[ 10 ] 2013 

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"If I fooled you, surely I can fool the girl."

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"What do you know about the original family?" 

Calum's face contorted in cofusion, his brain not yet able to register Ashton's words. "What the fuck are you talking about?" He wondered, wiping his tired eyes with the backs of his hands as he sat up on the couch.

The hazel eyed boy gestured to the book still in his hand before he tossed it at Calum. The book landed on his lap and was corner marked on the correct page so that Calum could easily find it. The raven haired boy opened up the book filled with hand written information and took a few moments to read the words on the page.

His eyes widened at the information on the page. Looking up at Ashton, he breathed, "How the fuck are we going to find the original family?"

Ashton shrugged. "I was hoping you would know."

"All I know about them is that they're British-Canadian, from Montreal or something. But I don't know the family name or an exact location where we could find them. For all we know they could be anywhere in the world now." Calum said, wracking his mind for any information on the first family of shifters he could remember. Groaning when he nothing came to his mind, he added, "Ah, fuck. Harley's as good as dead."

"We can't give up." Ashton insisted. "Let's take this one problem at a time. We need to get Harley back and once we've done that we can worry about finding a member of the original family. There's no use in losing hope as of this moment."

"You're so optimistic." Calum scoffed. "Its sickening."

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The nineteen year old hunter walked the hallways of the hospital towards the cafeteria which was located at the very end of the building, past a long hallway with vending machines on either side. Paúl rolled his eyes at the food selections displayed in the machine. There were healthy alternatives such as baked potato snacks, sugar free cookies, and trail mix. The soda machines only offered diet drinks and low sugar juices. He thought it was ridiculous. In his native Mexico everything was made with real sugar and then there were places like this where people drank flavorless liquids. In any case, Paúl thought, if people wanted something flavorless they could settle with water.

He passed the long hallway full of vending machines and stopped at the entrance of the cafeteria. Through the glass doors, he could see the blonde girl he was there to find. She sat there, facing away from him, munching on her potato snacks. 

Paúl pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and dialed Dempsey's phone number. He waited a couple of seconds for her to pick up. "Demsi," He said into the phone.

"Oh, hey Pauly." She said cheerfully from the other line.

"Any news about the boy?" Paúl wondered.

"Everything's the same here." She indormed him. "How are things back home?"

With his eyes still trained on the girl inside the almost empty cafeteria, he said, "I found the girl. I can distract her for a couple of minutes while you get here."

"Okay." Desmpey responded and the line went dead.

He was about to push the door open when he heard the familiar voice of the strawberry blonde from earlier. "Hey there!" She shouted in her cheerful voice. The hunter turned towards her, hoping her loudness hadn't been enough to catch the other girl's attention.

"Hola." Said the dark haired boy who wore a black leather jacket.

Looking past the glass doors, the bright eyed girl wondered innocently. "Oooh, is that your girlfriend? She's a pretty one."

"Uh...yes." He nodded quickly, "Her name is Harley Quinn." Arlequin. Like the bird, Paúl couldn't help but thinking.

"Arleh Keen?" The girl repeated the name just as he had pronounced it.

"Oh." Paúl remembered, biting his lip. Sometimes he wished the entire world spoke in one language, then he wouldn't have to translate every phrase in his mind before saying it. He felt like people saw him as less intelligent because of his Mexican accent and the fact that English wasn't his first language when he was actually very smart, especially in Spanish. He had gone to college and had a degree in art history and mathematics. But that was never enough in an english speaking world because he spoke spanish. "I forget that in english it is pronounced Harley. In spanish the 'h' is silent."

"Then why even use the letter?" The girl pointed out.

Paúl shrugged. "I don't know. Take it up with Spain. Look...I'm really busy, so if you'll excuse me-"

The strawberry blonde girl stopped him. "You're such a good liar, its almost cute. Pauly." And with a snap of her fingers, there was a complete shift in her appearance and she was now a brunette with light tan skin and chocolate brown eyes.

He narrowed her eyes at her playfully. "Demsi?"

She pointed an index finger in his face as she grinned, "Fooled you."

"You did." He chuckled.

"I was just testing out a new appearance." She said, the proud smile remaining on her face. "If I fooled you, surely I can fool the girl." As a shifter, Dempsey had the ability to take on the appearance of any person or animal. It was a talent that came in handy when she was hunting in Europe. Paúl had the ability to create ilusions, to trick the mind. He could make one think they were in one place, when in fact they weren't.

When she rolled her hand into a fist and hit him on the shoulder, he winced. "What was that for?" He whined.

"You said she was your girlfriend." Dempsey stuck her tongue out at him.

"I just wanted to get you to go away." He admitted. Placing a hand on her shoulder he urged, "Anda," Go on, "Go distract her for me. I have a plan."

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Whatever amount of time she had spent in that dark hallway felt like centuries to Harley Quinn. She was even beginning to lose hope that she would return. She believed Calum would do everything to help her get out, but there was also the possibility that he would never find a way. 

Down the hallway, she saw a few of the lamps that provided a dim light flicker. It was the first time she had seen them do that.

She raised herself back on her feet and looked to both sides of the dark hallway, unsure of what was going on. On the far end of the hallway she heard a thumping sound, followed by a grunt, like someone had fallen into the darkness which she currently awaited in. Harley squinted her blue eyes and craned her neck, trying to get a better view of the person who was there. "Uh...hello? Is anyone there?" She called out.

The scared voice of a teenage boy replied. "H-Harley?"

Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion, the sound of his voice registering in her brain. When she finally realized who it was, she let out a gasp. "Luke?" 

But if Luke was there, it meant he was...dead.

She ran to him and found Luke several feet down the hall, looking just as he had when she last saw him. But it was as though he was an image on a screen, that like the lights, he flickered. "What is this place?" He asked her, his face pallid with fear.

"Luke..." Harley tried to get the words out. "I think you're dead."

-

another update.

sorry for taking so long to post it. since the semester is about to end at the university, i've had a lot of things to do.

i will try to post again as soon as i can cause this chapter was kinda filler. the next chapter will also probably include calum, and possibly a brief appearance from michael. but i'm not sure yet.

no long author's note today cause i have to take my dad to the doctor.

but i hope you all like the update.

thank you for reading.

i love you.

-clary xx