Kelly and Aswella walked hand in hand through the trees. The little girl taking hopping skips beside her. She would hop up into the air and flap her free arm/wing, like a baby bird attempting to fly. She was clearly so excited to be heading back to her mom, and Kelly was happy to be helping her achieve that.

Even if Franklin reamed her for it when she got back.

She was doing the right thing. She just knew it.

It had been a long walk so far and they weren't there yet. She really should have checked how far the ravine was before doing this, but, with everyone following her around, she couldn't think of a way to get out there without raising suspicion.

She had asked several people how long it took them to walk and then estimated a time from the averages, but she was starting to think that she was obviously a lot lower than the people she asked.

"Are we almost there?" Aswella asked again. It was the third time she had asked, and obviously they hadn't reached the ravine yet.

"Uh... I think so," she said instead. Mainly because she had no idea how far out they were. "It can't be that far now."

Aswella gave another hop and flap. When her feet were back on the ground she turned a smile up to Kelly. "I can't wait to see my mommy! Thank you for taking me!"

"You're welcome."

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Aswella suddenly came to a halt. She turned around, looking the back the way they came a perplexed sort of look on her face.

"Do you hear that?" she asked as she peered off into the distance.

Kelly, who had to stop with her, turned back as well. "Uh... hear what?"

"Sounds like pounding... like feet on the floorboards."

Kelly followed her gaze, she too staring off into the distance until she could swear she could hear it too. Though with the sound she swore she saw a familiar glint of blonde as it dashed through the trees, so it might have been her heart pounding.

She knew exactly what it was.

Sammy must have caved. Franklin was racing towards them.

"We have to run," Kelly hissed. Aswella turned up to her surprised. "Run. Run now!"

Kelly turned and began to run, dragging Aswella along with her. Behind them, just as they managed to break through the trees, came an angry shout of her name, but she didn't stop.

Not true, she did slide to a stop, right at the edge of the ravine.

It was almost a straight drop down. There were rocks she'd hit, and stalagmite type rocks except instead of being rounded off they were spiked. She'd be impaled on them if she fell.

She looked around looking for any sign of the Harpy. "Aw come on, today is not the day to be late!" she cried.

"Kelly!"

Kelly half turned around, Franklin was catching up. He was almost on them.

Not good.

Not good at all.

If she failed at this she'd never get another chance. Franklin would never trust her again, she'd never get a chance to prove him wrong.

She and Sammy would be stuck in this town.

FOREVER.

A shriek echoed through the air and Kelly turned back to see that the Harpy was descending towards them.

"Kelly don't!"

But Kelly didn't listen. She picked up Aswella and offered her out to the Harpy. Franklin broke out of the trees, practically screaming her name in a rage. Oh god, he was going to kill her when this was over.

The Harpy managed to take a hold of her daughter the second Franklin reached Kelly. He slammed into her, knocking her off balance.

He had the option to grab Aswella but he didn't. He grabbed her, stopping her from toppling over the edge and being dashed upon a bunch of spiky rocks.

Seriously ravines usually had water at the bottom of them. Why was this one filled with spikes?

He pulled her back and away. Tossing her back behind him like she was nothing. He stood on the edge of that ravine staring up at the sky as the Harpy disappeared towards its mountain abode. His shoulders were stiff and even from there she could tell that he was radiating anger.

Oh boy was she in trouble.

She had landed on her butt, and she hadn't moved. There was no point, he was faster than her. If he really wanted to get her, she wouldn't be able to get away. She slowly got to her feet again, thinking about how she really wanted to thank Franklin for saving her, but now was also not the time.

The Harpy became a blurred dot against the mountain and Franklin finally turned around. A dark glare was on his face that was pointed right in her direction.

Yep, she was in trouble. That look alone was enough motivation to get up.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?"

Kelly bit her lip, she took a hesitant step back. "Now... now... I know you're mad but just... just listen to me..."

"No!" Franklin shouted. "You don't understand what you've done! Why wouldn't you just listen to me? That was the only thing keeping us safe. The Harpy now has free range to go back to hunting us and it's your fault."

Kelly winced at the sheer volume but she didn't crack. She stood her ground. Even when he kept walking towards her, his hands flexing like he was trying to restrain himself from grabbing her.

"I know... I know... but if you would just—"

"How could you be so selfish?" he thundered. She kept backing up, she kept trying to edge away from him. She was hoping if she got to the trees she could make a clean break of it. But he had herded her away from the trees and back towards the ravine.

She was starting to worry that he might be thinking of pushing her off the cliff.

"I wasn't being selfish! I was thinking about a little girl who missed her mother as much as her mother missed her. I was thinking about the people of this town and their curses and how apparently it's up to me to break them all..."

"So you thought adding the stress of having to worry about the Harpy hunting us was the best way to deal with that?" he cried. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were Lydia's..."

"Lydia's what?" Kelly shot back. "I dare you to finish that sentence!"

Except he didn't. He didn't because he was too busy staring off at something behind her. And judging by the way his eyebrows were furrowing it couldn't have been something good.

"What are you looking at?"

She turned, she turned to see tawny brown coming towards her, just as Franklin shouted: "Watch out!"

Suddenly she was pressed into his chest, his arms tightly around her. He whirled them both around, shielding her from the threat with his own body. He stiffened, seemingly waiting for some deadly blow.

But nothing came.

There was the soft thump of something landing close to them, a sort of vibration that travelled up her legs.

There was a momentary pause before Franklin realized that nothing was going to attack him. Finally he turned to face whatever was behind them, but his grip on her never faltered.

In fact, it was a bit too tight, he was kind of restricting her breathing.

Standing there behind them, staring down at them was the Harpy. Her beady black eyes devoid of emotion, silently waiting for them to acknowledge her.

Franklin, too, was eying her up, in a suspicious fashion. When the Harpy moved, he flinched, immediately moving to shield Kelly again. The motion startled her, causing the Harpy to hop back like she thought he was going to attack her.

Kelly was just surprised that he had protected her from a perceived threat. Especially since he had been so mad at her moments before that threat showed itself.

After a long stretch of silence the Harpy laughed this big boisterous squawk of a laugh. "You say he is not your mate, but I think he does not know that."

Kelly violently shrugged herself out of Franklin's embrace and stepped away from him as he went about straightening up his suit like none of this had ever happened.

"He is not my mate. Stop it seriously," Kelly hissed.

"If you say so," the Harpy murmured and then extended a wing out to her. "As promised."

There handing from the tip of the horn that jutted out of the wing was the necklace Kelly had wanted. The bones still dusted in those pink sparkles, mesmerizing her as she retrieved it.

"You doomed the town for a bunch of rat bones?" Franklin snarled.

The Harpy turned her sharp gaze onto Franklin who straightened immediately. Those hands flexing again, no doubt wanting to reach out for her again. Aw, he still wanted to protect her, how sweet of him!

"Aswella has told me that she wishes to remain in school. I am willing to hunt in the forest, and away from your town if you allow her to stay enrolled and allow me to safely drop her off and pick her up."

Franklin's eye brows shot up his forehead in surprise. "You uh... really?" he asked and then glanced to Kelly who was smiling knowingly at him. He quickly cleared his throat and the professional look she knew him for came back to his face. "Right. Yes, well... that's a reasonable agreement. But uh... it will take a while to get the town accustomed. I'm thinking a week to get them prepared should do?"

The Harpy nodded sharply at him. "If you give your word, then I will give mine."

"Alright, you have my word."

"And you have mine. You can look for our return in a week," she said and then just like that she spread her wings and took off into the sky again.

Kelly waved her off before turning that smug smile back to Franklin who was also watching the Harpy disappear into the horizon once more.

Though he didn't turn to her he seemed to sense the smugness of the smile radiating off of her. When he did hazard a glance, he saw the triumph in her eyes and a scowl dawned on his face.

"Not a word," he warned, but Kelly couldn't keep it in.

"I told you! I told you! I told you!" she crowed.

Franklin just continued to scowl as Kelly, who was hopping around him like an absolute maniac, broke out into loud joyous laughter.

She did it.

She reunited a lost family and proved Franklin wrong all at the same time.

Best. Day. Ever.

Now if she could just break a curse, she could die happy.