It was Monday morning and time to go to school. Paul felt in the grand scheme of things maybe it wasn't super important to go today. He walked down stairs to see his mom cooking breakfast and singing along to Love is Battlefield; a song from the eighties. He couldn't help but stop and let her be for a minute. How could she have this whole secret life and he did not even notice Paul thought to himself. How could everyone in his life have a secret life as well?
The music was a little loud so he had to raise his voice. "Hey Grace Benatar, I need Nurse Lisbon right now."
She turned down the music. “What's up honey?"
Paul began. "Okay first thing. I'm playing hooky cause I need a mental health day and I wanna research stuff."
Grace interrupted, "How many times have you played hooky this year and what stuff?"
“This is the second and college, it is getting closer to that time and I'm a little lost right now" Paul explained. Paul hated lying to his mom but it wasn't a complete lie. He did want to do research and think stuff over but it was really about the supernatural world.
His mom stopped to think for a second. "Okay you can skip school but you're going tomorrow. What's the second thing?"
"The vitamins." Paul said as he placed them on the counter. "These have been giving me digestive issues. I checked my old ones and they say they have the same stuff in them but I don't know. These are weird."
This was another lie. The vitamins that weren't really vitamins did not give him digestive problems. They apparently worked perfectly because it's the one thing stopping him from being brainwashed by vampires. Paul almost laughed out loud because of this thought. That sentence was so ridiculous to him.
His mom looked down and then turned around to put something away. "That's peculiar, well take some pepto with them and I'll pick up new ones."
Paul was actually shocked about how not smooth his mother was. Deceit was never something he actively looked for in his mother but now that the honesty bubble has burst it was very obvious. Despite that, it was hard to be mad at his mom. Sometimes you lie to protect people. The Historical Society was lying to everyone for some sort of greater good.
Paul kissed his mother on the cheek, grabbed some food, and went back upstairs. He put on some television and ate. However he couldn't focus on the show playing.
He was piecing together things in his head. Like how his mom never had anyone over and she forbade him to invite guests over as well. It took a year for him to convince her to let Quinn come inside. He always thought that was weird but now that Paul has learned vampires can not go inside a home uninvited, that made more sense. That was a dumb rule and why that was a thing. It was one more thing he needed to ask Thalia.
He thought about how much movies and television got wrong and right. Paul saw Zane in the mirror at his party, so that was definitely wrong. He had a terrible thought he didn't like. How do you kill a vampire? Is it really just a stake through the heart? What if he used metal? What if Thalia ripped out their hearts? He just had more questions.
He texted Thalia for a meeting location. They decided on meeting at the movies. A normal place where two people can be seen together that no one would question. He arrived early out of fear of being late and waited in the parking lot. Twenty minutes later she arrived and entered the theater. Paul hurried to catch up with her. He came up behind her in the line for tickets. "What movie are we seeing?"
"Whatever is playing in theater six." Thalia said without turning around.
Paul bought his ticket and went to buy popcorn. Thalia went straight into the theater. He eventually followed and went to sit down next to her.
"No. Don't sit next to me." she shooed him away.
"Okay," he said confused.
"Wait, take this." Thalia handed him a jar with weird stones in it and said something in Latin. “We can sit apart and whisper but hear each clearly. When you hold it I hear your voice in my head and vice versa.”
“So at any random time your voice can pop into my head?” Paul asked.
“Yes and anytime you need me grab the jar and your voice will pop into my head.” she explained.
"What's in there?"
"It's a stapes." she replied.
Paul had no clue what that was, "Yeah, no idea what that means. Care to elaborate?
She laughed. "It's ear bones. The smallest bone in the human body.”
This grossed him out a little, but that passed because he had already touched an eyeball.
"At least it's in a jar." He said as he went to sit down three rows back. A part of Paul couldn't process being here. It reminded him of when he tailed Mr. Everald with Aiden. There he was playing spies again. He was about to question the validity of the hearing jar when he decided against it. He did see Thalia rip out a heart from a fake Rhea. That's when Paul decided to ask a question.
"Hey, Thalia. The heart you were holding the other night. "Whose was it?"
"Um.......it was Rhea's. That's how I could recreate her." Thalia said with sadness in her voice.
"Oh," he uttered. He couldn't think of anything else to say. He couldn't imagine harvesting organs and body parts from someone he loved. So he continued, "I'm sorry you had to do all this stuff."
Thalia continued on like she didn't hear that. "So what questions do you have?"
"Why are we meeting in a movie theater?" he asked
"I meant about the supernatural situation." she responded.
Paul's mind went absolutely blank. There's something about being put on the spot that makes his brain stop working. "How do you kill vampires?" he blurted.
"Stabbed through the heart or decapitation will work in a pinch." she responded.
"So just cut off heads. Yeah, no big deal." Paul whispered under his breath.
"Fun fact, Paul, most beings are powerless with their heads." she said with a slight laugh.
That made him laugh. He asked another question. “I saw Zane in a mirror. I thought vampires had no reflection.”
“Well the reflection thing is a myth. The theory is people used to say mirrors were the reflection of the soul and since vampires are dead they have no soul. Hence no reflections. A lot of what pop culture shows is. Or it is outrageously outdated. Vampires can eat garlic no problem.”
“That's like a huge thing.” Paul said.
“A myth. A couple vampire hunters survived with garlic around their neck, so they chalked it up to the garlic.” Thalia explained.
“What was it?” Paul asked.
“It could have been a couple things. But my guess is pennyroyal. It would have been used in a lot of twine back then. Like twine to bind garlic necklaces. It's also an ingredient in your vitamins.” she explained.
The two spent the next 90 minutes talking and making a plan. Paul's part was mostly to hang out with them as much as possible. He would have to observe and report basically. He would also have to go along with the whole brainwashing thing.
Paul learned vampires have the ability to hypnotize people into doing or thinking whatever they want. That felt like a violation to Paul, his friends messed with his mind. He could think of a few times they tried and failed thanks to those vitamins.
The worst one was Melissa. She tried it in the car after they kissed at the hospital. He remembered her telling him to forget it and being surprised he didn't.
The movie ended. Thalia told him to wait a minute or two before he could leave. He waited 30 seconds instead. He walked toward the garbage can to throw out his popcorn. He heard a familiar voice, so he turned around. There he saw Noah waiting outside the women's restroom. He tried to duck away without being noticed, but Noah saw him and walked towards him. "Hey Paul. Are you cutting class? That's very naughty. Luckily I approve.
Paul didn't know what to do. He tried to nonchalantly look for Thalia. He heard her voice. He still had the jar in his hand. "Act normal, Noah just wants playful banter and a chance to insult you."
Paul said to Noah. "Yes, I do want to be like you when I grow up. Snarky loner who has no friends."
"I'm friends with Fergus, and I'm not here alone. I have at least one other friend.” Noah responded.
Just then Delilah walked out of the restroom. Paul did not expect to see that coming. By the look on her face, Delilah did not expect to run into anyone she knew. .
"Oh hey Paul. What are you doing here?"
"You know. Playing hooky, taking a mental health day." Paul explained.
"Cool me too." Delilah explained awkwardly.
Noah looked over to his right and spotted a lady watching them. So he asked Paul about it. "I need you to be subtle but look to your right. Do you know that lady staring at us?"
Paul didn't need to look because he guessed it was Thalia but played along. "Oh yeah, that's Thalia. I met her at the tavern. She's in town for Thanksgiving.”
"Well, why is she staring at us?" Noah questioned.
"I don't know, maybe she thinks you're dreamy." Paul said and walked away.
He walked outside and went to his car. He got a text from Thalia. It said, go to school tomorrow and just observe. More importantly you can't tell anyone about any of this.”