Everything was bright and blurry when he opened his eyes. His head was pounding and he didn't know where he was. He looked around, his mom was sitting on a chair. She jumped up when she noticed him waking up
"Hey sweetie. Don't make any sudden movements. You don't wanna rip your stitches. You're in the hospital but you're gonna be fine.” She pressed the call button to get the nurse.
The nurse entered and he was told to go get the doctor. Paul was poked and prodded but deemed okay. The next visitor was the sheriff. This encounter made him nervous. Fortunately Paul didn't have to lie because he truly didn't remember anything. They told him he was stabbed twice and he was found in an alley. He tried to answer as best he could but everything was blank.
His friends were allowed to visit while Paul's mom was called away to fill out forms. Beatriz and Tyler were there with Thalia.
“Hey Paulie boy, how's ya feeling?” Tyler asked while Beatriz hugged him.
“Well I got stabbed."
Thalia apologized. “I'm so sorry Paul. I was away from my phone when you called. I should have been with you. Also next time use the jar. That's why they are there, so we are instantly connected” The worry on Thalia's face was very evident. “But what do you remember?”
“Nothing I remember studying and then nothing,” he replied.
“It could be magic or it could be your body blocking out trauma.” she said.
“Well you're okay. That's all that matters. We'll figure out everything else later when you're healed. Quinn is on his way. Aiden and Melissa went to deal with the Delilah situation.” Beatriz explained.
Tyler smacked her on the back of the head. Paul tried to sit up “What happened to-,” but was cut off because of pain.
Tyler glared at his sister. “I thought we decided to tell him a little later." He looked at Paul and continued, “But the vampire that killed Sophia came back and grabbed her. The others went to help over there.” She told him.
“What!” He exclaimed as his machine started to beep.
His mom rushed back in and read the machine.
“Sorry I tried to get up from bed and it hurt so the machine beeped. I'm fine mom.” Paul assured her.
“You need to stay in that bed, Paul Lisbon.” I'm serious, you can't walk this one off.” she sternly said.
He couldn't help but feel bad. The worry in her eyes was so apparent. He promised to not move until he got the okay. His eyes meet Thalia's. “I'm telling her everything.”
“Okay. I know by now to trust your gut kid.” Thalia replied.
The five spent the next hour discussing everything. His mother couldn't find words to say.
“Are you okay Nurse Lisbon?” Beatriz asked.
“Yes dear, it's just a lot to take in.” she responded. She decided to ask a few questions. “So Noah is on the board to keep the supernatural away and he's a vampire?”
“Yeah.” Thalia confirmed.
“Quinn is a werewolf, you two come from a long lineage of witchcraft?” she asked for her own clarification. The twins just nodded yes. She then directed her attention to Thalia. “And you, the adult that dragged my son into this?”
Paul interrupted. “Mom, it's not her fault. Everyone of my friends were dragged into by accident or because someone manipulated events. I'm still alive and still human.”
“And I'm a necromancer in case you were still wondering.” Thalia added.
Paul noticed how exhausted and defeated his mother looked. He wanted to get up and hug her but he couldn't.
“I mean I already knew about this supernatural stuff. I'm kind of just shocked how much The Historical Society didn't know.” Grace said.
A nurse entered the room to return Paul's belongings. It was a bag with everything he had on him. His mom grabbed it and handed it to Paul. “Honey, do you remember our last conversation?”
“Not really.” He admitted.
“I came home with a plant and you took the card to it. You asked about her naming the shop. I thought it was weird. They found you a few blocks away. Does Ethel's Plant Shop mean anything to you?” Grace asked.
“We think that the name of the person who is behind all this.” Tyler answered.
Paul chimed in “So I'm gonna assume this was not a coincidence.”
Thalia got a call. It was Mr. Everald calling for an update and also called to inform them that Delilah is home and everyone is safe. Paul felt like it was just random luck no one died today.
His mom kicked everyone out so Paul could rest. He slept for the next sixteen hours. It was the best sleep ever. The next day he still wasn't allowed to leave. The doctor wanted to wait and see how he was doing. Apparently he had pretty intensive surgery. He texted Tyler. “Is there any way to magically heal me?”
The twins came over an hour later. This time Melissa and Mr. Everald were with them. They checked the old Benoit journals and there was a spell they wanted to try.
“Okay I can do a lot but I never tried this.” Tyler said.
“Wait, what have you done?” Ms.Lisbon asked.
“A little bit of everything, start fires, move stuff, incapacitate people, locate things,” he replied.
"And you Beatriz?” she asked.
“Offer moral support,” Beatriz snarked.
Tyler placed his hand on Paul's wound and started chanting. Nothing happened. He tried again and failed.
“Sorry man. We can keep trying, I'll get it eventually.” Tyler said with hope.
“Moral support…..I want you guys to try something, try it together. Do it at the same time.” Mr. Everald suggested.
The twins agreed and tried it together this time. A light started to shine from their hands. Paul felt his wounds get hot. The light faded.
“So better or worse.” Tyler joked.
“Better I think,” he replied.
Nurse Lisbon checked it herself. “Let me see, woah, It's not completely healed but it's miles better.”
Beatriz stood up to celebrate. “I did a magic thing!”
Paul's mom convinced the doctors to release him early. He was ecstatic to go home. Taking it easy was the only thing Paul was allowed to do for the next 24 hours. The twins came over to heal him again. This time it was completely healed. Not only did Paul feel good because his wound was completely healed, but seeing how happy Beatriz was to do magic made him glad as well.
Paul got a text to bring the twins to the tunnels for a group meeting. He brought his mom to this one. Her eyes got big looking at their information wall.
“Wow, that's elaborate.” she commented.
Paul looked at the end of the timeline. There was a crude stick figure drawing with an arrow pointing towards it and his name above the arrow. There was also a knife sticking out of the stick figure. Paul grabbed it from the wall. Noah walked up. “Oh I did that one. I think I captured your likeness.” He looked over and saw Grace. “Paul, you didn't tell me you were bringing your mom. Hey Grace, looking great this morning.”
Zane spoke up, “Be nice.”
“What that was nice. I'm saying hi. I actually like her,” Noah defended.
Mr. Everald walked in and taped a photo to the wall. “So this is Ethel. Does she look familiar to anyone.”
No one spoke up. Noah couldn't help but to make a snarky comment. “See what happens when humans and supernaturals put their heads together.”
Paul's mom laughed. “Well I mean that's why Autumnvale was made.”
The whole room stopped and looked at her. Aiden asked what everyone was thinking, “What do you mean?”
“Autumnvale in its origins was made by supernatural beings and humans as a safe place to coexist. It worked for a while but bad stuff kept happening. The Winters family rallied the humans to form a group to rid it of anything magic or supernatural.” she explained
“How do you know this?” Zane questioned.
Grace answered “Well from the old Winters’ journals.”
Aiden was in disbelief. “I can't believe my mom kept those from me.”
“The Historical Society doesn't like to advertise it.” Grace responded
Zane started to think out loud. “That must be why the Benoits stuck around after all the supernatural people left. They had to give up their magic to keep an eye on the tomb in the tunnels.”
“Well I mean why isn't it like a family tradition then. Why don't we know about it.” Beatriz asked aloud.
“Well it's been a long time.” Melissa stated.
“Maybe now it's time to track down those tombs.” Delilah suggested.
They decided to split up in groups. The group grabbed flashlights and walkie talkies. Melissa had the idea to use chalk to mark paths. Everyone checked in every 30 minutes. They spent three hours looking and decided to call it a day.
The underground tunnels were too vast. The group all met up again in their cave room.
“Can't you magic something up?” Aiden complained.
“I can't just magic a way to solve all our problems……but maybe. A location spell in these tunnels would take some more advanced things. But now with Beatriz, I think we can. We know the tomb is sealed by blood magic and we in theory have the blood of the families who did it.”
Thalia took the twins and Mr. Everald and left. It was time to check in with Eddie. But he had nothing new to share. The shop was bought by a person who on paper didn't exist and was gifted to Ethel Burton. So that was a dead end.
Paul was forced to go to school. His mother thought he’d be safe there. And it might be good for him to think about something other than magic problems. School was boring. He couldn't help but hate not being able to help. Luckily for him Melissa, Delilah, and Quinn were there to keep him company. So he at least got to have a fun lunch. He decided if he thought of gym class as hunter training that would help too.
While changing in the locker room with Quinn, Coach walked up to them. “I must say you two impressed me today. If only you guys worked that hard on the football field you wouldn't have thrown away your shot.” the coach said then walked away.
There was a voice that boomed from behind their row of lockers “That's basically a Hamilton reference.”
They knew it was Trevor. He walked around the lockers to say hi, “Hey fellas. Paul glad you back and firing on all cylinders.”
“Thanks man. So you are thinking about what you wanna do after all this?” Paul asked.
“Yeah I don't know if you guys noticed but I'm pretty into theater. Thinking about trying my hand at that.” he responded.
This is when Paul realized he has never really picked any career he wanted to go into. There was some stuff on his bucket list but in all this crazy he forgot to think about his future. Quinn chimed in, “I'll just wanna make it to graduating, I'll figure the rest when I get there.”
The bell rang so the boys rushed to class. They had a sub for history class. It was weird not seeing Mr. Everald up there teaching them, of course he had bigger things to deal with. After school he went to the tavern. His coworkers were happy to see him. He was happy to be back, Paul liked working there.
After his shift he went straight home. His mom was at the hospital so it was quiet. Tomorrow was Saturday, all he had scheduled was a short work shift. He assumed everyone would be at the Carlyle brother's house or in the caves. He planned to join them afterwards.
He clocked in, worked, and then clocked out. Straight to the caves he went. When he arrived there he heard laughter. He found Noah and his mother.
“Hey Paulie, how was work?” Noah greeted him.
“It was fine…..Mom, what are you doing here? Paul questioned.
“I got curious. I thought I’d see how everything was going before my shift.” she explained.
“Did they find anything? he inquired.
“There using blood and a bowl and a stick. They should find it in no time.” Noah said.
Paul knew well enough to not ask questions. His mom left and he was alone with his least favorite person of the group.
“So how are you feeling?” Noah asked
“I'm okay. Doctor's stitched me up good and the twins did the rest.” Paul answered
"Good, just you could call me next time.” Noah said.
Paul was surprised by Noah's concern. “I know. I should have brought someone with me, but I just wanted answers.” Paul said.
“I get that. I can't wait for all this to be over with.” Noah replied.
“Whacha gonna do when there is no one trying to kill us? Paul asked.
“I don't know man. I've never quite found my purpose. I thought it was anger and revenge, but I think I've given up on that. My brother just didn't wanna be alone. He didn't know Elizabeth couldn't handle the transformation.”
Paul was completely speechless. He had never seen this side of Noah. Paul asked. “The girl trouble you mentioned I thought it was a love interest but it was a sister. She was the girl.”
Noah continued. “Yeah she was the girl problem we had. My older sister was basically a mother to me. Zane was the golden child. My parents' favorite son. I kind of got overlooked. Elizabeth picked up the slack. She wanted me to be a teacher. I loved showing people how to do things.” Noah stopped. It was almost like his human side clicked off. “What about you, have you figured out your one true calling? What's next after being a normal high schooler?”
“Thinking about college. Acceptance letters start coming in like a month or so.” Paul responded.
“Well you can't go to college if you die so just…..you know.” the vampire said.
“Yep. Got It. No more getting stabbed.” Paul jokingly replied.
Noah got up and picked up his walkie talkie for an update. “Okay guys what's going on?”
“We found it! Follow the pink chalk letters.” Zane's voice said over the walkie talkie.
“Fucking finally.” Noah said and high five Paul. Noah paused and then looked at his hand. “I'm getting too used to you guy, but let's see what all the fuss is about.”
The two raced down the tunnels. When they got there all Paul saw was more rocks. Everything was rocks down here. He inspected it a little bit more and that's when he noticed it appeared to be a door made of stones. There was writing carved around it.
“Okay let's open it up and see what is in there.” Noah exclaimed.
“I can't just say open sesame. It's gonna take some time.” Thalia responded.
“It's blood magic. Throw the blood at it.” Noah took the bowl from Thalia and flung its contents on the wall.
“That was mostly water and a few drops of blood. There is probably a spell we need.” She turned to Beatriz and Tyler. “It's got to be in your family's grimoire.”
“We can see if pop pop knows anything, maybe he's holding something back.” said Tyler.
Everyone went their separate ways. Paul decided to hang out with Delilah and Melissa. The two were shopping. Paul thought that a careless afternoon sounded fun. He met up with them in the food court. “Hey ladies, how goes the shopping?”
“Hey, really good. I found cute boots on sale so we're marking this trip as successful.” Delilah responded.
“I'm debating on whether or not I need more cardigans.” Melissa added.
“Ah yes, the important questions.” Paul joked.
“Have they found the tomb yet?” Delilah asked.
“Yeah now they're trying to get it open.” He explained.
“Should we be opening this thing? We should just find the person causing all this trouble and gank her ass.” Melissa suggested.
“That's not a bad idea.” Delilah added.
“I don't know. If one person wants it others do. Maybe there are more people out there scheming.” Paul said.
“We don't even know what it is,” Quinn said as he sat down.
“Hey dude, what are you doing here?” Paul asked his best friend.
“I got bored and wanted panda express.” he responded.
“So what do you think is in there?” Delilah asked
“I don't know but whatever it is they should chuck it into a volcano.” Delilah answered.
“My money is on a genie in a lamp,” Quinn said.
“I mean I'm a vampire and Quinn's a werewolf. Anything can be real.” Melissa said.
The teens continued to eat and shop like they didn't have a care in the world. Paul was curious if they found anything but didn't want to bug them. There was a kiosk that sold knives. Paul decided to buy his own set of throwing knives. Thankfully the man running the booth didn't care to card him.
A text message from Mr. Everald came when he was headed home it read, “Found the spell, tried it. It didn't work. Don't think we have the whole story.”