Harley Merlin 6: Harley Merlin and the Cult of Eris

by Forrest, Bella

  The others were huddled in the blind corner, keeping out of sight of the cameras. I pushed down on the device’s blue button, just as Astrid had instructed. It sparked for a moment before the light glowed in the gloomy light.

  “The cameras should be on a new loop,” I whispered.

  “Should be?” Finch arched an eyebrow.

  “Well, seeing as we can’t actually check the camera footage, we have to hope for the best.” I nudged him out of the way and took a step farther into the storage room. “Storage room” was a misnomer, as the space before us stretched out like a warehouse, with shelves upon shelves of belongings.

  Finch whistled. “Imagine what we could find in here.”

  “Your Esprit. Nothing else. You’re with me so I can keep an eye on you.” I took him by the wrist and dragged him toward the right-hand side of the storage facility. “Wade, Jacob, you take the other wall. We’re looking for a copper-colored, custom lighter, if memory serves.” I was aware that there would likely be guards on the other side of the main door, and someone could easily step in at any moment. So we had to be quick and quiet—two things that didn’t seem to fit with Finch’s character.

  Wade opened his mouth to protest, but he quickly shut it again. We needed to find this Esprit as quickly as possible, and splitting up was the best way to do that. As he walked toward the far shelves with Jacob beside him, I felt a wave of disappointment and concern flow away from him, finding its way to me. I didn’t know if he was doing it deliberately, but it still made me sad. I didn’t want to go on this dangerous mission without him, and it would hurt like heck to be separated, not knowing if I’d make it back from the cult in one piece.

  “Aw, sweet of you to remember.” Finch chuckled to himself, breaking my train of thought.

  “Better the devil you know, right?”

  “Devil?” he tutted. “I thought we were over that.”

  I frowned at him. “Old habits die hard.”

  “Any more sayings you want to throw at me? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder? Keep your enemies close? Don’t eat yellow snow?”

  A small smile crept onto my lips. “I’m still getting used to the fact that we’re working together. It’s a little weird right now, but I’m sure it’ll get easier.”

  “Not where we’re going,” he replied. “But I get what you mean. I’m still pretty surprised you came for me. It’s not like anyone else has bothered.”

  “Well, I’m not like her.”

  He turned his gaze away for a moment, his expression suddenly unreadable. “No, you aren’t. It’s probably one of the only likable things about you.”

  I laughed. “You don’t get to choose your family, right?”

  “Another excellent choice in the book of terrible sayings. Almost as bad as ‘blood is thicker than water.’ I’m glad you didn’t go for that one, ’cause then I’d have had to reconsider.”

  I was surprised by how funny he could be, even if I was the butt of his jokes. “Come on, let’s find this lighter before the loop runs out.”

  I began to scour the shelves for the familiar copper lighter I’d seen him with in the SDC, what felt like forever ago. There was so much stuff here that I was starting to worry we might never find it. Finch, on the other hand, seemed as cool as a cucumber.

  “So, you ended up in the foster system, right?” he asked as he casually sifted through the endless belongings of every prisoner who’d ever been in here.

  I shot him a warning look. “Yeah. Why do you ask?”

  He shrugged. “Just curious about you. Making up for lost time… or something like that.”

  I supposed, given the circumstances, it couldn’t hurt to get to know each other better. After all, we’d be spending a lot of time with each other in the near future.

  “I was left at an orphanage when I was around three, and I stayed in foster care until I moved out on my own at eighteen. I moved from family to family, but I usually ended up back where I started. The last family was the exception, but I got to them too late.” I smiled wryly at him. “The damage had been done, so to speak.”

  “Probably better than being raised by a stranger and getting snatched away by a psycho at sixteen, though,” he replied.

  “You definitely beat me on that one.” I never thought I’d ever have a reason to count myself lucky for being in foster care, but at least I hadn’t been brainwashed and tormented by the one person who was supposed to love me unconditionally. Even though I couldn’t sense Finch’s emotions, I didn’t need my Empathy to know what he was feeling. It was written all over his face, in the pain that lingered behind his eyes and the last frosty-white tips of his old hair, reminding me of the person he’d been; it was the unresolved bitterness and anger that I also felt burning away inside me.

  There might be hope for you yet, Finch. Not that I was ready to trust him completely. With or without Katherine’s influence, he would always be a remarkably selfish person. He wasn’t fooling anyone with his “I accept your terms” façade. Even before I’d told him the terms of the deal, I knew he wouldn’t go back to Purgatory without a fight. However, if I was going to get him to do things the proper way, to make amends for the terrible things that he’d done, then I needed to win him over. I needed to make him realize that he still had penance to pay. I just didn’t know how I was going to do that yet.

  “Found it!” Finch grasped at a plain black box on one of the lowest shelves and shoved it in my face. His name was scrawled across a label in bright red ink, only it wasn’t the name I’d gotten used to. “They used Anker instead of Shipton. Names are funny, aren’t they? They hold a ton of power, even without us knowing.”

  I froze at his words. There was no way he could have known about the promise that I’d made to Echidna, about letting her name my firstborn child. To be honest, I hadn’t given it much thought myself since I’d accepted her deal, but now everything came rushing back in a nauseating wave. I mean, it wasn’t as if I was planning on having kids anytime soon. But what if I did want them, one day? What would Echidna’s name do? Would it hold some kind of power, too?

  I shrugged it off, knowing I had years before I had to worry about it. “Is your Esprit in there?”

  Finch flipped the lid and took out the lighter, igniting it. “Yep. Good to go.”

  “Jacob, Wade, we have it!” I hissed across the warehouse, still conscious that there might be guards stationed outside the main door. The two of them reappeared shortly after, their faces streaked with dirt from the belongings that had been left to gather dust.

  “You found it?” Wade asked.

  I nodded. “We should probably skedaddle before someone comes in.”

  “Agreed. Jacob, can you portal us back to the infirmary?”

  “On it. Although, we should probably get away from all this stuff.” He hurried back toward the corner where we’d entered the room. With a rush of air, a portal burst into life, the edges of the gaping mouth thrumming with Chaos energy. I jumped through first, dragging Finch with me, while Wade and Jacob brought up the rear.

  We staggered back out into the familiar surroundings of the SDC infirmary, and Jacob zapped the portal shut. Dr. Krieger was waiting for us in the middle of one of the empty wards and ushered us hurriedly into his office, before closing the door behind him. On the workbench in front of him, two strange objects caught my eye. They were orb-shaped and no bigger than a baseball, with bright colors swirling within an outer casing of gold and glass.

  My mouth fell open. “You got them?”

  “Yes, but I could only find two.” Krieger glanced at Finch, who was observing the two orbs intently. “However, I’m not sure we should discuss this in front of him.”

  “He’ll need to know how to use these things, so you might as well. No point hiding anything from him now.” I sighed and set myself down on one of the stools around the workbench. Wade sat beside me, while Jacob and Finch took up the last two stools.

  “Well then… There’s one for you and
one for our reformed criminal.” Krieger’s German accent held an edge of sass that made me smile. “They were procured at very great expense, I might add. I have been assured that they’re the real deal—Ephemeras aren’t easy to come by these days, as so few of them were made.”

  “Are they ready to use?” I reached out to touch one, but a warning look from Krieger made me withdraw my hand. “I thought they were supposed to be gemstones?”

  “They’ll be ready after you channel your magic into them, whenever you decide you’re ready to proceed with that process. And you are quite right—the gemstones are inside the orbs, which provide a protective casing that should slip through any radar. It will also mean the size can be changed, to make them even less noticeable. I will need to know what your plans are so that I can fill each Ephemera with the power you require—provided we have a magical here at the SDC who possesses that ability,” he explained.

  “And the ability can only be used once, right?” I knew enough about them from Isadora, but I’d been doing some research of my own, ever since I’d decided that breaking Finch out was the right thing to do. Ephemeras were rare artifacts, as the art of making them had long been lost. They were highly sought after, but only a few people still knew where to find one. I guessed Krieger’s success had something to do with Cabot’s shop in Waterfront Park, but I didn’t like to pry too much. Still, from what I knew, the ability that got poured into them could only be used one time, making the objects powerful but very temporary.

  Krieger nodded. “That is correct, although they may react differently with you, Harley. You might get more time out of a single use. I’ve tried to tamper with them both, to give boosted abilities, but it will remain to be seen if that works out.”

  “Cool, we’ve got a few things to go over before we need these, but we’ll give you plenty of time to get them up and running before we leave,” I said.

  “The more time, the better.”

  “Noted.” I looked at Wade. “We should probably check in and see what the others are doing so I don’t randomly end up crossing paths with my duplicate and get Levi’s panties in a bunch.”

  “Good thinking.” He took out his phone, dialed a number, and put it to his ear. “Astrid? Yeah, we’re back. Do you know where Harley’s duplicate is? Have them bring the duplicate over to the infirmary so we can avoid the real Harley bumping into the duplicate Harley. We won’t need the duplicate of Harley to leave the infirmary, so it’ll just be a one-way trip. Great, thanks, Astrid. See you soon.”

  I put my thumb up. “All good?”

  “Astrid is going to get Dylan and Tatyana to bring the duplicate to the infirmary once she’s finished checking the dark web for cult movements, and I’m about to phone Santana and get her and Raffe to come here, too.”

  “Why won’t we need my duplicate anymore?” If this new, improved version was anything like Finch’s duplicate, nobody would be able to tell the difference.

  “We can’t afford to have the duplicate slip up, not with Levi watching so closely. It can stay here, under Krieger’s watch, until we need it again.”

  I nodded, knowing he was right. “I’m still working on a good excuse. We have to make this watertight.” I looked around the room, noticing one figure was missing. “What about Isadora? Is she coming?”

  “She’s with Alton and Levi, keeping the old Grinch busy.”

  Finch snorted. “Isadora is here?”

  “Where else would she be?” I shot back.

  “I thought she’d be chained up in one of Katherine’s cages by now. If she’s really here, why isn’t she running miles away from this place?”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “What do you mean?” Had Finch known about Isadora since day one? It sounded like it. I didn’t know what to make of that. Then again, it wasn’t as if he’d have just blurted it out when he’d been roaming around the SDC, masquerading as a coven member. Still, it irked me a little.

  “She’s a sitting duck for Katherine if she stays here. Katherine has been after her for ages.”

  “Katherine did manage to take her, but we got her back,” Jacob interjected, a half-sheepish, half-proud look on his face.

  I nodded. “Yeah, as it turns out, once you complete the first ritual, you don’t need a Portal Opener anymore, so Katherine has no reason to come after Isadora.”

  “Aside from the Merlin connection, you mean?” Finch tapped his fingertips on the workbench, a knowing look on his face. “She doesn’t want any of us alive, Harley. No Shiptons, no Merlins, nobody who has any connection to her whatsoever. Then again, I guess that makes us all sitting ducks.”

  “Well, these ducks aren’t sitting for long, so stop with the scaremongering. Isadora is just fine here, for now, and so are we. We’ll be leaving soon enough, and hopefully, when we come back, that’ll be the end of it.” I shook off the shiver that had run up my spine. “Now, what we’re about to do is ridiculously dangerous, and I need to know what you’ve got planned. I’m not walking into the Cult of Eris blind, so you’d better start talking.”

  Finch smiled an eerie smile that made my stomach twist into knots. He seemed to be reveling in the idea of ending Katherine more than any of us, his eagerness casting a dark glint in the depths of his eyes. What lay ahead was one of the most terrifying things I’d ever have to do in my life, and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to run in the opposite direction. Entering Katherine’s cult wasn’t just dangerous, it was completely insane, but it was our one shot at getting her.

  We couldn’t miss it, no matter how afraid I might be of what awaited us in the Cult of Eris. If we did, we might never get a chance like this again.

  Six

  Harley

  “Long time, no see,” Santana muttered as she leveled her gaze at Finch. The entire Rag Team was now gathered in the infirmary, with my duplicate having turned back into an Orisha. The only one still missing was Garrett, and I could see that irked Finch a little. After all, they probably had a lot to talk about.

  Finch smirked. “Yeah, it’s weird, isn’t it? You’d think Purgatory would just let us have days off, right?”

  “Gotta say, I’m loving the frosted tips. You having a quarter-life crisis or something?” Santana was on a roll today.

  “The hairstylist said it was back in fashion. Purgatory is a little behind, though.” Finch ran an anxious hand through his new dark auburn hair. I’d caught him looking at his reflection a couple of times, and the reddish tone didn’t seem to sit well with him. Too many Katherine memories, no doubt.

  “Are you sure this is the right thing to do, Harley?” Tatyana looked at me uncertainly. Nobody was comfortable having Finch here. The tension and concern were like a tidal wave, crashing straight into me. I’d relearned how to put up a mental barrier to keep most of it out, but little barbs prickled every now and again.

  I sighed. “You’ve all got to trust me on this one. We’ve taken big risks before, but this one might just have the payoff we’ve been looking for. It’s the right thing to do, even though I know it feels weird.” I glanced at Finch, eager to stop a spat from breaking out. “So, what do you know? Spill.”

  “At least I can count on you for a warm welcome, Sis. It’s gotten pretty frosty in here.” He looked around the room with a smug smile on his face. With him being a Shapeshifter, it annoyed me that I couldn’t sense his true emotions, but I got the feeling he didn’t really feel smug. He was just putting on his Finch façade for the curious, wary public. “The first person we need to gun for is Naima. From what you’ve told me, you’ve already met her a couple of times. And it sounds as though she likes you a hell of a lot, Wade. She doesn’t get her claws out for just anyone.”

  Wade narrowed his eyes. “Just stick to the facts, Finch. We don’t have time to mess around.”

  “This Krieger kid must’ve cut out all your funny bones.” Finch chuckled to himself, while Krieger shot him a disapproving look.

  “You had best watch who you’re calling ‘kid,�
� kinder.”

  “Of course he’s a German!” Finch smirked at me but carried on before I could snap at him. “So, Naima was Purged by Katherine. She performed a really dark spell to break into the Reykjavik repositories, and Naima popped out after. Sweet, really. Anyway, she runs the cult’s Bestiary out of the ruined Fort Jefferson in Dry Tortugas, where Katherine has her base of operations.”

  Santana frowned. “Dry Turtles? Where’s that? I’ve never heard of it.”

  “Dry Tortugas is a cluster of islands off the coast of Key West, Florida. I had to talk her out of putting her base in North Brother Island, in New York. She was desperate to put it there, right in the faces of the New York Coven. She always talked about Typhoid Mary, and how she’d spent her last days there. It’d been her perfect site, but I told her it was too risky. People would look for her in New York. People would sense the interdimensional bubble. So, she moved to Florida.”

  Dylan whistled. “No wonder she’s been flying under the radar. That isn’t even California’s jurisdiction.”

  “You don’t say.” Finch’s words dripped sarcasm. It made me wonder whether Dylan reminded him of the kids who’d teased him when he was a kid. “She’s been running her operation across the country. California is a tiny part of it.”

  Raffe waggled his hands. “Hold up a second, did you say Bestiary? Naima is running a Bestiary for Katherine?”

  “Yep.”

  Everyone looked at each other in surprise. Evidently, they’d missed it the first time, given the idea of Katherine living in Florida.

  “She needs a lot of power,” he added with a shrug. “Fort Jefferson is remote. You can only get there by boat or seaplane, and it doesn’t get a lot of visitors. Even if there are tourists, they can’t see the base. It’s tucked away, nice and safe. I used to know the routes in, but they’ve probably been changed since I’ve been in prison.”