The Forgotten Light

24. Harlyn&Ace

3 days earlier...

It was a veritable madness. Ever since they woke up, no one even thought about breakfast. Everyone was so preoccupied with the escape that, while packing up, they bumped into one another.

Harlyn, squeezing between the fellow campers, reminded them again and again to pack only the most necessary things.

He found the confusion hard to bear, because it made it harder for him to suppress the truth. He had always feared this, and now it was happening. They were leaving the camp because it was no longer safe.

Seeing that almost all the campers had gathered in their rooms to stuff their belongings into their backpacks, he walked over to Ace, who was standing leaning against the doorframe watching the people bustling around.

"I think we'll pack later, baby bro. Now even you won't push through there," muttered Ace.

Harlyn sent him a weary look. They were almost the same height, but unfortunately for him, his brother, who was two years older, still remembered the time when Harlyn was much shorter than him.

"Grow up at last," he muttered.

Ace smiled broadly and put his arm around his neck. "How are you feeling?"

"Every single person I meet asks me the same question." Hardly had he said the words, he immediately regretted them. After all, if Ace had been driving instead of him, he himself would have been out of his freaking mind. "Sorry. It's just... What happened... There's too much of it all coming down on us now. And to answer your question - I'm doing great, Kailah has made sure of that."

"All right, kid. You're an invincible tough guy, even Invicta could barely stand up to you. You survived that attack, you'll survive what comes next, too. And you know what else? Dad would be proud of you."

Harlyn looked into his brother's gray eyes, so similar to his own. Recently they had been reminiscing more often about their father, whom they had lost three years ago. It turned out that Ace remembered a lot from before they joined Usain's camp, when they were still alone. Three Roy's against the whole world, his father used to say.

"Thanks, Ace."

"C'mon, let's look for our camp old man."

They went to the garage and, seeing him wrestling alone with the crates, rushed to help. Usain looked more tired than ever before, his face seemed thinner. His shoulders shook as he lifted the packed boxes.

"Here, I'll take these," offered Ace.

The man breathed a sigh of relief and sat down heavily on the boxes next to him, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Are you all right?" Harlyn asked uncertainly.

The caretaker raised his eyes at him and smiled weakly. Something was not right with him...

"Yes, it's just... I can't believe we've barely unpacked the supplies, and now we're packing everything back up."

Harlyn snorted with laughter. He tried to hand his brother the boxes, but the latter reprimanded him twice, telling him to relax, so he eventually sat down with Usain. After some time, he dared to ask him a question that had not left his mind.

"Do you think the girls managed to escape? Maybe they are in Phoenix?"

Usain looked at him sadly. "I know you miss them and that this place is not the same without them, but if they were in Phoenix, we would know. I miss them a lot, too, and because of that I can't get rid of that hope that they're out there somewhere."