The gang went back to school that week. It was getting annoying for Paul. School is getting in the way of his supernatural crime solving. The guy who killed Rhea still needed to be identified. He was positive Zane and Noah would take care of the guy who killed Sophia.
Paul was trying to come up with a way to get Thalia to join forces. Maybe he could talk her into allowing the twins into her inner circle. They seem to be a key piece in this. He was also trying to come up with a way to learn about the real history of the town.
Everyone's side of the story seems to be different. It's like everyone tried writing to make themselves seem right. He needed to track down the other families involved with starting the town. They are never really named. However the more pressing matters would be the current day killers.
A plan popped in his head. Vampires and werewolves have healing powers. What if they could track down people who miraculously healed from a crash or injury? It might lead them in the right direction. He decided to run it past Aiden. So at school the next day he took him aside.
"Hey man, why did you need those medical records?" Paul asked Aiden
He responded. "Looking for other animal attacks and looking for anyone in an unexplainable coma like Melissa. Then I would talk to them and see how they got that way or even see if they remembered anything. But before I could track anything down you agreed to spy on Mr. E. Who just wanna point out, I was right about. Remember my gut instincts are always right"
Paul smiled and continued talking "I think we need to start checking into unexplainable healing. Like anyone who walked away from a crash unharmed, stuff like that.”
"I mean can't hurt. I feel like we're doing a lot of modern day research. There might be a magical way of doing things." Aiden replied.
After school they meet in the underground tunnels to meet with Thalia and catch her up. Aiden decided to ask her about magic "So isn't there some sort of magical way to track down the werewolf who killed Rhea."
"Yeah there probably is. But it's magic I don't know or can't do. Just because a person is magical doesn't mean they can do all kinds of magic. I'm a necromancer. I can't do light magic or chaos magic or any form of divination. "
"Can Tyler?" Paul questioned.
She paused for a second, "I’m dumb I really am. Now that's Aiden's on both sides he can be a go between. I'm sure they want information from the werewolf that turned Quinn." Thalia told the boys.
She started going through her journal. And continued. "The hiccup is I don't know what type of spell he can or can not do, I have some guesses. I also don't have access to the books I need."
Paul remembered that day in the library with Beatriz. "I think Beatriz might have some books. We were going through old journals and one looked like a spell book,"
For the first time since he got roped into this, Paul felt like they were going in the right direction. He was hopeful they could figure it out and end all the animosity the town had befallen. Then he could put all this behind him and figure out what to do with his future. Which admittedly he had been putting on the back burner. Most teens his age were worried about college applications, he was worried about finding werewolves.
Aiden worked with the twins to see if they could figure out a way to magically lead them to the werewolf they were looking for. Paul wanted to see if he could get his hands on medical records. They need more than what Aiden copied.
There was some inner turmoil on how to do it though. Breaking in and stealing them felt wrong. He could just go ask his mom. That might be tricky too. He would need to tell her why and the why would be complicated. It might lead to exposing Quinn as a werewolf.
Magic hacking seemed to be the easy answer. He didn't know if that was real. Regular hacking seemed more plausible. He couldn't even begin to think of a place to start with how to find someone to help with that.
He remembered that day at Firesides and it clicked. Noah and Mr. Everald were the ones who stole the medical files. He wondered why they needed them in the first place.
Paul decided this would be a great time to call Zane and fill him in. The two meet for a moment after school.
"What's going on on team Thalia?" Zane asked.
"Aiden is working with the twins to try to find a magical way to track down our fugitive werewolf. Figured you guys might have the same questions we do for him. So finding him will solve a huge chunk of the puzzle. I want to look in a medical direction. Do you guys still have those files Mr. E and Noah stole?" Paul replied.
"You know about that too? Well yeah I think so. I didn't wanna throw them out just in case." Zane said.
"Cool, can I have them? I wanna see if anyone in those files has a miraculous recovery before I try to get access to the others." explained Paul.
"Alright, you can grab them after school if you don't have plans." Zane offered.
The two went to Zane's house after school. Paul forgot how big their place was. He asked. "So did Noah compel Delilah into being a legal adult?"
"He did. Just be glad he chose that route. Delilah gathering some stuff from your place to bring here." He handed Paul two boxes full of papers and continued, "If you need anything else let me know."
An idea popped into his head. "You know incident reports from the sheriff station wouldn't hurt." Paul responded.
"Anything specific?" Zane replied without hesitating.
Paul was surprised he didn't tell him he was crazy. "Like accidents I think, if one person swears they hit something or someone. Stuff in that vein."
Zane thought about it. "Not a bad idea. I'll see what I can do.”
Paul poured through the files but nothing was there. The next day Zane dropped off a box filled with incident reports. Paul didn't ask questions about how he got them he already knew. After a few hours of searching he decided to take a break.
He was scrolling through Instagram when he heard Thalia's voice. “Get the jars, something bad happened.”
Paul went to his desk and picked it up. He was worried. How much more could the universe throw their way?
"Woah, what did I miss?" Paul said.
Aiden chimed in to explain. "Fergus Everald officially asked Thalia out and she flipping out."
"I thought it would be an emergency." Paul responded.
"It's like sleeping with the enemy." she blurted.
The boys laughed. Paul added. "You don't have to sleep with him. Also his a good guy. He's been there for Delilah since her aunt's murder."
"Okay hear me out about this, you go on a date. And we will be around the corner watching your back but honestly I think you should tell him. I know you don't trust Noah and Zane but Mr. E could be helpful. He knows a lot about this stuff." Aiden suggested.
"Yeah, get to know him a little, this could be good. Plus if it's not a set up, when was the last time you went on a date?" Paul said.
Thalia responded, "Last guy I was with I stabbed through the heart with an ancient dagger because I thought he was evil."
"What!" The two boys said simultaneously.
"Well just please don't stab him." Paul added.
"Okay, I'll go bye " Thalia said as she disconnected.
"Way to drop lore and leave," Aiden said.
Paul placed the jar on the end table. He decided to text Zane and ask him about the impending date. Zane confirmed it was Noah's idea because he was suspicious of her. Paul decided to call it a night.
The next day would come and he ended up going to school and cutting the last few classes. He went straight home and dug into the papers. Folder after folder nothing crazy stood out. There were a lot of reports involving people swerving to avoid wildlife but that was pretty normal. His eyes started to hurt so he decided to take a quick break.
A big part of Paul was hesitant to call Melissa but it had been awhile since they hung out. He was torn. Logically he knew having a vampire girlfriend was a dumb thing to do. He just couldn't help it. Before he could talk himself out of it, the phone was already ringing.
The pair met up to grab some pizza. The optimal pizza topping to Paul was sausage and mushrooms. Melissa hated mushrooms. So they decided on just sausage.
“I'm glad we got a chance to finally hang out.” Melissa said.
“Yeah sorry you know it's been a little chaotic. I'm glad things are settling into normal.” replied Paul.
Melissa added. “Settling into normal….what does normal even mean nowadays.”
Paul laughed. “Speaking of normal, did you get in your college applications?
“I did, I sent in like 15 different ones. All in different states.” she replied
“I put in a couple myself.:
“Did you? Anywhere interesting?” Melissa asked
“A place in New York. A place in Michigan, and a place in New Orleans. I don't know, I'm kind of excited about the future. I'm at the beginning of my life you know.” Paul told her.
“That's awesome, change could be good” Melissa replied. She paused for a second. There was a look of sadness in her eyes. “That's why I'm glad we could talk. I know we have the beginnings of what could be a thing. But I think we should end it before it starts. Ya know, I wanna be friends but we're better off not starting something when we don't know where we're going.”
It was like getting hit by Zane all over again. He couldn't help but think he said something wrong. He tried to maintain his game face but he didn't know how successful he was being. Maybe this was a good thing. Dating a vampire might get dangerous. Look at what it did to Delilah's life.
It was then he realized he was silent for a little too long so he said, “That sucks but you have a point I guess. Maybe the universe will get involved and we'll end up at the same college. Then we can give it another go." Paul suggested.
A change of topic was needed so Paul blurted the first thing that popped in his head. "Did you hear about Mr. E going on a date?"
"O.M.G! No, I did not hear. That will be nice for him. He needs the distraction. I don't know if you knew this but Mr. Everald and Sophia went on a few dates."
The two teens finished the pizza and went to their separate homes. It was time to spend more time with the files he had. There was a small pile forming of incidents that might be something but it was going slow. He got a call from Thalia reminding him that he promised to go play look out for her date. It was probably a waste of time but he didn't mind.
First he picked up Aiden and then they picked up snacks. They parked in front of the restaurant. Aiden filled Paul in on the plan.
"So I ordered a listening device online so we can listen in."
"Nice, I'm surprised Thalia couldn't magic something like this. We got to learn more about that stuff." Paul replied.
"Agreed, how are you doing? I mean like generally, not for any specific reason.” Aiden asked.
"Did she tell you? Man, I'm fine. Honestly us starting a relationship right now would be silly."
Before he could explain anymore about how fine it was, they started to hear talking. The two listened in but it was pretty boring first date talk that got interrupted with the waiter introducing himself. Entrees were ordered and more small talk was made. Paul decided it was a good time to read more into the files he had.
There was a file that made him suspicious. Something felt so familiar. He read the file over again but nothing clicked. He read it a third time when it finally hit him. That area has had several incidents. Cases where people swear they hit someone or something and then it ran off.
There's a saying, twice is a coincidence and three is a pattern. There were five in one area. In one of those cases they described hitting something with fur but it left a cell phone. The police wrote it off as debris already there but Paul decided to just ride out this train of thought.
Paul shared this with Aiden. "Hey check this out. This one area of woods has an access road. I know that a lot of people use it as a shortcut. There are five cases in that area. I think it might be something."
Aiden looked intrigued and pulled at his laptop. "Well, let's see what happens to be in that area."
The two opened up Google maps and tried to find anything in that area. They found a couple cabins. There was a person Paul knew he could call to help. It was Zane. He called and asked if there was any way to see who owned those cabins.
"Yeah, I can get a hold of the property records in the morning." Zane replied over the phone.
"The morning is super far away. This could be time sensitive. What if he's onto us?" Paul replied hoping his friend would act now.
Zane sighed and asked. "You want me to break into right now don't you?"
"I do. I mean I've been doing so much paper reading and, I don't know, going through those could be the thing we are looking for." Paul said.
"Fine. I'll take Aiden with me. He likes this stuff." Zane responded.
"Yeah, .about that, he's with me staking out Thalia date." explained Paul.
Aiden laughed, "Tell him I said hi."
Paul smirked and relayed the message. "He said hi."
Zane laughed and hung up the phone. The two teens went back to listening in on the date. Thalia giggled. That giggled shocked the boys.
"Was that a giggle from Thalia?" Aiden jokingly asked.
"Would you look at that? Maybe she's human after all." Paul joked back.
Twenty more minutes of eavesdropping would occur when Zane called back. "Hey guys, so I looked up the cabins. One of the cabins burnt down and was never rebuilt so that one's out. Another cabin is owned by my family. I didn't know that but that is nice to learn actually. The last cabin is owned by Drew Reinhert. No spouse or children. No other property in his name."
Paul thanked him for the information and hung up. The pair talked it through. Drew Reinhert was suspect number one in their eyes. It was him or another person who was squatting in Zane's cabin. The Reinhert lead seemed easier to follow.
Paul was about to call Zane back to see if there was a way to see where he worked so they could track him, when Aiden decided to just check his social media. That was a great idea because it revealed he was a waiter at the very restaurant they were parked outside of.
Paul was a little panicked. He looked at Aiden who seemed to be uneasy himself.
"Seriously, what are the odds?" Paul said.
"Well you know small towns and all that jazz."
"What do we do here Aid?" Paul asked.
"We have to locate him first so we can get eyes on him. We should probably give Thaila a heads up." Aiden suggested.
Paul stopped for a second. "Wait, what was their waiter's name?”
“Okay we know his name and what he looks like. I'm nervous telling Thalia. This might be the guy he killed Rhea. Do you think she can keep her cool? What if she kills him before we get answers?” Aiden questioned.
Aiden was right. Paul knew that. He started thinking out loud. “Silver kills werewolves or burns them. That's like a werewolf test, at least that's what television says. But I mean television was wrong about some vampire stuff so you can't trust that. Okay so there are anti vampire herbs are there anti werewolf herbs?”
“Great questions. The two people who would know that are in there together and we can't trust one of them to not stab a guy.” Aiden replied.
“Well we know where he lives so there's no rush. We can let them finish their date and go were-napping tomorrow with them.” suggested Paul.
The two boys calmed down. Relief set in. They were glad they thought things through and decided on a logical and safe plan. Before the boys could relax Paul noticed Noah going into the restaurant.
“Can vampires hear through car windows?” Paul asked, already knowing the answer to the question.
“Yes and that is Noah going into the restaurant.:
The pair got out of the car and rushed into the restaurant. There was no sign of Noah. The boys sat themselves at Thalia's table.
“What in the world are you guys doing here?” Mr. Everald asked.
“Okay so cliff notes. We think your waiter is the werewolf that we've been looking for. We don't know it is a hunch. Noah overheard us and came in here.” said Paul.
“If he is a werewolf and a vampire comes after him it's gonna be a big fight.” Thalia explained. She went into her bag and took out a pair of daggers. And handed one to Fergus. “It's infused with wolfbane. It won't kill but it will still hurt.”
“You two please wait in the car.” Mr. Everald said to the boys.
The two adults walked to the back. The two teens waited for a couple minutes and followed. Paul opened the back door to find a fight in progress. Mr. Everald was on the ground. There was a gash on his forehead. Thalia was checking for a pulse to make sure he was alive. Noah was exchanging punches with the waiter. The waiter speared him into the garbage can and landed on top of him. He grabbed Noah's head and twisted. The bones cracking made a loud crunch sound.
Thalia heard and looked up. Armed with the dagger she ran full speed at him. The two began rolling around on the ground. Thalia was being choked with the man on top of him. Aiden picked up a steel rod and impaled the waiter in the lower back. It only seemed to anger the man. He smacked Aiden into the wall and he was knocked unconscious.
The dagger Mr. Everald had was next to his unconscious body. Paul ran to pick it up. He then proceeded to run into the man on top of Thalia. The blade went into his shoulder blade. Paul could hear the impact of the blade. The squish sound it made. He also noticed his wound seemed to be burning.
The man cried out in pain. His scream echoed down the alley. Thalia took this time to reach for her dagger and stab him in the thigh. Paul saw a pipe in the rubbish. He picked it up and slammed it into his head, knocking the werewolf out finally.
“That went well.” she said.
Thalia went to check on Aiden. He was fine. He was slow to get up but he got back on his feet. Paul went to check on his history teacher. He was slowly regaining consciousness.
Thalia tossed her keys to Paul. “I need you two to bring my car quickly. There's also a bag with a lot of rope grab that. Go. Be quick.”
The two teens did what they were told. They pulled up the car and handed her the rope. The waiter was tied up and dumped into the trunk.
“Well that was a fun date.” Mr. Everald said while getting back on his feet.
She laughed. “We're not done yet. Grab Noah, put him in my car.” She turned to face Paul and Aiden, “Help Fergus then meet us at the brothers’ house.”