“Wade! I nearly jumped out of my skin,” I said, scrambling to cover my embarrassment. “What are you doing lurking in the hallways so late at night?”
“Looking for you,” he replied curtly, tearing his eyes away from my robe. He knew that I knew what he was feeling after seeing me half naked, and jumped to try and cover it with a stern demeanor. Maybe he’d seen something he liked.
“I’ve been at the pool. Santana showed it to me, since someone didn’t bother putting it on the guided tour.” I forced a tight smile onto my face. “I was doing all kinds of neat new tricks with my Water abilities—a few twisting pillars, firing droplets really fast, making watery hands to pull Santana under. I wasn’t trying to drown her or anything, although I might’ve almost drowned a couple of teenagers who got in the way of my tidal wave. Still, it was cool to get a grasp on my powers.”
Why the hell was I rambling on like a freaking monkey up a tree? Get a grip, Merlin! We’re supposed to be channeling super-cool “single-ladies” vibes, remember? Easier said than done when standing in front of Wade with nothing on but a bikini and a robe. These newly awakened feelings were going to be nothing but trouble, I could tell.
“Are you done?” he said.
I frowned. “At the pool? Well, obviously, otherwise I wouldn’t be—”
“I’ve been looking for you all evening, and you’ve been ignoring my texts,” he snapped, the desire dissipating. “We’ve still got missing kids to find, in case you’d forgotten? You might’ve given up after the failed day we’ve had, but while you’ve been off gallivanting at the pool, some of us have carried on with the grunt work. The kids aren’t going to find themselves, Harley. Frankly, I’m starting to wonder just how much you care about this task we’ve been given.”
My eyes narrowed. “I haven’t been shirking, if that’s what you’re getting at. I spent an hour at the pool—one measly little hour, after a whole day of working on the case. Come on, man, we all need a break sometime. Otherwise our heads will fry.”
He took a deep breath. “We don’t have time to mess around.”
“So, you’ve found some new leads, have you?” I couldn’t keep the bitterness out of my voice. Who did he think he was, storming through the halls with a face like thunder, then more or less accusing me of being lazy? He was being a total drama queen about it. Yes, I’d been gone a while, but I hadn’t been twiddling my thumbs. He didn’t know about New York, that was true, but just because I hadn’t been around, it didn’t mean I didn’t care about the missing kids. I cared deeply. It was just that I cared about clearing my dad’s name, too.
If you’re frustrated with the case, fine, but don’t you dare take it out on me.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Wade asked.
“Nothing. It’s a question. Have you found any new leads? Judging by the way you’re stomping through these halls like you’ve got crocodiles snapping at your ass, it would suggest you’ve found something worth telling. I’m just waiting for you to spit it out.”
He folded his arms across his chest. “Actually, Marjorie is making some decent headway with finding Micah Cranston. We gave her an object that was brought back from the Cranstons’ as evidence, and she’s using it to read his future.” He paused, intense frustration twisting his features. “Although, we keep hitting a ton of dead ends as to where he could be. The images aren’t clear enough, and we don’t recognize any of the locations she’s seen.”
“How long have you been working her?” The poor girl had to be exhausted.
“A couple of hours.”
“Tell me you’ve let her go to bed.”
“Of course we have,” he shot back. “That’s why I came to find you, to see if you had any thoughts about it.”
“Can’t we use a tracer spell on Micah’s object?” I asked, trying to keep my tone level.
“Nope, there’s some kind of block on his physical signature. We tried putting a tracer together, but it sputtered out the moment the spell was cast. Katherine is stonewalling us when it comes to the kids,” he replied. “Alton has no idea how she’s drawing enough energy to keep them hidden like that, even from a tracer spell, but she’s doing it. Glad to see you’re at least asking the right questions.”
“Listen, I know I haven’t been around, but I have been asking the right questions this evening,” I replied, a little chastened. “Right this minute, there’s a huge folder in my room with a bunch of stuff about Katherine Shipton and the Merlins in it. I haven’t been wasting my time, okay? I thought we could try a different angle.”
The air between us went very still. “What do you mean, Harley?”
“I was going to tell you this tomorrow, but… well, I visited the New York Coven tonight,” I replied firmly. I wasn’t about to let him make me feel bad about the progress Santana and I had made on the personal matter of my dad’s innocence. It might not have had much to do with the missing kids, but I was certain the Grimoire spells could help me break the Suppressor. If I could get this thing out of me, I knew I’d be able to do more to find those kids.
“What?” His face remained exasperatingly blank, but I could feel his confusion.
“Santana and I went to the New York Coven to find out more information about Katherine, Hiram, and Hester. We got a load of copies from the archives, and… yeah, we got a lot of good stuff. There was information about Katherine’s former associates and old hideouts she’d used in the past. We even found out that she’d broken into a spell repository to retrieve rare spells. The guy there, Salinger, said he’d send a list of other missing spells. It might help us out.”
I’d almost told him about the Grimoire. Nope, I’m keeping that little nugget to myself. Seeing steam come out of Wade’s ears isn’t exactly on my agenda for this evening. He’d rat me out, for sure.
“You went to the New York Coven?” Disbelief still poured off him.
“Yes, Wade. Don’t give me that look. It was worth it. I found this photo of my dad from the… from the mortuary. On his neck, there was this tiny rune and two puncture marks. It fits with the description of the Sál Vinna curse.” A sad smile spread across my face. “He didn’t kill those people of his own volition. Katherine forced him into doing it. She put that vicious spell on him and made him do those horrible things.”
He shook his head slowly. “I can’t believe you went to New York without me.” There was an undeniable note of disappointment in his voice. I could feel it, too, the cold tendrils slithering under my skin.
Anger spiked through my chest—my anger. “No congratulations? No ‘glad to hear your dad’s not a murdering psychopath’? Is that all I get—disappointment?”
His face changed, a flicker of panic in his eyes. “No, no, of course not. I’m really happy your dad was truly innocent in all of those things. Sorry, I should’ve led with that.”
“Yeah, you should’ve.”
“Does that mean they’re going to clear his name?” Agitation churned in my stomach, feeding from him. Clearly, he wanted to get something else off his chest. Well, you’re going to have to listen first. Show some friggin’ compassion.
I tilted my head from side to side. “Yes and no. The guy who took us around the place—James Salinger—he said we’d need to get a confession from Katherine or one of her accomplices if my dad’s ever going to get his name cleared,” I explained. “If they just went out and announced his innocence, it’d make the coven look bad. After all, it would mean they executed an innocent man. So, we need a solid admission of guilt, otherwise they’ll just sweep it under the rug.” The system was corrupt, and it made my blood boil. My dad was innocent. I wasn’t going to let them sweep anything under the rug.
Wade nodded. “With a confession, they won’t be able to ignore the truth.”
“Exactly.”
“We’ll catch her someday soon, and when we do, we’ll bring her to justice,” Wade assured me. “We’ll make her pay for every single crime she’s committed, including using Sál Vinna on y
our dad. Especially for that.”
A flurry of warmth and affection enveloped me like a hug, all of it coming from him. Just when I’m about to hate you, Wade Crowley, you know exactly what to say to get me all hot and bothered again. I couldn’t help but feel touched by how dedicated he was to proving my dad’s innocence. The strength of conviction in his voice was enough to make my heart beat a little faster.
“I’ve got another couple of bones to pick with her when the time comes,” I continued, holding back sudden tears. “See, Salinger also found some info on how Katherine fueled the spell in the first place. She murdered my entire family on my dad’s side. That’s the price required for Sál Vinna—the whole line of the spell victim’s family has to be killed, or it won’t work fully.”
“Is that how Hiram was able to fight it, because Katherine didn’t get everyone?”
I nodded. “She missed Isadora and me, and something stopped her killing Finch. I’m guessing she got desperate and did the curse anyway, hoping ninety-eight percent of my family tree would be enough, which gave my dad enough leeway to keep it from overwhelming him.”
“I’m sorry, Harley.” He touched my hand, for the briefest second. A shiver of unspoken feelings shot up my arm and into my heart—a mixture of his and mine.
“Oberon Marx was the test run,” I went on, battling with my emotions. “At least, that’s what Santana and I think.”
“Do you think Katherine snatched all these kids to fuel a different kind of spell—a similarly dark and powerful one?” Wade mused aloud. “Thanks to Marjorie, we know they’re all incredibly skilled, beyond anything we’d previously thought. Each one seems to have a rare power, combined with the usual Elemental abilities. It’s like they’re a new breed, almost.”
“Must be something in the San Diego water,” I joked. “But what kind of spell would involve Clairvoyants and Portal Makers and Herculeans, and who knows what else?”
“A damn terrifying one,” he said. “If Katherine is aiming to become a Child of Chaos, like Finch and the Ryder twins claimed, it would take a lot of juice to pull off. One would need a tremendous amount of power to kill or replace a Child of Chaos, I’d imagine.”
A curse word danced on the tip of my tongue, begging to be let loose.
“Alton and I have been researching the subject in a little more depth,” Wade continued. “Alton reached out to the United Covens of America and acquired their consent to look through their secret archives. We got through a chunk of it earlier. It seems that, in ancient times, magicals actually used to summon the Children of Chaos, individually, to speak with them and make requests. Apparently, they didn’t keep their distance from us mere mortals back then—they were a bit more involved.”
I frowned. “Why do I feel like I know where you’re going with this?”
“Our theory is that Katherine might be trying to summon a Child of Chaos so she can bargain with them and become one herself,” he said. “It’s only a theory, but if she wants to become one, she’ll have to come face-to-face with one at some point. It’s the how that still doesn’t make any sense. Even Alton is stumped. A magical can’t just take up a spot in the primordial pantheon, no matter how hard she might try and bargain. So, there has to be more to it that we don’t know yet.”
I nodded. “I imagine there’s a bucketload of stuff we don’t know about it. That’s probably the point.”
“Now, if you’d come to find me and let me come with you to the New York Coven, I might’ve been able to ask this Salinger guy more about Katherine’s spell-work,” he said, that note of disappointment coming back. “Did he seem to know a lot about her?”
“Yeah, a decent amount,” I replied, realizing he was probably right. He could’ve helped out. Still, it was too late to change anything now. No use crying over spilled spells.
Wade shrugged, and I felt waves of hurt roll off him. “I can ask him next time, but I’m sure I could’ve gotten something good out of him if I’d gone with you tonight.”
I frowned. “We did get something good out of him. Why are you so upset that I didn’t take you with me? Santana had my back, and we got some decent information. I don’t understand the problem here.”
“I’m not ‘upset,’ I’m just…”
“Don’t you dare say ‘disappointed,’ Wade.”
He shrugged. “But I guess I am, maybe. A little bit.”
“I thought you’d give me a slap on the wrist or something, but I didn’t think you’d be so bothered,” I said, confused. “I mean, I figured you’d rather stay here and work with Stella anyway. She’s way more exciting to be around, judging by your reactions to her.” I shot him a pointed look, reminding him that I could sense his emotions around her.
Wade turned suddenly serious, taking me by surprise. “I’m not interested in Stella.” His deep green eyes fixed on mine, and a wave of desire sent my nerves into overdrive. My heart thundered in my chest, pounding like a stampede of wildebeest. Is that… my desire, or his? It felt like both.
I opened my mouth to speak, but he beat me to the punch.
He cleared his throat. “There’s one other thing I wanted to say to you, Harley.”
“What did you want to say?” My eyes went wide with anticipation. Is this it? Is this where he admits he likes me? Is this the start of Merlin and Crowley? Sheesh, that sounds like a bad law firm. Still, I’m all for it.
“Your hair is dripping all over the place. You should probably get upstairs and get changed before someone slips and cracks their head open.”
Wow… way to pop my thirsty little balloon. You, Wade Crowley, are a colossal asshat.
“Didn’t realize you’d been promoted to head of custodial services,” I muttered, blushing furiously. Snatching my towel from under my arm, I bent over and mopped up the puddle of pool water from the slick marble. I didn’t care that my stupid robe had come undone again. I just wanted to clean the mess up and get out of there before I could suffer any more blows to my ego.
“Happy now?” I asked, standing up. His eyes snapped straight to my black swimsuit, with all its complex cut-outs and slinky gaps and strings. A rush of unrestrained emotions barreled into me, filled with an intense longing. Well, a couple of those boys back there at the pool did whistle and call me a snack. I yelled a couple of curse words at them. But looks like they aren’t the only ones who appreciate Tatyana’s ridiculous swimwear on me. The sight of his bugged-out eyes amused me.
Wade coughed loudly, finding a spot on the ceiling to look at. “I need to get back to… um… Alton asked me to gather some… um… yeah, I need to get back to the investigation. There are a couple of potential places that Marjorie saw in her visions, and I promised Alton I’d go over them before the morning. Correlate them with a map of California, you know, that kind of thing.”
I smiled. “Happy hunting. I should probably get to my room before I get thrown out of here for indecent exposure.”
“I… goodnight, Harley.” He dipped his head in a quirky half-bow and skirted past me, hurrying off down the hallway beyond.
As I made my way up to the living quarters, with a huge smile on my face, I thought back to what Wade had said about summoning the Children of Chaos. I’d deliberately kept the whole debacle with the Grimoire from Wade, since it had involved breaking the rules and he’d definitely have given me more than a slap on the wrist for it. Plus, I was gripped with a crippling fear that the Mage Council might somehow find out about what I could do and lock me away for their own purposes. Isadora had mentioned something about being a pawn. What if they did that with me? Or, what if they locked me away because I was too dangerous?
I trusted Wade, but I had no way of knowing whether the information about me might somehow get leaked. They might not even be able to keep my secret, given the implications. If I could do something that dangerous, they might have to tell someone—for my own sake as well as everyone else’s. The thought left me jangling with terror.
However, as I walked, I vowed to
submit a formal request to view the book again so I could read more on the sections about the Children of Chaos. Especially Erebus.
I’d have to come up with a way of viewing the Grimoire without getting utterly consumed by it every time I touched its pages. I wondered if removing the Dempsey Suppressor might give me the strength I needed to overcome the power of the Grimoire and control it, rather than be controlled by it.
A previous thought flashed like a firework in my head. I felt surer of it now. If I can get rid of the Suppressor and harness my full strength, maybe I’ll be able to find a clear way to get to these kids. My Empath abilities had seen things in the past, using photographs as a medium—they’d seen and felt Marjorie’s fear, after she’d run from the Ryder twins. If I was stronger, maybe I could follow that scent to wherever Katherine was hiding these children. It might be enough to break through her barriers. It was just the Suppressor that was holding me back.
There was only one man who could help me.
I hurried to my room and threw some clothes on. I twisted my wet, red hair into a bun, then darted straight back out. It was late, but I needed to see Dr. Krieger immediately, to discuss the surgery again. With all these dead ends and false steps, we’d reached an impasse in our investigation. Right now, he was my only hope… Scratch that, our only hope.
Twenty-Four
Harley
I arrived at the infirmary ten minutes later, cold water dripping down my neck from my hastily tied bun. Krieger had been sick for days now, but I figured he had to be well enough to talk about the surgery. He hadn’t been sent to the hospital or been quarantined or anything—at least, not that I knew of. There hadn’t been a lot of news on him at all, the whole situation being kept on the down-low. With everything else going on, and the coven in turmoil, I guessed Alton hadn’t wanted to make a fuss about it.
Walking into the triage room, I glanced around for a nurse, but there was nobody around. Puzzled, I pressed on to the long-term injuries wing, knowing there had to be someone in there who could help me find Krieger. The infirmary was staffed twenty-four-seven, at least in this part.
Harley Merlin 3: Harley Merlin and the Stolen Magicals Page 24