Coalescence ➳ H.S.

Twenty: Tomorrow

"Evening, Officer Sperling. I told your family you'd be here; a good cop follows orders, right?" he sneered. The Sperlings were terrified and Mabel had been crying the entire time; I saw Sperling's jaw clench as she raised her gun at him. The guard raised his gun at Hyacinth.

"You let them go, Redmond. My family has nothing to do with this—"

"Nothing to do with this? You mean they don't know that your little boyfriend is actually Harry Styles?" he enunciated and made sure her family knew exactly what was going on. I could see their expressions change from horrified to hurt. "They didn't know that you were harbouring a fugitive to get him back to another wanted criminal? They didn't know you were hiding him in your house? Such a pity they had to find out this way, huh?"

"They didn't know any of it, so just let them go," Sperling demanded. I saw her eyes darting back and forth between Redmond and the guard, trying to memorize the distance between the two.

"You see, I can't exactly do that. Your family knows who I am and I can't just let you waltz around with my name on your tongue and ruin my reputation. I took you off the case for a reason, officer, and you just had to push my authority, didn't you? Had you followed orders, no one would be in this mess. So be a good girl, huh? Hand Harry over and we can get this done quickly. Wouldn't want to make a mess for these lovely Canadians, now would we? They're far too nice—"

And then a gunshot.

And another.

My heart nearly stopped in my chest and the hairs on my skin stood on edge. I looked to Sperling, and she was breathing far heavier than I was.

Sperling fired her gun right at Redmond, then at the guard a split second later, watching both their bodies drop to the planks with two distinctive thuds. The third thud came from her gun clattering at her feet. Her family sobbed, maybe out of shock and fear, or relief—most likely relief. I certainly wouldn't have been able to get that shot, and the fact that she did made me feel so, so proud of her.

"I—I—" she stammered, "I did it."

"You did," I confirmed, just as blown away as she was.

She rushed over to her family and kneeled beside them, undoing the knots formed in the ropes used to keep them stationary and taking the tape off their mouths. She kissed them all and held them close; for a moment, I felt quite alone in seeing she had four others to lean on, while I only had her.

"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry. I'm putting all of you into witness protection; I didn't mean to get you into any of this—"

"Clarine, please, just take us home," her dad demanded between gritted teeth. "It's bad enough you meddled around with him."

Quentin looked at me with such disdain, like my own father used to when he was disappointed in me.

"Dad, Clarine must've had a reason for taking him in—" Hyacinth tried to speak up for her sister, but he cut in with more fury than before.

"What's the point of becoming a cop if you're going to break the law? I'll have no daughter of mine—"

"Dad, stop!" Hyacinth snapped. "Trev—I mean, Harry—has been nothing but kind to us. He's been nothing but kind to Clarine too and—"

"Well that's not an excuse for anything!"

"Please, we need to leave," I interrupted, looking around. Where the hell was Bria? "Sperling—Clarine, I mean—stand behind them. I'll lead."