.thirteen.

Michael nodded, adding, "I, for one, don't want to lose my powers."

Ever since he had lost his mother, his powers were the most important thing he had to keep himself alive. It had given him a job, and a purpose in life. Without his powers, he wouldn't know who he really was. His powers were what he felt defined him as a person.

"How many days does she have left?" Jack asked the group, his brown eyes focusing on the blonde haired girl sat on the couch. The ghost boy stood by her side, ready to protect her and help her in any way possible. Jack still didn't know what the relationship between them was, but he thought helping her would ultimately ruin whatever they had. If she were to die, they could have gone to the after life together. But instead, he preferred for her to live. It was a self-less act that Jack could only but admire. He had lost so many loved ones in the past that now he would guard them with his life if necessary. Those were his mother and his sister Hazel. They were all he had left.

Neither Paúl nor Dempsey knew exactly what he was talking about. Calum had explained to them how it worked, the process of bringing her back, but they felt their work was done when they captured Kylie and held her down while Calum and Ashton did the rest. The raven haired boy was the one with the books and the knowledge. Hunters were more of the type who took action.

Since Calum was unavailable to provide any information, Ashton stepped up to explain. "Calum said she'd have seven days from the moment she came back into her own body. Its been five days since then." He turned to grab Harley's arm gently and rolled up the sleeves of a pajama Dempsey had let her borrow. His eyebrows knitted in concern as he gestured to something on her wrist. "Each time a new day passes she gets another one inch scar on her arm, some sort of tally mark." They were scars which seemed like they were fully healed. There was no blood on her pajama, which led them to think they had just appeared without so much as a reason or explanation.

"Hm." Harley looked at the marks curiously. Her slender fingers ran over the cool scars like they were something fascinating to her. "I didn't even notice those were there."

"Yeah," Jack nodded, examining Harley's wrist. "These are reminders of the time you have left to save her. They'll remain on her skin for the rest of her life." For the second time in those few minutes, Ashton frowned.

"So help her right now." Ashton urged.

"We're members of the original family," Hazel pointed out with her arms crossed over her chest. "Not magicians. It won't just happen in a matter of seconds." She shot a glare at Ashton, as well as Dempsey and Paúl. The two intimidating hunters were the least happy to have them there, and Hazel knew it. But Michael was a good friend of theirs, and they trusted him to have made the right decision when he took them to Sydney.

Michael looked from his friends to the Canadian original family members and said in amusement to them, "Mind your thoughts when you're around Hazel. She can hear everything you're thinking."

"And the boy?" Dempsey wondered. "What can he do?"

"Jack has a very special gift. I'd say one of the most special that I've seen." Hazel said in regards to her older brother. "He can heal his wounds in a matter of seconds, as well as the wounds of anyone who is hurt. And not just wounds. He can heal things like the flu and deadly diseases." When she informed them of his gift, everyone in the room looked at the boy from the original family in awe.

"Before we get started with this, I need you to know everything so that there is no room for confusion here." Jack explained, exhaling nervously while he sought the best way to word things. "I can save your life. All I'd have to do is make a cut on my hand and one on yours. Then you'd just have to hold my hand to allow our blood to mix. With that, you will be able to stay in your body."

"That sounds fairly easy." Harley shrugged. And clapping her hands together, she decided, "Let's do this."

Jack raised a hand to caution her, "There's more. Once our blood mixes, you will be linked to me. You will believe you're in love with me and you'll want to remain by my side always. Its kind of like an illusion, when you think something is there, but it really isn't. You'll have this dependency and illusion of love with me, but it'll be all a delusion of the mind. The bond will only break if one of us dies."

"Simple." Dempsey said, her hand going to reach for her Diamond Rose, "We'll kill the boy after Harley is safe."

Hazel stepped in front of the dark haired boy, which was several inches taller than her. "Fuck you. The deal is off. If you dare hurt my brother, then I'll kill you." She warned. Grabbing onto her brother's arm, she told him, "Come on Jack. We can't help them if they'll just turn around and backstab us." The boy nodded silently and followed her to the front door.

"I hope you're happy, Johannsson." Michael glared at the sixteen year old who was his collegue. "You're signing Harley's death sentence." And though he was trying very hard to keep his cool, he felt a fear in the bottom of his heart, a fear of losing the person he most loved, even if she was his sister.

As Hazel's hand reached out to grab the doorknob, Dempsey called, biting down hard on her lip, "Wait!"

"Yes?" Hazel turned to look at Dempsey.

"Help her." Demsey said quietly, her voice almost begging.

"I'm sorry, what?" Hazel pretended she couldn't hear her.

The American hunter rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Help her." She said, this time a bit louder.

At that, Hazel smiled. "I'm sure we can work something out. Right Jack?"

"Sure." Jack turned, a confident smirk on his face. "I just need the permission of Michael's sister. She's the one who gets to decide."

"Death..." Harley mused, "Or a life in a delusional state of love with some guy I just met?"

Hazel shrugged. "That's one way of wording it."

"Ashton?" Harley's blue eyes looked up into his hazel ones.

She found an emotional pain in them, a pain he would not put into words because having her around, loving another was somehow less painful than not having her at all. He took her hand in his and gave it a light squeeze. "Its your choice, ultimately, but...I want you to live." He told her. "You're still so young. I want you to live as long as you can, unlike the way I was never given the chance to do."

Taking a deep breath, Harley began, "Okay. I have decided that..."

-

an update for this book, which was taken from phantasm, but i added a few minor things to it. so i hope you like it. after this whole sequence of the canadians and michael in sydney, there will be new stuff coming so stay tuned for that. 

thank you so much for reading this book and supporting me. 

it means alot. and i hope you all have an awesome week!

-clary xx