Harley Merlin 8: Harley Merlin and the Challenge of Chaos

by Forrest, Bella

  “Herman the German, it’s a pleasure to see you again.” I smiled, while the young man struggled against his magical restraints. He wasn’t enjoying himself, but I was. “I trust you’re ready to face your destiny? You made quite the fuss last time I was here, so I hope we won’t be getting any more of that, or I’ll have to dump you in with the rest of them.”

  “You don’t have to do zis, Eris,” he replied. “You don’t have to keep me in zese restraints. My sacrifice is willingly given.”

  “If I let you wander around without restraints, you’d just run off. Everyone says they’ll willingly sacrifice themselves until it comes to the actual moment, and then they get all freaked out, and they start to cry, and it’s irritating for everyone. It’s much better if we all know where we stand. This way, you know what’s coming, and so do I. Everyone’s a winner. You get to be part of a great destiny, and I’m giving you that gift. Not everyone gets to say that.”

  Herman narrowed his eyes. “It is murder! It doesn’t matter how you dress it up. It is murder!”

  Bless, his bluff didn’t work. They never did. Nobody really faced death willingly, not when push came to shove. Even if it was a glorious gift to me.

  “I’m not trying to dress it up.” I flicked my wrist casually. “I know what it is. I just thought you might like me to describe it in a different way, to make it easier to swallow.”

  “You are a murderer! You will pay for zis!”

  I rolled my eyes. “Can someone take him away, please? Put him in with the others. His voice is starting to grate on me. I don’t know if it’s the German thing, or if that’s just how he speaks, but he needs to go.”

  Delphine and Ifrit jumped to it, leading the howling Herman away and shoving him into the clinical expanse beyond the one-way mirror. As soon as he was inside, he hurled himself at the closing door, almost knocking himself out in the process. Why don’t they learn? It was comical, really. I’d watched them all try a thousand ways to escape, but they all ended up in a heap on the floor, in the end. A fitting metaphor for ordinary life. Always trying to achieve something and always falling short. Not my life, naturally, but that was a given—my life was extraordinary, and I was going to get what I wanted, but I couldn’t say the same for these sad sacks.

  “Have you made any progress on the last two?” I turned back to Coral, Bakir, and Naima. My inner circle had shrunk somewhat, thanks to the Tess debacle. Even from the five of them, I only really trusted the women. Men served themselves. They could never fully be trusted.

  Coral shook her head. “We’re working on it, Eris. It won’t be long until we track them down.”

  “Good, it had better not take long. We don’t have time to waste,” I shot back. “And I know I don’t need to tell you what the consequences will be if you fail me. Although, I’ve brought you a little treat, to help you along.”

  “Oh?” Coral sounded surprised.

  Opening out my palms, I delved deep into the interdimensional cache where I’d hidden the magical detector and watched as it appeared. They stared in wonder—they were so easily pleased. I had to admit, the detector was a pretty impressive piece of engineering. And it was all the more impressive, considering what it would get me… those last two magicals. Evasive little worms.

  “What is it?” Bakir asked.

  “It’s a magical detector. I trust you won’t have too much trouble figuring it out, Bakir?” He was supposed to be the brains of the outfit, but he’d yet to prove that formidable IQ to me. I didn’t need a confirmation from MENSA. I needed evidence. Hard, cold facts and practical application. That’s what got my proverbial cogs whirring.

  Bakir dipped his head. “I will begin looking into it immediately, Eris.”

  “Ah, music to my ears.” I handed it to him, and he obediently set it down on one of the laboratory benches to begin his mystical tinkering. Coral joined him, though I didn’t know what use she’d be. All she could do was force blades out of her body, like some sort of spiny hedgehog. Interesting to watch, but not exactly useful unless someone pulled her in for a hug, or she ran full-pelt at an enemy.

  “If I may be so bold, why have you not taken the Grimoire, Eris?” Naima’s voice took me by surprise. “I had thought you might return with it.”

  I whirled around and eyed her darkly. “Isn’t it strange how people say, ‘If I may be so bold’ and don’t wait for a reply to confirm whether they may be so bold? It’s like saying, ‘No offense, but…’ and then saying something highly offensive.”

  Naima looked sheepish. “I meant no offense, Eris.”

  “Well, now that you’ve pointed it out like a gigantic sore thumb, might I be so bold as to remind you that I can’t touch the damn thing?” I replied acidly. “It’s warded against me, the whole thing entirely Katherine-proofed, like I’m a baby trying to get into a drawer full of knives. It’s a sentient being, able to pick and choose whom it allows near. Do I need to tell you, again, what happened to the people I sent after it? Don’t you remember the aftermath of that?”

  It still irked me, even now. All of those cultists, flooding back in failure from New York, with scorched hands and hexed bodies, some of them reduced to jabbering idiots, others missing limbs, others speaking in tongues and seeing things that weren’t there. Some had recovered and were still part of the cult today, providing they hadn’t died in another mission along the way. The rest had been put out to pasture. It was the kindest thing to do.

  Naima shook her head. “No, Eris. I remember well.”

  “Really? Because it seems like your mind’s a bit patchy. I can put you back in your glass box, if you’re still not fully recovered from Tartarus?”

  “No, no, that will not be necessary. I am recovered, I assure you.”

  “Glad to hear it.” I sighed. “Besides, I still need Harley to get into those hidden pages. Do you think I wrecked Odette’s brain for nothing?” I gave a wry chuckle, thinking of the meek little Librarian whose mind I’d torn apart to get to her secrets. “I’m not going to get stuck in some otherworld, like the other Children. I want a physical body, so I need that spell poor Odette told me about. Annoying that it had to be in the same book that those sickening specimens wrote, but there’s a delicious irony to it that tantalizes the soul. That book was never intended to do anything but destroy me, but spells can be altered if you have the right mindset. And there’s one in there that’s vague enough to be changed to suit my needs—Odette revealed it, once she hit breaking point. One to be used by a Child of Chaos, but they clearly didn’t factor in the idea that I will be one of those. Idiots. And since angelic wee Harley is the only one who can read out the spell that will create that divine loophole, I need to keep her around. So, don’t question me again, Naima. Not unless you feel like being domesticated for a bit.”

  I had gone to great lengths to delve into Odette’s mind, and it had paid off enormously. I’d cracked open her brain like a walnut, sifting through the chaff to find the superior wheat—the one thing that would allow me to bridge the gap between the human world and the otherworlds that I’d otherwise end up languishing in.

  Not for me. No thanks.

  The torture had been so intense, making me really flex my brutalizing muscles, but it had been worth the added effort. I could still hear her screams if I closed my eyes and thought about it, like a sweet lullaby to my ears, the soundtrack to my great and wonderful future as a Child of Chaos.

  “I am sorry, Eris.” Naima dipped her head in a bow.

  “I do hate helping that Merlin bitch, though,” I muttered. “Having to pretend to be all sweetness and light is turning my stomach. My fingertips literally itch whenever I’m near her, wanting to squeeze the life out of her. She’s made progress, at least, on one of the spells. A spell that uncovers hidden things.”

  It was an undeniable risk to let Harley keep something that was created to destroy me, which was another little tidbit I’d learned from Odette, but some things were worth a calculated hazard. Having the ab
ility to traverse all worlds was one of those worthy things. And I wasn’t about to let her read out anything that could harm me. What do you take me for?

  Naima frowned. “She has?”

  “Again with the doubt. You’re starting to give me a complex.” I cast her a warning look. “Alton might have a solution. Harley’s already approached him, so everything is moving along nicely. It’s funny, really, that Alton would be willing to step into the darkest realms imaginable, all for the sake of destroying me. And he’s given me all that hassle for rule-breaking. Tut-tut. The hypocrisy!”

  “That is good news, Eris.”

  “Yes, it is. See, there’s benefit to keeping the Grimoire around, in the hands of someone who can actually use it, as long as it’s somewhere I can keep an eye on it. Imogene is paying dividends,” I replied, with a chuckle. “These people don’t realize that everything they’re doing to stop me is actually helping me in the long run. It’s poetic, it really is.”

  Naima bowed her head. “I am sorry to have questioned you.”

  “Well, maybe I should do some questioning of my own. Namely, I’d like to know where you’re up to on number eleven. The time is a-ticking on finding these last rare magicals.” I tapped my wrist, though I wasn’t wearing a watch. Time was a human construct that I didn’t much care for.

  “I am endeavoring to find the eleventh, Eris,” she said.

  “Then endeavor away. Don’t let me stop you. I have an idea of who I might like to complete my dozen, but it wouldn’t hurt to pick up some extras, if you can manage that.”

  Naima bowed. “Of course, Eris.”

  The cult had access to sensitive information from all the covens, all across the globe, now. With the magical detector in our hands, too, we had no excuse for not being able to find the right people for the last part of the Challenge, before that ridiculous clock ran out. I might not have been one for the construct of time, but Chaos was a sucker for it.

  Five

  Katherine

  I sat in the Eris Island Bestiary, tending to my pretties. There was something simple and comforting about gargoyles. They did what I asked and never questioned me.

  Blind obedience was always a preferable quality, and that was the trouble with the more sentient kind of Purge beast, like Naima. She was loyal to me, but she had thoughts of her own. They needed to be kept in check, unlike with these beautiful creatures. Even now, I had one gargoyle doing loop-the-loops, just because I’d made it. It didn’t talk back, it just did.

  This ability reminded me of what I was reaching toward—the goal of turning everyone on this planet into a variation of these gargoyles. Obedient to a fault, doing whatever I asked, whenever I asked.

  I was slightly concerned that Harley might delve into her version of this ability—that she could control Purge beasts. It disappointed me to think of what she might have been if I’d managed to get to her before the SDC had. I could’ve had a readymade sidekick. And it would have been so damn easy. I could have layered the family angle on thick and given her the mom she’d never had, even though the whole maternal thing didn’t come too naturally to me. She’d have lapped from my palm like a kitty. You screwed me over on that one, Hiram. Another strike to add to his extensive list.

  I supposed her ability to control Purge beasts was a minor inconvenience, at best, considering the power I’d amassed. It was pretty much impossible to stop me now. Harley and her little buddies had failed countless times. Even they had to know it was pointless now, though they continued to flog that poor, dead horse. I wasn’t worried, though. I’d thought of everything. As soon as she’d uncovered the Grimoire’s secrets, I’d make my move, binding her to my will to ensure she only read out the things I needed her to. Namely, the body spell Odette had revealed to me under the breaking point of her torture.

  “I’ve taken all the right precautions,” I said to my gargoyles. “I’ve made the right moves and put the right people under my influence. I’m the queen on the board, and we’re edging toward checkmate. I’m so close now, my friends. So close.” My insides were buzzing at the prospect of completing the Challenge, as if my cells had been replaced with hornets.

  Seriously, this power inside me was addictive. I’d never been one to drink or play with recreational drugs, since that just turned people into uninhibited idiots who ended up naked or making terrible life choices, but I imagined this was what it felt like to be high. All the rush, none of the comedown. I’d never needed any social lubricant to be the life and soul of the party, and I didn’t need it now. The only trouble was, despite the strength growing within me, it had its limits. At least until I ascended.

  Everyone had always identified Hester as the social butterfly—the lauded sister who never did wrong—but I was the one people talked about. I was the one they stared at, whenever there were parties or dinners. I knew how to make an entrance, and I knew how to keep their attention. I was the one making people howl with laughter, and the one who could charm the bigwigs with my sharp mind. Even at eighteen, the old director of the New York coven would push me toward visiting guests, knowing I’d be able to win them around to whatever grant or loan he was trying to squeeze out of them. And, man, I could flirt my way around a crowd like nobody’s business. A flutter of the eyelashes, a graze of my lip, a well-timed chuckle, and those men were putty in my hands. Although, that had always been my last line of defense, if the rest hadn’t worked.

  And yet, people would just harp on about how sweet and beautiful Hester was. When she was standing beside me, it was like I suddenly became invisible. It never made sense to me, since we looked so similar. What had she had, that I hadn’t? I was smarter, I was feistier, I was more vibrant. But everyone preferred her. She’d taken everything from me: my future career in the coven, my family’s respect… and Hiram. It only seemed right that I should’ve taken everything from her, too. Divine justice. I’d spoken to her while she was imprisoned in that jar quite a few times, but Hester hadn’t been particularly forthcoming with her replies. Stubborn as ever.

  That’s something they never teach you when you’re young—people turn on women so quickly. One rumor, one affair, one spread of gossip, and that’s it. Game over. Everything you’ve built gets torn down. I was called jealous and spiteful, and even my family turned against me, because they thought I was overreacting, and that I ought to “get over it” where Hiram was concerned. They didn’t know I had a baby growing inside me, because of him. They didn’t get that I was mad because of that—because he’d cast me and my child aside, as if I were yesterday’s news, all for perfect freaking Hester. I could’ve told them, I could’ve told Hiram, but they didn’t deserve the truth by that point. They’d already shown their true colors toward me, and I’d painted the walls with those colors.

  Black Christmas, the papers had called it. Santa had left a little more than anyone had expected that Christmas morning, although red has always been a delightfully festive color. The shock on their faces when I killed them was the funniest part. It was like, even then, they couldn’t understand it. They couldn’t understand why I hated them so much. They’d turned me out of their house, and their hearts, and they still thought they were free of guilt, and that I’d just roll over and take it. Like their deaths weren’t inevitable, after the way they’d treated me. My mom had even gone so far as to call me insane and suggest I be committed to a mental hospital, after I fought with Hester and Hiram in my childhood home. The fight that had resulted in me being thrown out. And yet, her eyes were the widest when I ended her life.

  I’d never missed my grandfather more than in that moment, when I’d murdered them all—all but the two I’d wanted to kill the most. I’d saved them for last, so I’d have the delicious pleasure of seeing Hiram kill his dearest love. My grandpa would have backed me. He’d have understood. Hell, he’d have probably helped me kill them, if I’d asked. He’d have said, “They deserved it.” He was the only one who believed I could achieve anything. The rest just wanted to hold me b
ack and see me squashed under the success of everyone else, letting Hester run out in front while I lagged behind. Letting her take Hiram while telling me I was crazy not to just forget about him, as if I’d been nothing more than a plaything to him. Well, I was showing them.

  I often thought about Hiram when I’d looked at Finch. They didn’t look so similar that it hurt every time, but maybe that was because the memory of Hiram’s face had faded with the years. Still, there were aspects of Finch’s character that reminded me of Hiram, a few glimpses of his father in his features. That was the worst part—trying to love something that brought back so many uncomfortable memories.

  Finch had never stood a chance of being loved. I didn’t have that emotion in me. I’d thought I’d loved Hiram, but when he left me for my sister, that semblance of a feeling disappeared forever. Love just made people weak, and I wasn’t weak. It had even weakened Finch, who should’ve been the formidable sidekick I needed. His desperation for affection had always been nauseating, but it’d been useful for a while. Now, Harley had manipulated that need in him and managed to win him over. And Hiram was still coming out of this whole thing smelling of roses. Finch didn’t blame his dear old papa for his shortcomings—he blamed me, instead. I’d offered him everything on a silver platter and given him chance after chance to make amends, and he’d thrown it back in my face.

  “I know I tried to have him killed, and that was wrong of me, but I never really wanted him dead. I suppose I should’ve gone about things differently. If I had, he might still be on our side, no persuasion necessary,” I said to the gargoyles. “But now, he’s becoming a problem. A big one.”

  At least I’d had the common sense to keep him in the dark about a few things. If there was one thing I’d learned, it was that family could turn on a person in an instant, same as anyone else. Finch had proven my point, though he could probably say the same about me. It was better that I’d kept my cards close to my chest, hiding a few aces from my son. He didn’t know I was Imogene, which might have been the biggest ace I had to play. That reminds me… I had a loose end to tie up.