♡ chapter 26 - Harry ♡
Are you sure this is a smart plan?" Daniel asked as I stayed close to the bars, waiting for the guards to come for me for my own trial.
"Not exactly," I told him truthfully, "but it's the only plan we have, isn't it?" I sucked in a sharp breath, glancing over at Rose as she stared blankly off in the distance. "Besides, I escaped twice before, so why can't I do it a third time?"
I heard Daniel let out a long sigh. "I don't know, Harry. I mean, they could actually catch you and maybe even kill you this time."
"But they won't. I've got this, all right?"
Rose and I have hardly spoken since she finally repeated those three words to me, but I still refused to believe what her mother said. Not to mention it could be a trick, or a sinister lie to keep us apart. It wasn't going to work until I saw legitimate proof, and then I would back off because it would be completely weird. My feelings for her will never die, but I could never be with my sister.
I shuddered, pushing the thoughts away.
The door at the end of the hallway creaked open and I straightened, half ready to escape and half nervous due to the slim chance we might fail. I tried to use Rose and Daniel as motivation, a sign that I was stronger with the both of them there needing me. Needing to get out.
"Psst!" I turned to see Rose giving me wide eyes. "Be careful."
I almost laughed. "I don't think that word would be included to describe me, but I'll try."
Rose mustered a smile in return.
"Ready, Daniel?" I whispered sharply to the side of me, getting a mumble that sounded like a yes in return.
The two guards walked calmly towards my cell, as if I weren't about to go seek my way of dying. But they wouldn't care considering none of them were very fond of me anyways. I did everything I could behind these bars to torment them, and I guess it paid off by the disgusted looks they always tossed my way. Of course, I just smiled innocently in return.
"Mr. Styles, are you—?"
"Help!" Daniel's voice screeched from beside me, and I prayed he could hold this act up better than he attempted to be me.
One guard's eyes widened as he went over to the cell. "How did you get in there? Where's the boy?" he snapped.
"H-he tricked me and escaped!" Daniel busted. "You have to get me out of here!"
The guard snapped to the one in front of my cell, "Take Styles to his trial so the Council members don't get pissed that he's late. I'll get this guard out of the cell and then we'll find the boy."
Frantically, the smaller guard nodded as he began to unlock my cell. The bulkier one was in the midst of letting Daniel out as Rose watched from her cell in what seemed to be paranoia. I tried to ignore the look of worry on her face as the petite guard let me out, reaching for my arms. I allowed him to hook them behind my back, but when he was about to latch the cuffs on, I took action.
I swung my left elbow back, hitting him right in the jaw before whipping around and landing a punch on his opposite cheek. He stumbled back, falling to the floor and I turned to see the guard opening the gate for Daniel, but stopped once he saw what I had just done. He went to move towards me when Daniel stuck his foot out of the crack the guard had made in the midst of opening the cell, tripping the guard to where he fell flat on his face.
"Whoa," Daniel said, eyes wide. "I actually did something!"
When the guard went to get up, I gripped the sides of his face before yanking, snapping his neck. He fell limply to the ground, the last of his breaths cut short from my actions and in a way, it felt nice to hold power again. I knew it was wrong to kill and I knew Rose would yell at me later, but there was still a part in me that liked being in charge and being feared. It was terrible, but it was me.
"Yup," I grunted, standing up straight, "you did."
Daniel stared at me with bugging eyes, but I spun around to get the keys from the guards. I needed to let Rose out before the Council realized the guards wouldn't be coming back, and they certainly wouldn't be coming back with me. They may portray innocence, but they are not stupid and we do have a camera on us right now.
Oops?
Right when I twisted the key in the lock, the red lights began to flash, the warning alarm blaring through my ears. I cursed under my breath, ushering Rose out of her cell and she did so. She looked at me for a moment, then down at the body on the floor before giving me a disappointed look.
"You didn't have to kill him," she said in a low voice, one where I could barely hear over the sirens.
I ran a hand through my hair. "Well, I did and I can't change that. Besides, he would've went after us anyways. It's better that I did."
"Uh, guys..." Daniel turned to us, his skin blanched. "I think we should probably start running."
My eyes caught sight of the door on the opposite end of the hall, the glass window giving me a view of guards trucking their way over. Muttering profanities under my breath, we all began to take off. I reached for Rose's hand subconsciously, but felt a pang of hurt strike through my when she wiggled her hand from mine.
I knew she was paranoid about us possibly being siblings, but she couldn't even hold my hand? I've been without her for days now, and now that I can actually touch her without searing the crap out of my hand, she won't let me?
Fighting back the urge to sigh, I kept running along with them both, pushing the doors open. The red light still blinking up above gave off an eerie glow to the white hallway as we ran down it, taking a random left in hopes of getting out. I don't particularly remember the way out, and quite frankly, I don't remember escaping this way either.
Why can't I remember? Was it shock that took away that memory? Had I gotten caught and they'd done something to me before letting me go? I remember everything perfectly fine except for escaping. Wouldn't that be something that I would forever remember? To look back on and be like, "wow, I was quite the badass"? Shouldn't I remember something about leaving this horrid place on my own?
All three of us skidded to a stop at the sight of more guards heading our way. We quickly turned our direction, swiveling through the halls like it was a never ending maze. I debated on taking the elevator, but it would be too easy for them to be waiting for us when the doors opened. I searched for a staircase, my eyes catching the sign at the end of the hall.
"We have to take the stairs," I told them through my rugged breaths.
Daniel managed to groan. "Honestly? Like, what about the elevator?"
"It'd be too easy for them to trap us," Rose said.
"Exactly."
Daniel groaned again.
Nearly gliding down the stairs, I could hardly keep up with how quick my legs were moving. Rose and Daniel kept up better than I thought, but perhaps it was the adrenaline running through them, like me, that kept them moving. That kept telling them how dangerous it would be if they halted for even a second.
Footsteps echoed below us before two guards appeared. I flicked my wrist, sending them both over the railing. They hardly had time to scream before their bodies flattened on the ground, unmoving. Neither Daniel nor Rose said anything as we continued to sprint down the concrete steps.
We were six stories up and finally made it to the first floor. We stopped by the door just so everyone could catch their breath before I peeked my head out, looking both ways to see who all was aware of our escape. Even the Council should know that we've managed to get out by now, especially with the red light and sirens continuing on without disturbance. They were quite the annoying little bastards, might I add.
"Okay," I whispered, quietly closing the door. "We don't have much time to get out the front doors and over the fence. I turned to Daniel while he was hunched over, still panting as if he run a marathon. "Daniel, do you think you could turn into a guard again?"
He squinted up at me. "Wouldn't... wouldn't they realize?"
I shrugged. "Worth a shot, right? If anything, we just kill them all and head for the hills."
Rose gave me a look.
Sighing, I heaved both hands through my hair. "Rose, this is a dire situation, all right? Killing is necessary."
"It just sounds so... evil," she murmured while rubbing her arms. "I mean, all they're trying to do is protect people from us and we're trying to protect ourselves from them. Can't this be like Disney where the evil and the good bond and form a treaty?"
Daniel raised his hand. "I second that. I think it would be a good idea."
I rolled my eyes. "An impossible idea, you mean. The Council would never go for that. Listen..." I held her gaze, but didn't dare to step towards her. "...this is only so we can get out of her, all right? Don't you want to survive?"
"Yeah, but—"
The sound of footsteps above cut her off. I nodded to Daniel and he morphed into one of the guards, just like he had done in his cell. Rose and I turned around with our hands behind our backs as if Daniel had caught us. He let out a breath and I knew he was trying to compose himself before he kicked the door open, pushing us out.
"Damn, man. I know this is acting, but easy on the arms, shit," I muttered under my breath.
"Oops. Sorry," Daniel whispered back before continuing to move towards the door.
A redheaded guard grasped his gun, stepping towards us with raised eyebrows. "Excuse me. I see you've caught two of the criminals that escaped, but why are you headed towards the door? The high security cells are on the second floor."
Daniel shot him a look. "Don't you sass me, boy. I've been working here longer than you've been thought of. I know what I'm doing."
I bit my bottom lip to keep from laughing at how ridiculous he sounded, but the redhead took a step back nonetheless. "I'm sorry, I've just... I've never seen you working here before."
"It's called being the Council's favorite guard. I get whenever I want off, thank you very much. Now do me a solid and shut your pie-hole."
Daniel walked faster and it was almost harder not to laugh due to the fact that he said "pie-hole." We made it to the doors and I knew it wouldn't be more than two minutes before the guard realized what just happened and he would be after us in no time. I heard Rose giggle beside me once we finally stepped outside.
"I feel like I'm going to vomit," Daniel muttered as he let us go, morphing back into his self.
"You did well," Rose said between her giggles.
"Yeah, well can we talk about this another time?" I interrupted, catching the eye of the guard as he began pointing to us. "It wasn't very smart to stop right here."
Just like that, we were running again into the thick woods, swerving around trees and jumping over fallen branches. I knew this was how my life would always be—running for safety. It's just unfair that I hadn't done anything wrong without protecting myself. I was just a normal boy with an evil label. They were the ones who made me the evil person I was destined to be. They were the ones who wouldn't except that sometimes people are better than their classification in life says they are.
Out of nowhere, an arrow struck my shoulder. I jolted back, stumbling to a stop before gaping at it. Instinctively, I pulled Rose closer to me whether she wanted to be or not. I looked around for where the arrow had come from, but then caught on to look up at the trees.
Guards dropped down from all around us, hovering so close I was fighting the urge to scream at them for some space. Rose and Daniel backed closer to me to where we formed somewhat of a triangle, our backs against each other's as we protected the other. It was weird for me to have someone looking after my safety, but warming nonetheless.
"Well," Daniel said, "so much for actually achieving something."
"No, you did good, Daniel. You helped a lot," I muttered, tossing wary glances to each guard as they pointed guns at us.
Daniel puffed out air from his cheeks. "You know, I'd normally find that incredibly sweet of you, but I just can't in this moment. We're screwed."
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A/N: Well, some closure is going to be coming the next chapter ^.^ I was going to update yesterday but literally did not have the motivation. Hope this chapter made up for the wait! Love you all (: xx
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