Beneath the whispers

Chapter 46

We had left the mansion when the gust started again, running through the forest and then through the tunnel and in minutes we burst out from the other side of the tunnel and into the village

Panting when we got to the beaded hut, we all fell to the soil on the path leading to the beaded hut and then the reality strikes me again

We had lost Thelma, she is gone and seeing that girl’s cloth on the floor was scary enough for us, they might harm Thelma and yet we don’t know where she had disappeared to

What we know is that there is an underground in the mansion and maybe that underground contains the captives if they are still alive. We need to go and rescue her, but the gust had literally chased us out from building and it wouldn’t let us in again

Not that we hadn’t tried to re-enter the building and check the underground but the whispering gust was heavy on us and before we knew it we were outside the building and the door is slammed against us

The dark clouds returned and we are caught running for our lives. I squeeze on the cloth material on my chest trying to breathe through my mouth, my chest tightens and the air becomes heavy, I gasps and let the tears run down my cheeks

“You prick!” Tony Yells at Harper and I look up, he had rushed to him and gripped his shirt collar tightly, he slams Harper against a tree and Harper is struggling beneath his grip “you will tell us everything you know about the damn secret organization or I will fish out your stupid brain myself”

“Tony stop!” I yell from where I stood

he doesn’t listen instead he grips harder on harper’s clothes that he could barely breath “you better start talking” he warns. Harper starts gasping for air, trying to drag air into his lungs but fails so he slaps Tony’s hands barely grunting in his struggle to drag air into his lungs

I rush towards them and forces Tony’s hands away from Harper and pushes him away, he stumbles back ward but purges forward when he regained his balance

I catch him before he gets to Harper who is now on the floor struggling with air and coughing in the process “stop, you know he will die before he even says anything”

“I don’t care anymore, he either dies or he dies”

“what will we gain from that?” I ask, my voice heavy with the tears I struggle to keep at bay

“what will we gain from keeping him alive?” Tony fumes at me. His eyes is darker with burning rage

“we still need him, if not directly he can still help us, Olivia’s friend was able to help even when he didn’t say a thing” I say, hoping my uncontrolled tears will calm him down

“well, I need to know where they have taken Thelma, and those teenagers, how about he starts with that” Tony says looking at Harper. He is avoiding my eyes

“he cannot answer directly, don’t you get it? he needs time to process how he can help us without ending up dead” I yell back

“can you hear yourself, he is looking for a way to live, imagine the guts”

“T” I cup his cheek with tears lacing my words “if we use this approach he will die before he says anything”

“why are you defending him?” he slaps my hand off his cheek and I gasp “why do you care about his life? Thelma is your friend and we don’t know what they will do to her, they could uproot her organs for crying out loud and you are here defending this fucker” he looses it completely again

I try to say something but the tears clog my throat and I choke on it, he is right, Thelma might not live through the night and we have to find her before that happens

I turn to Harper and the fear in his eyes darkens it, he is leaning on the tree that Tony had slammed him into and he is extra jumpy and shaking

“he is so young” I say through my cracking voice “even if he has to die, let it not be in vain” I raise my hand to touch him but he shuns me with a raised hand and I withdraw “please” I place my palms together with tears all over my eyes, I don’t want to lose anyone again.

“Bell, what the hell are you doing? You saw him carry that body” I don’t know what I am doing and I will never know why I am trying to keep Harper alive but I still cannot stop

Even though I had thought of just letting Tony have his way, I just cannot bring the thought to action “you know, I thought all your friendly act towards him was part of a plan, so I played along but now, I don’t understand. He knows that we know who he is, it will not take long for him to put two and two together and figure it all out. what happens if he runs?” Tony had tried to calm himself down to say this without raising his voice and he is right

Harper know everything now and he is danger should he go back to his Boss

“He is right Bell” Willow joins us, he had entered the hut earlier and I didn’t notice him come out either, but his eyes are red with tears and he had the weak expression on his face.

“We all lost Thelma and we are all dealing with it but we cannot go through with this decision in grief” I say

“she is not listening Will” Tony slaps his forehead and look away from me fuming and Willow taps him but he brushes his hand off him “she is not fucking listening!” he lets out a psychotic laugh “you know what? I don’t need you to agree with me, Harper is going down now. Fuck what he knows!” Tony yells and storms past me towards Harper.

I turn back and hurry to him watching Harper push himself backwards with his leg but Tony gets to him fast enough and he climbs over him and hold his collar “start talking”

“Tony!” I yell but he ignores me

“Start talking!” he slams Harper head on the floor but Harper doesn’t say a thing, instead he is crying even louder

Tony punches him had on the face and I rush towards them struggling to push tony over, Willow rushes towards us as Tony steps away from Harper, I drag Harper behind me

“you will have to hurt me before you kill him” I say, I am not necessary ready to die for him but I know Tony will not hurt me. Will he?

“fine!” He kicks the loose soil into the air “have it your way then. Keep him alive but I don’t want him anywhere near the hotel. Figure it out yourself” he finalizes

“Bell …” Willow had lost all his energy because he is calm and keeps panting between his words

“lets go Will” Tony interrupts him and starts walking away from the beaded hut, probably heading for the hotel.

I turn to Harper and grab his collar “don’t make me regret this” I warn

He pulls me in for a hug and breaks down on my shoulder “I will stay here tonight” Willow yells after Tony who had walked a distance away from us “I cannot bring myself to leaving Harper with you Bell” he says, maybe looking for permission to walk up to us because he doesn’t move closer

“I am so sorry, I am broken by Thelma going missing too but –”

“its ok, the thought discomforts me too” he finally approaches and holds my shoulder “but if he tries anything funny I will kill him without blinking, he is still on the bad side of things” Willow warns looking at Harper

“I am sorry, I didn’t mean for anything to happen to her. I promise I want to help you guys, and I will” Harper speaks for the first time in shaky voice

“he did help, he signaled me to the underground door, he can help without telling us anything” I tell Willow

“I know, I saw him too. Tony is in grief, you need to understand him too” Willow says “I want to find Thelma too, so we need to get to work the fastest we can. We find a way tonight” he announces and leaves us, heading into his hut

“yes” I say, I understand how much Tony wants Harper gone but another thing I understand is that he will regret it the moment it happens

At this stage, I don’t think our opponents care whether we know or not, they are coming for us and we need all the resources we can get