Memories in the Moonlight

Chapter 22

Kiran stepped in before Harlow could finish screaming. He hit Soren from behind, forcing him to the ground in one fell swoop. His body hit the stone with a dull thud, but no other sounds came along with it. Harlow had braced herself for impact, but was shocked to see Soren out cold when she opened her eyes.

"Let's go." Kiran spoke rather stoically, holding a hand past Harlow back to Bea. Kiran locked eyes with Harlow briefly, and all that was displayed to her was pain and anger. Bea took his hand and the two of them quickly made their way back inside of the hideout, leaving Harlow alone in the street with Soren.

Harlow took a second to collect her emotions before she moved. No one else had come into the street, hoping to protect themselves and the revolution. She knew that made sense, but found a pant of hurt when she thought about it. There was no noise around them, the streets were empty and utterly quiet.

She reached up to push her curls back out of her face roughly. Harlow made her way over to Soren, crouched down, and placed her index and middle finger against the base of his throat to check for a pulse. When she found it, Harlow let out a breath she didn't know that she had been holding. Despite the way Soren had always treated her, she didn't want anyone else to die because of her problems. She rolled back onto her heels in the crouch, giving herself a moment to think about what to do.

It wasn't more than a few heartbeats before she started trying to tug Soren down the street, away from their hideout. Though she knew that he had seen them, she hoped that the impact from Kiran and the stone ground may have rattled his memories. As she pulled Harlow grew more and more frustrated. They were moving mere inches at a time, and Harlow knew she was racing against time until Soren woke again to kill her.

Fuck, why are you so dense?

Harlow held both of his wrists as she pulled, groaning and straining with every movement. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut as she yanked his arms, and found herself flat on her bottom when he moved much easier this time. Harlow's eyes shot open to find that Soren's body was hovering slightly above the ground. He was still passed out and his limbs brushed lightly against the stone street.

"What in the world?" Harlow muttered to herself, dragging herself back up to her feet.

She waited for him to fall back down, but when he didn't she decided to take advantage of the situation. Harlow grasped the back of his uniform and started running down the street, Soren gliding alongside her like a boat on a lake. There was no resistance as she weaved through the streets, trying to get Soren as far from their hideout as possible. When she had made it to a narrow alleyway near the main square of the Kingdom, she decided it was far enough.

Noises of the Kingdom started flooding through the alley as she wheeled her eyes around. Harlow moved him towards the rear door of a bar, and tried to prop him up next to it. When she got him in the position she wanted, he instantly dropped back down to the earth with a dull thunk. Not wanting to be still questioning what happened when he woke, Harlow turned and raced back down the streets until she made it back to her new home.

Harlow's breathing was ragged as she yanked open the wooden door and stepped in from the street. A few pairs of eyes stared back at her as she peered around the room. Ilyana ran over to Harlow and wrapped her up in a tight hug. They held together for a beat before Harlow pulled back and sucked in a deep breath through her teeth.

"Are you alright?" Harlow looked over Ilyana's shoulder toward where Bea rested in an ornamental chaise.

Bea nodded quickly, wringing her hands in her lap. "Thank you for protecting me."

Harlow gave her a swift nod of acknowledgement before looking back to her mother. "It's Soren. I moved him a fair way away in hopes he won't remember." She kept all emotion out of her voice as she wasn't sure she'd be able to stay calm at this point. She was feeling rather betrayed and abandoned, but Gods knew she deserved it.

Nobody spoke, they just stared at her. Harlow felt their eyes burning like coal against her skin, and her breathing grew rapid again. The room suddenly got brighter, lit up like a mound of candles were shoved through the door. Ilyana's eyes widened as she took a step backwards from Harlow.

"You're doing it again." Kiran spoke gruffly, leaning his shoulder against the doorframe of the far wall. His posture was nonchalant with his hands in the pockets of his pants, but his eyes still held the pain from before.

"Doing what?" She asked, looking around to try and find the source of the strange flickering light.

"You're on fire, Low. I'm not knocking you out this time though, figure it out yourself." Kiran said the last words through his teeth. He turned and stalked off down the hall quickly after.

Harlow finally looked down at herself, noticing the flames licking up her skin for the first time. They were covering most of her body at this point, save for her head. She wasn't sure whether she should be surprised or not. Harlow let out a groan and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths to get her emotions under control.

When she opened her eyes again, the room was back to being dim and quiet. There were no more flames sticking to her body, but the energy of the room felt suffocating like smoke. Harlow took a ginger step backwards, noticing the small scorch mark on the floor under where her feet had been.

"Sorry." She mumbled, not bothering to raise her gaze from the floor. Harlow quickly walked out of the sitting room down the same hall Kiran headed down previously.

Emotions swam through her head again, bumping into one another to create more emotions. Betrayal and anger turn into hurt and fear, while the sadness turned into loneliness in her mind. She clenched her fists at her sides to try and release some of the pain she was feeling, but it didn't seem to do much.

She made it to her room and popped inside, shutting the door quietly behind herself. She placed her back against the door and released a sigh as her head lolled back to connect with the wood. It smelled of lilac and freshly cut grass in her room.

How am I this messed up? Why can't I get anything right?

Someone clearing their throat across the room grabbed Harlow's attention, her eyes flying open. Sitting on her bed was Baz, a small smile layered over his features. His hair was pulled back from his face, exposing a scar leading from his left temple down to his jawline.

"I figured you might want some company." His words ran over her like silk on freshly bathed skin.

• • •

Hi Hi!!
I hope y'all are having the best day ❤️

A bit of a shorter chapter, but that's ok! I'll go back and edit later :)

xoxo, Ari