Lilac Valley

Isabella

Isabella Stone is African American with gray hair and brown eyes.

She is ninety-seven years old, but her faculties are still intact.

Her fashion sense is on point.

She used to be the town historian until she retired.

Her children moved her into the nursing home a few year ago.

Her three children spread out across the country:

One in Texas, one in California, and one in New York City.

Isabella never went by Mrs. Stone.

She did not like the formality. She always wanted to be a friend to all.

"Mayor Li." She brightens up whenever she receives visitors. "You look so much like your father." Carter sadly smiles. "And Officer McAllister. I hope you're behaving yourself."

"I try my best," Con says.

Isabella knows everyone in town.

"We need to make sure the shield is secure," Carter tells her. "Do you know when the last update was installed?"

"1993," she answers. "After Conleth's mother was...after that attack, we got to work."

"It hasn't been updated in seventeen years?" Con asks.

"Who is responsible for the updates?" Carter asks.

"You're the mayor," Isabella points out. "You should know these things."

"My father didn't exactly leave an instruction manual," Carter says.

"You can ask your mother or Autumn's father," she says. "The last group who updated the shield left town. You know how to activate it, but not how to update it?" She shakes her head. "What are they teaching in that school nowadays?"

~

"Magical creatures used to live separately from the humans," Marty explains. "The shield was always up. There were always Magic Catchers here and there, but no Anti-Magic Groups like there are today. Race, religion, sexual orientation didn't matter. Your magical creature status mattered, but then something happened.

"It was 1897. So much immigration. Magical creatures settled in big cities like everyone else. There were some werewolf and vampire attacks. Humans found out that magical creatures existed. The humans and magical creatures influenced each other.

"That's why so many werewolves, mermaids, and mermen leave town. They're treated better in the human world as long as they hide who they really are."

"What about the 1927 factory accident?" a student asks.

"Next time," Marty says.