.nine. 

Michael stood at the airport waiting for Hazel. He now regretted getting rid of his cellphone. Things would be much easier if he could call the dark haired girl he was waiting for. He could find out if she would even show up. He made a mental note to buy a new cellphone once he got to their new destination. 

He waited a few more minutes before he was reminded of Harley. He wondered how she was doing. Now there was no way Dempsey or Paul could communicate with him. Michael stuck a hand into his pocket to search for change to use a payphone, that luckily still existed at the airport. He only had paper bills and headed for a small souvenir shop at the airport to buy some meaningless object he would end up throwing away only to have change for the phone.

The first thing he saw was the thing he grabbed and headed for the register. It was an 'I love Montreal' bumper sticker that Michael rolled his eyes at. It was overpriced, but that didn't matter.

He quickly paid for it and left the store to search for a phone.

They were in the very back, down a lonely hallway which looked like no one went to anymore. There was a row of old payphones and Michael went to the very last one. He slid a coin into the large telephone box and grabbed the reciever, placing it to his ear. 

Since it would be a call to Australia, he hoped Dempsey would answer her phone.

After a few rings, he heard his friend pick up. "Hello?"

"Dempsey," Michael quickly said into the phone. "Its Michael. How is Harley doing?"

"Mm..." She hummed, sounding concerned. "We have a problem. Apparently, we need someone from the original family to mix blood with her. I know nothing about that family, even less where to find them. We're all fucked, Michael."

"The original family?" He repeated.

"Yeah." She replied.

"You're gonna think this is crazy," Michael began as he remembered Hazel, "But I know someone who can help us. We'll travel to Sydney as soon as possible." He would need to ask if she would even be willing to help him.

Dempsey agreed without question. Michael knew they would do anything to keep the boss' daughter safe, especially since they didn't want to end up like Rohan. Michael walked back down the empty hallway that led back to the busy airport. Just as he was walking into the waiting area, he ran into the person he was looking for. He had been lost in his thoughts, thinking of Harley when he looked up to see Hazel accompanied by a young man who was several inches taller than her. He had dark hair like hers and was dressed in off-season clothes for the cold weather they were in. But he didn't seem bothered by the cold in the slightest.

Michael assumed he was her boyfriend or something and hearing his thoughts, her face contorted in disgust. "Ew, no! Jack is my brother. I just thought he could come with us because I don't want anything to happen to him."

The young man who's name was Jack chuckled. "Did he just assume you and I are dating?"

"He thought it." Hazel informed her brother.

"Stay out of my thoughts." Michael complained. 

Jack pulled something off his middle finger and offered it to Michael. The hunter observed the ring resting on his palm as Hazel's brother explained. "Its an old family ring my dad gave me. Its made of a rare precious metal. Hazel has a necklace made of the same material. Its just a family hierloom, but there's something about it that keeps my thoughts private."

"Yeah." Hazel nodded, pulling out a necklace from underneath the collar of her blouse. She reached behind herself to unclip the chain and pulled her necklace off. Handing it to him, she added, "You can borrow my necklace so you can stop whining about me hearing your thoughts."

Michael took it from her and clipped it around his neck.

"So," Jack began casually, "Where exactly are we going?"

The boy with dyed white hair bit his lip nervously. He didn't like the fact that he had barely met Hazel and he was already going to ask her for a favor. He also wasn't sure if she would agree to it, Paul and Dempsey were in Sydney. Dempsey had at one time been assigned to kill Hazel and knew what she looked like. In Sydney there was a chance she could be in danger.

"I need to go to Sydney, Australia first." He informed them. "My sister's in trouble and I need to help her."

Hazel frowned. "Is there anything we can do to help?" She asked, gesturing to herself and her brother. He said nothing, but nodded in agreement with her words.

"Yeah." Michael sighed, "My sister has the ability to travel between dimensions. With that ability, she can travel to the dark realm where souls go after a person dies. Some crazy bitch trapped her there and used her as a host body, The way to get her back is by taking the other girl there and then-"

"She'll need to mix blood with one of us." Hazel breathed. The look on her face let Michael know there was a something else they didn't know. "But that comes with a price."

"What do you mean?" The hunter eyed her curiously.

Her brother was the one to explain. "Once she mixes blood, with whichever one of us, she will live. But...she won't be the same anymore. Let's suppose she mixes with me. She will be linked to me for the rest of her life until one of us dies. She will believe and she will be convinced, in her mind, that she is in love with me. But its not real love, its an illusion she will think is real. She will want to be near me at all hours. Since its rare that this has happened, in which an original and a shifter mix, no one knows if there's a way to undo the link."

Michael shrugged, thinking up an easy and quick solution to the problem. "We'll just block out her memory and make her forget she's linked to you. Then the three of us will go somewhere far away."

"It doesn't work that way." Hazel said. "When she stops seeing Jack she'll become depressed and if you make her forget, she won't understand why. She won't want to eat or sleep, she will slowly die without her life link."

"So..." Michael considered the options. "We can either let her die now...or we can safe her, leaving her completely dependent on your brother?"

He wanted his sister to live. Michael loved Harley more than anything, but he knew that once they could save her life, she would be linked to someone else. Michael was unsure if he could bear to see her love another.

But at that moment he decided saving her life was the most important thing.

-

new chapter.

thank you so much for reading.

i know i have been posting slow updates on all my stories this week. but its because i have been very busy doing stuff at school.

tomorrow is my philosophy exam.

and i need to study.

so wish me luck.

thank you for reading.

i love you.

-clary xx