Elena POV

I simply laid in bed resting as the rest of the VKs searched Audrey's room, waiting for Harry to get back with the medkit so he could help me out a bit. Gosh... I'm so glad he's back and he's alright, I may have been scared at first but as soon as I felt over that scar I knew it was him! Hopefully my vision and hearing can come back a bit quicker than they currently are, my hearing is doing well but my sight is still just so blurry!

So much so that I could only see figures of people now, I used what colors I was seeing to identify who I was looking at judging by the colors of their clothes. Red and blue was Evie, black and white was Carlos, black and purple was Mal, yellow and red was Jay, purple and orange with some green was Celia, and turquoise was well... Uma. I still can't believe she's here, but Harry doesn't seem to mind her presence or at least hasn't shown his true feelings yet. I wish I could actually see him, I read him off his body language and the looks in his eyes so much and now that's gone... I of course feel a little empty from it.

I shifted a bit as I laid to move the pillow under my head, pausing as I felt a corner of sorts poke me from underneath my pillow just as Mal spoke,

"I'm sorry guys, I'm not finding anything"

I furrowed my brow and felt under my pillow with my okay hand and grabbed a hardcover of sorts,

"Me neither, gosh it's like she didn't even plan this whole thing... she just woke up and decided to do it!"

I heard Evie exclaim. I heard a little chuckle and a long sigh, both of which sounded slightly maniacal which let me know exactly who it was,

"You'd think, but maybe she did it on purpose? I mean if I were planning an evil take over on the entire world I wouldn't write jack shit about it"

I pulled out the hard-covered item as Uma exclaimed, I then brought it onto my lap and squinted really really hard to see what it was. I already knew it was a book of sorts, but I just wanted to see what was on the outside! So I squinted really hard and brought the book up to my eyes so I could see the outlines of the letters,

"D... Diary? I found a diary I think if that helps?"

"You found a what?"

Uma immediately said right after I finished speaking, I then took the book up in one hand and held it up to show them,

"I think it says diary, I can't exactly see the best but it was under the pillow"

The turquoise blob of color that was Uma came hurrying up to me, and before I knew it I felt the book slip from my hands as she snatched it from me,

"Yeah, so the one person here who literally can't see for shit finds something good"

I glared at the blur and scoffed a bit as her tone was rather rude if I'm being honest,

"Well that wasn't the kindest tone"

I muttered under my breath as I felt her sit on the end of the bed, presumably to read the diary a bit. I then heard a click and a little creak, kinda like a door being opened! So naturally, I got a little excited as I'm waiting for Harry and all,

"Harry? Is that you?"

I hopefully asked as I stared at the door, and sure enough, that low and hearty chuckle said it all!

"Yeh it's me, how are ya feeling love?"

Harry asked as I saw his red and black silhouette walk right in up to me after he seemed to have kicked the door shut. I brightly smiled and sat up a bit as I felt the bed directly beside me sink a bit as he sat down,

"Better now that you're back, but alright overall! My wrist hurts and my eyes are still not at their best, but I feel much better!"

I could just about make out the outline of his lips, so seeing them blossom into a smile made me really happy of course!

"Oh good, ya sound more like yerself too. And before I forget... I brought ya a little surprise~"

I tilted my head a bit as Harry gently took my good hand and made me hold it out before setting a warm, small little squeaky thing on my palm, but from the connection alone I knew exactly who it was!

"Bruni! Oh, thank the gods you're alright!"

I squealed out as I gently held him to my chest, he was squeaking and even squawking a bit at me as he rambled on about how worried the spirits were about me and all, but I simply smiled and sighed a bit,

"Well, I can confirm that I'm okay now. Harry and the others saved me so I'm all good!"

Then Bruni asked me if I had told everyone what had happened to me, making me pause a bit and look back over to Harry as his outline became clearer and clearer,

"I haven't actually, I wanted to wait until I felt better and was better in general... but I should probably do that huh?"

Bruni looked up at me and simply nodded up and down a few fast times, making me giggle a bit before inevitably sinking, I mean how could I not? What happened to me... just... it's still messing with me. I mean Audrey took full control over me, I didn't even think that was possible! So I sighed a bit as I felt a hand gently rest itself on my knee, making me look up from Bruni to Harry who was clearer than ever,

"What is he talking about love? What do ya have ta do?"

I slowly blinked a bit before letting Bruni just crawl onto my shoulder so I could use both my hands, even my wounded one to rub my eyes. Then, when I opened them again, I was actually able to see where Harry's eyes were, meaning my vision was coming back finally! Even he seemed to be slightly taken aback by my eye contact seeing as I could now make it again and all,

"What happened to me... you know... I have to tell you what Audrey did"

Harry looked a little taken aback, raising his brows just a bit before leaning forward as well just to be a bit closer to me it seemed,

"Oh yeh... not gonna lie, I'm a little scared ta hear what actually happened Ellie... but I think it could maybe shed a bit of light on why and how Audrey's doing all this so... when yer comfortable, go ahead"

I took a deep breath, glancing around I saw that everyone else had kinda paused what they were doing and turned to listen too, so I sat up a bit more and spoke loud enough for everyone to hear,

"Well, I was just leaving a voicemail for Harry when I heard footsteps down a few halls, and I was already looking for more people who were awake, so the footsteps sounded promising. I went ahead and followed them after leaving Harry that voicemail and found Chad who was looking for Audrey, he said he thought he could stop her from doing any more damage and put an end to this since he knows her so well and all. So I agreed to help him find her since I just wanted everything to go back to normal... as dumb as I was probably being, I followed him until we came across the library. Audrey was crying, sounded super remorseful, and if anything... tricked me into believing that she was regretting her decisions to do all this. I immediately... felt so stupid, but I thought she had changed! She tricked me into taking her hand for a "truce" handshake... that's when she shot me in the chest with the scepter and with Chad's help and sent me flying across the library into the back wall... I hurt my wrist in the fall and the air was so knocked out of me that I couldn't breathe for a moment! Then she stepped on my bad wrist to make me stay before... shooting this deep green mist at me while I was down... I-I tried to hold my breath... I s-swear I t-tried... I f-feel so stupid f-for believing her and C-Chad..."

I couldn't help it... I began to cry a bit as I felt so... taken advantage of! And it was so stupid of me to think of the best when it came to the two of them... they've both always had it out for me! Why did I think that would change? Harry though... he wasn't mad it seemed, not even at Audrey... if anything, he looked a little worried maybe? But then... he just leaned forward and... and pulled me into a tight hug,

"Oh don't say that... don't say anything like that my love"

Harry quickly whispered to me, but I didn't entirely understand what he meant! I lifted my head up from laying on his chest a bit so I could look up at him with my eyes full of tears,

"S-Say what? W-What shouldn't I-I say?"

Harry looked down at me and took one arm from being wrapped around me nice and tight to wipe my flushed cheeks, feeling his hands warmth on my cheek will always be a comforting feeling,

"That ya feel stupid about looking for the best in people... ya believed 'em because ya wanted ta think that they were better and shame on them for taking advantage of that... but that's one of the best traits about ya love, how else do ya think we got ta where we are right now?"

I tilted my head a little bit, not entirely understanding what he meant... where we are right now? What does that mean? I watched him tilt his head back at me a little bit, making me smile as he's never not done that,

"W-What do you mean?"

I brought my hands up again to rub my eyes of the tears, clearing my vision almost completely now which was wonderful indeed, but I didn't even pay attention to that... I paid attention to the adoring smile raining down upon me, the eyes filled with admiration and love... the man in general that gives me all that in sometimes overwhelming quantities,

"Well, ya saw the best in me did ya not? Ya saw past the rumors, the mask I had, the act I played, even what I did ta ya when we first met... ya saw past all of that and were the first person ta ever see the real me, and ya helped me find the real me at that. It's a gift, it really is... and shame on Audrey and Chad for taking advantage of that golden heart of yers, but just because they hurt ya doesn't mean ye should try ta take that trait away yeh?"

Awww.... he does have a bit of a point, doesn't he? I smiled again, feeling much better already that's for sure! I didn't really know what else to say, so I simply brought my head forward and down so I could rest my head right under his chin, making him chuckle as he rested his head on mine just so I could snuggle up to him as much as I wanted,

"You're so smart... the way you say things.... I always understand what you mean"

I whispered, and I swear I could feel the blush creep onto his neck and everything! It all made me smile and made me feel so much better already, in fact, there was only one more thing holding me back from feeling a hundred percent... and it was my poor wrist that still trembled ever so slightly as I was simply keeping it lifted to keep it from touching anything and making it hurt any more. Harry hummed a bit, I could feel his throat rumble a bit as he moved his head to the side a bit just so he could look down at my wrist it seems,

"Ye flatter me darlin'..."

Harry said with a sweet and sincere tone,

"... now, shall we fix this poor wrist then?"

I looked up at him as he raised his head from being rest on mine, I quickly nodded as it was really holding me back at the moment if I'm being honest. Harry gently took my hand to keep my wrist lifted for me and sat a bit farther away from me so he could really take a good look at my wrist. I peeked over to my side and saw the medkit he must've brought in with him and glanced back to what he was looking at,

"Well... there's no broken skin so I think we just need to give it some support and a bit of compression for the swelling, I reckon some cold on it would do it some good too as yer skin around 'ere is warmer than normal"

Well, I can do that part! I took my other hand and gently clasped it around my wrist, causing Harry to pause. I relaxed my shoulders and just took a deep breath, and when I opened my eyes, a white fog of sorts was coming through my fingers. My grip was super cold, like an intense ice pack of sorts which makes it perfect for this sort of thing! Normal ice packs don't do much, they give me the slightest chill but that does nothing. An icy grip as I like to call it, is the same sort of thing that I've used to freeze a few swords now, I make my grip colder than ice itself so whatever I touch can turn to ice, and if it's myself then it's simply an effective way to give myself my own ice pack of sorts! I glanced over to Uma who was at the foot of the bed still and saw her mid-way through the diary, but staring at me anyway. I slightly raised my brow at her as of course, I'm not the happiest with her as she looked up and saw me staring right back which caused her to look away and back to the diary.

I wish I could just have a moment alone with Harry for a little bit, I just wanna make sure he's actually okay with Uma's presence since I for one am slightly weirded out by the fact that she's so much less standoffish than she was before. I mean last time she was yelling and making threats every other second, but now she's just... quiet and reserved, it's a little strange that's for sure. She was this big and bad pirate Captain, but now... she seems like she's lost all that power or something like that. I'm not complaining, the yelling and the aggressive behavior were a whole lot to handle that's for sure! Besides, I think Harry isn't fazed by her anyway, but I just wanna make sure.

I finally got my wrist completely numbed out, so I let go of it and already saw some of the swelling go down. Harry reached over me a bit to grab the medkit and popped it open, digging through it just a bit he grabbed a few basic wraps and numbing ointments to just help support my wrist while it gets the time to heal. It shouldn't take very long, I mean it's just some bad swelling and it could leave a bruise, but once it's numbed out it's much better for sure! Harry gently took my hand again, pulling it forward just a bit to begin to very gently begin to apply some of the healing and numbing ointment. His nice warm, soft hands were so gentle as always, gliding over my much colder skin with care. I simply watched his careful touch as it made me feel so much better already.

He gently wrapped my wrist up in some bandages to just keep the ointment on and to keep it protected from anything on the outside, once he was done he secured it and checked to see if it was too tight before I slowly began moving my fingers around, finding that it all felt a lot better already. I smiled at my wrist and tilted my head a bit as I slowly rolled it around a bit,

"Much better... thanks Harry"

I said with a bright smile, Harry gave that same smile right back to me as he gently took my good hand and simply held it in both of his,

"Not a problem my love, I'm just glad yer finally feeling more like yerself"

Aw, I'm glad about that too! Being under that spell sure was freaky... it just felt like I fell asleep! But I also knew I wasn't, but it felt like it which was super disorienting. Needless to say, when I finally woke up I was more than confused and scared, no wonder I got so scared when Harry was holding me at first! Not just because I couldn't see or hear anything, but I had no clue what I was doing or where I was! But that's all over now, and that alone is enough to make me feel so much better!

I noticed Harry leaning down a bit towards me, so I tilted my head a bit as he simply smiled down at me before I got what he was doing. I smiled a bit more and was just about to lean up to him and give him a little kiss as that's what he was doing when Uma suddenly spoke,

"Fairy Cottage! Fuck, I had to get through a lot of bullshit to get here but she finally mentioned the plan and she said she was planning on hiding out at Fairy Cottage, you know the place where Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather hid her mom from your mom Mal?"

Uma quickly blurted out, causing both Harry and I to pause so we could look over to her. She even looked a little excited for once, I watched Mal swiftly pivot around on her heels as Uma blurted out her name with a smug smirk, all as Mal looked slightly unamused,

"Oh I know, the irony of this entire situation isn't lost on me. One problem though, I have no clue where Fairy Cottage is... does anyone know where Fairy Cottage is? Elena? You explore the woods plenty"

I perked up a bit before thinking back to a few of my adventures into the forest, but I've never found a small cottage in the woods... I would remember that for sure! So as everyone else shook their head, so did I,

"Nope, I've never come across a small cottage in the woods before that's for sure"

Mal sighed and slowly shook her head for a moment once she closed her eyes, rubbing the bridge of her nose as she thought and pondered before snapping her eyes open and pausing,

"Ben told me that Audrey used to take him to Fairy Cottage every so often for some holiday or whatever, so to find Fairy Cottage we need to find Ben... well, that was already our next goal so I guess that works. Everyone good here?"

Mal asked, I nodded as Harry did as I feel much better than I did before and was ready to jump back into action! Everyone else either verbally agreed or nodded just like we did, so with that, we all got up and began making our way to the door,

"Alright, let's head over to Ben's castle then, it's not too much further from here and he was there last time I checked"

Oh, I've never been to Ben's castle! This will be fun then for sure, a little adventure within a perilous one which in my book is alright. So with that, we all headed out of Audrey's room, my arm was locked with Harry's as we both enjoyed each other's presence and I got my bearing fully back to me as part of me has a feeling I'll be needing to be on my A-game very soon. 

A/N

Hiya! I know it's been a minute since the last chapter, but as I said in my little authors note, I've been at a three day horse show for the past two days and my energy has absolutely tanked because of it XD I am so tired even now, but I really wanted to get a chapter out for you all today so here is this! Also a little tease there since Elena and Harry nearly kissed... but didn't... *wink wink*

I wish I could stick around and talk about the show so far, but I'm already rather behind on sleep XD So I'm gonna have to go, I have to wake up early for one more day then I'll be done and we can get back to the normal routine, I'll also tell you all how it went of course :D

This chapter was sorta like a little break in the action I feel, for the next chapter will be Night Falls... are you as excited about that as I am because I am super excited XD Also, I'm probably behind on replying to comments again, but I'll catch up in the next few days as everything goes back to normal :D

Remember to stay hydrated and to be kind to yourself today :D

-Brooke