Harley Merlin 6: Harley Merlin and the Cult of Eris

by Forrest, Bella

  And then, I’d use that Telekinesis on my mother. I’d squeeze it around her throat and pull until her eyes bulged out and her face turned purple. If I could even get that close.

  Katherine had become more powerful than anyone could’ve anticipated. Even me. But everyone had a weakness. Mine had been Adley. Harley’s was evidently Wade. Everyone had something that made them vulnerable. I knew I wasn’t Katherine’s weakness, but she had to have one. I just needed to figure out what it was so I could get close enough to watch the life sputter out in her eyes. Wouldn’t that just be the happiest day of my life.

  Eight

  Harley

  With Levi’s reluctant blessing, I went to meet Imogene the following afternoon in Moll Dyer’s Bar. Waterfront Park was surprisingly empty for a weekday afternoon, but I hadn’t been here in ages. I guessed things had changed; people were probably more hesitant to go out with Katherine rampaging around, slaughtering presidents and stuff.

  “The world has become a rather strange and unusual place in recent weeks,” Imogene said quietly. We were sitting outside at a patio table, with soft music drifting out from the bar and sunlight glancing down through the interdimensional bubble of Waterfront Park. I could see people wandering past—humans, oblivious to our existence. It made for good people-watching as we nursed two drinks, both glasses glinting with condensation. Imogene wasn’t her normal self, that was for sure. She seemed withdrawn and tired, with dark crescents beneath her eyes. “It’s hard to fathom that President Price isn’t with us anymore. He did so much for us all, and now… he’s gone. I still find it hard to say out loud.” She dabbed a napkin to the side of her eye before taking a large gulp of her gin and tonic.

  It was difficult to watch her like this, so vacant and un-Imogene-like. President Price’s death had hit us all hard, but I guessed she’d known him better than any of us. Being on the California Mage Council, she had to have bumped into him a couple of times. I wanted to ask her more about their relationship, but I didn’t know how to, or whether I even should. The poor woman seemed to be on the brink of tears most of the time.

  “It was a huge blow,” I agreed, feeling like I should be saying something more profound.

  She sighed. “I just don’t know how the nation is going to recover from this. The new president is an excellent stand-in, but she is just that—a stand-in. Without President Price, things will never be the same again. That gentleman was the last of his kind, a true leader, who only comes about once in a generation. My own mother always spoke about the assassination of JFK and the shockwaves his death sent through the nation—magical and human alike. I didn’t understand until now.”

  My eyes nearly fell out of my head. “Whoa, hold up. JFK was a magical?”

  She smiled sadly. “No, but that didn’t mean the magicals didn’t care.”

  “Did you know President Price well?” There, I’d spat it out.

  “Not particularly, but I admired him greatly. He was a hero amongst men, able to unite even the most conflicted of covens.” She paused, her gaze wistful. “‘Thou know’st ‘tis common; all that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity. He was a man, take him for all in all. I shall not look upon his like again.’”

  “Did you just make that up? Because that was beautiful.”

  A soft chuckle escaped Imogene’s lips. “It’s Shakespeare, Harley. Hamlet, to be precise. A mixture of my favorite scenes.”

  “Ah, I never cared much for Shakespeare at school. Mostly went over my head.”

  “Anyway, if I continue to wallow, I’ll drink this entire bar dry, and that would not be an entertaining sight,” she said, visibly gathering herself. “How are things with Director Levi and the SDC? We ask for weekly reports, but Levi rarely delivers them on time. And, with everything going on, I’m sure you can understand how little time we have to chase him down on these matters.”

  I shrugged. “It’s as good as can be expected, given the circumstances. He watches me constantly, or he has someone else do it. He doesn’t trust that I’ve got my abilities and affinities in order. He barely lets me out of the coven unless he can reach me on my phone at all times.” I lifted my cell phone and waved it at her. “He’s got a GPS tracker installed in this thing, just to be sure.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. I would’ve thought Alton could lessen Leonidas’s more dictatorial edges. Is that not the case?”

  I shook my head. “He pushes Alton around like a servant and forces the entire coven to adhere to his rules. Anything above a certain danger threshold is a big no-no, including eating breakfast after six a.m. It’s like forcing soldiers to knit sweaters for puppies instead of protecting the unit or letting them serve on the front line.”

  “He’s a ridiculous man, Harley. That may well be the G&T talking, but he really is.” She laughed. “I still can’t quite understand why Alton put himself in such a lowly position and left the SDC open to such exposure. I hope, in time, he’ll be able to temper some of Levi’s worst instincts.”

  “Your guess is as good as mine,” I replied. Nobody outside of the Rag Team knew the real reason Alton had stepped down, and that wasn’t about to change. I liked Imogene, but if she caught wind of what Alton had done, she wouldn’t hesitate to see him punished. That was her job, at the end of the day—to maintain order amongst the covens in her jurisdiction.

  “You see, Harley, the thing about Levi is he really loathes being around magicals who are more powerful than he is. When he was with me on the Council, I used to catch him sending dirty looks my way when he thought I wasn’t looking. I regret not calling him out, but I don’t like to stir the pot too much, not when it’s not necessary to do so.”

  I nodded. “It’s not the first time I’ve heard that. Even Raffe says the same thing. It’s got to be pretty bad, if it’s coming from his own flesh and blood. Still, it makes you wonder what made him like that.”

  “That poor boy,” Imogene murmured. “I don’t know the precise details of Director Levi’s inferiority complex, but… someone told me it had something to do with a duel from his youth. He bit off more than he could chew, by the sounds of it, and almost got himself killed in the process. His wife was pregnant with Raffe at the time, and the residual terror of abandoning his wife to widowhood and leaving his child fatherless was too much for him to bear. Ever since, he has been exceedingly cautious around powerful magicals, for fear of it happening again.”

  I let her words soak in. It was weird to think of Levi as an ordinary guy, with fears and neuroses like everyone else. “I’d probably be more sympathetic if he weren’t intent on making my life miserable.”

  She smiled and took another sip of her drink. “Speaking of powerful magicals, how are you doing, now that the Suppressor is gone? I’ve heard of your progress in Levi’s rather flaky reports, but they’re usually tinged with negativity. Now that you’re here, I should like to hear of it in your own words. So, tell me, do you feel balanced yet?”

  For some reason, her question reminded me of Clint Eastwood. Do you feel lucky? Well, do you, punk? I didn’t exactly have an answer yet.

  I toyed with my lime and seltzer. “It’s been quite a journey so far. Pretty difficult, to be fair. I mean, there’s all this magical energy loose inside me, and I’m still coming to grips with it.” I shrugged, not wanting to get on a downer. “I’m handling it, though. It’s easier now that I don’t have to work at the Science Center, so I’ve got more time to focus on improving myself. And it’s been cool to discover everything I can do now. I’m still learning, and I know there’s a lot more for me to discover, but I’m working through it as best I can.”

  “You have the means to do so, Harley. You’ve always been exceptional, and now you’re simply catching up on the years of education and guidance you’ve missed out on,” she said. “I would suggest measured breathing techniques and some meditation. Either that, or you could utilize the Euphoria technique of thinking of something or someone dear to you to help ground you in the
here and now. You could, in fact, focus on the pendant that I gave to you if you ever feel as if things are getting out of hand. I gave it to you to help tie you to your past and to your present. It will surely ground you if you’re ever in trouble.”

  I instinctively reached for it and rubbed my thumb across the silver plating and the rough gemstones. Even that simple action brought me comfort, reminding me how grateful I was for the gift. “It already helps me, in a lot of ways. If nothing else, it reminds me why I have to keep going.”

  “Then it’s doing what I intended.” She smiled at me as she swept a droplet of condensation from her glass.

  “Can I ask you something, Imogene? Purely hypothetical, of course.”

  She arched a refined eyebrow. “Color me intrigued.”

  “How would someone go about being in two places at once?”

  “Goodness, if I knew how to do that, it would make my own life so much easier!” She chuckled. “It’s impossible, I’m afraid. It’s one of the few mysteries that Chaos magic has yet to uncover. Splitting a consciousness into two parts simply cannot be done. There are Morphs who can remain in one body while taking on the form of another—be it animal or human—but that’s not technically being in two places at once. The body left behind is inanimate and vulnerable, and so it doesn’t serve the true purpose of what you’re asking.”

  I felt completely deflated. If it couldn’t be done, then that left me with the same challenge I’d started with. How could I divert Levi’s watchful eyes away from me? Should I just use the Orisha duplicate to cover for me and hope for the best, or would it be better to find a more believable excuse? Levi was already tracking my movements through this freaking GPS, so I’d have to leave that behind somehow. Jerk.

  Imogene was examining me intently, an amused smile on her face. As she watched me, she toyed with the bracelet on her wrist—the one that kept her emotions guarded. That thing sucked. I wished I could have sensed how she was feeling right now, to gauge how suspicious she was about my question.

  “Yes, meditation is a rather good method for controlling one’s abilities during trying times,” she said suddenly. “In fact, there’s a meditation seminar for magicals coming up in Anchorage. It’s where magicals with overly exuberant powers go to regain control and a sense of inner peace. A rehabilitation retreat of sorts. Of course, such magicals are exceedingly rare, so, in order to stay in business, I believe they also welcome troubled magicals: the kinds who are newly released from Avarice, and coven prisons, and at-risk magical youth, and so on and so forth. Those who have been magically injured, also.”

  I gaped at her. “Anchorage, Alaska?” The irony was too freaking sweet.

  “I would imagine so. I don’t know of any other Anchorage,” she replied. “If you thought it could be beneficial to you to have some time away somewhere you could rest and regain control, then you could always apply to spend a week or two there.”

  “Levi would love to have me out from under his feet for a while…”

  “I should warn you, magic is banned in such places, unless you’re in the controlled rooms and within the given times.” She gave me a knowing look. “What’s more, contact with anyone outside the retreat is limited so that you can concentrate on meditation. I’ve heard it works wonders.”

  Do you know what I plan to do? Are you really on to me? If she knew something was up, she wasn’t trying to dissuade me. Maybe things really had gotten dire in the National Council, and now she needed all the help she could get to take Katherine down. Help beyond what the National Council could offer, with all their red tape and bureaucracy. Garrett had said it himself—they were all talk and no action. Plus, we’d never let her down in the past, and even though the SDC members were persona-non-grata, Imogene had always had a soft spot for the scrappy little underdogs.

  “Can I ask one thing?” Imogene’s tone had a worried edge.

  “Sure.”

  “You’re not planning on going to Europe anytime soon, are you? For non-related purposes, of course.” Her eyes held that same knowing glint. Why would I be going to Europe?

  I frowned. “No, of course not.”

  “I just wanted to check. You see—and, again, this may be the G&T talking—the National Council has recently sent agents to follow Katherine’s trail there, and I know you have a high stake in her capture. You have likely already heard about some of the recent robberies?”

  I nodded. So she thinks I’m going to try and follow Katherine to Europe? I’d recently seen reports on the magical news channels that some of the central repositories across Europe had been broken into. Maybe Imogene thought I was going to try and apprehend Katherine on one of these robberies or capture one of her people to interrogate. It worked in my favor, as I didn’t think Imogene would be too keen on the idea of me infiltrating Katherine’s cult outright.

  “I understand the personal nature of your vendetta against her, as it’s one we all share in some small way. Global chaos is not something any of us want to see.” She sighed. “I just feel I ought to warn you, though I’m certain you wouldn’t entertain the idea of flying solo.” She gave me a pointed look. “I know you’re headstrong, but I would hate for you to get tangled up in any ensuing mess, or for anyone to misunderstand your intentions. It’s hard, I know, but you must let the National Council do its work.”

  “Thank you, Imogene. And no, I don’t have any plans to go to Europe. Anchorage sounds like exactly what I need right now. Peace and quiet. I’ll definitely look into it.”

  Imogene downed the last of her drink like the elegant lady she was. “Well then, let me know how it goes if you do decide to go.”

  “For sure,” I replied, my mind already racing with the undeniable hope she’d laid out for me. I wondered what I’d actually tell her when we met here again in a few weeks’ time and she hadn’t known my true intentions. Oh, by the way, I didn’t go to Anchorage or Europe. I killed Katherine Shipton instead, on her home turf. Hope you don’t mind. Would you like another G&T?

  Yeah, I could live with that.

  Nine

  Finch

  Being stuck in a storage room with the Muppet Babies wasn’t exactly how I’d planned to spend my post-Purgatory days. I could have handled Wade on his own, but Raffe and Santana had decided to keep me company too. Nice of them. Not. Watching them fawn over each other was worse than being marched to the showers by Grimshaw and Chalmers. But I supposed they were growing on me. Like barnacles, or a nasty rash, or ticks.

  I had to appreciate their abilities, at least. It took guts to control a djinn, and Santana had this one on a leash. Raffe probably thought I didn’t know, but the flash of red in his eyes every so often—usually when I made one of my perfectly timed comments—was a dead giveaway. I’d known since day one what he was. I had to give him props, though. Djinn tended to cling to stronger people.

  “So, what’s the cult like?” Santana asked. We’d all been silent for too long. Clearly, she didn’t like the quiet. I happened to prefer it over trivial small talk, but I figured I’d humor her.

  I shrugged. “A lot like a coven. Only, the risk of random death is higher. Then again, you all live here, so you’re probably used to that by now.”

  “You used to live here, too. Or have you forgotten that?” Raffe replied.

  “No, I remember.” I smiled at him to save face. I remembered everything I did here. I remembered stealing down the hallways to get to Adley’s office. The same office Krieger now had. I remembered laughing along with Garrett and the others: Rowena Sparks, Lincoln Mont-Noir, Poe Dexter, Ruby Presley, Niklas Jones. Those few moments in the day where I’d been able to forget my true purpose, the one on which Katherine had set me. I half wondered what those guys were up to these days. They didn’t seem to have crossed over to the dark side of the Muppet Babies. Only Garrett had made that switch. Then again, he’d once been close with Wade. I supposed that had given him the leeway to change sides.

  “You’re going to keep our girl safe,
right?” Santana pressed. “If not, I should warn you, I’ve already got a design in the works for turning your balls into earrings. I can add them to my collection.”

  I laughed. “Ah, so that’s where Raffe’s have gone, eh?”

  “I mean it, Finch.” Judging by her scowl, she wasn’t messing around.

  “Relax, I’ll take real good care of her. It’s my neck on the line, too, in case you’d all forgotten. If she dies or anything happens to her, I’m in trouble too. And I’m really not ready to die yet.”

  They don’t trust you. They had no reason to. Even before my arrest, I’d been foul to the Muppet Babies. The Rag Team and my team of antagonists in endless competition. Well, more like Garrett’s team, though I was the mastermind for the most part.

  I didn’t know whether it was the company of new people after so long with no one to talk to except burly officers, but I was starting to see them through slightly different eyes. Not too different, but there was a marked shift. Harley, you’ve got a lot to answer for. My half-sister’s appearance in my life had changed so much, without me even realizing it. I didn’t know if I liked it, but this was my reality now. I was a temporary member of Team Muppet, whether I wanted to be or not. After everything I’d done to them, it was no wonder they were glowering at me with obvious suspicion. Still, they could’ve cut me some slack. I was helping them take down Katherine Shipton, not running an errand to Waterfront Park.

  “We’ve got to remember that he’s one of us, now,” Wade said suddenly. “His life and Harley’s life are in his hands. He knows that. He’s not going to screw up.”

  I eyed him curiously. “Uh… yeah, what he said.” I hadn’t expected support from Harley’s uppity dreamboat. If anything, I’d have expected him to be the one preparing my balls for jewelry. I’d almost killed his girlfriend, once upon a time. Deep down, he was probably boiling with hatred, but the guy was an expert at keeping it off his face.