𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 - 𝒎.𝒈.𝒄.

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 26 - 𝑺𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕

«I, I wanna save you
Wanna save your heart tonight
[...]
It's a quarter to three, can't sleep at all»

Ashton immediately ran to Calum and slapped his arm, controlling the urge to punch him for scaring him that much. "Idiot. You stupid son of a- never, ever do something like that again. I'll kill you," he muttered, seconds before hugging him so tight that I thought he was really going to kill him.
"I knew what I was doing, Ash," Calum protested.
"No, you didn't."
"Okay, Ash, you're right, but I had to try. I had a feeling I'd survive."
I turned to look at Sierra. "So this is the scene you had dreamt about."
She nodded. "Definitely."
"And Cal didn't die."
I saw Ashton's eyes light up with joy. "So he's safe?"
Sierra nodded, smiling. "I think so."
"Thank God," Ashton sighed in relief, looking up at the ceiling. "I promise I'll behave from now on."
"You don't actually mean that and we all know it," Niall joked. "You like Calum too much to behave."
"If you guys are done talking, I'd like to remind you that we have an Apocalypse to stop" Margaret protested. "And that I don't know how to do that. I don't even know where Philip is" she added, looking around.
"The doors are all sealed. He can't be so far," Kay said.
"We need to find him before he finds Michael. And Harry and Lou" I exclaimed. "Do we need to split up or…?"
"Oh no, dear" Margaret suggested. "You saw what happened last time you split up, right? We need to stick together."
"Let's go, then," Ash sighed. "We better run. He's going back upstairs."

"Liv, where's your dad?" I asked, while we were looking around for Collins, upstairs.
She shrugged. "He said he'd be here soon."
"Okay, but soon when?" Calum asked. "I don't need another near-death experience."
"Hey, I don't know. My house isn't too far from here anyway."
Niall was about to say something when out the corner of my eye I saw something move in front of the library.
"Margaret! Margaret, dear" Philip was saying, seeing her with us. The book wasn't with him anymore. He looked like he was on the verge of tears. Margaret took a step back.
"Philip, I..."
"Listen to me," he interrupted her. "I don't know for how long I'll be actually conscious. It's the book, Margaret. I don't…" he trailed off, shaking his head. "I can't control what I'm doing."
The woman took another step back. KayKay stepped in front of Crystal.
"Why should I believe you, Philip?"
"I know, you have no reason to trust me, I know" he sighed. "But I swear I'm telling the truth. Heart, you know what I was thinking earlier, right? Tell her. Please."
Suddenly everyone was staring at me, waiting for an answer.
I should have helped him. I knew he was telling the truth.
There was a little part of me, though, that wanted to let him have what he deserved after everything he had done to Harry and Michael. After almost killing Louis.
I shook my head. I knew what feeling hopeless meant. I looked at Margaret and nodded. "He's telling the truth."
He sighed in relief. "Thank you, Heart. I'm…"
He was cut off by a loud noise coming from downstairs, like a door being broken down, and then we heard footsteps getting closer, up the stairs.
"Oh, that must be my dad." Liv whispered.
Niall chuckled. "I'm finally meeting your…"
Liv's dad was definitely taller than a normal human. His wings were bigger than my friends' and they were the brightest shade of white I had ever seen.
Also, he was glowing. No idea why.
"...parents" Niall concluded in a whisper.
The man walked right past me - I'll admit that I took a couple of steps back, bumping into Luke - and stopped for a moment in front of Liv, pointing at her. She lowered her head. "Dad, I'm…"
"After we're done here, we'll need to talk, young lady. You'll be grounded forever. I don't care that you were trying to save the world. Wait until your mum finds out about this."
He didn't wait for an answer and looked each one of us up and down.
"Who's Lily and where's her red haired boyfriend?" he asked.
"I'm Lily," I replied. "Michael is with two other friends."
"And where's the fallen angel?"
"There he is," Margaret said, pointing at him. Apparently he was back to normal, his ice cold eyes still staring at us.
"You don't scare me just because you're an Archangel, Lonsdale," he growled. "The Apocalypse has already started. It's too late."
"Not if you give me that copy of the book."
"Wait. That copy? There are other copies?" Crystal asked.
"Another one," Lonsdale explained. "One is just a normal book. The other one was cursed. Someone lost it centuries ago, and turns out it ended up here, in your school's library. And it fell in the wrong hands."
"Just great," Zayn muttered. "Well, do something."
Liam looked at Liv's dad with an apologetic look, then he stared at his boyfriend. "Zayn."
Lonsdale sighed and turned to Collins. "Where's the book?"
He shook his head. "You thought it would be this easy? I'm not telling you."
I sighed. "Shut the fuck up."
I gestured for Liv's dad to follow me. "I know where it is. Niall, keep Philip in his place, please."
"I'm on it!" he exclaimed, catching the man before he could decide to run away or to try and stop us.

The rest of my friends, except for Liv herself, had followed us in the library.
"I know where the book is, but do we need a key? Like, is there a secret door to open to find it? I had never seen it before, and I've been here many times" I asked.
Margaret nodded. "I know where Philip kept it. I just hope it's still there."
"If it's not, he must have it," Sierra said. "Or he could have found a new hiding spot."
"Nope, he hasn't!" Margaret said, after she had looked behind a specific book on a shelf, holding something shiny between her fingers. An old key. It wasn't even gold or anything. Just… a normal, random, boring and rusty key.
Ash wrinkled his nose. "Really? Not even a special key or anything?"
"And it wasn't even hidden that well," Kay protested. "Isn't this too easy?"
"Are you kidding me?" Zayn exclaimed. "We almost died. You should be thankful to Philip for making it this easy."
"He's got a point," I whispered. Then I looked at Liv's father. "I'm a mind reader, I heard what he was thinking. He really didn't mean for all of this to happen."
The man nodded. "I'll remember this when I'll think of the right punishment for what he did."
Margaret stopped in her tracks. "What… What's this punishment going to be?"
"We'll see. Let's get the book, first," he ordered.
"No, wait, I need to know," the woman insisted. "Is he going to die?"
"No, of course not. We'll see."

Margaret used the key to open the secret door, moving two or three books out of her way. The book we were looking for was back in its spot, which wasn't as dirty and dusty as I thought it would be. Philip had probably cleaned it not too long ago.
Margaret extended her hand. As her fingertips brushed on the leather cover, the door swung open again.
"Margaret!" Collins called out.
She turned around for a second, then she shook her head and took the book in her hands.
Worst mistake of her life.
She hissed and gritted her teeth, clearly in pain, but that wasn't what caught everyone's attention at first.
Her right hand, the one she was holding the book with, looked like she had dipped it in ink.
Collins rushed to her side, his eyes widening.
Her knees buckled and Philip caught her just in time. "Margaret! I told you it's dangerous," he cried. He turned to look at Liv's father. "Help her, she's innocent. Do something!"
"I don't know what I can do. This is an ancient curse. It's not easy to cure," the man said. He bent down a bit to touch her arm. "Let me try something."
He closed his eyes, trying to focus.
Niall burst into the room right at that moment. "Mr. Lonsdale-"
He sighed. "My name is Paul. Use it."
"Sorry, mr.- Paul. He managed to run away and- what's going on?"
"Shut up, Niall," Sierra whispered.
The blond just nodded.
I would have laughed if the situation wasn't… well, like that.
Something shiny caught my attention. Golden rays spiraled from Paul's fingertips, slowly covering up the black stain on Margaret's arm.
The process took almost five minutes, that my friends and I spent in silence, watching carefully.
Well, Calum and Ash weren't actually watching very carefully. They kept hugging every three seconds.
And someone still thought that I was the  clingy one?
Soon her whole arm was covered in golden spirals, and Margaret gasped as the magic disappeared with a bright flash, finally getting her skin tone back to normal.
I didn't want to waste any more time. Michael was still bleeding in the corner of a classroom, Harry was about to faint and Louis was a nervous wreck. All I wanted was to be able to check on them and go back to my normal routine.
I looked at Philip. "Do you know how to stop this Apocalypse thing or not?"
He nodded, with a sigh. "We need to destroy the book."
"How?" Crystal asked.
"Only Clifford can do that. He's the one they talk about in the prophecies."

||In the next chapter...||
I closed my eyes, still not letting go of Michael's hand. My heart was racing as I held my breath. I waited a while longer, hoping everything would be alright soon.
[...]
But something was wrong.
[...]
"Lily! Lils, are you okay?"

Author's note!
The next chapter is the last one before the epilogue. I can't do this, help.
Also, can we talk about Michael in today's gif? A mood.
Kira <3