"I just told my entire soccer team that I have diarrhea. Harper, this tape better be the literal devil because I am never getting over that."

I scoffed as we walked the short distance to my house. There was a VHS tape in my house, or I guess Archer's backpack, that could disappear into thin air and all she could think about was her reputation?

"You wanted to help," I said.

Willow shrugged, "Yeah, but I also lost my right contact today so now I have to wear these."

Willow pointed to her black thin-framed glasses. They outlined her dark eyes and stood out against her brown skin. Honestly, I thought Willow looked good in them, but she hated her glasses with a passion.

"You look great Willow."

She shook her head, "My brain can't comprehend the fact you just complimented me so I'm going to ignore it. Anyway, you know that Archer is going to be there so 'great' isn't going to cut it."

I rolled my eyes, "You have very messed up priorities."

As we neared my house I could feel my heart start to beat faster. That's when I realized I had never asked my mother if Archer and Willow could come over. She would kill me if two other people showed up with me, especially after what had happened earlier.

"Change of plans Wills. We're going to Archer's house."

"What? Why are we doing that? You told me Archer needed time to get his dad's stuff first?"

I sucked in a deep breath.

"Hey! Leave some oxygen for me."

"I know what I said, but now I'm changing my mind."

Willow gave me a pointed look but said nothing. I continued to lead the way to Archer's house. He had been picked up from school, which was way faster than taking the bus. This gave me hope that maybe he had already started working on getting his dad's equipment.

Willow walked a bit ahead of me as we neared the yellow house. I silently put my hand out to stop her.

"Just one thing, Wills."

She gave me a bored look, "You need me to call your mom."

I gave her an award-winning smile that she held her hand out to in a stop motion.

"Come on! Please."

Willow was a rather easy nut to crack. She would pretty much do anything I wanted if I asked pleadingly enough.

"Fine," she said, obviously annoyed.

I smiled, "Thanks, Will-"

"Buuuut," she drawled, "you have to go in and sweet-talk Archer's dad. Then when you text me I'll come in."

I looked at her weird, "Is this an anxiety thing?"

"Yes, now go so I can call your mother."

I shrugged and jogged up to Archer's front door. The wood of the door shuddered under my knocking. A tall man with sandy hair just like Archer's answered the door. He looked to be in his mid-forties and did not look pleased to answer the door.

"Who are you?"

His sharp tone didn't surprise me a bit. Just like Archer, I thought.

"Hello, sir. My name is Harper, I'm a friend of Archer's," I gave him the sweetest tone and smile I could muster. I thought my teeth were going to rot out of my head.

He grumbled under his breath but called Archer's name regardless. In less than a minute, Archer's footsteps poured through the door.

He appeared next to his father, who quickly walked away.

"What are you doing here," he said, just a notch above a whisper.

"It just so happens I forgot my mother will kill me if I have people over. So right now Willow is calling her to tell her I'm at her house while I sweet-talk your father into helping us."

"What-"

I smiled and yanked Archer into his own house. He gave me an annoyed look before pulling out of my grip and leading me up the stairs.

"You are the queen of annoying. You know that?"

"I actually prefer the term king, thank you."

Archer sighed before grabbing his backpack and digging into it. I knew he was looking for the tape, but his being distracted allowed me to study his room.

I'm not sure what I expected, but this wasn't it. You could tell everything still hadn't arrived as he just moved, but it was surprisingly organized and well-decorated. He had various band posters on the walls that were painted a light blue with curtains to match. His bed had white covers that looked like literal pillows were sewed into them.

"So," Archer sighed, "Your amazing plan is to convince my depressed and untrusting father to give you his advanced technology. Oh, and also have your friend lie to your mother so that you can stay here and research a tape that knows seemingly everything."

"Well, that's-"

Archer laughed, "not what I would have personally gone with but-"

I cleared my throat purposely loud which ceased Archer's rant.

"You done drama queen? Great," I said, making sure to load my words with sarcasm. "My plan is actually to steal whatever of your dad's stuff you need and then go to Willow's house. I saw three cars in your driveway. Hope you can drive, Juliette."

Archer ran his right hand roughly through his hair, "You just radiate anxiety-inducing energy, Romeo."

I rolled my eyes and quickly sent the text to Willow that I had drafted earlier. Her mother was working late again so going over her house wouldn't be an issue as long as we left it spotless. Willow wouldn't like the idea, but I wouldn't be giving her much of a choice.

I could still hear Archer pacing in the background, but I waited for Willow's response. My phone eventually buzzed. The reply was full of Spanish that I didn't understand, but a second text just had the word 'fine' which is all that my eyes choose to see.

I gave Archer a smirk, "Willow's in. Are you?"

He looked up at the sky and then back at me, "yes"

I began to walk out of his bedroom before he yanked me back, "Slow down Sparky. I have all we need."

"First of all, no. Second of all what do you mean? You said you needed your dad's stuff."

Archer thought for a second, "I lied. Now let's go."

I didn't try to push Archer, it just wouldn't be fair. I was lying to so many people about so many things, that I didn't deserve to know what he was hiding from me.

Archer quickly shoved his laptop and charger into his bag and threw a pair of sneakers onto his feet.

We walked down the stairs and out the door without any parent interruptions, which surprised me. I didn't notice the keys in Archer's hand until we reached the driveway. He unlocked a small black car and almost immediately I could see Willow running over.

"Hurry! Hurry!"

My lips parted and I pulled open the passenger seat door and jumped in. Simultaneously Willow and I slammed our doors and Archer started the car.

"Go!"

Archer quickly backed out of the driveway and sped out of our neighborhood.

"Holy crap. What was the rush for?" he said.

Willow's eyes were wide as ever, "I think Harper's mother might have seen me, but she might not have so don't worry."

I threw my head back and began to count to ten but Archer's voice interrupted.

"Which is it," he demanded. "Did she see you or not?"

"Not. I think? I don't know!"

"For goodness sake, think!"

As they continued to bicker my breathing was becoming more rapid and shallow. The world seemed to spin.

"Are you okay?"

I couldn't answer as it felt like the world was crushing my chest. I barely even felt it when the car stopped. I was lifted out of the car which made my breathing quicken.

"It's okay, Harper. Open the door!"

I knew the voice was Archer's but I couldn't force myself to calm down. I felt so scared and worried and confused. This had never happened to me before. Was I dying?

I felt myself being laid on a soft black couch. I knew it was at Willow's house.

"What's wrong? Is she okay?"

"She's fine," I heard Willow say. "She's just having a panic attack."

"But she looks like she is in cardiac arrest or something," Archer said worriedly.

Cardiac arrest? My breathing got faster, if possible and I felt like I was going to pass out.

"Oh God," Archer said, "Do something Willow."

"I-I don't know how to if it's not me! Harper is the one that calms me down."

I looked around frantically and Archer carefully sat me up and looked into my eyes.

"Okay, Harper," he said softly. "You're having a panic attack. I know it's scary, but I'm going to need to try and focus on me okay?"

I nodded and looked into Archer's icy eyes. They didn't look bored as they usually did. They looked concerned and I knew that was because of me. I wasn't sure whether to feel excited that he cared or even more panicked that the one person that was usually solemn was worried about me.

"You're doing great Harper. Just focusing on me and the room around you. Feel the couch. It's soft, isn't it?

I nodded my head. Archer gave me a small smile and a lock of his golden hair fell into his eyes. A laugh escaped my lips, making Archer smile wider.

"You did it," Willow said, clearly amazed.

Archer shook his head and got up, "Uh, yeah."

Disappointment flooded my veins. Had he not felt what I felt there? Were there no monkeys doing flips in his stomach with our proximity. With the bored look returning to his face, I guessed not.

I took a deep breath and sat up, "We'll worry about my mother later. Right now we need to figure out what the heck is going with this tape."

Archer moved a piece of hair into place and nodded. He began to unpack his stuff onto the large coffee table in front of the couch.

"Um, I thought you said you needed all of your dad's stuff. How come you only have a freaking laptop. What did you two do?"

Archer rolled his eyes and I knew I was going to be left to field Willow's questions.

"So basically I'm not as charismatic as I thought and Archer lied to us about needing all of that stuff.

Willow gave me a confused look, but I didn't have the energy to elaborate. I just shrugged and Willow plopped down on the couch, causing Archer to scoff.

"I technically didn't lie. I just realized that I could find everything we needed."

This time both Willow and I looked at Archer in confusion. Neither of us knew much about technology, but I was getting the feeling Archer did. Although, it would be nearly impossible not to because his father was in the field. I knew firsthand how most parents took work home with them. I could feel my mood damper as I thought of my mom being disappointed in and my father brushing me off.

"Okay," Willow said, pushing her glasses up on her nose. "So what did you realize we needed? I mean where could you find what we need about demons on a normal computer?"

Archer smirked, "The dark web."

My eyes widened immediately. My mother was already livid with me. There was no way I was getting her even madder by going on the dark web.

"Nope," I said.

Archer scoffed, "What do you mean no? You were the one that wanted to do this?"

I felt my brain tear into two directions. One side was curious as to what we could find. Maybe we could end all of this and possibly find out how to stop more things like this. The other side of my brain thought about my well-being. What if some creep hacked Archer's computer and found us. Being killed was not on my agenda for today.

"This is a bad plan," I muttered.

"A bad plan is letting me tell my entire soccer team I had diarrhea for nothing. I will not hesitate to kill you, Harper, that stupid tape won't survive these hands."

Archer laughed, "You told your soccer team you had diarrhea?"

Willow glared at him, "Not now!"

I rolled my eyes, "Whatever. Let's do this."

I could always deal with the consequences of this later. Of course, I did like to think I was savvy enough for them not to be any.

"Don't worry, "Archer reassured. "I know my way around the dark web. Red rooms, illegal weapon sales, document forgery, dead body sales, creepy possessed things, I've seen it all."

"Oh, bo-"

'That last one! That's what we have," I exclaimed, cutting off Willow.

Archer typed in 'possessed items' into a browser I had never seen before.

"Let's do this," He murmured.

With that, he hit enter with a little more force than necessary and our search was on.

_______________________________________________

How are y'all doing? I'm doing not so good lol. Sorry that this update took so long, life is really punching me in the gut rn. SEE! I'M FREAKING ABBRIVATING!! Anyway, I hope you guys are doing good.

Any predictions?

What are Harper and the gang gonna find?

What's up with Harper's father?

Thankis for reading y'all! Peace!