Alright guys, I'm trying something new. This is literally a first draft. Hopefully the story is interesting enough to make up for any mistakes. Huge thank you to my commenters that encouraged me to continue this story!
Century'sRain: :" Thank you! I'm so glad you liked it! Have more!
MBAV fan66: I actually used your questions to steer this chapter. I'm leaving some mystery so there's a reason to keep reading. I absolutely agree that Ethan would feel like a burden if everyone had to keep him happy. It's cool that you had the same thought I did :-)
Bye Felicia: Yes, at least one more chapter :-p
Immediately after the incident:
The team stumbles into Benny's living room only slightly worse for wear. With the exception of Ethan. Rory dumps Ethan's unconscious form onto the couch unconcerned.
Granted they have been lucky, but Rory seems to have no concept of mortality.
Sarah crouches down next to Ethan and checks the pulse in his wrist.
"Is this going to take much longer?" Erica asks airly, but she still seems relieved when Sarah nods setting Ethan's hand back down neatly.
"His pulse is strong. Physically I think he's fine," she announces to the room in general.
Silence follows her words. Instinctively the group members look at Ethan for direction. Ethan doesn't appear to have any advice.
"We need to uncurse Ethan," Sarah says decisively. "Benny, how do we do that?"
"Uh…" Benny feels slightly dumb for not making that obvious conclusion himself. Benny cracks his knuckles, confidently declaring, "Leave it to me to uncurse the E-man."
But he has no idea how to uncurse Ethan.
He wasn't even there when Ethan got cursed, so he doesn't know what the curse is.
"Rory!" Benny swivels and points to said blonde vampire. Other blonde vampire flops huffily into an arm chair. "You were there when Ethan got cursed." He knows that Rory won't know what latin words were spoken, so instead he asks, "What sounds did you hear?"
"Raaa-ruff. Grrr. Bark! Bark!" Rory pantomimes dog body language.
"Oh good, there was a dog there," Erica deadpans. "That information is so much more important than the actual incantation."
"Yeah Ror, that's not going to help me," Benny replies. "No worries!," Benny holds both hands out as if to hold off the criticism. "Not all hope is lost." Benny looks around the living room for an idea. "GRAAANDMAA!"
Erica snorts.
"What's all the commotion about?" Grandma asks as she walks into the living room from further in the house. But when she sees Ethan, her tone changes. "Ah, I see. Benny I need some of his spit," she commands turning back into the kitchen.
"On it," Benny hops up, and rushes after his grandmother.
"How are you going to get his spit?" Erica asks after him, her tone conveying both disgust and scandal. Given her normal activities, it's not surprising that she would jump to the worse conclusion.
Sarah bites her lip, brows knitting together. "I guess we could tilt his head over a cup. Let his spit drip into it?"
"I'll get a cup!" Rory beams.
Benny comes back with an eye dropper, which he holds up to the room. Benny doesn't want to admit it, but this isn't the first time he's retrieved bodily fluids from Ethan. When you know what you're doing, it's surprisingly easy.
"Oh," Sarah says simply.
Ethan's mouth is already slack and open, so Benny only needs to steady Ethan's head with one hand while he sticks the eyedropper in and squeezes up the requisite salvia. Sarah watches curiously, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
Grandma brings out an oversized untitled book that she places gently on the coffee table. She opens the book to a seemingly random middle page where several colorful flower heads had been dried and pressed.
With deft fingers, Grandma plucked a single petal from each flower and laid them in a row on the coffee table. "There. Benny dear, add a drop of Ethan's saliva to each petal." Grandma instructs pointing at the petals.
Benny does as he's told.
He begins with a yellow petal that is merely damped by the drop of spit. He continues down the line until a pink petal reinvigorates into a much larger fresh petal with small white dots.
"Hmm," Grandma considers the petal, but nods Benny to continue down the line. Three petals later, Ethan's saliva brings to life a long curled lime green petal. "Interesting," Grandma says this time.
Benny reaches the end of the line with no further results. Grandma points at a decorative candle with butterflies cut into the sides and it obligingly lights. She drops the pink petal with white dots into the flame, muttering latin under her breath. Benny recognizes it as reveal to me his sickness.
The flame eats up the petal, turning purple for a brief second. Grandma repeats the process with the curly green petal. This time the flame turns pale yellow.
"Uh huh," Grandma comments under her breath. She carefully turns the pages in the book, her eyes skimming over the lines.
"Well, Ethan's cursed alright," Grandma concludes. "It's the Serenum curse. As long as Ethan is happy, he'll be fine. However, negative emotions will cloud his soul until the connection between his soul and body is destroyed."
"That sounds bad," Rory add sagely.
Grandma nods, "In more unpleasant terms, if something truly upsets him, he could die."
"What can do we do?" Sarah asks, already back on track.
"Well," Grandma considers the question. "For starters, when Ethan wakes up, you can all be nice to him."
Erica scoffs, "More than that. We're gonna have to lie to him. Create a perfect geeky fairland where everything is video games and action figures."
"Well I won't have to lie to him," Benny argues. "I never say anything that upsets Ethan."