“How do we know this isn’t all some ploy to hand Harley over like a prize turkey?” Santana replied. She had a point. I was smart… but likely not that smart. That would’ve taken months of planning, and I would’ve had to rely on Harley’s desperate desire for family. Man, that would’ve been a good play if I were still on Katherine’s side. But I wasn’t. Katherine could rot in hell for all I cared. We were taking her down, whether Santana believed me or not.
“I guess you don’t,” I said, keeping my tone blasé. They didn’t need to know how much I loathed my mother. That was my private hatred. It wasn’t for them to share.
“Because he’s on our side.” Wade looked between us as if we were naughty schoolkids. “Harley trusts him, so we should, too. She’s good at figuring people out.”
“Harley has been wrong in the past. Even with her Empathy, she didn’t see Nomura’s betrayal until he’d locked her up in astral projection!” Santana was nearly shouting now.
I snorted. “Nomura did what?”
“None of us saw that coming,” Wade replied.
“That’s gutsy of Nomura, man. I bet she didn’t like that.” I chuckled at the idea of her trying to get back into her body. I’d have paid good money to see that play out.
“Yeah, but Harley broke out of it, despite the odds. She’s getting a handle on her abilities, and she’s getting more powerful by the day. She isn’t going to let Katherine win this one.” Wade sounded so confident I almost believed him. Almost. I knew I was taking a liability into the Cult of Eris, but her powers would come in handy.
“And what if she can’t beat Katherine? What if it’s a repeat of ritual two?” Santana sounded sad. It piqued my interest. I’d been given the gist of everything that had gone on with the president, but it looked like not everyone had been bluntly honest with Harley. She’d been sure of herself, but she’d floundered. And they’d been too nice to give it to her straight.
“She will take Katherine down this time. She’s been working on her abilities. She’s not going to let that happen again,” Wade said. Oh, you’re good. His face was a perfectly blank picture that revealed nothing of his true feelings. Beyond his façade, I wondered if he had his doubts about my sis, too.
I flashed them all a grin. “Hey, she’s got me this time. I’ve got the knowledge; she’s got the skills. We’re going to end Katherine.”
“You’re what worries me,” Santana shot back.
“And around and around we go, in an endless circle.” I sighed and spun around in my chair. At the end of the day, it didn’t matter if the others trusted me. Harley did. We were going to do this, and that was all there was to it. Still, it was curious to see the other side for once. A team who didn’t threaten each other with violence and seemed to genuinely care about each other. There was no one-upmanship here, only concern and support. It was a shock to the system after the cult and the team of SDC personnel I’d been on. I was on a journey of rediscovery. Oh God, remind me to put a bullet in my head if I ever think like that again. I’d be drinking kale smoothies and doing yoga by the time I was done with these people.
“You don’t take anything seriously, Finch. How are we supposed to take you seriously?” Santana demanded. “One moment, you’re Queen Katherine’s jester, the next, you’re on our side? Give me a break. It reeks of trouble.”
“That might just be you,” I retorted.
“Shut your mouth!” Raffe growled, his eyes flashing.
I glowered at him. “Keep your guard dog down, Santeria girl, or I’ll have to put him down.”
“Touch him, and you’ll have a horde of Orishas trying to pluck out your eyes,” she hissed.
“Ooh, is that a promise? Is this how you guys flirt? See who can lash out with the emptiest threats?” I knew I was taunting them, but I didn’t care. This storage room was driving me mad. I wanted to be out in the open. I wanted to see a freaking tree! I didn’t want to go from one box to another.
“Everyone needs to calm down. It’s hot and stuffy in here, and it’s getting to your heads,” Wade cut in. “Harley is pretty much the only family he has left. He’s not going to betray her, not the way Katherine betrayed him. Yeah, he’s still an ass, but right now, this ass is part of the Rag Team.”
For the first time in a long while, I was speechless. He was right. He was freaking right. Harley was the only family I had left, unless you counted Isadora. I didn’t know her, and she didn’t seem to want to know me. At least Harley was making some kind of effort. My mother had made it very clear how she felt about me, and she was going to find out just what I felt about her. Nothing but hatred. By process of elimination, all I had left was Harley. Dammit, was I the one desperate for family? I supposed we both were, in our own tragic little ways. Pathetic.
What would Harley even be like, as a sister? If things had been different, would we have been close? Even with our parents scrapping with one another, would we have found a way to be real siblings? I’d never really thought about it like that before. Would I have made a good brother? Was there still time for me to be one? What did good brothers even do? Well, for starters, they probably didn’t try to kill their sisters…
At that moment, Harley burst through the door with a grin on her face. Speak of the devil.
“I know what to do!” she yelped excitedly. “I know how to get away from Levi without making him suspicious.”
Wade beamed at her. Lovesick idiot. It was definitely too late for me to get all brotherly about their “relationship,” if that’s what was going on. Not that I had a problem with it. Normally, I’d have just said something to annoy them and amuse myself. Surprisingly, I held my tongue.
“What have you figured out?” he asked.
“I was talking with Imogene, and she mentioned something about a retreat in Alaska for troubled magicals. One of your duplicates would be perfect there, Santana.” She looked like she might explode with excitement. “They don’t have to do magic, and they don’t even have to speak for portions of the day. The duplicate can also keep hold of my phone, with Levi’s annoying little GPS tracker, and I can grab a burner from Astrid. Levi won’t be able to follow me there or check up on me, and the retreat folks will be so happy to see me compliant, they won’t worry about me being a duplicate.”
Wade grinned. “That’s amazing news.”
Harley nodded. “I’ll need you to vouch for me, for this retreat thingy. Make Levi concerned enough to let me go.”
“That won’t be a problem, believe me.” He chuckled, the two of them gravitating toward each other.
I was pretty impressed by Harley’s deviant thinking. This girl will go a long way… and God help us all if she ever decides to turn evil.
Ten
Harley
I sat in the Persian palace of Leonidas Levi, shifting uncomfortably on his rattan furniture while watching him flip through the retreat brochure that Astrid had pulled from the depths of the magical web. He hadn’t spoken in what felt like forever, which I took to be a bad sign. Wade sat beside me, casting me the occasional encouraging glance.
You finally get to send me to Alaska, Levi. And, heck, I’m going willingly. I tried to gauge his emotions, but there wasn’t much coming off him. I sensed the usual waves of suspicion and contempt, but nothing notable, nothing that could tell me what he was thinking.
Returning my attention to Levi, I thought about the duel Imogene had told me about. Along with his reaction to the president’s murder, Levi had been weirdly humanized for me. He’d gone back to being his usual, dictatorial self in the aftermath, but the memory of his reaction had remained. Now, I could better understand his perspective on powerful magicals, even if I didn’t necessarily agree with it. Given what he’d almost lost, and how that had hit him, his fears were a little more rational.
At last, he closed the brochure and narrowed his eyes at me. “What are you up to, Merlin?”
I’d added a little purple eyeshadow beneath my eyes, to make me look even more haggard tha
n usual, and I was sitting limply in the chair—visual cues to make him think I was exhausted and worn to the bone. “It’s for the benefit of myself and the coven. I’ve been trying so hard to get a handle on my abilities, but it’s getting harder to achieve on my own, and I really think this could help.” I’d thought about using my reverse Empathy on him to make him a little more flexible, but I didn’t want to risk making him more suspicious. This was going to have to be the best performance of my life, with no added juice.
“Go on…”
“I will do whatever it takes to prove to you that I’m serious about controlling my powers, and this retreat is the perfect opportunity. Once I come back from this place, you’ll be able to sleep easier at night, knowing I have everything under much better control,” I continued. “Imogene Whitehall recommended it. While I was out at lunch with her, I told her that I’d been researching ways to get better control, and she mentioned this place. I looked it up straight after, and, well, here it is.”
“Imogene Whitehall recommended it, eh?” He pursed his lips in an approving manner. “And she thought it would be useful to you?”
I nodded. “She’d heard good things about it, and the results speak for themselves. Did you check the last page with all the testimonies?”
“I did.” He smiled with a secret smugness. “And how long would you be thinking of leaving us for?”
“A week at most, and I can check in with you as often as you need me to. There are specific phone hours, but I’ll make sure I have mine on me at all times so you can get in touch.” I could feel him getting closer to saying yes. His whole body was emitting pulses of contentment, as if the idea of sending me away filled him with the same joy as petting a puppy.
He looked to Wade. “And what do you make of all this, Crowley?”
“I think it’s a good idea. It’s no secret that she’s been having a hard time getting a grip on her abilities, and I know my mom and dad send their troubled magicals to the same retreat. They’ve never had any problems with the magicals afterward, as far as I know.”
“I have also heard excellent things about this retreat, though I didn’t think you would ever suggest it yourself, Harley,” Levi said. “I had been looking at such places to send you to if things got out of hand. However, it would appear you’ve done my job for me, which is always a welcome state of affairs.”
Why, because you’re a lazy toad?
“I really think it will benefit me in the long run. It’ll be easier if I have guidance.” I added the cherry to the top of the sundae.
He nodded thoughtfully. “Well then, I suppose I have no choice but to sign off on this trip for you. If you make the necessary arrangements, I will add my signature and consent to the paperwork. And I hope that you don’t squander this opportunity, because I will want to see some payoff for my generosity in letting you go. I trust that you will return an entirely different magical.”
“I hope that I will, Director Levi.” A free one, no longer having to worry about Katherine Shipton. Inside, I was dancing around like a maniac, feeling pleased to pull the wool over Levi’s eyes once again. He’d fallen for it, just as I’d hoped he would.
Still, a cautious part of myself warned me to be careful. I’d jumped a hurdle, but I hadn’t crossed any kind of finish line yet. Remember, if you get found out, they’ll toss you and Finch back into Purgatory. There’d be no Avarice, no Alaska, no softer sentence. Not for this kind of betrayal.
“Thank you, Director Levi.” I kept my reaction small but grateful as I took the brochure back.
“Don’t let me down again, Merlin,” he replied. “You may go.”
As I got up to leave, one thought kept playing in my head: This is going to work. This is really going to work.
Eleven
Finch
“Woof, woof.” I grinned at Raffe. The guy didn’t like me one bit. I wished I could’ve said the feeling was mutual, but I didn’t care enough about him to hold any judgment.
Plus, I didn’t want to rile him up so much it brought out the djinn. If there was one thing that scared me, it was a pissed-off djinn. Katherine had made me face one when I was sixteen, and the memory hadn’t gone away. The beast had been inside an old woman, and my mother had urged the djinn to come out as part of an experiment. That thing had come running at me, mouth opening wide, eyes flashing red, black smoke billowing out of it. I remembered its hot breath and its leering voice telling me how much it was going to enjoy peeling me like an orange. Impulse had made me throw a wave of Telekinesis at it, but it had been touch and go for a moment. It was a lesson in courage, apparently. Now, I realized it was probably to amuse Katherine.
“Quit it, Finch,” Santana snapped.
“You don’t like it? I thought you did.” I’d shifted into Raffe’s form just to mess with her. There wasn’t much else to do in this storage room, and I was close to losing it. PTSD, anyone?
“You’re an idiot.” I got the feeling she wanted to call me far worse.
“How about this one?” I shifted into Harley’s form and smiled at them.
Santana narrowed her eyes. “Seriously, pack it in!”
“No, I don’t think I will.” I needed to get out of his damned room before it tipped me over the edge. I hadn’t breathed fresh air in months. Even if it was filtered through the interdimensional bubble, I wanted to taste it. The dragon garden, maybe? Or one of the outer balconies? Anywhere but here.
“Finch…” Her tone held a warning, and Raffe had moved to her side to back her up. The loyal lapdog.
“Can’t a guy have a little fun?” I toyed with the cap of my lighter Esprit. I’d gone so long without it that it felt strange to have it back in my grasp. “You know what, I think I might take a little walk. This baby needs a refill.” The lighter had probably run out of neurotoxin by now, and I’d need a refill before we headed into the cult. When it shifted into a blade, I always made sure it was laced with a neurotoxic chemical that would temporarily paralyze an enemy. We’d probably be doing a lot of that where we were going.
Santana stepped forward. “That won’t be necessary. You shouldn’t even be allowed to carry that thing on you to begin with. A foam sword, maybe, or something made of balloons, but not that. Maybe, if you’re very good, Wade will give you a water gun.”
“Who’re you to lecture me on dangerous things? You’ve got a ticking time bomb for a boyfriend.”
Raffe’s hackles rose. “Don’t push it.”
“Push what? You? How do you think your friends would feel if they found out your djinn had done me in? I bet they’d find a nice little cage for you and lock you up for good.” I flipped the cap of my lighter up and down. The clink of it was riling Santana and Raffe up. I could see it in their pinched expressions. “At least I wouldn’t accidentally tear you to shreds in the night.” I flashed a wink at Santana. She grabbed Raffe before he could lunge at me.
“You’re out of line, asshole!” Raffe roared.
I simply chuckled. “Nice to see that leash is real tight. Who’s a good boy?”
“Stop it, Finch. This won’t do any of us any favors,” Santana replied. Her hands tugged at Raffe.
“Why don’t I just get out of your hair? You two lovebirds are probably dying to rip each other’s clothes off. Raffe looks ready to rip something off, at any rate.” He could flash his red eyes at me as much as he wanted to. I was immune while I had Harley’s trust.
Santana crossed her arms. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“Is that so? See, I thought that door was unlocked.” I walked toward it. Santana and Raffe darted toward me and got between me and the door. Idiots. My Esprit glowed as I forged two powerful blasts of Telekinesis and sent the two of them flying to opposite sides of the room. I thought about using my Air to trap them on the ceiling, but it wasn’t my strong suit. Still, I guessed they’d forgotten what I could do.
I slipped out of the room and sprinted for the safety of the hallways, still wearing Harley’s guise. In
a populated area, they wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing. Not unless they wanted to out Harley. Deviousness runs in the family, Sis. I kept running until I reached the main corridor. Students and inhabitants wandered about their daily business. A few offered nervous greetings, while others plain avoided me. Oh Harley, look what you did. They were scared of her—scared of what she was capable of. I almost felt proud of her. She was more infamous than me, by the looks of it.
I turned to the sound of footsteps approaching at a rapid pace. Santana and Raffe had caught up with me. But it didn’t matter now. I offered them a sardonic smile and gestured to the other people who were walking about.
“Try and stop me, and it’s all over,” I whispered. “If you reveal me here, Harley will pay. Purgatory isn’t fun. She won’t survive life in there.”
They backed off immediately. “Pendejo!” Santana hissed.
“I’m going to guess that wasn’t a compliment.” I smiled at her. “Now, if you’ll behave, I’m going to the Bestiary.” I set off before they could reply. Behind me, I could feel them seething with hatred. Good. I didn’t want them to like me. I didn’t want us to be friends. Close ties only got people killed. I’d learned that the hard way. But what about Harley? I pushed the thought away and pressed on. I could worry about her later.
Even the security personnel stationed at the Bestiary seemed to be terrified of me in Harley form. That made me happy. These people reminded me too much of the Purgatory officers. They could do with a little humbling now and again, to keep them on their toes. I lunged at one, just to make a point. They staggered back as if I’d just grown four heads. Moving away from them, I chuckled. I just wished they could have been Grimshaw or Chalmers. Now that would have been satisfying.
Harley Merlin 6: Harley Merlin and the Cult of Eris Page 8