I glanced back at him. “Not by blood, but he’s definitely family to me.” A small, sad smile tugged at Jacob’s lips. “He’s been under the care of my other aunt—one who isn’t evil and vindictive—for a long time, so he’s pretty much related to me by this point.”
“Well then,” Mrs. Smith said quietly, “if these two are friends and relatives of yours, then they’re welcome here in our house. You know that we would do anything for you, Harley, and if you’re in some sort of trouble, then it’s our duty to keep you safe. You can stay here as long as you need to. All of you. As long as you’re safe, we’ve done our job. That didn’t stop when you headed out on your own, and it never will.”
Unexpected tears sprang into my eyes. “Thank you. Thank you so much.” It was a relief, after so much turmoil.
Mr. Smith nodded. “And if there’s… uh, magic involved, then so be it. We’ll just keep on pretending everything is normal.” He put his arm around his wife’s shoulders and gave her a loving squeeze. I’d forgotten how much I loved seeing the easy romance and affection between these two, who still adored one another after so many years of marriage. Even Finch seemed pleasantly affected by the sight of them, since he wasn’t wise-cracking or making any vomiting sounds like he normally would.
Ryann smiled. “Hey, I’m all for coming through for you and your friends, I just wish you’d told us about all this before.”
“I wish I could’ve,” I replied. “The truth is, I didn’t really have a label for what I was until a few months ago, and I was afraid you’d put me in a mental asylum or something. I hope you can forgive me for keeping it a secret.”
“I’ll think about it, if you tell us everything,” Ryann said, with a note of excitement in her voice. “You’ve got no idea how cool it is to have a sister who can make fire in her hands!”
“Why don’t we sit down and talk about it?” Mrs. Smith said. “As you can imagine, this is a lot to take in, and I’m sure it’ll make more sense once we’ve heard the full story.”
I nodded. “I’ll tell you as much as I can.”
“Okay, well, while you all are having your little reunion, Jacob and I have some business to attend to.” There was a hint of envy in Finch’s voice. I understood where he was coming from—I’d had at least two good years while I was growing up, but he’d had nothing. I’d been taken care of by my dad and my aunt when I was little, while he’d been shipped off to a stranger. And, at the end of it all, I had the Smiths to protect me and keep me safe, even now. All Finch had ever known was cruelty and torment.
“What business?” Ryann shot him a cold look. I wanted to reassure her that Finch was a decent guy, but that would have to wait until we sat down to talk.
“Magic business,” he replied, turning to me. “We’re going to ward the crap out of the house and the yard while you have your therapy sesh. Might as well put ourselves to some use, right?”
“Thank you, Finch.” I meant it. We might have been hiding out here, where nobody would think to look for us—because, I mean, who’d be crazy or dumb enough to hide in a human home?—but, still, we needed to keep our wits about us. We needed to protect the Smiths as much as they were protecting us, and we had to be careful about how we moved forward. Echidna had been taken, and we still needed to find a way to seek out Katherine and stop her before she could complete the fourth ritual. Not only that, but we had to do it without the SDC’s resources, and without the authorities catching us.
It was becoming clearer and clearer that we might have to start looking toward the worst-case scenario: Katherine completing all these rituals and becoming a new Child of Chaos. Eris, in the flesh. If she couldn’t be stopped, then we’d all be plunged into a bigger battle—one in which no one in the entire magical or human world was prepared to fight.
I always win. Those had been her exact words. If she was right, then we weren’t just woefully unprepared… we were all doomed.
Two
Harley
“So, as you can see, Katherine Shipton is a class-A bitch.” I glanced shyly at Mrs. Smith. “Pardon my French.” Dawn had just risen beyond the kitchen windows, without me even realizing that a whole night had passed.
I’d left pretty much nothing out, telling them everything that had happened to me since I left my job at the casino. It didn’t feel wrong to fill them in on the whole shebang, since there was always the option of wiping their memories after we headed away from here.
Mr. Smith gave a low whistle. “You’ve really been through the wringer, kiddo.”
“And I think this is as apt a time as any to call someone a class-A bitch.” Mrs. Smith looked at me with tears in her eyes, her hands clasped around a mug of now-cold coffee. I’d never heard any kind of expletive come out of Mrs. Smith’s mouth, and I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry along with her. When I actually stopped to put everything into words and explain it all to the people I cared about who hadn’t been involved, it really hit home just how much we’d done, and how painful it was that we kept missing the mark.
The only part that I’d left out was their interaction with the Ryder twins. I didn’t know if reminding them of it would somehow bring the memories back, and I wanted to spare them from that. It still haunted me, how close to death Mrs. Smith had been when the Death by a Thousand Cuts had been cast on her, and I didn’t want her to have to suffer through it all again. It was one good thing that the cleanup crew had done, as hurtful as it was for Jacob.
Finch and Jacob had come back in after warding the heck out of the house and backyard and had joined us at the table to listen to my story. Now and again, they’d chipped in with anecdotes of their own, though I noticed that Ryann still looked at Finch with an air of suspicion. Jacob, on the other hand, had become an instant hit with the Smiths.
“She sounds like a total psychopath,” Ryann agreed. “Who even decides to just set up a cult? Seriously, who just wakes up one morning and thinks, ‘Oh, I know what I’ll do today—I’ll try and take over the world and create a new order and make everyone bow down to me. And I’ll make myself the leader because I think I’m totally awesome.’ That woman must have a doozy of an ego.”
I laughed. “You have no idea.”
“She asked me if she should get herself a crown,” Finch said, rubbing his eyes. “I told her it wouldn’t fit on her fat head. Let’s just hope that psychosis doesn’t run in the family, eh?” He cast me a knowing look as he popped a pill into his hand and drank it down with his own mug of cold coffee. He still thought she was responsible for the state of his mental health, but there was no Katherine-made hex, only the lasting genetic effects of the blood she shared with him.
“You know, you remind me of Harley,” Mrs. Smith said unexpectedly. “It’s taken me some time to put my finger on it, but you have a very similar sense of humor. She’s always had a dry sort of humor, and you have it, too.”
He dipped his head as though he was embarrassed. “I like to think I’m funnier.”
“You wish.” I nudged him in the shoulder. On the other side of him, Jacob was half asleep in his chair, lolling against the backrest.
With every inside-joke and nostalgic story about the time I’d spent in this house, I’d seen a flicker of longing in Finch’s eyes. It was a stronger version of what I’d seen earlier, now palpable despite my inability to read his emotions. I knew he would’ve liked to have spent time with a family like this, surrounded by kindness and happy domesticity. He’d never known what it was like to be normal and had clung to anything he could, mistaking manipulation for love because it was all he could get from Katherine.
I’ve been lucky. Looking back, I could be truly grateful for everything the Smiths had done for me. During my two years here, I hadn’t always been easy to deal with. And yet, they’d never expected me to change who I was for the sake of a simpler life.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m famished.” Mrs. Smith stood up. “How does breakfast sound?”
I grinned. “De
licious.”
“Seconded,” Finch said.
Jacob nodded. “Thirded.”
“I’ll get some coffee going,” Ryann added, getting up to join her mom in the kitchen. I listened to the music of their familiar rhythm—the clink of spoons and mugs, alongside the sucking sound of the fridge opening and closing, and Mrs. Smith’s soft humming. Jacob yawned, staring around the room as if he was looking at it for the first time.
“You must be tired.” Mr. Smith put his hand on Jacob’s shoulder.
“A little,” Jacob admitted.
“How about you and I have a chat while we’re waiting for some coffee, eh? Decaf, of course. You’re probably all in need of a good rest, and I wouldn’t want you too hyper to sleep.”
Jacob smiled so wide it damn near broke my heart. “Sounds good.”
I suddenly remembered what my mom had told me when I’d said goodbye—I had to hold on to the little things that would bring me joy, like drinking coffee around the table with the Smiths, or listening to the comforting rhythm of them in the kitchen, or reflecting on just how much I cared for the two boys who sat with me in this weird situation.
“We need to talk,” Finch whispered to me.
“Sure. I could use some fresh air.” I nodded toward the back door at the far side of the kitchen, then told the others, “We’re just going to stretch our legs. Be back in a minute.”
Mrs. Smith smiled at me. “Of course, sweetheart.” Ever since I’d told her about the encounter with my mom’s spirit, she’d been looking at me differently, as though her own heart was breaking for me. I didn’t quite know how to deal with it, especially as I still hadn’t come to terms with the finality of that moment. I wanted to tell Mrs. Smith that my mom would’ve been proud of her and the way she’d taken care of me, but every time I tried to say the words out loud, my throat ended up blocked by an uncomfortable lump.
I cast a look back at Jacob as we headed out of the back door and into the dusky light of the yard, smiling at the way he was leaning into Mr. Smith, the two of them chattering animatedly about some old film I’d never seen. This was Jacob’s chance to speak more closely with the people who’d been stolen from him. And I could see just how badly he needed to be with these people. He was scared and worried, with an undercurrent of loneliness drifting out of him, and it was for good reason. We were in dire straits, plain and simple.
“Nice folks,” Finch said, the moment the door closed behind us. “I can see why you never fell in with the wrong crowd. Mrs. Smith is like Mother freaking Theresa in Old Navy. And Mr. Smith might as well be Mr. Rogers. Ryann’s decent, too, though I get the feeling she doesn’t like me much. First impressions have never been my jam.”
I laughed. “They’re good people, and Ryann’s just protective of me, that’s all.”
“The foster system is a pain in the ass for anyone, but you landed on your feet, Sis. Maybe Katherine isn’t the only one with nine lives.” He paused, as if he wanted to say more about it.
I shot him a warning look. “Less of the parallels, okay?”
“Hey, she’s just proof that you can have the best upbringing money can buy and still end up a colossal asshat. You’ve both got this way of making things turn out in your favor. I just wonder what happens when two people like that want a different outcome on the same thing. Does the bread land butter-side down, or butter-side up?”
I chuckled. “Am I a cat or toast, now?”
“I can mix my metaphors all I like, thank you very much.”
“Then I hope it lands my side up,” I replied. “I haven’t been as lucky in other things, but it’s nice to know the Smiths have got my back. I would’ve wanted the same thing for you—a family like them, to show you the good side of things. You deserved it as much as I did.” This was getting too soppy for either of us. “Still, that didn’t happen, so I guess we have to make do with what we’ve got now.”
He snorted. “At least I’m still here, right?”
“An eternal thorn in my side.” I flashed him a grin, and he smiled back.
“How’s the brand holding up?”
I pulled a sour face. “It itches like crazy. I’ve got no idea how to hide this from the others. I keep tugging my sleeve down so Jacob doesn’t see, but it’s only a matter of time before someone spots it.”
“You should get a wrist cuff. A fancy one. Lots of bells and whistles. Hella sparkly.”
“Wouldn’t the idea be to take the attention away from the brand?”
He shrugged. “Might as well make it pretty.”
“I just hate the thought of even having it.”
He sat down on the garden bench and swung his legs like a kid. “I’m not too happy about having two, if that makes you feel any better.”
I smiled as I sat down beside him. “It does, a little.”
“Should I get some wrist cuffs too? People will just think it’s some sibling thing.”
“Matching ones?”
“So long as they’re sparkly.”
As I sat back against the bench and drank in the cool morning air, squidging my bare feet into the dew-soaked grass, I could almost imagine we weren’t in danger. If I closed my eyes, I could pretend that we were just here at the Smiths’, visiting them for no particular reason at all. The only trouble was the nagging voice in the back of my head, reminding me of the massive mess we’d gotten ourselves into.
“Penny for your thoughts.” Finch offered me a knowing look.
“I don’t know where we go from here,” I replied. “Levi will have undoubtedly made a bunch of arrests. I hate thinking about my friends locked up somewhere, trying to defend themselves when he just won’t listen. Plus, I don’t even know what state the SDC is in right now. Who knows how far they’ve gotten with cleaning up the Bestiary? Being here, so far away from them… I feel helpless. And I hate that. I can’t even use my phone to find out how everyone is. Levi probably still has it traced, and I can’t risk using a phone booth. Do they even exist anymore?”
“Yes, but only use one if you want to wind up getting stabbed or having some drunk dude piss on you.”
“I’m serious, Finch.”
“So am I.”
I had to laugh to stop myself from boiling over with anger and frustration. “Right now, I just need to find out what’s going on at the SDC, before I lose my mind.”
“And then there’s Katherine to think about,” he added. “She’ll be on her merry way to ritual numero four by now, and we need to find her and stop her before she can complete it. Déjà vu, right?”
“Yeah, it’s like the worst version of Groundhog Day.”
He smiled. “The island will have moved by now, but I’ve got a list of other locations she’s moved it to before. By the time we’ve searched each one, though, she’ll probably be knee-deep in Echidna’s entrails. We could try going back through Salem, but I doubt the Strainer will still be there.”
I nodded. “I’ve been thinking the same thing. Katherine isn’t stupid. She’ll have covered all tracks leading back to the cult, now that she knows what we were up to and how we got into the cult in the first place.”
“If we thought our trials were bad, just think about what she’s going to put the next wave through. I’m picturing scanners everywhere and all Shapeshifters put on constant watch,” Finch said. “She’ll be so pissed that Tess managed to trick her for so long. She hates being outsmarted. It reminds her that she’s human—that she makes mistakes, just like the rest of us.”
“I keep forgetting she’s human.”
“Well, she won’t be for much longer if we don’t get our asses in gear.”
I sighed. “We literally have no resources here. All we can do is hide. What good is that going to do us, in the long run? As long as we’re here and she’s out there, we’re wasting valuable time. I doubt the members of the National Council have any more insight than we do. Nobody seems to know what to do about her, and that’s pretty friggin’ terrifying.”
“
It’s a head-scratcher, I’ll give you that.”
“I’m not one for throwing in the towel, but I just don’t know what to do. The only thing I’m certain of is that we have to stick together,” I said.
“Careful, Harley. I might hurl into your foster parents’ nice flowerbeds.”
I smiled. “I mean it. We need to stick together. Not just you, me, and Jacob, but us and the rest of the Rag Team, too. We can’t let Levi stick his oar in and stop us from getting to Katherine.”
“So what’s your plan? ‘Cause I’m stumped.”
“First, we need to find a way to get Wade’s help.” I’d been thinking about him nonstop ever since abandoning him in the SDC. He’d be one of the first on Levi’s hit list. I needed to get him out of there and back by my side.
“Why am I not surprised? Wonderboy strikes again!”
I shot him a withering look. “Listen, Levi won’t stop until you and I are in Purgatory for the rest of our lives, but I’m not about to let that moron win. He cares more about keeping up appearances and controlling me than stopping Katherine. Wade is our way back into the SDC.”
Finch chuckled. “There she is—the firecracker of doom. Levi’s problem is that he’s stubborn enough to think that the National Council will just handle Katherine. But you’re right, they’re not doing enough to stop her. It’s the blind leading the blind, the stupid leading the stupid.”
I sat up straighter. “It’s not going to be easy, but we can do this if we break it down into simple steps first. From there, we work through each task, one at a time.”
Finch’s eyes widened. “And here I was, thinking you never listened to a word I said.”
“I do when you have something useful to say,” I replied. His words to me on the island had made perfect sense—if you just focused on one thing at a time and moved through every mission in bite-sized chunks, anything was possible, even if it seemed like a mammoth task on the face of it.
Harley Merlin 7: Harley Merlin and the Detector Fix Page 2