Mirrored Exile (HS)

forty eight

chapter forty eight - times like these

Lucy Caddel

"Who's that?" I whispered to Harry. He shrugged. A tall figure comes around the corner and I grip Harry's arm.

"I'm home, darling. Hope my dinners re-." He halts as soon as we hit his eye line. "Well, what do we have here?"

"Agent Folan?"

"Agent Edwards and Miss Lucy, what a surprise. Does Samantha know you're here?"

Harry scoffs. "Does she know you are here?"

"Harry, I think you need to leave." His mother stood in between the wall of tension that had shot through to the ceiling.

"What? no, I'm not leaving until I get an explanation." Harry stood his ground, defying the orders from his own mother.

"I can phone Samantha with one button or you can leave now."

Harry glances at his mother, hesitating. He then turns to me. "Okay, okay, we're leaving."

I start follow him to the door we walked in but I'm stopped by the words of Folan. "No, Lucy. You're staying."

Harry grabs my hand from behind my back and grip it tighter. "No, she came with me and she's coming home with me."

It seemed that it took a minute for Folan to actually comprehend the words Harry had said. His expression went from surprised to frustrated in a matter of seconds.

"Harry, listen," Folan says, his voice low and threatening. "This is what's best."

"I said, no." Harry replies, his voice just as cold. "She's coming with me."

"Fine, go ahead. Don't say I didn't warn you." Folan shrugged. I furrowed my brows, not understanding what he meant.

"You're making a mistake, Harry," his mother says, stepping forward.

"You're one to talk." He muttered, looking Folan up and down and leaving his mother behind us as we continued to the front door. We both waved goodbye at Gemma who was eavesdropping from behind the stair railing.

The cold air hit our faces again as we stepped out the door, the familiar shivers returning to my body. I glanced over at Harry who had his head down. Even though there was determination in his eye, he was still clearly defeated by what had just unfolded.

"There's that diner up the road where we can wait till the bus comes." He says without even looking at me. At this point, we let go of each other's hands and had tucked them into our own pockets for warmth.

The blanket of fog was lifting slowly as the night went on. We could see more clearly now, which I wasn't sure if I liked that. I didn't want to see how far to go because that made it seem longer.

We turned the corner, out of the street of manor houses and to the diner we passed earlier. It's not as busy now as it was but there are still a few late night drinkers around.

Harry pushed the door open and we stepped inside. To the right, there was a box of unclaimed belongings which Harry pulled out a black beanie from that look fairly new. He pulled it over his soft curls on his head, presumably to hide his face better from the others. He also pulled out a blanket and wrapped it around my arms.

"Thanks." I smiled through chattering teeth.

The warmth from the heaters hit us instantly, a welcome respite from the cold night air. The bar was dimly lit, the only illumination coming from a few old styled lamps placed on tables and the flickering television screens. We took a seat at a table near the back, away from the noise of the crowd. The time was now 10:37pm and our train left at 11pm so we hoped the bus would show up in time.