Lost Time
Arabelle was able to find the vending machine at the end of the hallway. She wonders why the hospital placed it far from the rooms of the patients. Now she has to walk all the way there. Amie needs to have a drink while eating since she can choke on food easily. She decided to get two bottles of water and two bottles of softdrinks. It's been a long time since they had a feast with sugary drinks. They need a lot of energy to look after their mom.
“These are perfect for all those foods.” she told herself when she got the drinks and walked back to the room.
She noticed that this part of the hospital doesn't have a lot of people around. It seems like she's the only one walking in the hallway at this time. Maybe tomorrow morning, there will be more people. The hospital only allows two family members to stay with the patient. Ralph left earlier since he needs to look for their friends. She's hoping that Armand will be there soon so they can talk about another way to break the curse in her mom.
“I got our drinks, sis!” She announced and entered.
“Finally, we can continue eating. What took you so long?” Amie asked while taking her drinks from her sister.
“Don't be dramatic. I was gone for just two minutes.” She replied and sat on the chair in front of her.
“You've been gone for forty minutes.” Amie informed her and took a sip of water first before eating again.
“You're kidding me, right?” she asked.
“No, I'm not kidding. You went out at 1:30 AM and it's now 2:10 AM.” Amie showed her the time from her watch.
The moment she saw the time, it instantly gave her goosebumps. How can she be gone that long when she just went on the hallway? The vending machine is not that far from the room. It's hard to believe that she had lost that much time. Maybe somebody is playing a trick on her just like when she was in the enchanted forest. It means that an element might be around the hospital. They need to be careful. Losing time might become a problem.
“Don't go outside this room alone, understand?” She told her sister because she's worried now.
“Okay, I understand. Let's continue our meal.” Amie replied as if not scared with anything.
Arabelle continues eating with Amie but she's now worried for her sister. She's still too young to know if an entity is playing on her. She didn't even know that she had already lost forty minutes. It's going to be hard to tell if something supernatural is happening. She will tell Ralph about it when he visits again. Their mom is in a coma and they don't know when she will wake up. Even if she knows it's not medical, her mom still needs a doctor.
~~
Armand tried to check everything his mother owned when she was still alive. It seems like she didn't create any alternative spell or potion. The one in Arabelle's mom is the worst of all the curses she casted. It was originally for his father but when it was transferred, it became full proof. The only way is to kill the dark witch's descendant which happens to be him. He still has a lot of things he wants to do like get married and have children.
He sighed now that he realized that he might no longer go back to the enchanted forest. How can he settle down in the Invisible City now? That was his dream before but it seems like it's never going to happen anymore. Maybe it's better for Arabelle and Amie not to know who he is to them. If they know that he's their older brother, it will be harder for them to move on. His mother never thought that he would end up paying for her actions with his life.
“She has another grimoire?” he suddenly found the old book of shadows written by his mother.
He thought that the grimoire in his possession is the only one his mother created. That one is actually the newer book of shadows. Now that he found her old grimoire, he needs to read all her entries. It will take some time since it's thicker than the other one. He needs to go back to the vampire castle today. Although this is more important than to pretend to his friends that he's the good guy. He's more interested in becoming a good brother instead.
The spells on that grimoire seem to be older than him. His mother included the dates of her entry on that book of shadows. Most of the spells seem to be harmless and good for other people. Although as he turned the pages, the spells and potions got darker and darker. It's like witnessing her mother's transition from being a white witch. She started to do black magic in the middle of the grimoire. The last entry is the dark version of love potion.
“The love potion was for my father.” he told himself when he started to realize that his mother is not originally bad.
After reading the entire grimoire, he was left disappointed. The curse his mother casted for his father was not there. It seems like she didn't leave a record about it because it's a dangerous spell. He decided to go back to the vampire castle for now and stand up. That's when an old envelope fell from the book of shadows. He didn’t notice that it was there earlier. It looks brownish yellow now but maybe it was white. He opens the envelope right away.
Inside is an old paper with something written on it. He read it and realized that it's the curse he was looking for. It shows the ingredients needed and the instructions on how to place the curse. He can't believe that a drop of his blood was included to make it happen. At the back is the instruction on how to break it. He seems to lighten up because it only requires another drop of his blood again. It means that he doesn't need to die anymore to end it.
“I have to see Arabelle's nom soon!” he muttered to himself and placed the envelope in his pocket.