To say that Harry and Selena were having a fun time together was a complete overstatement.
They had left early in the morning, with the sun barely peeking out of the sky. Aside from a handful of eye contacts, Harry had also given Selena a burner phone to use before they left. He had asked her to turn off her cellphone and to remove the battery as well.
"It's to lessen the chances of them tracking you," he offhandedly remarked.
Selena would have thought he was being paranoid but with everything happening, she just quietly obliged.
"Where are we going?" she asked him the night before during dinner.
"Montana."
"And we're driving all the way there? Isn't it like a 30-hour drive?"
"32."
Oh Lord.
"What's in Montana?"
"Another Keyper. And a plane's out of the question since they'll find us easier and quicker that way."
Harry had explained to Selena that each Keyper's family had a clue to where one was. It was an arrangement previous Keypers had made to keep each other safe.
The clue Harry was given went something like this:
Search west
For the fourth land
And there you'll find
Romeo's lover
In the Big Sky
"Montana's a pretty big state," she remarked.
"Joliet, Montana."
"Of course, you already figured everything out," she muttered.
Harry had always been the kind to have his life together. Back when they were still in high school, Harry told her of the life he dreamt of having. He was going to be a florist and have his own flower farm and shop.
Harry had grown up in the city, with tall buildings so closely knit with each other that he felt suffocated. They moved to Triton because his mother had a better job offer in the little town.
He once told her that he didn't like living like that, with no space to breathe. It was suffocating and everyone around him was always in a hurry. Nobody had the time and space to even stop and smell the roses.
So he wanted to live in a house surrounded by all the flowers he could dream of.
It was one of the best things about him. He was so sure about everything. And once Harry had decided on something, he would not stop until he got what he wanted.
It was why she was attracted to him in the first place. She was just like that too.
Meanwhile, Selena dreamt of leaving her rural town and become a bigshot lawyer. She had finished her pre-law course a year prior and was accepted in her dream law school.
But after a semester there, she wasn't so sure if that was what she really wanted anymore.
"It wasn't that hard to figure out. And I had a few years to pin where exactly," Harry elaborated.
"I see."
They were only on the first few minutes of their journey but they were already running out of things to say.
They had been together for a few days now and were somehow able to coexist peacefully. But it was different when they were seated next to each other.
She had a lot of questions. But they didn't seem to matter at the moment.
So most of the car ride was filled with silence between them.
Four hours into the drive and they finally made a stopover. The silence was suffocating. Any longer and Selena was going to break and start screaming.
She headed to the toilets while Harry waited for her outside. He was adamant to not leave her on her own more than necessary for the next few days that they'd be traveling.
Just in case something happened.
The area was a little bit crowded, and it was just like how Harry wanted it. There were enough people that nobody would remember them - they were just like other passing faces.
They grabbed some coffee and continued on their quiet way.
Selena just gave up and decidedly ignored the suffocating air inside the car. She just stared at the sceneries outside her window, letting her mind wander until she eventually fell asleep.
Selena had a dream.
She and Harry were on a camping trip. It was the last camping trip they had before they went their separate ways.
They were alone this time. They planned it for just the two of them.
It was the last time they had so much fun together.
They were so happy that Selena felt like crying.
Selena wasn't sure if she was still dreaming when she felt a hand gently caress her cheeks.
They were still on the road when she woke up. They stopped over a small diner to grab some dinner.
"It's gonna be dark soon," Harry commented as he stared out the huge glass wall of the small diner. There weren't a lot of people there. Only two other customers.
Selena was wearing a cap and had her eyes down most of the time. The contacts she wore that morning had already dissolved and she wasn't keen to wear new ones.
"I saw a motel sign outside," she commented. "We can stay there for the night."
Harry nodded absentmindedly. He had told her that the Damned were most active at night and it would be better if they were indoors when it was dark.
Their food came and they both ate quietly.
The door chimed, signalling the arrival of a customer. Selena didn't even look up from her food.
"I'll be back. Don't move." Harry stood up and she watched him go to the bathroom. She disliked how he was treating her like a child but she didn't want to start a fight.
She wasn't ready to open that door with him yet.
Her view was obstructed when a brown-haired guy sat on the chair across hers. He had a scruffy look and his arms were littered with tattoos.
Selena stiffened when she saw the smirk on his face.
"Hello, Golden."
Selena didn't wait to find out if he was friend or foe. She stood up and sprinted towards where Harry was.
She only took a couple of steps when the brown-haired stranger yanked her back.
"Harry!" she screamed.
There were scuffles all over her and a couple more people emerged from the kitchen door. Harry popped out of the restroom but was blocked by other people.
Selena was being pulled out of the door while Harry wrestled with the men attacking him.
"Harry!" Selena screamed again as she thrashed about, trying to free herself. The other customers were hiding under their tables and she didn't know what happened to the waitress and other staff.
The glass door was pushed open and she was being dragged towards a gray car with glossy black rims.
A hand covered her mouth so she bent forward as far as she could and smacked the person's head with her own.
There was a grunt from behind her and the arms loosened around her waist. She broke free and immediately ran back inside to Harry.
She grabbed a glass on the way and threw it on one of the attackers who was poised to hit Harry while his back was turned.
Harry immediately shielded her when she was back to his side.
Adrenaline was pumping on her veins. She clutched on Harry's arm tightly. The diner was in shambles and there were two men lying unconscious on the floor.
But two more were still standing amd waiting for Harry or her to make another move. The brown-haired guy who grabbed her had followed her back inside with his hand over his bloody lips.
She was mulling over whether or not it was a good idea to wish them out of there.
"Don't," Harry said like he could hear her thoughts.
"Okay, showtime's over," the brown-haired stranger said after he wiped the blood off.
The two bulky goons who were still standing eased off their attack poses.
"You, get out!" the stranger said to the people under the table. They didn't need to be told twice as they scrambled out of the diner.
"Get them to a hospital or whatever," he told the two goon. They nodded and simply picked up their unconscious allies.
Everyone else was gone and just the three of them were left.
But that didn't mean that Harry had let his guard down.
"Who are you?" Harry asked.
"Chill out," he chuckled. "I'm not one of them."
"Then why are you following us?" Selena asked. She remembered the car that she saw at the truck stop a few days ago - the one that gave her the creeps. She was sure it was the same one the stranger was dragging her to.
"You're pretty observant. And kinda strong too," he smirked. "This is gonna be fun. I didn't want to be stuck with a boring Golden."
"Just get to the point. Who are you?" Selena squinted her eyes at him.
The boy's smirk only grew wider. Then he slowly raised his shirt.
On his right rib, there was a small key that mirrored the one on Harry's wrist. "Liam Payne - Keyper at your service, Golden."