Harley Merlin 4: Harley Merlin and the First Ritual

by Forrest, Bella

  Ahead of us stood a set of ruins, with pillars and arches that had once belonged to a greater, more elaborate building. By the looks of it, the roof and most of the walls had caved in a long time ago, leaving nothing but chunks of rubble. Statues with missing limbs flanked the entrance, their sad eyes turned up to the clear night sky. Clearly, we weren’t in Kansas anymore. We weren’t in California, either. Had it not been for the lack of moon, I might’ve guessed that we’d crossed the globe and ended up somewhere in a different time zone. Instead, it looked like we’d entered a completely different world. An otherworld.

  It brought back a vision of my parents’ Grimoire, and the mention of respective dimensions. Whose had we landed in? Judging by the landscape, I wondered if it could be Nyx, given the ethereal nighttime vibes. I stared around in a state of abject awe.

  “Good freaking job, Jacob! Any idea where we are?” I whispered, my voice carrying on the windless air.

  “No idea,” Jacob replied. The others stared at him in wonder, with Raffe even clapping him on the back. He’d done this. He’d made it work! I’d never been prouder, or more afraid. We were in strange territory now. Strange, dangerous, awe-inspiring territory.

  “This place reminds me of the Asphodel Meadows in Greek mythology,” Astrid replied. “It was the realm of the underworld where those who hadn’t done much with their lives went. It was for the ordinary folk—the ones who were neither good nor bad and hadn’t done anything remarkable. It’s described like this, and it would explain the lack of moon.”

  I nodded slowly. “Well… it’s weird.”

  “Why’s it so quiet?” Santana asked, glancing around anxiously.

  “Wait… do you hear that?” Dylan cut in, his eyes darting toward the interior of the ruins. A deep, rumbling percussion pulsed beneath the ground, sounding all the more powerful as it roared through the silence around us. The torchlight in the distance went out.

  “What is it?” Raffe asked. No sooner had he spoken than a pillar of light shot up from the inside of the ruins, behind a wall in the center. Streaked with blue and gold, the spiral of magical energy continued to rise upward, until it sliced through the night itself. It crackled and sparked, twisting like one of Quetzi’s tornados, sending gusts of violent air through the atmosphere.

  “I don’t know what it is, but I’ve got a good guess who it is,” I hissed.

  “Katherine,” Wade said, before I could. “Everyone, come closer.”

  The Rag Team did as he asked, forming a huddle. Fear was written on all of our faces, and I felt the collective bristle of it with my Empathy. I couldn’t blame anyone for feeling completely terrified. I did, too. Here we were, in a strange world, in a different dimension altogether, with nobody coming to rescue us. This was us against Katherine, in the purest form.

  “We need to approach from all sides and do everything we can to stop her from doing… well, whatever it is she’s doing,” Wade said, glancing at every single one of us. “If we all fan out once we reach the ruins, we should be able to sneak up on her. Hopefully, she’ll be too distracted to notice us.”

  “Let’s go,” I urged, my stomach twisting in knots. I wanted to know what she was doing with Quetzi. Judging by the spiraling tornado of raw energy, it didn’t look good for him. Plus, we were evidently in this weird otherworld for a reason. She wouldn’t have come here for the fun of it—there was method in every scrap of her madness.

  We crept toward the ruins, the roar of the energy vortex drowning out our movements. We edged around either side of the ruins, with Wade, Santana, Dylan, Jacob, and I taking the right-hand side, while Raffe, Garrett, Tatyana, and Astrid took the left. The light grew more blinding as we neared the epicenter, swathes of liquid-like glow pooling out of the gaps in the walls. It was all I could do not to burn out my retinas as I peered around the edge of the crumbling exterior. Nerves spiked through every vein as I took in the sight before me, my heart thundering like a stampede of wild horses.

  Katherine stood at the center of the ruins, her arms outstretched in front of a golden altar. Quetzi had been strapped down to a marble slab at the top of the golden altar, his body thrashing as he fought to escape her clutches. Whatever spell she had put on him, it had rendered him helpless.

  Nevertheless, the sparking tornado appeared to be coming from within him, tearing him apart, atom by atom. It was like when the portal had almost disintegrated Jacob, back in the training room, but this was on another level entirely. Each time the vortex ripped deeper into the serpent, it released a flurry of bronze particles, the thunderous energy burrowing into every layer of his being. The particles sank into Katherine’s skin. Her eyes glowed with each addition, her body pulsating with a bronze-tinged light. I could practically see her veins throbbing from where I stood.

  “We have to help him!” I whispered, anger replacing my fear. Who the hell did she think she was, snatching an ancient Aztec creature and defiling him like this? Her disrespect for the lives of others was sickening, and it only got worse with each person she killed.

  “Wait… she’s not alone,” Santana murmured, pointing to a figure lurking in the corner.

  I’d almost missed the creature steeped in shadow. Tall and elegant, with white wings tucked down her back, a Purge beast stood with her muscled arms crossed over a furred chest. Talons tapped at her feet, while her entire body was covered in white fur, her figure and face the unmistakable shape of a tigress. She reminded me of Tobe, only far fiercer. There was anger and pride in the way she carried herself, her muscles twitching as though on constant alert. Bright-yellow eyes peered into the gloom, scanning the surrounding area. We ducked back; I hoped she hadn’t seen us.

  “Who is she?” I whispered.

  Jacob stared at the figure, terror spiking in him. “Could be the Recruiter that Louella told me about.”

  “Recruiter? What Recruiter? I haven’t heard anything about that,” I replied.

  “While we were training the other day, Louella said that Katherine had a right-hand woman, and she was the one who planned out all the magical-kid grabs, and where to look for fresh meat. Although, she said that this woman was always covered head-to-toe in a black cloak, but walked in a weird way. Maybe the talons are the reason she walks funny. I figured Louella would have told you all about her.”

  “This is the first I’m hearing about any Recruiter, though I suppose it makes sense that Katherine has a lieutenant of sorts.” I shuddered. “All I know is she’s going to be a pain to take down.”

  “I agree,” Wade replied. “We need to cause a distraction, so the other team can strike at this Tobe lookalike from behind. Jacob, you should stay out of this one—we’ll need you later. You’re the only one who can get us back. Understood?” His voice carried a warning not to argue, which I was glad of. It sounded silly, with so much danger in front of us, but I didn’t want Jacob getting in harm’s way. He was my responsibility now, and I wouldn’t shirk that.

  “Astrid, you should stay back, too,” I said, turning to her. This was going to get nasty—it wasn’t a fight for a human to get caught up in.

  “Let’s go full force,” Dylan said.

  Wade nodded. “Esprits up and ready.”

  I crouched low and lifted my palms, the pearl of my Telekinesis ability lighting up. I glanced at the lioness beast, preparing to take out her legs so the others could pile in. Katherine was my main focus, but we needed to take out this Recruiter of hers first, if we were to stand any chance of stopping her from completing the spell. Wade’s rings shone red as he readied his Fire, while Dylan pressed his palms to the ground. Behind me, I could hear the whoosh and whisper of Santana’s Orishas. Looking through the gloom, I tried to make out the others on the opposite side, but they were well hidden.

  “Now!” Wade yelled. The four of us lunged forward. Jacob kept behind the wall, a sullen expression on his face. I understood his desire to get involved, but now wasn’t the time. There was already too much at stake.

  I charged
across the ground and lashed my lasso at the lioness’s legs, whipping the invisible rope back and knocking her to the dirt. Before she could get up, Dylan leapt onto her and wrestled her into submission, his hands wrenching her arms up behind her back. She roared in fury, her biceps bulging as she fought back. I wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to hold her. Already, she was thrashing and snapping wildly, Dylan’s expression slightly more panicked than it had been a moment ago.

  Garrett and Raffe joined in against the lioness, while Tatyana made for Katherine. Astrid darted behind the wall, keeping out of the way. I saw the green glint of capture stones as the boys tried to wrestle the Recruiter, but she seemed to be fighting them fang and talon. Wade, Santana, and I made toward Katherine too, using every ounce of our combined strength to try and make a break in the protective wall she’d built around herself. It shimmered and fizzed, but none of our abilities could pierce the outer shell. She’d made herself nice and cozy in there, with Quetzi at the center of it all, losing himself, particle by particle. I could only imagine the pain of it.

  “Here, take one of these!” Astrid shouted, ducking out of her hiding place. She grabbed orb-shaped objects from the bagful of explosive goodies she’d brought from the coven. She hurled one at each of us. “Press the button in the middle and throw them at that force field. Then, run and duck for cover. We’ll have five seconds, maybe.”

  “Maybe?” I glanced at her.

  “They’re prototypes. I didn’t have time to get them fully functioning.”

  I caught mine and looked to the others. “On three! One, two, three!”

  We pressed the central buttons and lobbed them at the force field. Turning on our heels, we sprinted for the nearest piles of rubble and army-rolled behind them. Four seconds later, everything fell deathly silent. The orbs had somehow latched on to Katherine’s protective bubble, each one absorbing sound and light and energy of every kind.

  With a silent explosion, the force field came tumbling down. It evaporated into thin air, leaving only the impact of the tornado as a means of protecting Katherine. She lowered her palms and drew on every scrap of energy that came drifting off Quetzi.

  “From Chaos you were made, and to Chaos you must return. Feed my soul with your ashes,” she cried, the words cold and terrifying.

  We darted out from behind our hiding places, but nothing we did seemed to even touch Katherine, even with the force field gone. My fireballs physically refracted away from the sparking vortex, like magnets bending water. Wade’s fireballs were bending away, too, while Santana’s Orishas were cowering from the magic. Whatever she was using, it was Dark magic. Dylan had tried to send up a quake, but it had dissipated just shy of the altar. The same went for Tatyana’s Water ability, and Garrett’s Fire.

  “Can’t the spirits help us?” I asked Tatyana, as I sent my millionth barrage of fireballs toward Katherine. Not a single one even grazed her.

  “There aren’t any here. There’s nothing but silence,” she explained rapidly.

  “What is she doing?” Garrett muttered.

  “Absorbing Chaos into herself,” Tatyana replied. “I think she might be powering herself up through the first ritual.”

  “Well, we are in one of their dimensions. Louella said these rituals took place on their home turf, with each ritual related to one of the Children,” I replied. “I wonder if step one is the Nyx-related ritual?” I didn’t quite know how, or why, an ancient Purge beast would be related to Nyx, but the location definitely fit.

  Tatyana nodded. “I think you’re right.”

  We continued our onslaught against Katherine, but she was unstoppable. The ritual process was slow, and the peeling away of Quetzi’s atoms was time-consuming, but it didn’t matter. Nothing we did had any effect. However, it looked like we had managed to wrangle the lioness, after a lengthy battle between her, Dylan, Raffe, and Garrett. She was bound in the green ropes of entrapment stones, though struggling to break free.

  “You won’t get through.” Katherine chuckled. “The stage is mine now, and you my rapt audience. You will see me rise before your very eyes. Aren’t you the lucky ones?”

  “Go to hell, you old witch!” I spat back, firing a ball of flames at her.

  An idea popped into my head. If we were going to stop this ritual, we needed to think outside of the box. Ordinary magical abilities weren’t working, which meant it was time for the big guns. Catching sight of Jacob, I tore across the ruins toward him. His eyes were fixed on something at the far edge of the ruins, behind the altar, but I couldn’t quite make out what he was looking at.

  “Jacob, we need you,” I gasped.

  “Isadora…”

  I frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “She’s right there. Don’t you see her?”

  I peered at the spot where Jacob was looking and saw a crouched figure behind a fallen block of pillar. Her hands were bound, and her mouth was gagged, but it was definitely Isadora. I’d have known her profile anywhere. She wasn’t looking at us, her head lolling to one side. It was a worrying sight, but we’d have to deal with it once we’d figured out a way to stop this Quetzi ritual. Those particles were sinking into Katherine’s skin with increasing speed, and I didn’t want to see what happened once she was done with it.

  “We’ll get her out of here, Jake,” I assured him. “But right now, I need you to do something for me, okay?”

  He turned to me nervously. “What is it?”

  “I need you to open a short-range portal to that altar. I’m going to snatch Quetzi. It’s the magic that’s strapping him down, not the rope itself. If I use my Telekinesis, I should be able to swipe him in one go. I’ve seen you do short-range before. You’ve got this, I know you do.” I patted him on the back, my faith unwavering.

  He shook his head. “I don’t know if I can, with all that energy next to the altar.”

  I took him by the shoulders and looked him dead in the eye. “You have to do this, Jacob. Quetzi will die if you don’t, and Katherine will finish this ritual. All you need to do is concentrate and let the Chaos flow through your Esprit. Think of your dad, and of your heritage, and let that guide you.”

  “Do you think my dad ended up here?”

  “I don’t know, but we can always try searching these otherworlds for him, if we survive this. Maybe he’s trapped in one of these places. But you won’t ever find out, unless we put a stop to this right now.”

  “And what about Isadora?”

  “We’ll come back for her, Jake. Even if we can’t get to her now, we’ll find a way.”

  He nodded slowly. “I’ll open it for you.”

  “I knew you would.” I took a step back. “Whenever you’re ready.”

  He lifted his hands, the black stone of his Esprit lighting up. An electrical crackle filled the air around him, bringing with it the scent of a storm as he opened up a portal in front of him. The tear was smaller than his usual creations, the edges vibrating as he stepped into the fabric of time and space. I was about to step toward it when he pushed me backward, diving into it himself. My heart lurched as I watched him go, the portal snapping shut behind him.

  “Jacob, NO!” I roared, but it was too late.

  Another portal opened a short distance away from the altar. Panic shot through my veins. Why, Jacob? Why? A second later, he jumped out and grasped Isadora in his arms, before jumping straight back through the portal he’d just made. I had no idea where they might reappear, but without Jacob we were completely screwed. We’d be stuck here, with no way out.

  “JACOB!” I screamed, unable to believe my eyes. I loved my aunt with all my heart, but she was under Katherine’s spell. Katherine could kill her at any moment. Taking her from this place was futile, without a way of breaking that spell. Plus, we needed to stop Katherine. That was the most important thing. I wanted to throttle Jacob for doing it. I wanted to scream at him until I was blue in the face. Exasperation didn’t even cover it.

  He’d taken Isadora instead, a
nd now we had no way of getting to Quetzi. He’d not only snatched my aunt, but he’d snatched away our only hope.

  “You sneaky little—” Katherine swore loudly, pausing for a moment before returning to the spell. Jacob had taken her only mode of transport, and ours too.

  More to the point, something weird was happening with the interdimensional tear. The vortex was being dragged into the portal itself, attracted to the raw energy that had forged it. Not even Katherine could do anything to stop the blue and gold spiral from seeping into the portal, though I could see her trying to regain control. Suddenly, the portal snapped shut, severing the link to this otherworld, and the raw energy that had been dragged inside.

  In a terrifying nightmare of déjà vu, a thin line of light remained after the portal was shut. It thrummed violently, mixing with some of the vortex, until the jangling, overexcited particles had nothing else to do but explode. A huge blast erupted across the ruins, knocking everyone flat on the ground, while several walls crumbled to dust around us. Raffe barreled into Santana, plucking her out of the way of a falling façade of solid stone. Dylan braced his body over Tatyana’s, taking the pummeling of the tumbling debris. Fortunately, I was nowhere near the falling walls, and Wade was otherwise occupied with being slammed into the ground by the explosion.

  I hit the deck with a painful thud, catching a glimpse of the blast knocking Katherine sideways. A shiver ran up the central column of twisting energy, making it burn red. What the hell does that mean? It couldn’t be good. We’d done something to interrupt an intricate and very powerful spell, and that could only end in destruction when there was a Shipton at the helm.

  With the blast subsiding, I dragged myself to my feet and looked toward the altar. The explosion had done something weird to Quetzi. The serpent’s body was ablaze with blue and gold light, the particles twisting out of him in vine-like wisps instead of handfuls of tiny sparks. Somehow, whatever Jacob had done with the portal had sped up the ritual process. Quetzi was writhing, his mouth snapping silently as the magic disintegrated him, piece by piece. Katherine leaned over Quetzi, absorbing the wisps as they were released, drawing each one into her body much faster, gulping down every drop until there was nothing left.