Benny noticed something off with his girlfriend. Ever since she came back from her talk with the vampire council, she hadn't said a word to him or Ethan. As they sat in geography class, Ethan talked about Sarah and their failed date while Benny stared at Reagan, who didn't look up from her desk.
"She wouldn't talk to me," Ethan whispers to Benny, causing the boy to every his attention from the silent girl.
"Look, if my experiences with girls has taught me one thing, it's that you can't get anywhere by talking to them," Benny whispers to him, then he suddenly feels a zap in his arm and he looks over at Reagan's hand that was glowing red.
"How are we going to get the Lucifractor?" Ethan asks. Benny shuffles through his pocket and pulls out a ring. "Bam. Projection Ring. Stern swiped this from me before I had a chance to try it out. But I palmed it when we got busted this morning."
"So you put it on, and you can look like anyone?" Ethan asks. "Yeah. Who's gonna stop Stern from walking into his own office?"
*
Benny walks into Mr. Stern's office and looks around to find the real Mr. Stern staring at him. "Oh. Hi?"
"Hello." The real Mr. Stern greets.
"I thought you'd be handing out detentions to the late-lunchers," Benny says. "I made my quota yesterday."
"Then you're dreaming!" Benny tries to say. Mr. Stern waves his hand in the air and uses magic to freeze Benny and pull the magic ring off his finger, making him return to his normal self. "So that's what this does. I never thought to try it on." Mr. Stern smirks.
"I can explain," Benny says. "Oh, I know you can." Mr. Stern presses a finger on Benny's forehead, forcing him to talk.
"I'm a wizard and we're looking for a magic marble. Ethan is a seer and has visions, and Reagan is a witch slash vampire with slight control issues." Benny groans.
Mr. Stern removes his finger off of Benny's head and watches him fall to the floor. He hums in approval.
*
Reagan roams the halls as she searched for Benny. Ethan had informed her that he was waiting for her in the art room. When she had found him, he was sitting at a table with a folded paper in front of him. "Benny, where have you been? You've been gone all day and--"
"Later. I looked through Stern's office. There's no sign of the Lucifractor." Benny explains and Reagan sighs before sitting down on the chair across from Benny. "However, while I was searching, I found upon the school policy; no bloodsuckers allowed at this school. We wouldn't want to find half of the students dead."
Reagan furrowed her eyebrows. "What-- Benny, what are you talking about?"
"Along with the fact witches who can't control their magic. There should be no reason to disappoint your mother any further from the dead, right?"
Reagan was at loss for words. She couldn't believe what he was telling her. Then, she looked at Benny's intertwined hands and noticed something. The ring.
"What did you do with Benny?" Reagan orders, her eyes glowing red. He pulls off the ring to reveal Stern in his normal self. "Don't worry, Sullivan, your boyfriend is fine. He's currently taking a nap on the floor in my office. I just want you to deliver a message to Ethan for me, that's all."
He slides the folded paper closer to Reagan. She looks at him hesitantly before grabbing it off the table and running out of the room. She ran over to Ethan where he was at his locker. "Ethan!"
"Reagan, what's wrong?" He asks as he saw her frantic state. She stuttered as she held out the letter in her hands. "J-Just take this. I don't know what it is, but I need you to take it."
He takes the paper out of her hands, then he received a vision. Reagan looked at her surroundings until Ethan snapped out of it. The paper flies out of his hands as his eyes widened. "W-What was the vision?"
Ethan's eyes grew wider as he looked at Reagan. He slowly backed away from her as Reagan looked at him concerned. "What happened to your face?" In Ethan's perspective, she had ghost-colored skin and her eyes looked soulless as they were all white. "What do you mean?"
Ethan didn't say more as he ran away terrified.
*
Reagan and Benny walked up the stairs to Ethan's bedroom. After Reagan found an unconscious Benny in Stern's office, she told him everything that happened with Stern and Ethan.
Benny knocks on Ethan's bedroom door. "Ethan?" He and Reagan cautiously enter. Ethan's bedroom was practically dark except for the light coming from his windows. "Ethan, your mom says you're nuts," Benny tells him. "We can hug it out or just talk."
"S-Show me your hands," Ethan says from behind the bookshelf. Benny shares a look with Reagan before holding out his hands. Ethan slowly peeks his head out to see no ring on Benny's fingers.
"Everybody's dead," Ethan whispers as he slowly walks out from behind his bookshelf. "I-I see them-- they're all dead."
"Dude, first relax. You see dead people?" Benny chuckles and Reagan slaps his arm. "Benny--"
Benny and Reagan take a step closer and Ethan's expression changed from scared to terrified. "I'm pretty sure we're fine."
"No, you're not," Ethan tells them.
"Okay, it's okay, Ethan," Reagan says. "We'll have Ms. Weir take a look at you. You'll be okay."
*
"Anything?"
Benny and Reagan impatiently stood in the door frame as Ms. Weir was checking inside Ethan's head.
"In his head?"
"Is it bad?" Reagan asks. Ms. Weir huffs in their direction and they both mutter an apology. "Ethan, the Fear Binding you're under is very strong."
"We're all gonna die." He whimpers with his eyes tightly shut. "Look at me. Now."
Ethan slowly opens his eyes and flinches at the sight in front of him. "What you see is not real. I don't have a spike through my head." Ms. Weir tells him. "You don't have a head, actually."
Ethan jumps at the sound of his phone ringing and looks at the familiar caller ID. "It's Sarah. I have to get her out of Whitechapel. We should all leave."
"No, we should stay." Ms. Weir says. "We need to talk with her."
*
Everyone was in Ethan's living room. Ms. Weir and Benny sat on one of the armchairs and Reagan stood beside Benny. Sarah was beside Ethan on the sofa as he kept his eyes shut. "Ethan, look at Sarah."
Ethan turns his head to face her and instantly shakes in fear. "Stern wants you to be afraid. Why? Because he knows you can stop him. You just have to find something stronger than your fear. Sarah's the one you want to protect the most." Ms. Weir explains. Benny and Reagan share a look. "But we're his best friends!"
Ms. Weir ignores her grandson as she continues. "Now, whatever teenager nonsense is going on, you two care about each other. You have to believe me: that's stronger than any magic Stern might put in this message."
Ms. Weir stands from her spot and grabs the folded paper. "Let's see what we're dealing with." The moment she opened the letter, a random magic spike was sent to Ms. Weir. It caused her to almost fall until Ethan caught her, and he received a vision.
"What happened?" Benny asks as he looked at his grandmother staring into space. He waved his face in front of her face, but there was no response. "What happened?" He repeats.
"Stern's magic. She'll be okay, but she may be like that for a while." Ethan says, his voice trembling.
"We're on our own," Sarah says. The three watches as Ethan held his legs against his chest, wrapping his arms around them. He leans his body against the sofa. "What now?"
"We go after that goon and show him what the score is," Benny says. "Can't be that hard. His jackets are so ugly. Right?" He tries to lighten the mood, but nobody bothered to crack a smile.
Reagan sighs and Benny wraps an arm around her, pulling her to his side. Benny thought she just needed comfort from the look on her face, but that wasn't the case.
All Reagan could think about was Anastasia's word. This was now up to her. She needed to end this.