That silenced the girls, though they shot cold looks at each other. My guess was, by the time they headed to the Banquet Hall for breakfast, they’d be sitting apart. Girls were like that, as much as I wished they weren’t. A shudder of déjà vu ran through me—this was a little too much like high school for my taste. Those years, and those tense relationships, were way behind me. Good riddance.
“Preceptor Nomura!” Mina Travis wailed from the bench on the right-hand side. “Micah is doing it again!”
My attention shot toward the two youngest kids, who were sitting off on their own. Micah cradled Fluffers in his arms, the cute scene not immediately worrying. However, the cat didn’t seem to be moving. I hadn’t seen what had happened, but there was a small pool of blood on the floor by Micah’s feet. Neither of the kids seemed to be bleeding, which only left one victim. A moment later, Fluffers leapt up, nuzzling its furry forehead against Micah’s smooth one. It mewled and pressed its claws into Micah’s T-shirt, apparently fine after dying for the eighth time. One left, pal. You might want to take things slower.
“What happened?” I asked, walking over to the children.
“Fluffers pounced at me, and I used my Telekinesis,” Mina sobbed. “I didn’t mean to throw him so hard, but he scared me.”
Nomura and I exchanged a look. It had come to light that Micah had secretly been Purging creatures after bringing his cat back to life. Just last night, after they’d headed down to the prison cells, Fluffers had eaten some of the rat poison that had been left out. He’d died in Micah’s arms, only to be brought straight back. While it wasn’t clear whether or not Micah Purged every time, he’d done so last night, resulting in a tiny imp that he’d tried to hide from the security personnel. Louella had been the one to find the creature and had reported it to one of the guards. Micah had been devastated when they took the imp away. According to him, they were his “pets,” too, and he didn’t like to be separated from them. I could only wonder what had happened to the previous ones. They were probably out there somewhere, causing havoc in the human world—the flashes people saw out of the corner of their eyes, or the reason behind things going missing in folks’ houses.
It made me wonder how high that kid’s pain threshold was, if he could Purge as if it was nothing. Was it another secret ability we didn’t know about—Purging without effort? A weird one, but entirely possible. He was already freakishly powerful, and he was barely out of diapers.
“Do you feel okay?” Nomura asked Micah.
He nodded cheerfully. “Fluffers is awake.”
“This is unbelievable,” Nomura murmured.
I frowned. “What is?”
“Necromancers are notoriously powerful, by their very nature, but Micah must be extraordinarily gifted, if he can perform an act like that and not immediately Purge. Even Alton can’t do that,” he replied, in a low voice. “I wonder if something will turn up in his Reading.”
“Do you think it might be the cat’s size? Smaller creature, smaller consequence?”
He shrugged. “Maybe… but look at him. He’s absolutely fine. It’s like nothing happened. He’s not even tired.”
Of all the kids who had arrived back at the coven, Micah was the one I was most concerned about. If he was already this powerful, that power would only grow as he did. Once he reached adulthood, and even before then, he’d be a force to be reckoned with. It was a scary thought, considering how small and cute he looked now. Nomura seemed on edge about it, too. I could feel the anxiety emanating from him. The other kids were scared, as well—it poured off them in vibrant waves, blending with a childish sense of awe. To them, Micah was the equivalent of a classmate who could do a really neat trick, only they didn’t want to be the ones on the receiving end of it.
“I’d say they really need to get their Readings done as soon as possible. They all wield at least one Element, but it’s hard to tell with them like this,” I said, turning my attention to Louella. She and Marjorie were locked in a fight in their own corner of the training room. Marjorie lunged forward to grab at Louella’s arm, only for her to drop it to the floor. Marjorie screamed and backed off as a new limb pushed through Louella’s hoodie sleeve. Her ability was creepy and cool in equal measure, though the arm lying on the floor did make me feel a bit sick.
“I did it!” Louella cried. “I did it without being scared!”
Nomura smiled. “Well done, Louella. Don’t push it too hard, but very impressive work.” He turned back to me. “The Readings have already been arranged for the end of the week. I’d be interested to see what comes out of Micah’s. It may well be off the charts.”
“He needs the right tutoring, otherwise he’ll be screwed. You know what the Mage Council are like about super-powerful people,” I said wryly. “I’m not having him put in some facility.” The only reason I wasn’t in one was because I was useful right now, and I had this Suppressor to stop me from getting out of hand. After I’d removed it, I wondered what their reaction would be. The fear of being locked up hit me like a punch to the gut, slamming renewed terror into me. If I ended up a Dark liability, I’d never see the light of day again.
“Yes, he’d certainly benefit from tutoring,” Nomura said.
“Speaking of super-powerful people, I thought Regens and Morphs weren’t around anymore?”
“Quite right—glad to see you’ve been learning. Morphs are rare, but there hasn’t been a Regen for a hundred years,” he replied. “There must have been a recent mutation, which has resulted in Cassie’s ability. Supersonic is fairly unheard of, too.”
“Must be something in the San Diego water, right?”
He chuckled. “It would seem that way. Although life has a way of working in cycles. This may simply be a revival of sorts, with those rare and dormant abilities coming back into the mainstream of magical society. It happens, just as the world moves through ice ages and returns to a time of warmth and prosperity.”
“So, the magicals have been in an ice age?”
“Metaphorically speaking, it would appear so.”
“Well, this is a hell of a way to thaw out.”
“Indeed.”
A thud distracted my attention away from Nomura, my eyes snapping back to the corner where Marjorie and Louella had been fighting. Marjorie lay on the floor, her knees tucked up to her chin, her eyes milky white. Her body shook violently, her mouth wide in a half-scream. Louella skidded to her side, trying to shake her out of her sudden trance, but Marjorie simply threw her head back, her neck arched at an inhuman angle.
I sprinted toward her, kneeling beside Louella. “Marjorie? Marjorie, can you hear me?”
Her eerie, milky eyes stared straight into my soul. “The traitor… is here. The traitor… is hiding. The traitor… has been here, in this room. I feel her… I feel him. He has stolen her face… he has stolen her body. They have been here… they have been in this room.”
My mind frantically tried to piece together the little snippets Marjorie was giving. A bigger image danced just out of sight, the fractured fragments creating a confusing picture. Who the heck can it be? If they’d been in this room, did that mean they were here now? Was it one of the kids? That didn’t seem likely. Jacob? Again, that didn’t seem likely. Does she mean the preceptors? That was just as hard to validate in my head. Alton knew them all like the back of his hand, and he’d no doubt done some checks of his own when the spy first came to light. Then again, anyone could be the traitor. I thought about checking the camera footage for the room, even though it probably wouldn’t be much help—lots of people used this room, and Marjorie’s visions weren’t always the most reliable. Plus, some cameras had been glitching like crazy after the Bestiary incident, like the ones in the prison corridor and the Bestiary itself. Still, I’d ask Astrid to look into it.
“What do you mean, Marjorie?” I urged, but the milky haze of her eyes was already receding, taking the vision with it.
“What happened?” she murmured as she came to.
“You had a vision. Can you remember any of it?”
She shook her head slowly. “I saw a face… it was so clear a moment ago. There was a man and a woman, but I don’t know who was the traitor and who wasn’t. I didn’t recognize the guy, but the woman was familiar… maybe. Oh, I don’t know. This is useless!”
“No, it isn’t. You’re doing great, you really are. Now, come on, what did they look like? Try to concentrate and see if you can make the image clearer.”
“It was dark. I can’t remember.” She looked like she was about to burst into tears. “I’m sorry, Harley.”
“Hey, you have no reason to be sorry. You can’t control these things—it’s not your fault. Honestly, every little tidbit you give us is worth so much.”
“I should be better at this by now,” she muttered.
I held her shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes. “You’re doing incredible, Marjorie. Think about how far you’ve come since you first came here. And, hey, remember what Wade told you about my pledge? I nearly broke the place. When I got here, I didn’t know my ass from my elbow when it came to magic stuff. It all shot out of me at once. I couldn’t walk into a room without being deafened by people’s emotions. I had no control, but I worked on it, and now I get to choose what I can and can’t feel… most of the time. Crowds are still tricky, but I’m getting better with them, too. It’s all progress.”
Marjorie nodded slowly, and I smiled at her.
“You’re making progress every day, I promise you,” I continued. “Without you, we’d never have found Micah. I know you’re struggling to believe it, but you’re doing so well, and confidence will come in time. I need you to believe how good you are.”
She glanced at me shyly. “I’ll try.”
“Why don’t you go and see Astrid and get her to set you up with the camera footage for this room. It might take a while, but if you see anyone that jogs your memory, it might help us,” I suggested.
“That’d be good. I’ll do that.”
“Cool. I’ll make it happen.”
“Yes, how about we all stop for the morning?” Nomura suggested. “You’re all still exhausted from your ordeal with Katherine. Why don’t you go with Marjorie to the Banquet Hall, before the rest of the coven starts coming down to breakfast? Gather up a bunch of food and take it all back to your rooms downstairs. Then, once you’ve eaten, I want you to rest and relax. Preceptor’s orders.”
A rumble of assent rippled around the room, and I helped Marjorie to her feet. She dusted herself off and stood tall, her features set in a determined expression that made me proud. With Louella at her side, the two older girls collected the others and headed out into the hallway, where a security team was waiting to escort them to breakfast. It still bugged me that we were missing two of the magical kids on our list, but Louella had been tight-lipped about their whereabouts. It wasn’t a subject I wanted to press, considering what they’d all been through.
“Aren’t you joining them, Harley?” Nomura asked, as the last of the kids filed out.
I shook my head. “Actually, I was hoping to talk to you about something.”
“Oh?”
“It’s kind of a delicate issue.”
“Color me intrigued.”
I took a breath. There was no going back now. “I don’t know if you’ve heard anything about Krieger arranging for me to have surgery?”
“To get rid of your Suppressor? I heard about it. Congratulations.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty grateful for all the hard work he’s putting in. The thing is, I can’t wait that long—he said it’d be months before everything was good to go, and it might be too late by then. Katherine is a threat now, and we need all the firepower we can get against her.”
Nomura stared at me blankly. “You want to break it?”
“Uh… to put it simply, yeah.”
“I thought you might,” he said quietly, a note of hesitation in his voice. “In fact, I was wondering if you’d come to me for advice, given our current circumstances with Katherine and the spy.”
“You were?”
He nodded, his brow furrowed. “I’ve seen your frustrations, Harley. You’re not exactly the patient type, and I don’t mean any offense when I say that,” he replied. “I worked hard to master my abilities because I’m a Mediocre. You are anything but Mediocre but have been forced into a position that resembles it. Of course you’re impatient.”
“And you’re an expert on Dempsey Suppressors, right?”
He eyed me curiously. “I have studied them a little, yes, though it would be naïve of me to call myself an expert. What did you want to ask about, specifically? I will see if I can help.”
I smiled. “I’m just worried that, if I break the Suppressor by force, there’s going to be this raw blast of energy. Even if that doesn’t cause too much damage, I’ve got my affinities to worry about.”
“You think you’ll start leaning one way? Toward Darkness, judging by your expression?”
I nodded. Damn, he’s good. Not an expert, my ass. “I want to be able to balance Light and Dark, once the Suppressor breaks. Otherwise, I’m going to struggle to control anything. I don’t want to be destructive. I don’t want to be a danger to anyone, but I also can’t have this thing inside me much longer, without losing my mind.”
“Have you spoken to Alton about this? I know it’s not his field of expertise, but I would hate to be treading on his toes.”
“He mentioned a Sanguine spell to me,” I replied, bending the truth slightly. I was pretty sure Alton didn’t want me following this particular trail, but he was the one who’d sowed the seed in my head. What else could he expect?
“He did?” Nomura sounded stunned.
“Yeah, he mentioned that I could balance my affinities using a spell like that—it had something to do with a powerful Dark magical and powerful Light magical.”
“I’m a little surprised that he would talk to you about dangerous magic like that, but I suppose your situation is an unusual one. Sanguine spells are illegal to use in the United States without a license, although they’re fairly commonplace in Europe and Asia. Your friend, Santana, is of a magical lineage who still use Sanguine spells, too.”
“Is there anywhere in the States where you can use them on the down-low?” I flashed a conspiratorial wink.
He paused, as though weighing up his options. “Well… I suppose if you already know of the existence of Sanguine spells, maybe I can… yes, I suppose I must.” He stayed silent a moment longer, making me wonder if he was going to tell me anything. “New Orleans still has practitioners,” he replied evenly, at last. “You’ve heard of Voodoo, yes?”
I nodded. “Creepy dolls, pins in the eyes—that kind of stuff?”
He chuckled. “Not quite; that’s a common misconception. Their magic is similar to that of the Santeria or the Kolduny, in that they serve spirits. However, they serve spirits known as the Loa—they make offerings to them and perform Sanguine spells to appeal for help, or ask for something, or gain strength, in the same way that Santana calls on her Orishas. The methodology is very similar.”
“That’s cool. I guess I’ll learn more about it in International Cultures later down the line.” Provided I survived Katherine, of course.
“Anyway, there are many powerful magicals in New Orleans who practice the art of Voodoo. A deal was struck with the New Orleans Coven, to ensure that Sanguine spells were isolated solely to the city. It requires a license to practice, as I’ve said, but it’s still done there, with and without such permissions.”
“What might this Sanguine spell be—the one Alton mentioned?”
“If it’s the one I think it is, then you’d have to combine the blood of a very powerful Light magical and that of a very powerful Dark magical, in order to create the spell that would balance your internal equilibrium. It can be done, but it’s very risky, and the spell itself is very rare and dangerous. Even getting blood like that would be hard. It can’t just be
any blood—it has to come from the type of magicals you’d probably only find in Purgatory. The Katherine Shipton types.”
My heart sank. Great… just what I wanted to hear.
“Although it’s funny you should mention this spell now… it’s probably why it was on Alton’s mind, now that I think about it.”
My head snapped up. “What do you mean?”
“Well, that spell was one of the ones that came through from the Reykjavik repository. Katherine stole the original, but they had a copy.”
It’s in the coven! It’s in the friggin’ coven! I’d promised Alton I wasn’t going to get myself into any more trouble, but this was different. This was a risk worth taking. In fact, this was worth everything. It could well be the bridge between us winning the fight against Katherine and losing it. He’d forgive me, eventually. And if he didn’t… well, I could deal with that if it got there.
“Are you being serious?”
He smiled strangely. “There’d be no use in me lying to you now. If you didn’t get the information out of me, you’d get it another way. It’s an admirable quality in you, Harley—your determination. I just hope it doesn’t get you caught up in something you can’t get out of one of these days.”
“I’ll be careful,” I said. Evidently, he was putting this big, dangerous, illegal ball in my court. I was grateful to him for that. He understood why I had to do this, in a way that Alton never could. Alton would have had me wait, even if it meant we failed.
“Please do. The only reason I’ve even mentioned this to you is because you might be the only person who has the power to overcome a spell like that and wrangle it to your purpose. If you were ordinary, it would swallow you whole, but you have the strength of will and of magic to control it. That is my hope, anyway.”
“Thank you for this, Preceptor. You’ve got no idea what it means to me.”
He sighed. “Don’t make me regret it. If things look bad, come to me—promise me you’ll do that.”
“I promise.”
Harley Merlin 4: Harley Merlin and the First Ritual Page 21