“They’re over here,” Drea called from twenty feet away and we rushed over to her.
My stomach jumped into my throat when I saw Harley on the ground with Dash crouched over her. The two healers we’d brought with us both gasped.
“Harley!” I yelled in alarm and wasted no time sprinting to where they were.
“You have to let me help you,” Dash was saying when I came up next to him.
Harley batted his hand away, and Dash ran his fingers though his hair in agitation, knocking his hood back.
“What’s going on?” I asked. I heard Drea, Gage, and the healers come up behind us, but I ignored them, my attention on my sister and Dash instead.
“She won’t rest,” Dash said, twisting his head to look at me. “She controlled a hellhound that was sniffing around the area and got too close to the cave. Now she can hardly stay on her feet. I was trying to get her back into the cave to sleep.”
“I don’t need sleep,” Harley said, struggling to her feet and shrugging me off when I reached out to help her as well.
She managed to stand, but her legs were wobbly and her face showed strain. I didn’t understand why she was pushing it right now. Dash was right. She needed to be as well rested as possible.
I turned to Dash and the others. “Hey, will you guys give us a few minutes?”
Dash blew out a lungful of air and then nodded. I caught Drea and Gage’s eyes and they nodded as well, urging the Lumen healers to move back toward the shallow cave. As they walked away, I plopped down on a nearby rock.
“What are you doing?” Harley asked.
I shrugged. “Just getting off my feet. It’s been a long few days.”
Harley nodded, but then hobbled over and sat down as well. She couldn’t hide the relief on her face.
I frowned. She looked almost as worn out as she had when I dropped her and Dash off in the Netherworld. Yes, we’d brought healers with us, but I’d assumed she would have regained more of her energy by now. I was concerned for sure, but I also knew that Harley didn’t trust people easily and didn’t like to show weakness. She was a survivor, and one tough cookie. She wasn’t going to respond well if I tried to order her to rest like Dash had. Getting her to accept more healing would take a little work.
“Aurelia put out a call for help and Lumens from around the world are gearing up for battle. Looks like we might be facing off with dear ol’ Dad even sooner than we thought,” I said.
Fear streaked across Harley’s face, but she looked away quickly. “Good. Might as well get him taken care of so I can move on with my life. Lumens are extra boring. I’m looking forward to getting back to my Shade ways.”
I knew she was only saying that to appear tough, but it still made me sad.
“Actually, I was hoping that once this is all over, you might consider staying in New York for a while. Hang with me and the Angel Gang.” I smiled.
She huffed out a humorless half-laugh, but I spotted a hint of vulnerability in her gaze. “Why would I do that? I’m West Coast all the way.”
I chewed on my lip, suddenly feeling extra exposed. There was a solid chance Harley was going to reject me, but she was my sister and I wanted a relationship with her. I knew if that was going to happen I would have to be the one to take the initiative.
“If you stayed around, I thought we could get to know each other better. You know, make up for some lost time.”
Step one, build a relationship with Harley. Step two would be to convince her that Lumens were really awesome and that she’d want to be one.
“You can cut the crap,” Harley said, her voice coming out weakly. “I’ve already helped your boyfriend and agreed to fight with you against Apollyon. You don’t need to pretend to like me anymore.” She jerked her chin in the direction of Dash. “You can tell him to stop as well.”
Pain tore into my chest at the mistrust and hurt in her voice. Life had not been kind to my sister and she had a big wall around her heart. I leaned back, my brows furrowed as I watched her pick at a fingernail.
Was that what she really thought? That this was all an act to get something out of her? She was more broken than I thought.
“Harley, no. That’s not it at all. If we didn’t have to take Apollyon down together I would still want to get to know you better. I’d still want to learn how to be sisters. I can’t speak for Dash, but I know him well enough to know he’s not one to pretend either. None of us are being nice to you to get something out of you. Do we need your help? Yes. And do we all want you to be as healthy as possible when we go up against Apollyon and his army? Heck yeah. What we are about to do is crazy dangerous, and I know none of us are talking about it, but there’s a solid chance all of us won’t make it out alive. I don’t want to go into this battle without you understanding exactly how much I already care for you. From the bottom of my heart, you’re my sister, and I love you.”
Harley stopped fidgeting and then stared at me with wide, unblinking eyes. A look of disbelief splashed across her face.
Yeah, that declaration of sisterly love was a little unexpected, but I wasn’t going to let her go a moment longer thinking I was trying to manipulate her. Not if one or both of us could possibly die tomorrow.
Giving herself a small shake, Harley cleared her throat, doing her best to wipe any traces of vulnerability from her face, but she didn’t do as good of a job as she probably wanted to hiding the softening of her gaze. “Yeah, well, I guess I could look into sticking around NYC a little longer. Maybe a few days or whatever. I haven’t had a chance to see the Statue of Liberty, so I should probably check that out before I leave.”
