Beneath the whispers

Chapter 39

Everything Olivia said about me was true and harsh but for some reason I was only hurt by what I said to her instead

I only started to fire back because of the plan we cooked up but the moment the first sentence leave my mouth, I lost control and just like that I spilled everything that had weighed me down for a long time now and more so I broke down the wall that protected me from my true self and now I am staring at the real Bella.

Not some front, not the class president, not Miss 2017 of my high school, but me. The Bella only Olivia knew, the Bella I have hidden from myself all those years and yet in the midst of all the tension and panicking, I still felt relieved

I was happy to finally see her, I wanted to make her better, to grow her and to love her. But I hurt my friend and I need to make up for it the best I could but then again is this plan that I cannot destroy

“Bella, are you ok?” Tony’s deep voice pierce through my subconscious and I am completely aware of my surroundings again, his hands under my head and the other on my face, Thelma’s hand caressing my hand and Rose squatting near her with concern filled in her eyes but Willow isn’t here and Harper is just standing over us – wait a minute… did I fall?

“Olivia” I mutter and Tony’s finger cross my lips

“Willow went after her” he whispers and I nod weakly blinking in the tears that had clustered under my lids

“I hurt her. I didn’t mean to –”

“it is okay, he will find her” Tony says and my gaze shifts to Harper, he had a ting of confusion in his face but he brushes it off with a smile at me

“you know each other?” He asks looking from me to Tony and I nod in response. I really want to rush after Olivia and clear the air with her right now but we have a plan and I was going to risk a lot if I acted rashly. The reason more of us were to stay back was to buy them time to gather enough before the others joined.

Its been an hour at least of tapping my foot against the tiles of the reception, I am sitting on a side stool that I had brought from the nearest room and Tony is standing behind me, we are watching Harper blend in with the villagers cracking jokes and watching them laugh at it. he is showing them some tricks and that is infuriating us all the more

“if only they knew who he really is” I whisper. Thelma and Rose look at us in shock and Tony is caught half way in his attempt to shush me

“what –” Tony shush Rose and she trails her voice into a whisper to complete her sentence “are you talking about?”

“you know the day the boys and I watched the dead body and we told you that some two men came to carry it” I look at Harper and he is in the middle of a trick “he was one of the men”

Rose gasps and I tap her shoulder to shun her and she covers her mouth with an apologetic look. Thelma look from me to Harper and she tsk “so, they sent him to spy on us”

“which means they don’t know that we know so much, they are only suspecting” Tony says

“isn’t that a good thing?” I ask looking again at Harper

“not really, with him watching us, our plan is either impossible or will be delayed and we don’t know how long we have until they will desperately need us for whatever it is” Tony says

“but we can still get info from him right?” Rose asks

“you haven’t seen someone convulse to death right?” I ask sarcastically and she rolls her eyes at me and focusing on Tony again

“he is practically useless, before he says anything he is dead” Tony explains calmly

“so we should find a way to get the info without him telling us. We should move around this puzzle” Thelma suggest

“that is a good idea” Tony’s eyes glow with excitement that immediately dies down as his gaze shifts to behind me. I turn around and almost gasps at how close Harper was to me “done with your tricks?” he asks

“They are so clueless” Harper half laughs “it’s so funny how they react to even the simplest trick” he laughs again but we all look at him with a straight face

“You know we are literally trying to survive this shadow thing like every minute to sundown we get closer to loosing someone” I warn

He shrugs “So what? Your lives might end here so why not have fun of the little remaining?” Wow, even if I didn’t see him carry that body I would definitely not like him

“not worth it” Tony sigh “have the best of fun young warlock” he gestures sarcastically at Harper who smiles in response but doesn’t move. Our blank cutting glare tear through him that he started adjusting his stance nervously

“ok, I am sorry. Don’t glare me to death” he says in defeat

“still not worth it” I blurt and face Tony “Olivia is not back yet” I complain like a child

“they should be back by now” Rose says and gives Harper the fuck-off look

“we should go look for them, the village is too huge to wait till sun down” I suggest

“you all are going?” Harper asks with his eyes wide open

“why? You need a babysitter?” I blurt at him and he flinches from my words

“why do you guys hate me?” he asks

“we don’t, your hatred for yourself is rubbing off on us, we are just dusting it out darling” Rose says sweetly and dusts the smooth fabric of her red polo she had on jean shorts and we laugh along with her making Harper scowl

“if you want me to leave I will” he says and we breath a laugh in response

“and let the shadows take you? Of course not” I say with a fake smile making it obvious to all of them that it was fake “I have a friendship to mend so if you will excuse me I need to go find my friend” I stand up from the seat

“I am going with her” Tony sprung from the reception desk he leaned on and stand beside me

“us too” Rose says in Thelma’s stead who have been quietly watching us roast the fucker. I would have loved it if she joined us, the shrill nature of her voice will make the words sting deeper

“you can come if you want” I suggest and the others cut eyes at me but I ignore them so his attention wouldn’t shift from me “we usually leave Mira to watch the villagers and her friends when we leave so they are in good hands so far we come back before dark”

“and no offense but you are not really a ‘good hand’ now” Thelma says, her usual shrill voice is softer – he should take offense for God’s sake.

“so that means I am a part of your team now?” he asks with hopeful glitter in his eyes. not so fast Fucker

Tony points to his chest and push him a few steps back “not so fast” he warns and Harper does the jittery nods. We all leave him jogging behind us as we make out was outside the hotel.

“What exactly are you thinking bringing him with us?” Tony whispers to me before Harper hurried close enough

“Trust me” I say and peck him on his lips

“Can you guys not?” Rose yells out

“That was literally just two second” I almost shout back

“we are in danger and you have two seconds to get intimate” Harper’s attempt for a joke falls flat and our gaze strikes him once again but this time he doesn’t try. He just raise his hands in defeat “ok ok, I am sorry”

“Good” I respond and smile at Tony “we will split” I announce and pause for any unusual response but they just stare at me. “Tony and Harper will go towards this side and us girls will go towards the other side”

Tony nods at me when he realizes my plan – Olivia and Willow were supposed to take the side that Tony will take with Harper so if they still followed the plan they might have ransacked the area Tony wouldn’t have to meet them and us girls are going to do some digging

“lets move” Rose says excited and we all go our separate way. A few many steps apart and Rose brushes me with her shoulder “I am shocked you didn’t ask Tony to pair with you”

“someone has to be with Harper, someone he wouldn’t beat up” I look from Rose to Thelma and they both playfully smack me on my back and I run farther from them as they chase after me