Harley Merlin 6: Harley Merlin and the Cult of Eris
Bella Forrest
Contents
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1. Harley
2. Harley
3. Harley
4. Finch
5. Harley
6. Harley
7. Finch
8. Harley
9. Finch
10. Harley
11. Finch
12. Harley
13. Harley
14. Harley
15. Finch
16. Harley
17. Harley
18. Finch
19. Harley
20. Harley
21. Finch
22. Harley
23. Harley
24. Finch
25. Harley
26. Harley
27. Finch
28. Harley
29. Harley
30. Harley
31. Harley
32. Finch
33. Harley
34. Harley
35. Harley
36. Harley
37. Finch
38. Harley
39. Finch
40. Harley
41. Finch
42. Harley
43. Harley
44. Finch
45. Harley
46. Harley
47. Harley
Read more by Bella Forrest
Copyright © 2019
Nightlight Press
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One
Harley
I wanted to make Wade cry. A searing heat burned in the pit of my belly, my very being buzzing with the vibrations of Chaos.
“You okay?” He sat across from me on a tall stool inside the Luis Paoletti Room. This place was filled with so many good and terrible memories that we should’ve learned by now that only extreme things happened here: kisses and explosions and brushes with death and destruction.
I nodded. “Stop worrying about me and focus on what happened to the president. Think about it clearly and hold it in your mind, or this is never going to work.”
“Whatever you say, boss.” He smiled and closed his eyes. I pushed my newly honed reverse Empathy into Wade. Using my powers like this was dangerous—I felt like I might rip myself apart by accident if I took one wrong step. Go bold or go home, right? I’d been living by that mantra ever since my Light and Dark sides had decided not to tear each other to shreds.
Wade’s smile fell away, his eyebrows knitting together in a somber expression. He opened his eyes slowly, the glitter of tears sparkling in their deep-green depths. A tear fell down the side of his face and stopped at the curve of his kissable lips. Not now, Merlin. I was trying to make him feel sad, not turned on.
“That’s crazy,” O’Halloran whispered from the other side of the room. I’d gotten scarier since my meeting with Echidna and the terrible debacle with the president, and even the likes of O’Halloran had become warier around me. I didn’t like that so much, but I supposed it came with the territory of being way more powerful than my peers.
It had been weeks since the president of the United Covens of America had volunteered his life so we could escape Katherine, thus allowing her to complete the second ritual in her quest to challenge a Child of Chaos. A collective despair had spread across the nation, but magical society as we knew it hadn’t fallen into the disarray we’d expected. There’d been initial riots and public outcry, but that had faded away once the first, knee-jerk shock subsided. In the wake of that, a new leader had stepped up to the plate and brought the nation back from the brink of collapse.
As with any situation like this, the vice president had taken over the running of the UCA—in this case, a woman named Helena Caldwell, who seemed to be as well-loved as President Price had been. She was the hero we’d all needed in the aftermath, even though she was just doing her job. We’d worried that people would join Katherine’s cause out of fear of what she might do, but Vice President Caldwell had rallied everyone back to sanity with her no-nonsense attitude and obvious adoration for the nation she served. She’d reminded everyone of what President Price had wanted for America and what his vision had been, and that did not include bowing to terrorists and psychopaths. Heck, even I’d sat and watched a couple of her speeches over breakfast, and I wasn’t usually a news girl.
“We will not bend to threats of terrorism, and we will not break. We will not tolerate this regime of fear and discord. Utilizing every military force we have, we will ensure that Katherine Shipton does not succeed, not only for our own peace but for the memory of President Price. I assure you that we are working day and night to prevent her from waging her war upon innocent people, and we will triumph over evil.” That had been her last speech to the public, from this morning’s newsreel. She had a way with words, I had to give her that. I just hoped she had the ability to put real action behind them.
Still, even with her guidance, this new terror of Katherine Shipton remained. It was all anyone could talk about. Katherine had instilled a sense of dread amongst the magical community, and it felt like everyone was holding their breath, waiting for her to pop up again and kill someone else. To many people, it was no longer a question of “if” Katherine succeeded in her mission, but more like “when.” I shared that mentality.
Personally, this newly felt terror wasn’t the worst part of the second ritual’s aftermath. After everything that had happened, all eyes in the magical world were firmly on me. I could feel the heat of thousands of glares and whispers, stinging me every day since my Suppressor broke. I’d become notorious, and not in the oh-so-cool superstar kind of way. There’d already been countless letters to the SDC asking that I be put away in a high-security facility until it could be proven that I was safe to be amongst “good people.” Levi had relished telling me about them, letting me know that he happened to agree. At the moment, we were existing in a fragile peace—as long as I did as he asked and didn’t step over the line, I could remain. But those letters were his backup, a threat, to highlight just how serious he was about getting my abilities in order.
“How are you doing that?” O’Halloran’s voice brought me back into the room. Right now, he served as a constant reminder of Levi’s doubt in me, as Levi had assigned O’Halloran to watch over me during any and all training sessions. It was supposedly part of his new role as preceptor, with him having taken over Nomura’s duties until a replacement could be found. Meanwhile, Nomura himself was rotting away in a basement prison cell, inconsolable over losing the chance to save his son. I really did feel bad for him, but remembering what he’d done to me took some of the sting out of my pity. Being forced into astral projection will do that to a girl.
“It’s just Empathy reversed,” I replied, as if it was that simple. Empathy came as naturally as breathing to me, but the reverse version required a lot of mental focus and a bucketload of Chaos energy.
Tears were streaming down Wade’s face now, his shoulders heaving as he sobbed. I was turning the sadness right up to eleven, just to make sure
I was doing it right. But it wasn’t easy to watch the man I loved in pieces, sobbing his heart out in front of me… because of me. If nothing else, this newfound balance had made me understand the subtext in what Marie Laveau and Papa Legba had continuously told me: Nothing comes for free. Now, I was realizing that it meant something far simpler than I’d first understood; it simply meant that everything in this world had consequences. Right now, me using my souped-up skills meant my boyfriend was in tears. Cause and effect, action and consequence.
Feeling slightly guilty about leaving Wade in this state, I slowly drew my reverse Empathy away from him to give him the chance to recover. The sadness faded from his eyes, his body relaxing as the misery I’d caused ebbed out.
“Man, I hope they hurry up and find someone else for this job. I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around all this new stuff.” O’Halloran folded his arms across his chest and heaved out a sigh. “And, to be honest, I’m not a big fan of being a glorified babysitter. No offense.”
I chuckled. “None taken.”
The SDC had become as notorious as its inhabitants, so finding a replacement for Nomura was proving to be difficult. Most magicals wouldn’t touch us with a ten-foot barge pole, what with all the bad news stories surrounding us lately. We weren’t a joke anymore; we were a jinx. Nevertheless, the SDC was known for being the scrappy underdog, and that hadn’t changed a bit. We were still on a mission to stop Katherine. The National Council was giving us absolutely zilch where intel was concerned, choosing to work exclusively with the high and mighty LA Coven, while Levi kept me in the SDC, even when the others were out on field missions. But since when had I let that stop me?
At least that gave me time to think about how to get Finch out of Purgatory and stop Katherine from completing ritual number three. He was the only one who could get me into the Cult of Eris without Katherine and her minions immediately evaporating me, though Wade and the others still weren’t sure it was a good idea to trust him. I wasn’t sure either, but he was our best bet. We couldn’t afford to be cautious anymore, not with Katherine two rituals in and more powerful than ever.
“Well, that was an experience,” Wade said, brushing the tears from his cheeks.
“You can say that again,” O’Halloran muttered.
“You scared of me, O’Halloran?” I teased.
He snorted. “Not in the slightest.”
“You sure about that? Everyone seems petrified of me these days.” I took a deep breath and brought the magic back inside me. “Although, if it wasn’t for me, you’d be out of a babysitting job.”
He laughed. “Levi’s just terrified of powerful magicals. He quakes when he’s around his own kid. Tragic, really.”
“I’m inclined to agree.” Wade took a shaky breath, checking himself over as if to make sure he was all there.
“You really think that’s all this is?” I was genuinely curious. O’Halloran knew more about Levi than any of us, except for Raffe.
“Of course it is.” He waved his hand. “All of this nonsense with you is just a knee-jerk reaction to that power play you made after Echidna. He doesn’t forget things easily, especially not being made to look tiny in front of people he thinks are beneath him. You embarrassed him, and he’s punishing you. Simple.”
“It’s still annoying though, right?” I grinned at him.
“Very annoying, but also pretty interesting,” he replied, glancing at Wade. “Makes you wonder what the hell the California Mage Council ever saw in him in the first place. He’s like a spoiled kid. But, hey, I’m not part of the elite. What would I know? I’ve got no clue how those people make their decisions. It could be names in a hat for all I know.”
Wade smiled. “That would explain a lot of things.”
O’Halloran fixed his gaze on Wade. “That reverse Empathy stuff is pretty neat. I’ve never seen it done before. All my years as a trainer, and I’m still learning.” He seemed pleased by the notion. “You think it would work on me?”
“Only one way to find out.” I turned toward O’Halloran and pushed my Empathy into him, twisting the vibrations of Chaos so my target felt what I wanted him to feel. I had no idea whether this would work, with O’Halloran being a Shapeshifter, but I had to try. “What kind of bees make milk?”
“Harley…” Wade had a warning tone in his voice.
O’Halloran frowned. “I don’t know, what kind of bees make milk?”
“Boobees.” I surged a wave of amusement into him as I delivered the punchline of my favorite dad joke. Within seconds, he’d cracked up so hard that he’d collapsed on the floor in a fit of hysterics, clutching his stomach as he wheezed out laughter.
“Boobees!” Tears streamed down his face as he pounded his fist into the floor, barely able to breathe, he was howling so hard. Wade stared at him as if he’d just lost his mind, while I grinned with satisfaction. My reverse Empathy was definitely taking on some new flavors here, but I didn’t mind using it to make people laugh instead of cry. Especially on a Shapeshifter, as normally I had no way of reading them. Now to see how far I can push it.
“What did you do that for?” Wade asked, smirking at the sight of O’Halloran in hysterics. The guy didn’t laugh a whole lot. I figured he could use a chuckle.
“You’ll see,” I replied, keeping my attention on O’Halloran. “Do you know what progress the National Council has been making with Katherine?” He was psychologically weakened and ridiculously relaxed from all the laughing, which gave me the perfect gateway to ask something important. It had worked with Mallenberg, though I didn’t like to remember that too much, and I hoped it would work with O’Halloran, too.
He held his chest as he spluttered out a few more chuckles. “Boobees, man. That slayed me.” He looked up at me with dopey eyes. “Funny you should mention the National Council; there’s been word from one of our agents that the Cult of Eris might have a mole. We’re due to receive some important intel about the location of the Recruiter’s favorite playground.”
“Playground?” Wade chimed in, now intrigued. See, nothing to worry about.
“Yeah, it’s where their Recruiter goes to meet potential new cult members.” O’Halloran’s expression suddenly changed to one of shock, as if he’d just realized what had come out of his mouth. Immediately, I loosened my hold on him and dragged the Chaos energy back into me, kicking and screaming.
“You okay?” I tried to put on an innocent smile, but I could sense he knew what I’d just done. I’d broken down his defenses and used my reverse Empathy as an interrogation technique. Even O’Halloran, for all his good humor, wasn’t going to take kindly to that. We can’t be cautious. The time for a softly-softly approach was over. And, with Levi keeping me from leaving the SDC, I had to take my shots where I could, even if that ended with me feeling a stab of guilt.
“Fine,” he muttered, as he got up and dusted himself off. “I think that’s enough training for today.”
“But I was just—” I tried to protest, but he cut me off.
“I said that’s enough for today.” He shot me a look that was equal parts sullen and worried. “Don’t breathe a word about what I’ve just said, do you understand? Otherwise, Levi will send you and me to Alaska.”
“I won’t say anything.” I turned to Wade for reassurance, but he looked torn, as if he’d just witnessed something he didn’t quite like. O’Halloran stormed toward the door. I really did feel bad about manipulating someone I respected, but we needed to get this show on the road, and I’d learned something very valuable from it.
So, you’ve got a mole in your midst, Katherine? There was a delicious irony to that.
Two
Harley
“Did you just… interrogate O’Halloran?” Wade asked as we left the Luis Paoletti Room. “I thought the guy had a mind of steel. How did you manage that?”
He stared at me with surprise. Of all the people in the coven, the members of the Rag Team were the only ones who weren’t frightened by me, and I
didn’t want that to change. Especially not with him, not after how far we’d come together.
“You know how people say that dad jokes are a form of torture?” I tried to suppress a smile.
“Tell me you aren’t about to start a new career as a stand-up comic.”
I grinned. “No, but you could say I dad-joked him into submission. Turns out the folks who say that aren’t wrong. In the right circumstances, it gets the job done.”
“I’ve never seen him so pissed off. You really shouldn’t do that without people’s permission.”
“He did give me permission. He asked me to try it on him, remember?” I knew Wade was right, but I wanted to ease the uncomfortable knot in my stomach.
“He won’t make that mistake again.” Wade’s expression turned thoughtful. “So, the National Council suspects there’s a mole in the Cult of Eris…”
“And they’ll be finding out where our favorite lion-woman likes to hang out. O’Halloran called it a ‘playground,’ but that better not be literal. If she’s going after more kids, I’ll wring her furry neck.” I glowered at the thought of Naima.
“Hey, she still has an unfulfilled wish to snap mine, so you’d better get in there first.”
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