Into The Light

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Harley gaped up at the Little Witch and sputtered, "Wha- what?" He could not believe his eyes. Of course, he had suspected something was up from the moment he saw the flash of red behind her eyes, but he had thought that was merely an aftereffect of the potion. But it turned out that the otherwise innocent-looking Lylia was no longer as innocent as he had imagined her to be. He had let his biases get to him, and now he was to blame.

With a dismissive flick of her fingers, the grey contact lenses were discarded, and Lylia smiled at her past best friend in all her murderous glory. "Hello, Harley dear," she said in a sing-song tone, channeling Alice. "How's it going for you down there?"

Harley gnashed his teeth together angrily and yelled, "You lied!"

Lylia raised her eyebrows coolly. "I did nothing of the sort. Don't forget," she tapped her head with her wand. "I am under mind-control."

Harith leapt out of the net before Harley could answer. With the agility of a cat, he sped to Harley's side and muttered, "Don't. She fooled me too. I told her what happened." Harley nodded shortly and cursed under his breath.

"She's too powerful now. How are we supposed to beat her? Even with my help, we still have to deal with...this," Harith gestured to the demons while helping Barats to fend them off.

Harley hesitated. There was something that he had not wanted to tell his team when he was briefing them before they came to the Abyss. "There...is a way," he admitted slowly, gathering both the Time Traveller and the Dino Rider before he said, "I can break her out of the spell. But it can only be me, and I'll need your help to cover me while I do it."

Harith gave him an uncomprehending glance but agreed, and so did Barats. "Wish me luck," Harley whispered to them, not willing to say any more about the matter.

"You don't need- Woah!" Harith shouted as Harley ascended above the crowd, using his magic to fly high up into the air. He now had a bird's eye view of everything that was going on, and he spotted his friends desperately attacking the next horde of demons. They seemed to be doing alright, so Harley turned his head away and steered himself towards the net. Landing gracefully on it, he faced Lylia.

"Here to rescue your friend?" she smirked, pointing at Nana.

"Yes, actually," he said softly. "But not who you think."

Before Lylia could react, he shed his hat and dashed forward, pressing his lips to hers.