Sweet Little Lies

Chapter Eighty-Two

Harry awoke to the sound of rain pelting the roof. He was siting in a corner, slumped against the wall. His coat had been pulled up to create a cushion for his neck so it didn't bend at an odd angle all night.

Surprisingly, he had actually fallen asleep. When he sat down originally, he expected to be up all night, but his body must have known what he needed. With all the stress and borderline breakdowns from yesterday, his mind needed to shut off. He clocked out within minutes of sitting down and stayed resting all through the night.

It wasn't without dreams, though. He had visited her in his mind, spoken to her about nonsense, things that didn't matter. Like this war and the threats and the deaths were over.

Ivy had been sitting on their couch in her little corner with her laptop open on her thighs and her mug of tea held tightly in her hands. Her lips pursed as she blew on the liquid, steam billowing out of the ceramic mug. Then, her green eyes tipped up to meet his and a smile bloomed across her face.

It was a fantasy, but so fucking real. He could see it so clearly. He could smell her, the signature perfume she loved so much invading his senses. The taste of her lips lingered on his tongue, the silky feel of her hair through his fingers.

And he never once felt the panic creeping in. It didn't exist in the dream, because his wife was safe in their house, protected by him.

Now that he was awake, however, that utopia floated away in his mind. Harry was reminded of his reality. Reminded that he couldn't just reach out to Ivy at any moment. He had to find her first.

Harry got up from the ground and surveyed the room. Finn was up, standing by the door with his hands in his pockets. Cat was curled up a few feet away from Harry still sleeping like a rock. Both Ren and Tatiana were awake too, but both were sitting in their corners, silently watching everyone. Well, Ren was glaring, but that was normal.

The only person Harry didn't see was Shadow.

He walked up to Finn, but before he could ask, his brother-in-law said, "She's out checking the streets. Not sure if you heard last night, but there are some downed trees around us."

"It sounds like it's calmed down, though." Harry noted. Growing up with these storms, they all knew the signs fairly well. They were in the eye of the storm. Depending on how large this storm was, they should expect another wave of rain, sleet, wind and lightening to stop everything.

Finn frowned, "We might have a few hours at best."

"Then we better get going."

The voice came from the doorway. Shadow breezed in, nudging Cat to wake her up. She continued speaking without looking at them, "There's trees blocking all the surrounding streets, so we have to walk. The entrance is about a mile and a half from here, but once we get into the tunnels, we should be able to enter the catacombs quickly enough. We will need time to adequately search for the map. That's probably going to take the longest."

Finally, she looked up and met Harry's eyes. "We absolutely cannot get stuck down there when the other half of the storm hits. It's too dangerous."

Finn nodded, "We'll make quick work of it."

"The catacombs are expansive." Ren told them, "There's probably thousands of places to hide something in there."

"Quick and thorough, then." Cat popped up, dusting herself off. Her large winter coat that Griffin had bought her had been used as a blanket last night, so she slipped it back on and held it close to her body. "We can do that."

"We'll need to recuperate after that." Finn said, "Wait out the storm and gather reinforcements."

"Reinforcements?" Shadow questioned, crossing her arms.