"Wonder if any of these smell familiar. Here, try this one." Benny hands a jar to Ethan. "Okay. Oh! Smells like bacon and gym socks. Ew, wow. Wait. It's pretty close. What is it?" Ethan smells the first one then the second one. "A-ha! Sulphur, or, to the necromancer, brimstone. And where there's brimstone, there's black magic. Or rotten eggs." Benny tells him. "There were no eggs." Ethan adds. "Black magic it is!" Benny shouts making Sadie shake her head.
"This mist is about to get demystified!" Ethan smiles. "Can I get a hi-five? Woo!" They high five."Ugh, dude, did you spill some of that on your hand?" Ethan smells his hand. "Naw, I scratched my butt." Benny leaves the room. "Now you understand why I refuse to touch his hand at times." Sadie tells him before leaving.
---
"Ow! Mind the head!" Ethan groans as Rory puts him down. "Sorry, man, should have put a this-end-up stamp on this blanket." Rory says as Sadie helps Ethan up. "All clear. I doubled back and snuck in. And I marked every spell that involves evil smoke, sulphur, and violence." Benny comes into the room. "Wow, that's a lot of smokey violence." Rory says seeing the book marked a lot. "Hence the name black magic, and not nice, sunny, smiley face magic." Benny smiles making Sadie hit him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, there's over a dozen disappearances in the last month. And on almost all of them, they say no recent picture available." Ethan looks at the page.
"So this magic mist attacks people who don't own a camera!" Rory says not fully getting it. "Or a mist that attacks people who don't show up on camera." Ethan adds. "Right! Shy people." Rory snaps his finger. "No, dude, vampires!" Ethan tells him annoyed. "Here, this must be it. Inspira mortis. The breath of death. Whoever uses this can transform their anger or dark energies into a physical vapor that seeks out and destroys its intended target." Benny reads from the book. "That's why it totally ignored me! It's only going after vampires. We have to warn Sarah." Ethan says getting his phone out.
"I think I found a way to fight the breath of death." Benny says after looking through his book. "And don't say hold your noses." Ethan points at Rory. "Ancient tribes used these witch bottles to lure evil spirits away from people, and then trap them." Benny explains to Ethan. "Cool. Last time I checked, we're fresh out of witch bottles." Ethan tells him. "Any container can work. Like this. As long as you put the right symbols on them and Benny or I say the right spell over it." Sadie got up dumping pens and pencils out. "The hard part's the bait. Items from the spirit's target." Benny speaks up after her.
"Well, this mist is targeting vampires so we put vampire stuff in the jar?" Ethan's asks. "What vampire stuff? Not my internal organs, I need those!" Rory stands up. "Have you gone number 1 recently?" Benny asks him making the guys ew, but Rory takes it leaving the room. "Sarah's not answering. Sarah? A trial? No, this is bad. They're all in danger. Where is it?" Benny and Sadie listen to Ethan in the phone. "Now we wait for Rory." Sadie sits down on the bed while Ethan and Benny get some gear ready.
"Let her go! I'm the one you want!" Ethan's says as him and the other three show up. "I've got this! Why are you here?" Sarah asks him. "Trying to protect you!" He tells her. "Well I was trying to protect you." She tells him. "Well, we're protecting you too!" Benny adds. "Look, I didn't touch your friends. They were attacked by a spell called the Breath of Death." Ethan tells the council. "Yeah, pretty scary, right But what matters is we can stop it!" Benny adds. "True! They made me go in a jar." Rory now adds too. "Quiet! Perhaps we owe these boys a chance to prove their innocence." The girl speaks up. "That's very reasonable, thank you." Ethan smiles thanking her. "I move the mortals be devoured now." She tells him making them all yell.
If the attacks continue after you're gone, then I guess you were innocent! Seems fair enough." She smiles taking a seat. "I totally disagree with that assessment!" Benny shouts at her. "I guess I got my orientation after all. You taught me when to control myself, and when not to." Sarah says making Ethan stop her. "Sarah, wait! You call yourself a council? Don't you even have to take a vote?" He turns to the others. "Fine. All in favour? Show of hands." She tells them and one tries to attack her.
"Benny, Benny! The witch bottle, hurry!" Sadie tells him and he gives it to Ethan. "Here, breathy-deathy! Yeah, din-dins! Mmm, smells yummy!" Ethan makes it follow him till he trips and falls. "Ew, that's bad. And gross." Benny says as they watch the fog move over him. "Ethan, are you okay? What do we do with him?" Sarah asks as he tries to attack her. "Destroy him! We command it!" The little old chick tells her. "Where's the witch bottle?" Sadie ask aloud looking around and Benny goes to pick it up, "Rory, it still needs something, do you mind?" He asks before pulling out his hair. "Ow! My hair!" He rubs his head.
"Secantos-delthorum-recantos-elthor!" Benny says the spell. "Gotcha! Anti-vampire mist, anyone?" Benny looks back at the Council. "Still mad at me for defending the mortals who just saved your life?" Sarah asks them. "Erica was right; you are no fun. Fine. You're free to go." She tells us. "Thank you. That's more like it." Sarah says making everyone turn to leave.
"Stop! Before you go... I want Dirk's autograph. For a friend." She stops them making Sadie hold back her giggle. "Vampire awkward!" Benny sings making Ethan and Sadie nod their heads. "I'll meet you guys outside." Sadie says walking ahead of the the group and Ethan nods his head towards her so Benny can follow her. Benny tilts his head not understanding what Ethan meant. "Alone time with her. Who cares if it's short." Ethan whispers to him. "Oh..." Benny nods his head jogging after Sadie.
"So your mom is still terrible." Benny says joining Sadie outside. "Worst but yeah. I hate that's she staying for awhile because I have to hear her mouth. Like I bet you anything when I get home she is going to yell at me for not coming straight home after school. I mean her stupid lessons are ridiculous, it's just meditating and a small chant." Sadie rants shaking her head kicking the ground. "Try using a spell to make her forget?" Benny jokes with her. "She has this charm she wear so spells can't affect her... Trust me, I tried." Sadie laughs before looking at the time.
"Come on, I'll walk you home. Forget about the others. Erica has Dirk to bug, Ethan will get some time alone with Sarah, and Rory will probably just fly away." Benny puts his hand out to her. "First, did you wash your hands?" She asks him and he takes his hand back. "You're lucky I have hand sanitizer on me." Sadie takes it out opening it waiting for Benny's hands. He quick puts his hand out before rubbing both together. "Clean now." He puts his hand back out for her to take. She just smiles taking his hand into hers.
"You know, I remember very vividly when you straight up refused to hold my hand or even lay a finger on me." Benny laughs as they make their way home. "Well that's when I didn't like you because we hated each other. And that was all your fault not only did you think you knew Ethan more but also because you made fun of me 24/7." She laughs swinging their arms. "I was jealous of Ethan and yours friendship. I wanted to be that close with someone and have that sibling bond. As for making fun of you... I-I like I said was jealous." Benny tells her half of the truth. As much as he wanted her to know he liked and likes her... he just can't do it.
"You shuttered there." She laughs look up at him. "I did." He glances over at her. "Why? Are you lying?" She whispers to him. "Maybe I am? Maybe I'm not? You will never know... Will you?" Benny smiles looks straight ahead. "Very true, very true. Maybe I will never know... but hopefully I will in the future or soon." Sadie squeezes Benny's hand. Benny had no clue how much she wanted him to say he liked her without fully just coming out and saying it. She wanted him to show it in way so she knew he was sure he wanted her to know. That's why since Sadie got back she's been trying to make tiny moves but he didn't catch on.