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That didn't happen.
And if it did, it wasn't that bad.
And if it was, that's not a big deal.
And if it is, that's not my fault.
And if it was, I didn't mean it.
And if I did, you deserved it.
The world had felt as though it was ending, when it suddenly hadn’t. And then got even worse.
Odalia could scarcely process it all, going from almost dying to being fine, and yet now dealing with the fact that reality itself apparently held no meaning any longer. The landscape around her seemed to change at any given moment. People disappearing and reappearing at what seemed to be a random whim.
She had no idea what had happened, but she did know that she needed to regroup. She… she had been wrong. No, the Emperor had lied to her, more like. Could she really be blamed for trusting the man who had led all of witch-kind for decades?
No, Odalia didn’t think she deserved that.
But she was well aware that she needed to get ahead of this. Just because the entirety of the Boiling Isles was trapped in chaos right now, didn’t mean that things wouldn’t calm down later.
And that was when she expected the criticism to come for her.
Getting back to Blight Manor was an ordeal in and of itself, and with how drained she felt, Odalia was entirely over this day. Nonetheless, she managed to get through the large doors with her surroundings changing only… well, it was quite a number of times.
“Mom?”
The twins stared at her from the couch in the sitting room, shock written all over their faces.
“We… we saw the broadcast,” Emira said thickly. “We—“
“Didn’t know if you or Dad were okay,” Edric finished.
“We were going to try and help—“
“But the abomitons wouldn’t let us.”
Odalia regarded them carefully. They were both clearly upset and angry with her over being trapped in the manor. And yet, she could read the conflicted relief over seeing her right on their faces. All of her children had always been rather easy to read, regrettably.
But that was fine. She didn’t need the twins to be happy with her, she could work with this.
“Edric, Emira,” She started slowly, trying to focus on a plan. Her magic was too exhausted to try and scry into the future. Though, perhaps that wouldn’t help her here, betrayed as she had been by Belos.
Nonetheless, they couldn’t stay here. Blight Manor was the first place anyone would come looking for her.
“You should pack your things, we shouldn’t stay here. It’s not safe.”
She was going to need whatever resources she could gather. Alador would be far too stubborn to forgive her, and Amity had both that stubbornness and Odalia’s own temper to boot. The twins had always been the far more… malleable of Odalia’s family.
But the twins were apparently going to need some convincing. They traded a look with each other, in tune in the way they had been since birth.
“What about Dad and Amity?” Emira asked. “We can’t leave them.”
“We won’t leave them,” Edric agreed.
Typical. Alador had always been the more favored parent out of the two of them. And Odalia supposed their worry over Mittens was reasonable. Where was Amity? Odalia knew that she had stolen that airship with Alador, but Amity was without a sigil. She would have been fine during the Day of Unity fiasco.
Perhaps she was with Alador, then. If he survived.
“We’ll find them, then,” Odalia said impatiently.
The entire side of the room leading to Alador’s basement laboratory abruptly blinked out of existence, to be replaced by what may have been the sitting room of some dilapidated… shack?
“Uh,” Edric blinked. “Why is half of the Owl House living room here?”
“Precisely why we should leave and find your father and Mittens,” Odalia insisted. “This has been going on all over the Isles. I don’t know what’s causing it or why it’s happening. We can only assume your father and sister are dealing with it as well.”
“You aren’t taking them anywhere.”
Alador’s stern voice had her tense and gritting her teeth.
Well, this was unforeseen.
“Dad!” The twins, in stark contrast to their greeting to Odalia, quickly launched themselves at their father.
Alador was more than happy to hold them both for a moment, but he sobered quickly, exhaustion evident on his face. The draining spell’s work, undoubtedly. But there was something… more to his typical haggard appearance. Something seemed to be haunting him, and there was a cold anger to his face that Odalia rarely ever saw.
“Alador, don’t be ridiculous. I’m willing to put aside our… separation for now in order to figure out where to go from here. Staying in the manor is counterproductive,” Odalia told him briskly. “Where’s Mittens?”
The mention of Amity had Alador tensed and his reaction gave Odalia pause.
Where… was Amity?
“You have… no idea what you’ve done, do you?” Alador asked, disgust dripping from his tone.
The twins stood back from them both, watching the argument happen before them with a sort of distressed dismay only children could properly pull off.
“Alador, please. If you must argue with me, perhaps it should be done out of view of the children?” Odalia said as she rolled her eyes.
“You betrayed our entire family!” Alador shouted.
“I most certainly did not! The emperor betrayed us all. I was trying to put our family ahead! It seems you’ve forgotten that’s what we’ve always set out to do!” Odalia snapped.
“You reported Amity and I to the Emperor’s Coven and they almost shot us out of the sky!”
Rarely had Alador been this animated, with the exception of their most recent argument.
Odalia scoffed.
“Really, dear, you and Amity are clearly talented enough to have come out fine. Now then, the children need to get to packing whatever we can manage—“
“Amity and I were separated after the crash,” Alador told her through gritted teeth. “After I had to stay behind to keep an entire platoon of abomitons from killing us.”
Odalia paused. Amity wasn’t with him?
“You allowed Mittens to go off on her own? During this entire mess?” Odalia asked in disbelief. “What were you thinking, Alador? And why didn’t you go after her after the draining spell stopped?”
Alador’s face grew red, but he didn’t explode this time. His eyes narrowed and he regarded her for several long, uncomfortable moments.
“You really don’t realize what you’ve done,” he said with a quiet sort of horror. One that sent chills down Odalia’s spine.
“Amity went to the Head, Odalia,” he told her, his countenance slipping into one of… fear. “She was going after Luz.”
For a moment, Odalia failed to see the significance of what he just told her. Beyond the fact that her youngest child was so blinded by her newfound rebellious nature that she was determined to chase after some ragged, horrid brat.
But then she recalled the chaos happening all around her on her way back to the manor. The Head… it had been shattered.
Odalia’s confidence in her decisions slipped for a moment.
“Well, it’s not as though I knew she was going to the Head!” She protested angrily. “And really, if she did, what on Titan did she think was going to hap—“
“Stop! Don’t you dare blame our daughter for your choices!” Alador finally roared, causing them all to flinch at his volume. “I didn’t just come here foolishly hoping that she would make it back before me. I tried to go to the Head first. It’s gone. Amity is gone! And I have no idea what that even means for her. She could be dead, Odalia! Does mean nothing to you?!”
The twins gasped, utterly horrified. Emira placed a hand over her mouth, tears gathering in her eyes as Edric sank to his knees.
Alador regained control over himself as he realized what he had just told them.
“I’m sorry,” he said to the twins, going to try and offer whatever comfort he could to them as he guided Edric into a chair and then went to go rub Emira’s back. “I don’t know if she’s—We’ll figure this out.”
Odalia’s mouth had gone dry.
No.
This… this wasn’t her fault.
How was she supposed to know?
It wasn’t as though she approved of the reckless human her daughter had so foolishly claimed she was in a relationship with.
It… it wasn’t as though she knew the emperor would betray them all.
If he hadn’t done that then none of this would have happened.
“If Belos hadn’t—“ Odalia started weakly.
“Mom, shut up!” Emira shouted at her. “If you hadn’t sided with him—“
“Amity w-was tr-trying to tell you,” Edric continued brokenly.
“She… she thought she could convince you!” Emira said, angry tears now streaming down her face.
“W-we t-told her you w-wouldn’t care,” Edric gasped out.
That stung.
“I care! I cared about getting this family on the map, didn’t I? I cared enough to make sure my children only had the best. I cared enough to ensure that you only interacted with the best of witchlings!
“But you’ve all only thrown it back in my face! If you had only listened to me!” Odalia shouted.
“Then what?” Alador asked her quietly, his own tears finally starting down his face. “We all would have been dead if we listened to you. Amity might still be—“ He sucked in a deep breath. “Get out, Odalia.”
“What?! How dare—“
She stopped and took in the states of her family. Edric was inconsolable, and Emira was tearfully attempting to calm him down to no avail while clearly suffering from her own pain over the news about Amity.
Alador, of course, was a lost cause.
And Amity… no.
No, she couldn’t just be gone. Odalia wasn’t going to accept that. If she did—
“Don’t you get it?! You’re helping a witch hunter destroy everything!”
Amity had known more about the Day of Unity than even Odalia had.
But Mittens was fourteen. A mere child. How was Odalia supposed to know that any of what her daughter was telling her was even true?
She thought she could convince you.
Odalia hadn’t even given the girl a chance to make her case.
Alador had tried to tell her. He hadn’t wanted to fight her, and Odalia had taken advantage of that fact during their argument rather than listening to him.
If she had listened to him, and perhaps if they had used the abomitrons against Belos—
But, no.
This couldn’t be all of her fault. Odalia could admit she had made a mistake, but that didn’t mean she meant for Amity to—
“Just go, Mom,” Emira said suddenly, a deep seated anger in her gaze that was more intense than even Amity’s had been the last time Odalia had seen her youngest.
“Emira, we can go looking for Amity tog—“
“Edric and I aren’t going anywhere with you,” she spat out. “You did this! You’ve never cared about anything but money. Amity should have been able to count on both of you! But Edric and I had to pick up where you both just left us for so long! She goes to us for her problems where it should have been you! Dad might have realized what was going on, but you can’t even admit that Amity might be gone because of you!”
Odalia took a step back.
“Amity is probably fine….”
“No, I want you to say it!” Emira shouted. “Say she’s gone!”
Odalia’s mouth opened, but nothing came.
She… wasn’t going to do that. Amity was probably fine.
What if she isn’t?
Roughly, Odalia grabbed at her pendant. This was all so foolish, all she had to do was look and she could show them.
As tired and exhausted as she was, Odalia managed to scrounge up enough magic to scry into Amity’s future.
Nothing.
Odalia frowned and tried again.
And again.
And yet again.
She fell to her knees in exhaustion, a slow and heavy dread coming over her. For Amity to have no future only meant that….
Amity was gone.
Odalia’s shock and horror was clearly written on her face as Emira finally burst into heavy sobs. Alador was doing his best, but not only had he been estranged from his children, he wasn’t the best at handling strong emotion in the first place.
Odalia knew she should be helping, but she also realized that this was it. Her family was never going to forgive her for this. It was one thing to ignore their wishes while she tried to bring them all to glory and royalty.
But Amity was hole they were never going to be able to ignore.
That Odalia was never going to be able to ignore.
She could have rebuilt Blight Industries.
And her more petty nature figured she could remarry a new partner in time.
The twins could have been convinced to join her for a week on and off.
But Amity wasn’t something that was easily replaced.
What had she done?
Titan, if there was anything Odalia had ever asked for….