[ 3 ] 2013 

Harley pulled away from him, her blue eyes were full of hurt. "You helped her put me here?" She asked him. Harley couldn't believe what she was hearing. She knew she had to let him explain himself, but at that moment she felt betrayed.

Calum noticed this and placed his hands on her shoulders, his voice full of guilt as he tried to explain to her how it all happened. He never meant for Kylie and Andrea to hurt Harley. "It wasn't on purpose." He swore. "Andrea asked me how to get a spirit out of a mirror and I was still upset about my family. I just wanted her to go away and the only way was to teach her." 

She could see the honesty in him. The way he spoke, the way his eyes were full of guilt. Harley knew he'd been used by Andrea.

"I know I fucked up." He continued, tilting his head down in shame.

Harley's gaze softened when she noticed how upset she was. She cupped his face in her hands and pulled him up to look him in the eyes. "No, you didn't." She shook her head. "You didn't know what she was going to do with that information."

"I'm going to get you out of here." Calum told her, taking one of her hands in his. "I'll do everything I can to figure this out. Do you have any idea what Kylie's planning?" He asked her.

She shook her head in response. "I don't. But Andrea might."

"Right, I'll have to talk to her." He nodded. He didn't only plan to have a conversation with Andrea, he planned to kill her for betraying his friendship. For hurting Harley. Calum couldn't believe he took her into his home and she was going around betraying his trust. With a sigh, he began, deciding to forget about her for the moment. He had more important things to worry about. "Take my hands. I'm going to try to get you out of here. If it doesn't work, don't be afraid. I might have to go to Sydney to search through my grandfather's old books."

After taking a deep breath to put herself into deep concentration, Harley told him, "I trust you."

"I won't let you down." He assured her. "Please concentrate." He instructed. He concentrated all his energy on getting back to Brisbane, to the small room he was living in with his family.

He felt a small amount of pressure on his chest, like his energy was refusing to bring Harley along with him. In the next second, he could no longer feel her hands in his. He was only holding onto air.

His brown eyes shot open to find he was back in the small bedroom. Harley was nowhere to be found. But Ashton was there, watching Calum with a hope that died when he saw his plan hadn't worked.

"Is she okay?" The hazel eyed boy asked.

And Calum felt his anger creeping up on him. Why couldn't Ashton just get out of his way so that he could be with Harley?

He was sure she could love him if Ashton were gone.

"She's fine." Calum hissed.

"What are we going to do?" Ashton bit his lip in worry.

Calum walked to his closet and pulled his luggage out. He went around the room, gathering his things quickly as he gave Ashton some instructions. "Go back to Sydney. If you know where Kylie is, don't let her go anywhere. I'll arrive in my car in about eight hours if I hurry."

Nodding, Ashton informed him, "Kylie's with someone. I asked them to watch her."

"Good." Calum said, stuffing things into his luggage. "Then you go to my house and start searching through the books. There are hundreds of them."

"Okay. But hurry." Ashton finally said before disappearing into thin air.

.

.

.

.

Ashton materialized in Harley's front yard. He didn't know where Kylie was being kept, but since those shifters were sent by Arthur, he thought Harleen might have an idea of where they lived. He walked up the familiar path that led to the front door and made sure she was the only one home. If her husband saw her talking to thin air, he would become suspicious. Ashton thought it strange that she was the only one home at nearly midnight, but he didn't care enough to try to find out. His thoughts were only focused on helping Harley. 

When he saw there was no car in the driveway, he hit the doorbell. Harleen opened the door seconds later and a smile flashed across her lips. She looked like she was about to get into bed for the night. "Alan!" She exclaimed.

For a moment Ashton was confused and looked over his shoulder to see if there was someone standing behind him. He saw no one and figured she was talking to him. He corrected her with an awkward smile. "Its Ashton, Mrs. Quinn. And I apologize for coming over here at this hour."

"Oh," She brought a hand over her mouth in embarassment. "I'm sorry. I was certain your name was Alan. Are you here to see Harley?" She asked him with a friendly smile.

"That is exactly why I'm here." He nodded. "I'd like to know if she's home."

Harleen's smile widened in delight. Going off topic, she commented, "You're such a proper young man. I'm so glad Harley made so many friends here." Her smile dropped to a frown as she recalled something. "She didn't have many friends where we used to live. And now she even has lovely girl friends like Cindy."

"Yes." Ashton smiled. "She is a beautiful girl with an even more beautiful heart."

"Aww!" Mrs. Quinn squealed. "Unfortunately, Harley isn't home for the weekend. She was going to spend the night at Cindy's. But when her brother was taken to the hospital, Dempsey said Harley could spend the night with her and her step-brother. They went to pick her up at the hospital a little while ago."

Ashton thought about what Harleen said. If Luke was in the hospital and Kylie was just leaving when he found her, he was almost certain it all connected somehow. He chewed on his bottom lip, lost in thought, before he asked her one last question. "And where does her friend Dempsey live, if I may know."

"Just four houses down." Harleen pointed in the direction he should walk.

"Thank you, Mrs. Quinn." Ashton told her. "And goodnight."

"Goodnight." She gave him one more smile and then closed the front door.

-

sorry this update is kind of short.

due to this, i'm probably going to update again in a few days. like maybe two or three days.

today my author's note is kind of long...but its about an issue that really bothers me. so i hope you all read it. and i sincerely hope things like this stop happening in the world.

because its truly sad when there is hate in the world. Why can't we all just get along and be friends? We are all equal regardless of race or color and its not cool when someone won't understand that.

Living in LA, I never experienced racism against me because where I live, people are very tolerant. There is also the fact that a lot of Mexican descendants such as myself live here. But today, someone on twitter was racist against my sister and it hurt my feelings because its been over two hundred years since this country was founded, and though many people fought for equality, there still exists hate and intolerance in the world.

Some girl told my sister "go back to your country, fucking immigrant."

Apparently, she must be ignorant because she has not realized that there are people of all races and colors that live in America. my sisters and i were born in America. And besides, if she wants to walk about immigrants, the caucasian people are just as much immigrants as the latin americans. so...i'll go back to mexico if she'll go back to wherever her ancestors are from.

Shit, the only people who should rightfully live in the united states are the native americans and some hispanics if that's what she wanted to hint at. because historically, 'the new world' was inhabited by natives until the europeans arrived and colonized everything.

Because in the west of the country, i hate to break it to her, but we were here first. the only reason why USA owns California, Arizona, Texas New Mexico and all of those western states is because they took it after the Mexican American war.

i am proudly american, but i am also mexican. i will defend my rights and defend the colors of my two countries.

can't we all just love each other?

"All we are saying is give peace a chance..."

I love you all.

-clary xx