20 Vial of Hope a Day, Keep the Ghouls Away

"Hey Alex, come to my place ASAP, I'll tell you everything," said Sam to Alex on the phone.

"Okay, Sam" and the conversation ended.

"Wake up Salvadora! You have to wake up before Mom and dad come! You can't leave me like this," Sam cried.

He couldn't think of anything better to say at the moment. He really didn't know what to do.

"Should we call an ambulance?" asked Adaline.

"No, no. Remember what that evil mannequin said? This is all so messed up, bringing police in it will only make it worse," he said worriedly.

Adaline was worried about both of them. She knew that Sam wouldn't be able to handle himself if anything happens to Salvadora.

He was blaming himself for Sal's condition, he thought that he acted like a kid in the morning, he should've been more mature.

"Sis, I'm really sorry for my behavior earlier, it was just that I was feeling too excited for something else," cried Sam.

Salvadora was laying still on the bed like a statue, she didn't even move an inch. Both Sam and Adaline were getting more and more worried with every passing second.

Then he brought some water and sprinkled it on her hoping she might wake up, but it was all useless.

Then he checked her heartbeat and her breath, she was breathing fine and her heartbeat was perfectly normal. Sam sighed.

Adaline sat beside her and waited patiently for her to wake up. They just solved one problem, they didn't know that another one was waiting for them at home, it didn't seem to end.

The doorbell rang, they rushed towards the door. Alex saw the horror and pain on Sam and Adaline's faces and already guessed that something was obviously not right.

"I don't want mom and dad to freak out so I called you, I didn't know what else to do!" Sam was totally crying now.

"Hey, don't cry, what exactly happened? Adaline, what are you doing here?" asked Alex.

Then they all went to Salvadora's room and Alex saw her condition. He was shocked and horrified, he himself didn't know what to do, he wondered why they didn't call an ambulance.

"When I came home, I saw her lying on the doorstep, I don't know what happened before," said Sam sobbing.

"You checked her heartbeat?" asked Alex getting really worried.

"Yep, it's perfectly normal," said Sam. Alex sighed.

"You should call your mom and dad, Sam," advised Alex.

"Ummm…I didn't because I don't want them to worry. There's something else," he said quietly.

Then he told Alex about the whole mannequin thing, Alex was pretty shooked up, but right now, Salvadora was the only thing that mattered.

"I'm really sorry guys. Everything's happening so fast, I couldn't keep up with it. It's really frustrating and annoying," Alex showed remorse.

He was pissed at everything right now, the worst thing was, he didn't know what to do. He was scared of every passing second, anything could happen any second.

"I know, let's just hope that this fades away," encouraged Adaline.

"Yeah, maybe," Sam was unsure about everything now. This day was getting worse and worse, it was like, hope left them.

Hope was lost in a maze and this could all only get better if they find it, or else, they will remain stuck.

"Anyways, I met Sal in the school and she told me everything about your family and all. I didn't know it was this dangerous," Alex said as he remembered the last moments with Sal.

"Do you know what happened after it?" asked Sam eagerly.

"I thought she went home," Alex was feeling guilt, even though he knew he couldn't have done anything.

Everyone was worried for Salvadora, none of them knew exactly what to do, the warm air left the room and cold air entered as it went dark.

The dark clouds were circling the sky just like darkness covers light, but that doesn't mean that the blue sky disappeared.

"Maybe you should call mam Pomphrey, I mean your aunt, she could help," suggested Adaline by breaking the silence.

"Yeah, you're right," said Sam and then dialed her number on the phone and asked her to come.

"Now we wait, what else we can do?" Sam was still sobbing.

"She's gonna be okay Sam, there's still one thing we could do, we can pray for her till then," Adaline assured him.

The color from everyone's face was gone. Sam was trying to be optimistic, but he was falling apart, he couldn't help it.

They all hoped that Salvadora would wake up any minute and the color of everyone's face will return, but she was the same as before.

After some more dreadful minutes, the doorbell rang, they all rushed towards it. Pomphrey was their only hope now.

Pomphrey was standing at the door with a blank expression. She's always so caring and protective but today she seemed different, no worries at all like nothing was going on, just a blank expression.

Adaline could only recall one thing from it; the mannequins.

"Where's Salvadora? Take me to her," she said in a raspy voice.

"Of course! Come fast!" Sam was so worried that he didn't notice her behavior at all.

They all went upstairs to Salvadora; she was still lying in bed in the same position making no movement at all.

Sam's throat went dry, no words came out of his mouth, he was still in shock. The others reacted the same too, what could they do?

They had already tried various methods to wake her up, but of course, none of them worked.

Pomphrey silently took a vial from her purse which looked like those ancient ones we see in old movies.

She took some dry leaves from it and crushed it with her hands and made a powder of it and said something under her breath which none of them could make out. Then she mixed it into a glass of water.

Before she could give it to Salvadora, Sam stopped her and said, "What's this? Some dried leaves? Seriously? We would rather take her to a hospital if you're gonna do this."

"Then why didn't you? Huh? Because of the population here, I don't think you've told your parents either. I know my sister; she wouldn't leave her daughter like this…"

"You mean your cousin, right?" corrected Adaline.

"Ummm… yes, she was just like a sister to me," replied Pomphrey uncomfortably.

"I don't care, Will you please tell us why you're using these dried leaves?" asked Sam again.

"She's not ill, she's BEWITCHED!"