The Shadow Court

Chapter 19 - Awakening

For the second time recently, Harley found himself in an unfamiliar street lined with old houses. The grey mist hung just as heavy as before, blocking his view any further than a few houses. Invisible rain once again poured all around him, making it hard to hear anything else. Although, listening harder, he guessed that it could've been static. He looked left, waiting for that same dark-haired girl to come running up the street and end this confusing mess. However, even after waiting for what seemed like a minute, she didn't come. Harley was suddenly doubting that he was actually dreaming. Normally something would've happened by now, no matter how weird it seemed.

"Considering the amount of hits I took an hour ago," he said to himself, "I could be in a bloody coma."

Fearing the worst, he decided to take a walk along the endless road. Maybe something would show up eventually. "Hell, for all I know, this could be the King messing with my head again." He mumbled.

Finally, after about ten houses worth of walking bare foot, something appeared amidst the fog. It was extremely difficult to make out, but a blurry white shape seemed to be growing somewhere on the road ahead. Moving closer, Harley slowly recognised enough details about the shape to determine it was a person. A person wearing something white.

"It's her..." he whispered, walking faster.

As he approached, however, the girl in the white dress stopped moving. She was hunched over, her back to Harley, and there appeared to be spots of blood decorating her dress.

"Hey," Harley called, "are you okay?"

Faster than anything he'd ever seen, the girl rounded on him and crawled right up to his legs. A strangled gasp escaped Harley's mouth and his heart leapt into his ears. But just as quickly as she'd come, she retreated back to her original spot and stood there, staring at Harley with blank white eyes. Help me, she mouthed.

"I- I don't know what... what you mean..." Harley managed to say.

The girl's face suddenly contorted in pain for a few seconds, then she dropped to her knees and started breathing heavily. "Harley!" She spoke to the ground. "You have to save me, no matter what! I can't keep him out much longer. You're not going to have a choice. You have to save us!" Then she screamed, and Harley was wrenched from the nightmare.

He sat bolt upright in bed in a cold sweat.

"Fuck!" A voice said, followed by a loud crash.

Harley gripped his chest, fearing his heart would burst from it, and took deep breaths for a solid minute. All the while, Joel stood back up and breathed with him.

"Don't... do that." Joel puffed. "Ever... again."

When Harley found his throat again, he turned to face his best friend. "How long have I been out?"

"It's about lunch time..." he said, "so I'd guess about twelve hours. Kira said not to wake you up, 'cause you needed time for the injuries to heal."

Harley was suddenly aware of a dull ache in his left shoulder. He felt the area where Callum had punched him and sighed with relief to find that the skin felt smooth to the touch. Kira's weird new plant powders obviously work, then.

"Do you need help sitting up?" Joel asked. "Or, you know, clothes?"

It hadn't even occurred to Harley that he was naked, even as he swung the sheets aside and stood up. He winced in pain almost immediately after, though.