space was, the shelves they did have were pretty barren. Despite it’s pathetic selection, the lack of visitors made it the perfect place for Amity to hide away from the world, her own small pocket of solitude and privacy. Even the twins didn’t pop in often to bother her unless it was important. She wasn’t sure if that meant they actually cared about her and her feelings, or if they just hated the library that much.
She passed the librarian without a word. Mother didn’t like it when she talked to the help anyway, and by this point it had become a habit even if she didn’t like to think of anyone else as less than her. She made her way into the back of the building and threw her bag onto the back of a chair as she took her seat. Reaching into the bag, she pulled out her book, the one she’d tried so hard to keep a secret from the rest of her classmates, and propped it open, immediately pouring into the world inside.
Azura the Good Witch was a book series that was a bit of a guilty pleasure of hers. Azura was such a free spirit, roaming the countryside in search of friendship and adventure. Nothing was too difficult for her to do, no one was too far gone for her to help. Amity especially connected with Hecate, a once cruel and evil witch who had simply been controlled and manipulated her entire life to be the way she was. Azura had reached out to her, pulled her from the darkness, and while it was a long and hard road, Hecate had earned her redemption by the end of book three.
Amity remembered wishing she had someone to be the Azura to her Hecate for a while after reading that book, then came book four… Amity still couldn’t think about that without a deep blush covering her entire face. She would never have guessed that the friendship the two had would become so much more, and it felt oddly indulgent in how much she enjoyed how their relationship changed in that story.
“Hecate, you lucky, lucky girl,” Amity clicked her tongue, a little jealous of her favorite fictional character for getting to date someone as amazing and magical as Azura.
She flipped through the book and continued where she left off, not many chapters left before the end. She went through the pages of her book, completely absorbed in the story she must have read over a dozen times by now, until finally she closed the cover, finishing it once more with a sense of satisfaction. However, a glance at the clock on the wall drained her of that feeling as she realized she had stayed too late, much too late. Her mother expected her to be home half an hour ago, and Blights were never tardy.
Slipping her book back into her bag, Amity quickly ran out of the library, not minding the librarian once more despite the woman’s attempts to shush her for the noise she was making as she departed. Amity raced to the front of the school, where her bike had been locked up, thanking her own foresight for talking her parents into letting her ride to and from school everyday instead of catching the bus. The excuse of the exercise making her better at rugby had been all she needed to secure another little bit of privacy from the world, instead of being crammed into a noisy school bus, or worse, one of her parents' limos.
She biked the familiar path home, out of the town’s limits, where the roads became hilly. She pushed herself to her limits, knowing she was already going to be punished for her lateness, but it was better to get there sooner than later. Every added minute her mother spent waiting on her was just another harsher punishment. And so she peddled, until her legs felt numb, until finally she could see the mansion on the horizon. Her home.
Amity only stopped long enough to punch in the code for the gate, then slipped inside, praying her mother hadn’t noticed her absence, but knowing it was futile. She alway noticed. She didn’t even bother to properly park her bike, instead throwing it down to the grass and racing on her half numbed legs, running up the lawn and throwing open the door.
“You’re late,” A woman’s voice rang out through the entrance hall, and Amity stiffened. She breathed a sigh of relief when it was her sister, Emira, who had spoken, peeking in from around the corner, a smirk plastered on her face. Beside her was Edric, an equally large grin on his own face that looked so punchable.
Amity bit back her annoyance upon seeing them as her brother spoke, “where have you been, Mittens? You’re usually right on time.” He said, eyes full of mischief, twinkling like a cat who had a mouse trapped.
Amity grit her teeth, willing herself not to get so angry she forgot to breathe. They didn’t need her passing out in the hall. Again. “That’s none of your business. Now, was my absence noticed?”
The twins exchanged a glance, their grins falling ever so slightly, “She’s in the kitchen, waiting for you.” Emira answered, shifting a little on her feet, but it was all she would allow herself to show that she was uncomfortable with the topic of their mother.
“She’s… not happy, Amity.” Ed warned, and the youngest Blight’s breath caught in her throat at the use of her proper name. Something was wrong. They knew she hated their dumb nickname, and used it at every opportunity.
“Your report card came in.” Emira spoke carefully, watching her sister with an aura of worry that was unusual for her.
“M-my report card?” Amity gulped. How had she forgotten? She’d been dreading it all week, but her time in the library had let the fact slip that her grades would be coming in. She always worked hard, an A+ in every subject, but the wait up to her grades coming in never left despite that. Not with how demanding Odalia was of her. One slip up was all it took for her mother to look for another excuse to remove a little joy and freedom from her life.
Amity couldn’t dally, she couldn’t just stand here. Her mother was already upset about something in her report card, and she had been late on top of it. Without another word, she pushed past the twins, who offered no resistance. She thought for the briefest moment she felt one of their hands graze her shoulder, but they’d never been supportive before, why would they want to start now?
She did what she did best and ignored them, instead focusing on where she needed to be. The path to the kitchen was complex. Her parents spared no expense when it came to their home, having a dozen bathrooms, a swimming pool, an indoor tennis court(that no one even used, because no one in the family played tennis), and a variety of rooms that Amity didn’t even know the use of. She had to walk past all of them to reach the kitchen towards the back of the house, something her mother likely had in mind. The kitchen was for the help, not a usual place to meet, but it was far enough towards the back of the house that it made for a long, intimidating walk.
Her mother must have chosen it because it was the best room to make her sweaty and anxious just getting to it.
Amity had been so busy, counting the doors she passed on her way there, that she almost didn’t stop in time to keep from ramming head first into the kitchen door. The solid wall of wood reached to the high ceilings, only serving to accentuate her feelings of being small and vulnerable. She raised a fist, intending to knock, to announce her presence, but stopped before knuckles could rap against wood. This was the kitchen, not her mother’s office. It would be fine to just walk in. It’d be ridiculous to knock.
Biting her lip, the young girl gathered her courage, pushing against the door and entering the spotless kitchen that she’d never seen anyone but a member of the kitchen staff cook in. She spotted her mother instantly, the only person in the room, digging through the fridge in search of something. A nice breeze flowed through the open window, the only sounds beside her mother’s searching being the occasional tweet and birdsong from the garden in the backyard.
Hearing the door behind her open, Odalia Blight turned to face Amity, an unimpressed look on her face. “You are late.”
Odalia Blight wasn’t a tall woman. Taller than Amity, but not by much. But she carried an aura of judgment and held herself in a way that made those much taller than her feel small in comparison. Decked out in high heels at all times of the day, including in her own home, she also wore a simple pantsuit in an off white color, an outfit that was probably worth more than all the appliances in the kitchen combined despite it’s plain appearance. Odalia didn’t do extravagance through appearance and jewelry, she did it through the brand, wearing outfits only the best designers created, nothing store bought, all tailor made. Her head was topped with golden blonde hair, a staple of the Blight family that the twins inherited, and Amity had not.
Amity swallowed, and opened her mouth, “I’m sorry, Mother, I was-“
“A Blight doesn’t make excuses. You were late. And a Blight is never late, do you understand?” Odalia interrupted sharply, cutting her daughter off. Amity meekly closed her mouth, and lowered her gaze, unable to meet her mother’s eyes if she couldn’t at least meet her expectations.
Odalia set whatever she had pulled from the fridge aside on the countertop. A plate covered in foil. She passed it up for now, instead focusing on her daughter. “Rather than give excuses or apologies, I expect better from you in the future. We will talk about punishment later, we have more important things to discuss.”
Reaching into her back pocket, Odalia pulled out a folded piece of paper, which Amity understood to be her grades. Unfolding it slowly, Odalia placed it on the counter, turned it around so it was facing Amity, and slid it across to the other side. Amity took a few steps towards the counter, careful not to let her legs shake in the process, and took a look at the damage.
She gazed at the paper, seeing a plethora of A+’s. As she went down the list, she paused, and had to start again from the top, missing where she’d gone wrong. She paused as she was about to pass her math grade, spotting a solitarily ‘A’ among the various plus signs.
Amity glanced at her mother, who had her arms folded, waiting to hear what Amity had to say. Except that Amity had no idea what to say. This was what had upset her mother so much? That she had straight A’s in every class, but missed just enough to not get an A+ in math?
Amity remembered when Clara had been talking about her own grades last semester, and her mother had been ecstatic that she’s got mostly B’s with a few A’s and only a C or two. But Odalia wasn’t like other mothers. She demanded perfection, in a way Amity wasn’t sure how to deliver. She spent almost all her free time studying already.
“Well?” Odalia asked impatiently, looking at Amity as if she were a child who had scribbled on the walls with crayon.
“I- I did my best, mother, I’m not sure what else I could have done-“ Amity began, already knowing that wasn’t what her mother wanted to hear.
“What I want you to do, is better.” Odalia stated, her jaw tightening. “You need to study harder, and rectify these mistakes.”
“I already spend all of my time working on my grades. Do you want me to give up rugby? Anytime I’m not studying, I’m busy with being the team captain.” Amity tried to defend herself by attacking another one of her mother’s decisions, but Odalia was having none of that.
“No, you have free time in your schedule. You came home late, and I know precisely why. Give it over.” Odalia held out her hand, and Amity’s blood turned to ice.
“W-what?” Amity belted out, trying to bluff her way out of this. “I don’t know what you mean?”
“The book in your bag, Amity.” Odalia spoke in no uncertain terms, and Amity wondered about it. “I know you were in the library, reading drivel when you could have been studying. Get it out. Now.”
Amity, trying to keep her heart from breaking, stared back in defiance, an act she’d never performed before, only to crumple immediately under her mother’s gaze. With shaking hands, she took the bag off of her back, opening it and pulling her favorite book in the Azura series out for her mother to see.
Odalia spared it a glance, then pointed to the trash can in the corner. “I’ve let you indulge in your little fantasies for too long, Mittens. It’s time to face reality. Now, get rid of that… thing, and-“
Amity fought back tears as her last bit of freedom was being torn from her, “but Mothe-“
“Do not ‘but,’ me, Amity.” Odalia warned, pointing once more to the trash. “That book is making you an outlier in the family. Get. Rid. Of. It.”
Amity stumbled towards the trash, holding her book tightly in her grip. Her one escape, her break from the harsh reality and expectations placed upon her shoulders, and she was going to have to get rid of it. Knowing her mother, her other Azura books had already been disposed of before she’d even got home, her privacy disregarded by servants sent to raid her room for them.
This was all she had left, if she was correct.
She stared at the cover, brushing a finger over the illustrations on the hardback. She refused to cry, refused to showany weakness that wouldn’t help her in the slightest, and only make her punishment worse. It was taking all she had to keep it at bay, however, as she let loose her grip, and the book fell into the trash. Amity stood, defeated, as the sound of her mother’s heels clacked against the tile floor, and a hand settled on her shoulder in something that almost resembled comfort.
“There, there, Mittens. I know this may be hard, but one day, you’ll thank me.” Odalia’s voice purred in her ear. Amity just closed her eyes tight, and did her best to ignore her mother’s presence. The older woman’s grip soon left her shoulder, the clacking returning as she wandered back toward the counter, to the plate she’d nearly abandoned.
“I’ll talk with your father, and set up something with your principal tomorrow. We’ll get you some extra credit activities to boost that grade up to match the others.” She tore off the foil, revealing leftover pieces of chicken from the previous night, which Odalia tore into.
Amity didn’t say anything, prompting Odalia to continue, “oh, and make sure your bike is put away, under lock and key. You won’t be using it for a while. I’ll put in a call to… Paul, and he’ll take you back and forth to school from now on. That will give you more time to catch up on your studies.”
His name was Kevin, but Amity didn’t expect her mother to remember their driver's name. He was just hired help, and beneath them, after all. She didn’t have it in her to correct her, though, her emotions still reeling. She couldn’t even find it in herself to talk back.
Odalia took another bite, then put the foil back over the plate, setting it back inside the fridge. She turned to Amity, and said with a playful laugh “oh, just look at what you’re doing to me, Mittens. I’m stress eating over your grades. You know what that does to my figure, it goes straight to my hips.”
Amity nodded absently as her mother, with a smile, but without another word, turned and left, leaving Amity alone. Odalia was gone a whole three seconds before Amity turned back around, ready to dive into the trash can to save her book. She tore through food covered wrappers and paper, looking for it, but not finding it, “It’s got to be in here someplace! I can save it, and put it someplace safe, where no one can ever find it, ever.”
She frantically pulled piece after piece of trash from the bin, tossing it onto the floor, before losing her balance and falling, knocking herself and the can of trash to the ground. The trash spilled out, but no matter how hard Amity looked, she didn’t see it in there. She wondered briefly if her mother had somehow managed to take it, steal it away, but she hadn’t come near enough, and Amity would have seen it and-
“Hoot!”
Amity stopped mid-panic attack, and stared at the source of the sound. There, in the open window, was a tiny owl. Beside it was a bag, filled to the brim with objects Amity couldn’t place. Except one. Peeking out from the brim of the bag was her Azura book, which caused Amity’s eyes to widen.
The girl and the bird stared each other down for a moment, neither making a move. Then, as if realizing it had been caught in the act of theft, the owl took off, too heavy to fly but light enough to run, beak full of cloth bag. It leapt from the windowsill and down to the ground outside, and just as it acted, so did Amity, leaping to her feet and chasing after, disregarding the pieces of trash that still clung to her.
She flung open the back door, stepping outside and into her mother’s garden. Well, it was a garden her mother liked to show off, but she didn’t lift a finger to take care of it herself, but Amity was too busy to think of such things. Instead, she glanced around, desperately looking around for the small brown owl that had stolen her things. She could see it, hopping across the grass at speeds she didn’t think possible for something so weighed down, and gave chase.
“Get back here, you feathered menace!” She growled through clenched teeth. Her time on the rugby team had helped her speed and stamina, the little owl only barely keeping out of her reach as she chased it off into the woods behind her home. The back gate barred the way, which the owl took advantage of, fitting between the bars and taking the bag with it. Amity, so focused on the pursuit, threw herself at the gate, climbing it with the ease only an athlete like herself could do.
Once Amity was back on the ground, the owl zigged and zagged, artfully dodging Amity’s every attempt to free it of the burden of her belongings. They traveled deep into the woods, far enough that Amity’s house was nothing more than a small dot on the horizon. There were moments when the owl was right in her grasp, only for Amity to trip on a convenient tree root, which just angered her more.
Red in the face with anger after a few falls, she was so focused on the little creature, she failed to notice when they stumbled deeper into the trees, and into a small wooden shack, where she promptly disappeared from this world in a flash of light.