Harry POV
We wandered up to the familiar yet ghostly grounds of Auradon Prep, looking at all the sleeping people is really weird. I've walked past these people, knew some even, and here they all were fast asleep as if they were dead. As we walked Uma was looking around more than the rest of us. She'd look up into the sky or the trees, occasionally asking a question about the scenery which I was alright with answering since I've been there before. Gee, I remember when Brielle used to show me around new places and I'd ask her a billion questions about new things, she'd always oblige and answer without complaint. And as much as I hate Uma, I'm being the bigger person by not being a complete pain in the arse.
It's what Brielle would want me to do, gods I need to find her.
I need to find my sisters too, and Gil even. Gods this is stressful, but I have to power through. We walked into the courtyard, Celia and Uma looking around in awe,
"Is that Auradon Prep?"
Celia spoke with her jaw dropped looking up at the building, Carlos went up to her with a smile
"Yup, and when everyone's awake you're going to love it"
Celia jumped for joy some, reminding me of how excited I was to get here the first day. We were making our way about, the scenery feeling abnormally dead and dreary as everyone was in their forced sleep when I suddenly heard a bit of a screech and a loud thud. I whipped my head over to the sound to see, Gil? Falling from a tree? What? I uncontrollably cackled at him once he was on the ground with leaves all over him, I jogged over to him to help him up,
"Wha are ya doin' lad? Ye alright?"
I asked as I pulled him to his feet. He laughed some and dusted himself off,
"You guys won't believe it, I was sitting under this tree when out of nowhere this crazy looking chick came with this pink smoke and put everyone to sleep! But me? Nah she didn't get me. I saw the smoke and climbed this tree to get away from it, I climbed so high the smoke couldn't reach me!"
Gil excitedly spoke, I'm just happy he's alright. That's one out of four people that I need to find here alright, that's a good start. Gil looked over to Uma and tilted his head some,
"Uma? Long time no see!"
Uma raised a brow at him and crossed her arms,
"Since when were you in Auradon?"
She questioned. Gil jumped around some and slung an arm around my shoulder,
"Harry and Bri got us all out of the Isle! We as in me, Harriet and CJ, and the Smee twins and some other kids! How awesome is that?"
Uma looked around some and only looked more questionable as we continued to move forward,
"Bri? As in Queen Brielle?"
"Yeah! She lets us call her Bri, she's so nice, and pretty too! But I can't say that, Harry would get mad at me so don't tell him"
He does... realize I'm right here right? I only chuckled as I'm not worried, I love Gil but he couldn't match with Brielle so of course, I'm not worried. But I had an idea. I put my hand on Gil's shoulder to remind him of my presence,
"Gil? Have ya seen Brielle by any chance?"
Gil thought for a second with narrowed eyes before shaking his head,
"Nope, saw her come from I think her room though a while ago. She walked so fast I couldn't catch up"
Gil said with a light laugh, that's a start I think. Onto the next question,
"Have ya seen Harriet or CJ recently?"
Gil only shook his head, not saying anything about even seeing them awhile ago. I sighed and looked over to the rest of the group to see Evie going up to a statue that looked awfully a lot like a real person,
"Guys, Hannah turned to stone"
I don't know a Hannah and I couldn't care less, but the fact that someone turned to stone at all is concerning. What if Brielle isn't asleep? What if she's a fucking statue when I find her? I sure hope not, that would be so much worse I feel. I'd rather be asleep than turned to stone, so I'm sure that's quite universal because who would rather turn to stone? That's so much worse. I took a deep sigh and walked over to Carlos as Dude trotted up to us,
"Dude! Hey buddy"
Carlos happily spoke before kneeling down to pet him, I sighed and looked around some more and carefully scanned the area, I couldn't see Brielle, Harriet, or CJ anywhere. It's only worrying me more by the second,
"Dude did you see what happened?"
Carlos asked, Dude easily responded,
"Oh yeah, Audrey came through here and put everyone to sleep and some to stone. And before you ask pirate boy, no I have not seen Brielle and I don't know who the other two people you asked for are. But all I know is that I haven't seen Brielle at all today"
I only sighed with dread heavier, someone awake must've seen her. I asked her to stay in her office but if Audrey came through here what are the chances that she's still there? Slim to none. I slowly shook my head and began walking forward towards Auradon Prep itself, it wouldn't hurt to check the school just in case,
"Harry where are you going?"
Gil shouted, I turned my head but didn't stop walking,
"Ta check the school, I'm gonna tear this place apart until I find three people, Brielle and my sisters"
With that I turned my head back around and continued on, great determination fueling every step of mine. Everyone got the message and began walking on after me. Mal jogged to my side as we entered Auradon Prep, and I was calling Brielle's name as soon as we entered.
Brielle POV
So... I'm kinda bored of laying here like some silly little damsel in distress so I've decided in the moment that I'm going to get myself out of here. What can I say? I'm not terribly patient when it comes to being restrained by a damn plant. I've determined that if I rotate one of my hands the right way and pull really fast one of the thorns would inevitably slice the back of my hand but that's just a scrape...
Okay, I really don't want to because I hate things like this, but I'm going to have to. I have a huge fear of needles and anything with a super precise point like that, it just freaks me out. The only exception I've found is Harry's hook, and that's just because I know he's not going to hurt me. But needles and apparently thorns.... Oh, they send such uncomfortable shivers up my spine.
But I have to get out of here, I have to. I have no clue where Harry is and I can't depend on that, for all I know... he's asleep somewhere. So, I'm relying on myself, here we go.
I took a glance behind me and down at one of my wrists, the one I've gotten a little loose from the vine. Unfortunately, it's my right hand, if you didn't know I'm left-handed but I've been working on being more ambidextrous so this is just a test.
I took some big deep breaths and prepared myself, closing my eyes and putting the tip of my tongue in between my teeth and bracing.
This is going to hurt, I know it is, so stop thinking about it dammit! Just do it, come on Brielle just... now!
The vines around my mouth muffled a shriek as I successfully freed one of my hands with a slice, in the process cutting straight up the back of my hand. I held my newly freed hand in my view to see the damage, a significant cut was already trickling blood down my arm. It made me shiver substantially, but a small cut or being held hostage? I'd rather have a small cut. I began using my free hand to wrestle at the vines over my mouth and ignored the trickling blood running down my arm, as if Harry happens to be close I want to let him know I'm here.
Third Person
Harry looked into every room they came across on the way to Brielle and Ben's offices. Mal shouted the whole time in a frenzy to find Ben while Harry was shouting Brielle's name. However, everywhere they turned they only found more sleeping persons. Harry was beyond focused, he felt that he would know when he was closer to her. Harry walked up each staircase two steps at a time, took larger stridden steps, everything he could to quicken his pace while those behind him dragged on.
Harry suddenly heard something, talking it seemed. He began following the voices, however, he felt no closer to Brielle. Suddenly out of one of the dorm rooms came a very tired looking pair of sisters,
"Harriet are you sure you heard something-"
Harriet and CJ froze when they saw their brother for a moment, all while Harry took a deep breath of relief and walked over to them,
"Are ye two okay?"
Harry quickly asked, the two sisters furrowed their brows and looked at each other,
"Yeah... we just woke up why do you ask?"
Harry was very taken aback, as right now the only sleep they know is the spell induced one. Harry just stood there wide-eyed for a second,
"Question, were ya spelled or no?"
Harriet chuckled while CJ just looked on in confusion,
"Uhm no? What do you mean spelled?"
Harry was struck with realization and took a deep breath and calmed himself,
"Oh, ya confused me for a second, have ya both been living under a rock? Look around, Auradon is kinda under attack"
Harry said in a very "duh" tone, a little annoyed that he had to explain a sleeping spell to his sisters while he could be searching for Brielle but he knew he had to. Harriet and CJ looked up and down the halls to see all the sleeping people about, becoming more wide-eyed and frantic as they realized,
"Woah... Brielle wasn't kidding when she said to stay put. We dodged a bullet"
CJ spoke, making Harrys' eyes jolt over to her,
"What? Brielle what about Brielle?"
He urgently asked. CJ looked over to Harriet and exchanged a silent debate of whether or not to tell their brother that they attempted to break into Brielle's office. CJ decided to simply selectively tell Harry parts of the truth,
"Well, we went to Brielle's office earlier today with some questions that needed answering. We all had a chat before you called her about some Audrey chick having a scepter. She told us to stay in our room in case something bad happened and boy, she was right"
CJ said with a light laugh. Harry connected the dots as to when his sisters were with Brielle, but he was left with a huge gap of time where no one saw her. So he simply moved on from that and told his sisters to get geared up and join the group, all while he moved on alone to look for Brielle in her office.
Brielle, after quite some time of struggle, was able to pry the vines from her mouth. She took deep panting breaths for a second as she recollected herself and pulled her head out from within the vines, feeling much better that she wasn't so restrained now. She paused every move she made when she heard a very distant sound through the walls. She stopped to listen to see if it would happen again, a few seconds later it came again and louder,
"Brielle?!"
Shouted a familiar Scottish accent, one she could not be more relieved to hear. She finally smiled for the first time in hours and was so glad she could shout back,
"Harry?!"
Harry paused for a second before breaking into a jog, a shot of adrenaline immediately pumping into his veins as soon as he heard her voice. He got a little closer to where he heard her and felt the sort of connection, leading his feet faster and faster to her office.
Just as Brielle could feel in her bones where Harry was when his father kidnapped him, Harry could feel it in his bones that she in fact hadn't moved from her office.
So much so Harry forgot to even respond to her call to him, he simply ran as quickly as he could to her office. He ran into the door, making Brielle jump some as the sound of him basically slamming into the door spooked her some,
"Har please tell me that's you"
Brielle said a bit timidly, Harry flipped his hook into his hand and began picking the lock,
"It's me darlin' hold in there"
He said in response, putting Brielle much more at ease. Moments later Harry had the lock picked and burst in, his eyes jolting around until they landed on Brielle who was still bound to the ground by two vines but able to sit up, one around her other wrist and the other wrapped around both ankles, but she was smiling. She was smiling in joy and relief at the same time at Harry so lovingly, and Harry was mortified.
Mortified by the fact that the first thing he noticed was her bleeding hand, then he moved his eyes to the thorns around her, then the vines that bound her down, he couldn't take it anymore. Harry ran over and threw himself on the ground right in front of her,
"Hold still, hold still for me"
Harry frantically said before drawing his sword and carefully cutting the vines around her ankles, moving to her wrist moments later. As soon as the vine around her wrist freed her, Harry dropped his sword and wrapped his arms around her and scooped her up to pull her into him all in one quick motion. Now that his adrenaline came down, he began to shake as he steadily rocked back and forth some, squeezing her just at the limit before she would have trouble breathing. Brielle gladly wrapped her arms around his neck and let them sit there in each other's arms for a second, a little giggle escaping from her lips,
"Har, I'm not dying you know"
She joked, knowing he was shaking because he was scared. He only nodded and burrowed his face into the crook of her neck,
"I-I know t-that"
He said with a tremble as he hadn't been terribly fearful of what could have happened to her until the moment he saw her. He was worried before, but this was something he hadn't thought of at all. Suddenly he remembered her cut and quickly pulled back, confusing Brielle some until he readjusted to have her sit in his lap while he took her wounded hand,
"How did t-this happen love?"
Harry spoke, attempting to control his shakiness for his own anxieties' sake. Brielle sighed and motioned to the now-empty thorn bush that had bound her down behind her,
"Audrey made thorns to restrain me with, before you came in both wrists were tied down along with vines wrapping around my mouth. So I thought I might as well at least get the vines off of my mouth so I could call to you if you came back, so I got one hand, this hand free by just... pulling my wrist free really fast. I got caught on one of the thorns, it's a little cut that's all"
Harry had a slight short circuit moment, looking at her with a blank expression before he slowly took a handkerchief from his pocket and carefully took her wounded hand and brought it up. He then gently wrapped the handkerchief around the cut, back on the Isle when Harry would have a short circuit moment he'd have an angry outburst, but now he simply slows down some. Internally he was angry, angry at Audrey for doing this to Brielle, but taking care of Brielle was more of a priority to him rather than being angry.
Brielle watched him wrap her hand with care, tears welling up in his eyes as he did. She moved her eyes from her hand to his eyes, softening at the tears threatening to fall,
"Hey, Harry I'm alright. No need to fret"
Brielle softly whispered just as everyone caught up with Harry and ran to look through the door just as Harry was about to lose it,
"S-She hurt ya b-because I-I didn't take y-ya with me, i-it's my f-fault"
He whimpered so quietly only Brielle could hear. She quickly shook her head and took her good hand and made him look at her by putting her hand on his cheek,
"No, Har I can't let you think like that. I had it coming, she wanted to do that so she would've done it eventually. We got it over with and it wasn't that bad, please do not blame yourself for something that wasn't your fault"
Brielle said with a soft smile, leaning up and giving him a soft kiss on the lips for a second before giggling some,
"Thanks for the bandage by the way love, but... could you kiss it better?"
Brielle knows that a great way to bring Harry back down to earth is by acting a little childish, in fact, she loves the little bits of childish behavior they bring out in each other. It's purely to be wholesome as well, it brings them both down to earth. Harry melted into a smile again, feeling his nerves let go some and his body relax. He carefully brought her wounded hand up to his lips and gave her some kisses, confusing those who were watching in the doorway but absolutely fulfilling the two love birds who were more than happy to be back in each other's arms.
A/N
Hiya! Can you believe we've surpassed a hundred chapters in this book? Yeah some are authors notes but that's crazy nonetheless XD I am much happier about this chapter than the last, for some reason I was just super insecure about the last one XD Can we also appreciate the cuteness at the end of this chapter? ^_^
I hope you enjoyed this chapter :D
Remember to stay hydrated and to be kind to yourself today :D
-Brooke