In a lifetime

Chapter 9: Joseph Flores

Me and Eli have pulled an all-nighter trying to find a way to prevent him from transforming on the next full moon but it's just a bunch of dead ends.

Before the sun came up and I sent Eli home so he can get a bit of rest and meet again at school.

School is actually being a pain in the ass lately, so much of 'have you picked your college?' Which me or the others can't even go to with us being "balancers of the world" as Nessa would put it.

Now that I think about it there are so many names for us and we never talked about helping the world.

Before heading off to school I make a cup of black coffee to go and as I was locking my door I heard a honk behind me, it was Daniel and seems like he's been waiting a while, such a dork.

I get in and he says if there was any progress with Eli but I just shake my head and he starts driving.

Daniel starts playing "All I Know So Far" by Pink, which I found funny because it's a fraction of how I feel.

As he's jamming I look out my window thinking of possible ways I could help Eli and as we pass by the cemetery, a figure of my Abuelita points to her own grave and I make a note in my mind to check it out later.

We finally arrive at the parking lot at the school and I have told Daniel of what I saw, when we meet with Veronica and Eli and they said they will be there with me to check out her grave with me.

"I just want to get school over with and keep things separate, I'll see you all at roses later" I sighed and merge with the crowd of people trying to get into the school.

With nothing better to do, I start thinking back about the conversation Eli had with me the other day. I'm I really an easy person to hate? What do other people see when they look at me, a guy who doesn't give a shit?

They're not wrong but I have my reasons, if I cared about how everyone views me then I never really would have been happy with myself and probably would have been stuck in the closet still.

I'm a normal person, I still have insecurities here and there as well as anxiety, and nobody should feel any less because of that, I wished someone would have told me that sooner but in the end, I have my friends and boyfriend to fall back on if I can't handle things and that I will remember.

As my thoughts about myself come to an end I hear the bell ring and I find myself in my final class, the day has already ended? Jesus, I should be easy on myself.

Mr. Fritz just goes on about how proud he is of how we all made it this far and that he'll be cheering us on graduation which makes me feel really happy and proud of myself.

The school day came to a close and we all got in Daniel's car and headed to roses.

I only needed coffee from here and the cemetery is literally across the street so I needed a breather as well.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Veronica asked and I nod, if I don't find out what my Abuela wants me to find then it will literally haunt me forever.

We all start heading to her grave, me leading the way, they all have brought flowers to the place which is a nice change from me being the only one to place them. I stand here for about a minute waiting for something to happen, but I feel I need to place my hand on the grave for something to happen.

"Oh God forgive me" I say and place my hand on the dirt and I can feel a type of magic that can be tugged, I concentrate to pull whatever I feel in the grave, after a few seconds I was able to pull out another grimoire from the grave that reads "protect and destroy" in Latin, more and more secrets are rising aren't they.

I patch the dirt with a simple overgrown spell, heading home, and text Nessa that I found something else to help us.

After waiting a few minutes for Nessa I have already begun to read the grimoire to everyone and once Nessa finally arrives I tell her I know what this grimoire is.

"Technically it isn't a traditional grimoire but it does hold magic of herbs and white and light magic which doesn't make sense because why would she take it with her to her grave?" I say and Nessa can't even wrap her head around this, I don't even think she knew about this.

Eli jumps in to make up and answer "maybe she didn't want Laurel getting her hands on this since she has been hunting every single person who gets these supernatural abilities?" It almost makes sense but it isn't anything I see that could be of use to Laurel.

As we are all trying to come up with answers Daniel says "it's getting dark I have to be getting home but let me know if you find anything" I nod and he leaves and the rest follow to head back to their homes.

It's been getting darker quicker every day.

Nessa suggests that she stays and helps but I tell her I'm good and take another look at the grimoire and realize that half the chapters are locked and all I can read are the herbs. The very last chapter on herbs that I can read is a recipe to create a moon ring for a werewolf. Finally.

I continue to read on the recipe and write down what I need to make the ring, waiting to give Eli the good news.