Harley Merlin 8: Harley Merlin and the Challenge of Chaos

by Forrest, Bella

  “But why didn’t I Purge right after?” I couldn’t understand why it’d chosen now to manifest.

  Tatyana joined him. “It doesn’t always happen like that. Sometimes, it can be a strong reaction, or a lot of pain, or even a moment of pure joy. You’ve gone through the first two today. Combined with the residual effects of the Hidden Things spell, it’s not surprising that it hit you like that.”

  “It came from anger?” I thought about Katherine and all the hate for her that burned inside me.

  “Or grief,” she replied. “You had to see some terrible things today. They were bound to take their toll, one way or another.”

  “Wait, does that mean that’s an angry Purge beast?” Dylan frowned.

  Santana lifted the jar. “Looks pretty peeved to me.”

  “The timing may be perfect,” Krieger said. “A beast like that would be very useful in the ongoing fight against Katherine. It transcends Chaos, in a way. And if it is filled with the anger and grief that Harley has been feeling, due to Katherine’s actions, then it may already have an innate desire for vengeance against her.”

  “A big old ball of pure hatred.” Finch grinned. “Way to go, Sis. I knew you couldn’t be all sunshine and rainbows.”

  I forced a smile. “When have I ever been sunshine and rainbows?”

  “Good point.” He chuckled, the sound comforting to my ears.

  “We just have to hope it isn’t powerful enough to break through the glass,” Krieger warned.

  “It could do that?” Levi squeaked from his hidey hole.

  Krieger shrugged. “At this point, I have no idea what this creature is capable of. But we must be prepared for any eventualities.”

  “That’s not the only thing we have that might be useful,” I said, gaining strength from Wade’s arms.

  “What do you mean?” He gazed down into my eyes.

  “We’ve got one last sliver of hope.” I raked in a breath. “The Grimoire. I still have it.”

  “But I thought that was what Katherine wanted from you,” Astrid replied.

  I nodded. “It is, but it doesn’t change the fact that she’s terrified of it. There are things in here that can still be used against her. And I know it’s got something to do with the last spell my dad put in here. I think we may have another sliver of hope, too.”

  “What is it?” Wade brushed his thumb across my cheek.

  “Davin,” I replied.

  Finch’s face instantly changed. “That British asswipe? Are you kidding? He’s Katherine’s lackey. You saw him. He came running after us the minute Katherine said ‘jump’ to him.”

  I shook my head. “Not immediately. He hesitated, and I don’t know why. I’m not saying he’s remotely trustworthy, but there’s got to be a reason he just stood there. I can’t explain it, but I think he let us get away.”

  “Pfft, he was probably just limbering up,” Finch muttered. “Making sure he didn’t pull one of his precious hamstrings.”

  “I’m not saying he’s switched sides, but he’s an opportunist. A dangerous one, for sure, but he wants to be on the winning team. If he hesitated, then maybe he’s wondering if he picked the right side. That doubt might be useful. It might be the chink in Katherine’s armor that we’re looking for, especially considering Katherine goes all goo-goo eyed at the sight of him,” I said.

  Finch shook his head. “I’ve never seen Katherine go goo-goo eyed in my entire life.”

  “Then you haven’t been paying attention when she’s with Davin.”

  “Ugh, she always had the worst taste in dudes.” Finch looked suddenly sheepish. “Our dad aside, of course.”

  “Well, for her, he was a bad choice,” Santana interjected.

  I glanced around the room at my friends, my chest gripping with regret. “I suppose I owe you all an apology, don’t I?” I lowered my gaze again. “I’m sorry for trying to keep you all in the dark. It wasn’t my decision to make, not really, but I made it with the best intentions.”

  “You don’t owe us an apology, Harley,” Tatyana replied. “We were miffed when we found out, sure, but you had your reasons and you explained them. We understand why you did what you did. I imagine every single one of us would’ve done the same thing in your position.”

  I groaned. “And now you’re being nice about it.”

  She chuckled. “You heard something none of us did when you spoke with the Chains of Truth. We weren’t there to reassure you it wouldn’t happen. Fear and love make us all do crazy things. You made your decision because you were afraid we’d get hurt, or worse. It doesn’t mean we weren’t mad, but it makes things easier to understand.”

  “And we’ll just forget about what you said during your pre-Purge outburst.” Finch winked. “I mean, you were really taking us all to the cleaners.”

  “Although, you made some good points,” Raffe interjected. “We shouldn’t be wallowing. And we shouldn’t be letting our emotions bog us down so we can’t find the drive to carry on.”

  “Plus, we’d definitely be monsters if we bore a grudge, after everything you’ve been through today.” Santana grinned at me. “Heck, you could’ve called every single one of us a pendejo, and we’d still have to forgive you after the things you’ve seen.”

  I smiled halfheartedly. “I’m still sorry.”

  “And we still forgive you,” Garrett replied.

  “Maybe things would’ve been different if I’d brought you all in on what I was doing.” I sighed wearily.

  “I doubt it,” Astrid said. “Wade would certainly be dead if you’d taken him with you. So maybe your decision was the best one to make, given the circumstances.”

  Finch nodded. “You’d have been sad if any of us had been killed, but we’d be mopping you up right now if she’d done anything to Wade.”

  “You’d be mopping me up if she’d done anything to any of you,” I insisted. “None of you are expendable. None of you.”

  “I still don’t think it would’ve made a difference,” Astrid continued, her voice oddly empty. “Katherine had played us as Imogene for much too long. She knew everything. We voluntarily told her everything. We didn’t really stand a chance.”

  “Maybe you’re right.” I leaned into Wade’s chest, just as he drew in a sharp breath, his whole body stiffening unexpectedly. My head whipped around as the rest of the Rag Team froze, a look of horror etched across their faces. I was about to ask what was wrong, when something slammed into my chest, pushing the air right out of my lungs.

  Chaos thrummed inside me, in a sudden, almost panicked pulse. I felt it leave, ripping away like wax strips tugging at my skin. It hurt, it really hurt, and it took a moment for me to fully realize what had happened.

  The magic was going out of us, one by one.

  Forty-Seven

  Harley

  “Raffe? Raffe, what’s happening?” Santana reached out to him, the two of them clinging to each other as the magic drifted away.

  “I don’t know, I don’t know,” he replied frantically, clutching her tighter.

  “My Chaos… it’s gone.” Tatyana patted herself down, practically tearing at her skin. “Why can’t I feel it anymore? I can’t hear the spirits. I can’t see them.”

  Dylan held her wrists. “I don’t know, Taty. Please, you have to stop. Stop or you’re going to hurt yourself.”

  “How can I stop?” she screamed. “It’s gone, Dylan!”

  “I know, Taty. I know.” He let her sink into his arms, holding her as he visibly struggled with his own realization. We had all lost our Chaos.

  Garrett was staring blankly ahead, while Astrid looked around in confusion, not understanding what was happening. Levi was trembling in the corner, though that wasn’t anything new, while O’Halloran was just looking down at his hands like they didn’t belong to him. Finch had gone deathly silent, a look of pure hatred setting his eyes alight, and Krieger was still seeing to Alton, as though he hadn’t even noticed anything had happened. I guessed this was his
defense mechanism—keep working and you could pretend everything was okay.

  I peered up at Wade, who was looking right back at me, terror and panic glinting in his eyes. My heart felt like it was about to break, my mind desperately reaching for any spark of Chaos that remained. I tried to delve deep inside myself, but nothing happened. It was like a huge wall had gone up, and I couldn’t get through. Worse still, my body felt physically drained, my veins crying out for something that used to be there.

  “Wade?” I whispered, my eyes wide.

  “I know. I feel it too,” he replied, his voice shaking. He already had enough to deal with, without this. But he was trying to be strong—I could see it in the twist of his features, as he fought with his emotions.

  “It’s gone.” I kept expecting it to keep hurting, but I just felt… empty.

  He nodded. “I can’t feel it anymore. I can’t feel any of it.” He lifted his hands and closed his eyes, but his Esprit’s ten rings stayed dull, refusing to light up. I did the same with my Esprit, convinced there had to be a shred of something left, but the gems were just gems now, the Esprit just a useless piece of jewelry that served no purpose.

  “I knew she’d do this,” Finch muttered. “I knew it.”

  I was so shocked I couldn’t even cry. I could hardly breathe. It was like being told a loved one had died, but the words hadn’t quite sunk in yet. It was that terrible precipice on which everyone teetered, right before their lives changed forever. And I was teetering now, about to topple right over the edge.

  A sharp gasp stole my attention away from the devastation that surged inside me. Jacob sat bolt upright, sucking in deep breaths, his eyes wide and confused as he looked around. I leapt out of Wade’s arms and ran to him, putting my arm around him to keep him sitting up. He stared at me, his mouth opening and closing.

  “Jacob?” I urged.

  “I… I heard it all,” he wheezed. “I… heard… everything.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I… heard everything. I was… conscious… inside here.” He reached up a shaky hand and tapped the side of his head.

  My heart lurched as I pieced together what he meant. He’d been awake, on the inside, this whole time. Had Katherine said something to him while she was masquerading as Imogene? What did he know? I was desperate to ask, but I didn’t want to rush him. He’d been out cold for a long time, and it would take him a while to get everything back in working order.

  “Tell me what you heard,” I said. “Take it slow. In your own time.”

  “Katherine… I heard everything. She took… your Chaos,” he rasped. “And I… know why.”

  “Why?”

  “Taking Chaos was… always the first thing… on her to-do list.” He dragged in another stilted breath. “She still needs you. She still… needs your body, but… it’s still… viable without your Chaos. She’ll give… it back when… she gets you to… read for her. There are powerful things… that exist, even without Chaos. Your bloodline… is one of them. But she will… get you to read the spells… when the time comes. She can’t continue to exist, the way she wants… without you. Sooner or later, she will… find you, and she will take you. So she can fulfill her… wish of pouring her new self… into you.”

  I shook my head. “We’re safe here, for now.”

  “No, we’re not,” Santana replied, tears streaking her face. “All of the Chaos is gone, which means my parents’ charms won’t work anymore. I don’t know if there’s anywhere safe now.”

  “There’s more,” Jacob murmured, getting stronger. “Katherine is going to reassign Chaos to those she… deems worthy—those in her cult. Soon enough, when she’s… ready, she’ll reveal magic to the humans across the globe, looking to… blend the two worlds of human and magical into… one.”

  I held my nerve. “As long as I’m away from her, we’ve still got a chance.” I had no idea if that was true, but I had to put on a brave face.

  My eyes drifted toward the Grimoire sitting on the floor by the sofa. I had all these insane spells to use against Katherine, but no Chaos to actually perform them. Hope slipped away like sand through my fingers. Isadora was dead again, never to be resurrected. Alton was likely on the verge of death, already comatose, with Krieger unable to rouse him. The world was completely without magic, if only temporarily.

  My gaze fixed on Raffe, a thought emerging. “Raffe?”

  He turned. “What?”

  “How’s Kadar?”

  He frowned and closed his eyes. “Still here.”

  “How about his djinn energy?”

  “Still going strong, sweet-cheeks.” Kadar’s voice echoed back.

  I looked to Levi. “Is Zalaam still with you?”

  “I… I think so,” he replied.

  “I am here.” Zalaam’s voice boomed out a second later. “And my energy is untouched.”

  It looked as though the Levi men had managed to retain their natural Chaos, despite Katherine’s attempts to drag everything away from the magicals. All that slipping hope reversed, filling me up with a bright, burning faith that it wasn’t quite over yet. It can’t be over yet. As long as there was still some magic in this world that didn’t belong to Katherine, we still had a shot. A slim one, but a very real one.

  If the djinn were still going strong, then that meant their connection to Erebus was undisturbed, separate from all the rest of this global mayhem. I didn’t know if there were other beings like the djinn, who were connected to other Children of Chaos in the same way, but that didn’t matter too much.

  If I was going to get to Katherine, and stop her, then I needed the other Children of Chaos. Somehow, I would have to reach out to them and get them to intervene. Maybe they could give me some sort of mojo that would allow me to perform the Grimoire’s hidden magic. I didn’t know if that was even possible, but I had to try. If the djinn could contact Erebus, then that ticked one off the list.

  “Your Purge beast is going wild,” Krieger said, his eyes fixed on the jar.

  “Do you think it can sense what just happened?” Wade replied.

  I shrugged, getting closer to the jar so I could see the swirling creature better. What if… “If my Purge beast is still here, that means Katherine couldn’t take its Chaos away. Which means she couldn’t take it away from the other beasts, either. I mean, they’re made from the stuff, right?”

  Krieger nodded. “Right.”

  “Then we’re not defeated yet,” I said, with a smile. “We might not have magic anymore, but there are still beings in this world who have it by the bucketload. The djinn, Tobe, and even Leviathan could help us, if we’re feeling particularly brave. And maybe this little beauty can help us, too, if there’s a way of taming it.”

  The Rag Team gathered around the Mason jar.

  “Is that possible?” Garrett asked.

  I shrugged. “We’ve got no magic, but that doesn’t mean we can’t use magic against Katherine. We have to find a way—through the remaining Children of Chaos, through the monsters, through those weapons you nicked, and through every single supernatural thing on the fringes, out there in the world. We have to rise up in the only way we can.”

  “One little problem with that,” Raffe said. “The Children of Chaos can’t intervene. It’s Chaos—”

  I cut him off. “Please don’t say ‘Chaos rules,’ or my head is going to explode.”

  “Okay, I won’t say it,” he replied warily. “But the fact remains.”

  I collapsed in hysterics, laughing like a madwoman.

  “You okay there, Sis?” Finch gaped at me.

  “The Challenge is over,” I said, wiping tears from my eyes.

  “And?” Raffe waited expectantly.

  “The other Children of Chaos couldn’t intervene in the Challenge, that’s true. But the Challenge is over, it’s complete. Now, there’s nothing stopping the Children of Chaos from reacting or finding ways to punish Katherine.”

  Krieger shook his head. “But Children can
’t kill other Children.”

  “Who said anything about killing?” I smirked. “They don’t need to kill her, not when I’m planning on having that particular pleasure. But nothing says they can’t help magicals like us defeat Katherine. After all, Chaos channeled itself through my mom and dad to write the Grimoire spells. It left a couple of windows open where the doors were shut.”

  Finch chuckled. “Holy crap, I think you’re on to something. How the heck did you manage that?”

  “Desperation,” I replied simply.

  Katherine had tried her hardest to crush me into smithereens, but I had news for her: I wasn’t broken yet.

  Forty-Eight

  Katherine

  I stood in the smoking remains of the Garden of Hesperides and stared at my reflection in the mirror that I’d erected, right in the middle of the ravaged battlefield. Beauty amidst the wreckage, in an act of poetic glory.

  I’d decided to take a moment for myself, to check the proverbial damage, while my cult members branched out to look for Harley, all of them disappearing through portals I’d made until there was nobody left. Well, nobody but Davin.

  I’d instructed my cultists to scour the entire planet until they found my little niece. They knew the consequences of failure. I’d already proven my might by stripping them of their magic, although I’d given just enough back for them to complete this task. Their faces when I’d taken their Chaos had been a wondrous thing that would ease me to sleep at night, like a steaming mug of hot cocoa. The shock… the blissful, beautiful shock.

  But I was currently the one getting a nasty shock as I looked over my reflection. My body was already beginning to suffer the effects of having so much power inside me. Children of Chaos weren’t supposed to have solid forms, and that was making itself flagrantly understood. My smooth, diaphanous, painstakingly primped skin was starting to crack. A black, oily substance oozed through the cracks, as if I’d been overstuffed and it had nowhere else to go.