[ 17 ] 2014 

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"Even if I wanted to, what could I possibly do in bed with an unconscious teenage boy?"

-

Ashton and Michael half carried, half dragged, Calum out of the cold ocean underneath the pier and set him down in the sand, just out of the reach of the rising tide. Harley followed behind the boys and dropped to her knees beside Calum. Her trembling hands went to rest on his relaxed face once more, as if to make sure that he was really there, that it was really Calum. His dark brown eyes were closed, his lips slightly parted, his raven black hair wet from the struggle of the two other boys that had gotten him to safety. On his wrists were crimson red rope burns from the chrysanthemum that had come into contact with his skin.

Harley leaned in and pressed her ear to his chest, trying to listen for a heartbeat.

A sigh of relief made its way out of her mouth when she actually found one. "He's breathing." She informed the others, looking up at them with hopeful blue eyes as she pulled back from Calum, and more to him and herself, she muttered, "Thank God you're alive."

Michael stood off to the side while Harley examined him, with his cellphone to his ear. He was probably informing the others that the search was over, and that Calum was alive. Soon the others would find them and they would be able to leave Brisbane. But there was another problem on their hands now. They couldn't just take Calum back to Sydney like that. They would probably need to get him to a hospital and have a professional examine the damage.

Harley noticed his chest was barely rising and falling, meaning that he was breathing with difficulty, and he wasn't getting enough oxygen in his lungs.

The others found them minutes later. Besides Harley, Niall and Andrea seemed to be the other two people most worried for Calum's health. They had known him for a very long time and had been friends for years. Harley knew that shifters were very loyal to their friends, which was why Niall and Andrea had been so willing to help find him.

With the help of Niall and Ashton, they got Calum to the white cargo van that was sitting in the near empty parking lot. The group of teenagers and Arthur were all relieved that most cars were gone from the parking lot as the sun had finally set and most people had gone home for the day. They knew it would look highly suspicious to see them carrying off another teens unconscious body and didn't want to have any attention called to themselves.

This time around Michael sat at the front passenger seat next to Arthur, though a bit reluctantly. The leader of the hunters was very close to winning over his daughter after all his help in rescuing Calum. For Michael it would be a bit more difficult, since he really had no clear way of getting close to him. Michael was keeping up a wall that would take much more work to make it come down. He had only agreed to take the front passenger seat because his half- sister wanted to sit with Calum. Harley had claimed the next seat in the back which had the space for three people. Instead, she sat on the spot furthest from the door, and Niall along with Ashton placed Calum laying down beside her with his head rested on her lap. The rest climbed in the remaining back seats.

Rather than taking them to the airport with an unconscious teenager in the back seat of the cargo van, Arthur took them to a nearby hotel. In the parking lot of the hotel he shut the van off and turned in his seat to look at the group of teenagers in the back. Heaving a sigh, he began, "We can't take this boy back to Sydney like this. We need to get him to a hospital or something. But all of you can't stay here or your school will probably find it highly suspicious that so many of you decided to be absent on the same day. The rest will have to return home." 

Harley thought he was right. She had heard stories from Cindy that St. Genevieve's took their attendance policies very seriously. Cindy had told Billy and Harley once of a time when she skipped school for a week to travel to the United States with her family, and when she returned, the service told her that a worker from the school had been parked in front of their house for a week, just to make sure she was sick like she had claimed.

"What can a hospital do for him?" Harley asked when Arthur's suggestion sunk in for her. It was a genuine question. She had seen things that normally wouldn't affect a normal human affect a shifter. It was also the same the other way around. Some things that would normally harm a human would do nothing to a shifter. Shifters were very different from humans and she doubted human medicine could do anything to help Calum in the state he was in. "They wouldn't know how to treat his injuries." She concluded from her own thoughts.

"If we don't take him anywhere he'll probably die." Arthur tried to reason with her.

"I agree that he needs help." She nodded, looking down at his unconscious figure. "But maybe we can bring someone to him." It was like a light bulb went off in her head when she remembered that Jack Quimby had healing abilities.

Neither him nor Hazel would come near them as long as Arthur was around though.

As much as she appreciated her father's help, she needed to find a way to get rid of him. She would later have to seek him out to properly thank him for being there for her.

-

They spent a half hour in the parking lot, still inside the white cargo van, deciding what they would do to help Calum. Harley was certain that she wanted to stay behind in Brisbane, to make sure that Calum would be okay. She wanted to be the one to return with him to Sydney once he healed from his injuries. Niall and Andrea wanted to stay as well, but Harley begged them to return to Sydney and go to school as though nothing had happened. 

Calum's uncle Cole was probably bitter over what they had done to him in order to find his nephew, and she knew that upon their return they would all need to be careful. She also knew that it was likely Calum would want to confront him in order to take back his house, but that was something they would need to worry about in the future. 

The present problem involved helping Calum healed.

Paúl and Dempsey would also be returning to Sydney. Paúl worked at St. Genevieve's as a teacher's assistant, which allowed him to watch over Harley, and he did not want to get fired. 

While Arthur went and reserved a room for Harley to stay in with Calum, she was able to convince Michael to ask Jack for a favor. She wanted him to come to Brisbane with Michael and cure Calum of his internal injuries. It would be difficult to convince Jack, since Calum wasn't very nice to him and Hazel, but it was also true that Calum had helped Jack when they hatched the plan to kill him in order to release Harley's soul from the bond she had with him. Jack owed it to Calum to at least try to save his life. Harley was almost sure he would agree to help.

When Arthur returned with the room key, he handed it to Harley. "I told them to give us the room nearest to the parking lot." He pointed to the door right in front of the spot they had parked in.

She nodded gratefully.

Niall climbed out of the white van and Ashton appeared from nowhere to help carry him into the room. The two boys got him out first, then Harley followed out of the van and rushed ahead of them to get the door open. 

It was a large room with two beds in it and Arthur said to her, "One bed for you, and one for him."

Though worried for Calum, she found herself cracking a small smile and rolling her eyes at Arthur. He was acting the way any father would act. "Even if I wanted to, what could I possibly do in bed with an unconscious teenage boy?" She asked him.

Niall and Ashton set him down on the bed nearest to the front door. Ashton stayed behind while Harley walked Niall and Arthur back to the cargo van. There, she brought the Irish in for a warm hug, saying to him, "Thank you so much for helping me find Calum. Tell Andrea I'm so grateful to her too, even though she's probably listening in on us to make sure I'm not flirting with you or anything." She added playfully.

"I heard you, Quinn." Andrea called from the back seat.

Niall chuckled. "You're our friend, Harley. We know you'd help us too if we needed it."

She nodded in agreement and Harley waved at the rest of the teens in the white van before they closed the door. The last person standing outside was her father Arthur. 

Harley hesitated for a moment before she started speaking, "Thank you, Arthur." She paused. Before continuing, she jumped up to give him a hug since he was much taller than her. His arms made their way around her as he hugged her back. "When we first met, I never thought you and I would get along, you know. But you're not such a bad guy...I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wouldn't mind having two dads."

As they both pulled back from the embrace, Arthur assured her, "I never intended to even try to take Aaron's place. He's been a great father to you, better than I was, and he's been a wonderful husband to Harleen." She noticed the way his heart seemed to break at the realization that they were all a seemingly perfect and happy family without him. "I just want to be a part of your life."

"I'd really like that, Arthur." She smiled at him. For the time being, she was not prepared to call him dad.

He hugged her one last time before mentioning some more arrangement he had made to help Calum. "I called a hospital nearby and asked if they can send a doctor here to check on your friend. I'm going to drop your friends off at the airport and then I'll be on my way. But we'll see each other again, sweetheart."

"Thank you again for everything." She nodded.

Arthur climbed in the driver's seat and left the parking lot. Harley watched them go and returned to the hotel room when they were finally out of sight.

Inside, Calum was still unconscious, and it would be something of a long wait to find out if he would really live.

-

today is friday, so that means its UPDATE DAY. wooo. i was going to post a flashback chapter and save this one for sunday/monday, but the plot was getting interesting so i thought i wouldn't make you all suffer so much. intead, i'll post this one and on sunday or monday post the flashback chapter, and that will be the end of part one. part two will continue in this book, so don't worry.

*shameless self promotion* i already posted the blurb for the new series which will be called 'wild ones'. its not gonna be rated r or anything. you all know im a very pg13 kind of writer. i just called it wild ones bc i thought it would sound cool. so go check it out if you want ^.^ i'll be very thankful. our main man will be calum, and our main gal will be named athena and she will be portrayed by angelique boyer unless i find a better actress who has a lookalike. i didn't want to have a blonde mc bc harley is already blonde (even tho she dies her hair), but angelique looks a lot like perrie edwards and i need two actresses who look alike for this story.

qotd: do you prefer longer chapters like this when i post? or do you like shorter chapters better? i kind of like the longer ones more because there is room for more stuff to happen. 

thank you all for reading and supporting! it means sososososo much. blessings and lots of love.

-clary xx