In a lifetime

Chapter 38: Veronica Thompson

I know it's stupid to go looking for trouble, especially when it involves Laurel but I feel like I'm not doing anything to help anyone, especially Joseph. 

I told Eli that I would investigate her location with or without him and it's stupid and I don't even have a plan.

I don't want to tell the others to avoid further stress but I'll be careful and discreet.

I head over to Eli's house to actually come up with a plan and I'm hoping he has something in mind.

One of his dads opens the door and gestures me in asking how my morning is going. We make small talk, talking about my plans for the future and how my mom is until Eli finally decides to appear.

He brings me to his room where he says "are you sure this is a good idea? We should let the others know" I know we should but then what, after Joseph got kidnapped everyone's been on edge and I feel bad for not doing anything about it.

"No it isn't but what else are we going to do, if we can find out where she's at then we can quickly end this whole thing...and go back to normal," I say looking at the floor.

I pull myself together and pull out the diary showing Laurel's location. Looking at Eli we both begin to brainstorm a plan on how to go about this.

At first, we got nothing but then Eli says "Wait so she's at the abandoned warehouses? I know the best way to sneak in" I look at him confused because I'm wondering how he would know that and he explains that he sometimes went there during his night security shifts.

He takes lead and we head out of the house and to the abandoned warehouses.

It's quite a long walk there without a car but we manage. Once we get there Eli leads the way to his undetected passageway.

There are three big ones and two small ones, we could search them all but then Laurel might hear us and either kill us or run off, neither of which I want to happen.

We suggest that she might be in one of the big three...wait I have her location I can just get the exact one.

On the map, it shows she's in the last one. Keeping our footsteps quiet we make our way to her.

Slowly opening the door and sneaking in, the entire place is covered with pictures and spell pages. There are even some artifacts that some people would say are cursed.

Remaining hidden we spot her, finally, we now know where she is which isn't that far from us. Why wait for so long if she just wants to kill us?

"Alright we confirmed that she's here now let's go" Eli whispers and I nod and before we make it out the door we hear her say "leaving so soon"

We're dragged to be placed in front of her. I can feel fear take over and I can see it on Eli's face as well.

She takes her time looking at us and notices the diary and grabs it. "So this is how you found me, smart but also stupid," she says as she burns it and drops it in front of us.

I want to run but my body won't allow me to. She walks away to her table and comes back with a sheet of paper.

"Give this to my dear old friend Joseph," she says smiling and I take it. Before we can get up we were blown out through the doors.

Getting up I run back inside and everything that was in here is now gone, this building is now empty.

"What does the note say?" Eli asks and I look at it but I can't read it. We have to get it to Joseph. great now this would cause more stress.

"Get on my back" I say and Eli looks at me like I'm crazy, "I can literally super speed us there now get on my back" he does as I say and we head to Joseph's house.

Once we get there we burst through the door where Joseph, Daniel, and Nessa stare at us.

"Better hope that's not broken," Joseph says and I brush it aside and hand him the note.

Eli gives a quick run down of what happened a few minutes ago. Nessa is pissed as expected but Joseph, he hesitantly opens the note and his eyes wide in horror. God, I really messed up now.

He looks at me and starts walking outside and doesn't stop. We run after him, "what was in the note?" Eli asks.

He responds with a serious tone, "Laurel placed a death hex on our parents along with timers, there different so Veronica's mom is almost up so I'll get her first and then your dads and then mine as they still have time"

He begins to start running and we make it to my house. Luckily my mom is in the living room and Joseph does a spell to deactivate the hex behind her.

She didn't seem to notice us so we run to Eli's next.

Once we get there Joseph starts running out of breath as we walk in. Joseph tells Eli to distract his parents while he does what he needs to do.

Once it's done we run out making our way to Joseph's old home.

Joseph runs a little faster than the rest of us and when he sets foot on the sidewalk in front of his house an explosion goes off.

We were all really close to it so our vision isn't the best nor is our hearing. I run over to Joseph who just stares at what's left of his parent's home.

"I'm so sorry," I say and he doesn't look away from the destruction, "she never hexed them, she knew this would happen," he says sitting up.

Waiting for the fire department, I don't leave his side. "You know even though they never cared I still loved them even with how they treated me," he says turning his head towards me.

After the firemen checked on us and cleared us we still stay around.

"I never should have gone looking for her without you guys, you lost your parents because of me," I say while tears run down my face.

He turns towards me again trying to hide his pain, "it's fine, I get why you did it and I haven't exactly given you guys the means to make a plan, at least now I know that I'll never get a break until we stop her" he says walking off to his house.

I know that he doesn't blame me but I do. Walking back home my mom hugs me as she saw the news of what happened, telling her that I'm fine I go and take a shower to clean off the ashes and head to bed as I want to just sleep in my sorrows.