#what a fun way to depict a snapper

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Internship Chapter 25: Day 22 - Amity

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Today, Amity and Luz planned to visit another coven. They had gone to just over half at this point, and honestly Amity wasn’t sure how well it was going. So far, what she learned was more of the same. That she didn’t know what she wanted to do. While the covens all offered something different, they were each limiting in their own ways.

Amity was no closer to deciding which she wanted to join. She was having fun though; it was great spending time with Luz. Even as she tried not to embarrass herself in front of Luz, Amity enjoyed learning about the covens with her.

They agreed to meet in front of the school to go to the next coven, with Willow offering to join and show them around. Amity felt a little nervous about spending time with her, but knew things had gone okay last time. If she focused on not putting her foot in her mouth, she’d probably be alright.

After school ended, Amity worked her way to the designated meeting spot in front of the building. Luz and Willow were already standing there when she arrived. Luz was talking animatedly about something, while Willow giggled in response.

Amity fought off a twinge of nerves as she greeted them and was brought into the conversation. As it turned out, Luz was recounting a story from her oracle class that day. While trying to cast oracle magic, she had made an orb explode. It turned out the glyph she was trying to use made a gust of air, instead of telling fortunes. When she tried to use it on a crystal ball, well, it had gone badly. The sound effects Luz made to depict the event made it a lot funnier than it probably had been.

Once the story was finished, the group set off towards their destination. They were headed to the Plant Coven, or more specifically one of the larger greenhouses run by the coven. When Willow overheard Luz and Amity talking about it, she said she knew it well and offered to show them.

“What kind of plants do you grow?” Luz was full of questions, as usual.

Willow brought a hand up to her chin as she thought about it. She was leading the way as they walked, with Luz barely half a step behind her. Amity trailed after them, listening to the exchange. “Well, all kinds.” Willow said, smiling at Luz. “There are too many to count.”

“I’m so excited to see them!” Luz had a distinct bounce to her step today. It seemed like their experience at the construction site last week, which had almost resulted in their injury, hadn’t deterred her. Amity admired her tenacity.

The conversation continued as they neared the greenhouse. Willow talked about a couple different plant types they were growing there, after Luz pressed again for more details.

When they reached the building, Amity examined it carefully. It was just over one story tall, with the whole outside being made of glass. Even the roof was transparent, to let light into the building. There were some large plants on the other side of the glass, with a few witches visible beyond them.

Willow went in first, opening the glass door. Luz’s head was swiveling as she followed, with Amity not far behind.

Once inside, she could see the plants much more clearly. They were everywhere, covering almost every surface in the building. There were large plants, small plants, and even some plants that were bright colors. She had never seen so many in one place. There were a few witches around, some watering the plants while others cast spells.

One witch near the door looked over as the three students entered. “Hey Willow!” She called over to them and waved.

Willow returned the wave, before gesturing for Amity and Luz to follow her. “This is one of the main greenhouses. Most of the bigger plants are grown here.” She said as she led them further into the building.

Another witch said hi to Willow as they passed them, briefly interrupting the tour to exchange small talk. Willow rubbed the back of her head sheepishly as they continued.

“I’ve been visiting here for a long time.” She admitted, a hint of pink on her cheeks. “Even before I switched tracks.” Amity remembered when Willow had been on the abomination track with her and how much she had struggled with that type of magic. Willow changed tracks right around when Luz first appeared in their lives, which seemed to be a positive change for her.

“Your plant magic is amazing!” Luz complemented her, bringing a small smile to Willow’s face.

“Thanks Luz.” She replied quietly, then pushed on with the tour. “Each coven member is assigned space in the greenhouse. They have to grow plants that match the climate of the greenhouse, but other than that they’re free to choose.” Willow stopped by an elevated shelf that contained some pod like plants. “These are purple snappers, a rare and hard to grow species.”

Luz reached towards the plants slowly, one finger extended. The pod, as if sensing her approach, shifted as if to open. It gave Amity a bad feeling. She turned to Luz to suggest she stop, but Willow had beaten her to it.

Willow clamped a hand down on Luz’s wrist, yanking her back from the pod right before it surged forward. Amity saw only a hint of teeth before it settled back. “Don’t touch them, should’ve said that first.” Willow chuckled nervously.

Luz just stared at the plant in wonder. “It’s purple on the inside.” She finally said, unfazed from almost having her hand eaten.

Willow released her wrist. Amity probably would’ve held onto it a bit longer. “That’s how they get their name. They make great guard plants.”

“Guard plants?” Amity repeated the term; she hadn’t heard of that.

Willow nodded. “They’re often used around fences, to keep witches from climbing them.”

“I bet they’re good at that.” Luz’s eyes were sparkling as she admired the plant that almost bit her. “Who’s a good plant?” She cooed, both hands behind her back as an effort to not try and touch it again.

As hard as it was for Amity to tear her eyes away from Luz, especially when she was being this cute, she still wanted to ask more questions. “What else are the plants here used for?”

“Some are used in potions.” Willow answered as she started moving again through the greenhouse. “Others are planted across town, sold to other witches, or kept here for experiments.” They stopped at a large tree, one that towered over the teens and almost reached the ceiling. “They’ve been trying to graft different types of trees onto this one, so it can produce various types of fruit.” Willow pointed to one of the branches, which was a different color than the others.

Amity squinted up at it; it barely looked different to her. Luz was impressed though, and commented about how convenient that would be.

“How do I get space to grow something here?” Luz asked, eyeing one of the few open patches of dirt nearby.

Willow shook her head, now frowning slightly. “Coven members only, I’m afraid. I can’t grow anything here either.”

Luz’s expression immediately fell. “That’s too bad. I can already do a plant spell too.” She whipped out her glyph notebook, quickly flipping to an open page. The plant spell was pretty impressive, though Amity still didn’t understand how Luz’s magic worked.

“Oh, I bet the coven members would love to see that.” Willow called a few of them over as Luz drew the glyph. She drew it slowly, likely wanting to get it right on the first try.

Luz glanced around, and then tapped the glyph with her finger. A small plant sprung up, just larger than her hand. The coven members around them oohed at the accomplishment.

They immediately started asking questions about the glyph and what kind of seed Luz was using. She admitted she didn’t know, which only seemed to intrigue them more. They asked if they could have a copy, to try and plant it. Luz couldn’t turn them down, and she ended up making five more plants to hand out.

Watching Luz have fun always lifted Amity’s mood. Now she was talking about how she wanted to find a new plant glyph, to make different types of plants. One of the coven members had started taking notes.

The Plant Coven seemed interesting, but like the others Amity couldn’t imagine spending all of her time in a greenhouse like this.

Willow had separated from the group, to go water one of the nearby plants. This one was much smaller, some kind of flower that hadn’t bloomed yet. Amity joined her, watching as the water trickled between the leaves.

“Are you really thinking about joining the Plant Coven?” Willow had her eyes focused on the plants as she asked the question. The question hung in the air, heavy despite the clamoring nearby.

Amity brought one hand up to her wrist as she searched for the words to respond. “I’m not sure what I want to do.” She replied after a moment, giving an honest response. It was a strange feeling, sharing things with Willow again. She remembered the last time she had, not long before the birthday where everything fell apart. “That’s why we’re looking.”

“I’m sure you’ll find it.” Willow paused her pouring and turned to her, a half-smile on her face. “And if you don’t, that’s fine too.”

“Is it?” Amity’s eyebrows scrunched together. She wasn’t sure if she agreed with that.

Willow nodded, her eyes flicking over to Luz. “Yeah, I think it is.”

Amity followed her line of sight, where Luz was now laughing at something one of the coven members had just said. When she saw them looking, Luz excused herself and hopped over to them.

“Ooh, what kind of plant is this?” Luz fawned over the plant Willow had just watered.

“Chrysanthemums.” Willow replied. “Though they haven’t bloomed yet.”

“Oh, we have those in the human world too!”

The three talked more about human world flowers, before moving to the back of the greenhouse. There were some different types of cacti there, which Luz wisely didn’t try to touch.

With that, they had seen most of the plants they had there. Luz and Amity soon left, with Willow staying behind to lend a hand.

As they walked away from the greenhouse, they chatted about what they saw. Luz was trying to draw a new plant glyph, with little success.

Amity couldn’t stop thinking about the few words she’d shared with Willow and what she’d said about choosing a coven.

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