Sticking to this act was hard. I’d never been a good actor. In kindergarten, I’d been demoted from the donkey in the annual nativity because I wasn’t convincing enough. And this was way harder than being a donkey.
“But you’re saying you condone what they’re doing?” Levi stared at me.
“I’m just saying that they’re trying to do something pretty important. I’m not saying they’re doing it the right way… I guess I just want you to be a little lenient, since their goal is the same as yours.”
Levi snorted like the pig he was. “Those two vile excuses for magicals are both criminals. They are self-serving, reckless, and dangerous. They would likely murder me in my sleep if they had the chance, the way their father would’ve done. It would be better for all of us if Katherine executed them, though that would deny me the pleasure of watching them rot in a cell for the rest of their lives.”
Anger burned in my lungs, surging through me faster than I could stop it. How dare he say that about them? Harley had done everything for the sake of the bigger picture. She’d done everything for the SDC, and for magicals everywhere. She’d gone to hell and back to be powerful enough to match Katherine. And all Levi could do was throw stones. I wasn’t exactly Finch’s cheerleader, but he was a better man than Levi. He wasn’t a coward. He owned up to his mistakes, mostly, and was trying to make things better. But all Levi was doing was serving himself.
“At least they’re not running scared.” I spat the words out. They wouldn’t stay in my mouth. “You’re only acting like this because you’re panicking. If you could open your eyes, you might see that they’re trying to help. This is about more than you.”
Levi’s face reddened. He was mega angry now. I didn’t care. I probably should’ve, but I didn’t. He needed to be told. I was the youngest person in this room, but Levi was the only one spitting his pacifier out of the stroller.
Krieger put his hand on my arm and stepped in front of me. “Director Levi, I require Jacob’s assistance in completing the magical detector. I need to utilize his Sensate abilities in order to get it to work. He is invaluable to the operation, and he must stay here in the SDC, with me, if we are to stand any chance of finishing it.”
Levi scowled. “Will that take long?”
“I have several tweaks to make, and then, in theory, it will be fully operational.” He paused for breath. He’d been rattling the words off like a machine gun.
“I don’t see why Jacob has to help with the practicality of it,” Levi replied coolly.
“With Echidna missing, I’m sure you understand how vital it is that we find Katherine before she can complete the next ritual. The magical detector is our best option at this present moment. It may be our only way to discover her whereabouts. She has already infiltrated magical society on a huge scale, and we simply can’t find her without extra means. We need the magical detector, and that means we need Jacob. It can’t be done without him.”
O’Halloran raised his hand. “Director Levi, you and I spoke about how we might find Katherine after the incident in the… uh, after we…” His eyes glazed over. “Anyway, I think the doctor’s right. It’d be a useful weapon to have, to find that woman. No one else seems to have any idea where to look for her. She’s like a needle in a haystack. If the doc thinks Jacob can add the right whatever to this detector, then we’ve got to take the shot. It’d put us ahead of anyone else, for sure, and it’d be useful for the authorities to have, too.”
I didn’t like him calling it a weapon, but he was a security man. He thought of everything in terms of fighting talk. Still, I hadn’t expected him to back us. Although, he’d gotten kind of weird back there. Like, he’d gone fuzzy when he’d tried to talk about Echidna. But I guessed these dudes had been through a fair bit since I’d been gone. Maybe he was still trying to process the incident.
Levi gave another piggy snort. “I’m already working closely with the National Council to find Katherine. I don’t need to run the risk of letting you two loose on some untested magical device in order to discover her. Your assistance is not necessary anymore.”
“You say that, but you don’t seem to be making much progress,” Krieger said. “We must spread the word to as many covens as possible, so that they can—”
“That won’t happen, for reasons I have already expressed to you,” Levi snapped. “Those who need to know already know, and that is where it ends. We are handling this, and more people do not need to get involved. It will only cause mass panic, and that is not what we need at a time like this.”
Bull. I wasn’t buying a word. I couldn’t say that, since I was trying not to get arrested here, but I wanted to call him out. His body language was all over the place. His eyes kept flitting—a sure sign of lying. I could read most people like a book, and Levi was telling a pretty weird tale right now. He seemed nervous and cocky and stubborn. Not a book with any kind of happy ending.
“And the detector?” Krieger prompted. All business, all the time. “This is a global issue now, Director Levi, with or without the Echidna issue being released to the public. We need to focus on the detector, or all is lost. That’s our way to finding Echidna and getting her back.”
Levi rolled his eyes. “Fine, you can keep the turncoat. However, as long as he remains here, working with you, he is not permitted to leave the grounds of the Fleet Science Center.” Levi walked up to me and put his fingers against my neck. “Oculi tibi,” he murmured. I flinched as a white-hot pain seared my skin.
“What did you do to me?” I growled, putting my hand over my neck. I felt the raised edges of a circle, and it stung when I pressed too hard.
“It’s a ward that will allow me to know where you are, at all times.” He smirked. I wanted to punch him. “It’s something I was forced to come up with after Harley and Santana’s duplicate shenanigans. I won’t be falling for that again.”
“And you’ll leave Harley alone, until this is all over?” I glared at him.
He laughed coldly. “Not a chance, boy. The order is still out for their capture. I have specified that Harley is to be taken alive. Finch… I couldn’t care less what they do with him. Dead or alive is fine by me.”
My burner cell was currently burning a hole in my boot. I wanted to speak with Harley, but I’d have to wait until it was safe.
“You can go.” Levi stared at me. It wasn’t a request. I was only too happy to leave his stupid office. Who did he think he was? The Prince of Persia? This dude boiled my blood. It made me feel sorry for Raffe. Having this asshat as a dad couldn’t have been easy. I’d rather have had no dad than this doofus.
Krieger led me out of the office and paused for a second. “Meet me in the infirmary in an hour. Don’t get into any trouble. Have a shower, grab a bite to eat, and get yourself in a better mindset for this detector work. Just keep to the appropriate areas of the coven and you’ll be fine.”
I nodded. “Sure. What will you be doing?”
“I need to have a word with O’Halloran to cement some more details. We still need to get Isadora and Alton out of their cells, and Levi is proving to be one hard-headed… well, it wouldn’t be polite of me to say, so close to his office.”
I smiled at the thought of what insults Harley would’ve used. She’d have had some way stronger words for Levi. And the feeling was probably mutual.
Ten
Harley
Finch and I speed-walked through the familiar glass-walled arcades of Waterfront Park, the sunlight glancing in from the outside world as we tried to keep a low profile. Plenty of people were around, and we were more or less blending into the crowd. Finch had it easy, thanks to his Shifting ability. He’d transformed into some magical I didn’t know, with long hair tied back in a ponytail and a beard to match. It wasn’t exactly the super subtle approach I’d been looking for, but nobody seemed to be batting an eyelid at him.
Without an Ephemera to help me out, I was pretty much stuck with the old-school style of stealth, with a hoodie unde
r my leather jacket. I had the hood low over my face, but not so low as to scream, “I’m not supposed to be here.”
“Yo, Hell’s Angels, we need to head over there.” I gestured to a narrow side-alley that cut between a collectibles store and the magical equivalent of a Pottery Barn. Shiloh’s Café was on the other side, stretching out onto a pretty terrace that overlooked the human Waterfront Park.
The café was one of the hidden gems of this place and was secluded enough to allow someone to have a conversation without worrying about security magicals eavesdropping. It was gussied up as a sleek, hipster-esque establishment, serving avocado in any one of a hundred ways. I passed a pretty wall made of flowers at the entrance to the café and rolled my eyes. One for the Instagram crowd. As if to prove my point, there was a trio of teenagers in front of it taking about a million selfies.
“I might look like I belong on a motorcycle, but you’re the one who’s not exactly blending in,” Finch whispered. “We should have stuck some Ray-Bans and a flower crown on you. Then you’d have looked right at home.”
“Over my dead body.”
“If you get caught, it might be.”
I shot him a look. “Do you see him anywhere?” We’d just stepped through the stained-glass doors of Shiloh’s. A few customers sat around with laptops, sipping matcha lattes and absently scanning through their phones, but I couldn’t see Wade.
“Wonderboy, twelve o’clock.” Finch nodded toward a pane of glass on the far side of the café, tucked between a wall of old, obscure movie posters and another flower wall. Through it, I could see the terrace that Shiloh’s was famous for. It was a small veranda, really, but it gave an incredible view over the park and was distant enough from the café itself to give some privacy. Wade sat at one of the white metal tables, the kind you found rusting away in old gardens. He lifted a cup of coffee to his lips, while his gaze flicked across a folded-up newspaper.
Avoiding the overly chirpy servers at the edge of the bar, Finch and I headed for the back door that led out onto the terrace. Wade was the only occupant. He looked up as we approached, but he didn’t seem remotely surprised. Instead, he smiled… a small smile that spread into a wide grin. It was the smile I’d been missing since we parted ways. He leapt up from his seat and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close. I relaxed immediately, letting my arms slide around him as I sank into his embrace. This was all I’d wanted—to be back in his arms, breathing in the spicy scent of him.
“You have no idea how happy I am to see you,” he murmured against my shoulder, placing little kisses along it.
“I think I can see how happy you are from here,” Finch replied, rolling his eyes.
I ignored him and held Wade tighter. “I’ve missed this. I’ve missed you so, so much.”
“I’ve missed you, too. Man, it’s so good to just hold you again.” He pulled away and gazed into my eyes. “I knew it was a long shot, but I was hoping so much that I’d find you here.” Then, he turned his gaze to my Hell’s Angels pal and arched an eyebrow. “You, not so much. Where’d you find that magical to add to your repertoire, or do I not want to know?”
Finch pouted. “Hey, this is one of the best ones I’ve got. Show some respect to your elders.”
“Maybe if they stop putting my girlfriend in danger, I might.”
“In danger?” Finch snorted. “I got her out of the hornet’s nest, thank you very much. You should be kissing my vintage boots.”
“Not likely.” Wade smiled back at me, a hint of something strange in his eyes. It was like he was trying to read me but couldn’t. “I’m just glad you’re okay. I haven’t stopped thinking about you since you left. I’ve being going out of my mind, worrying about you… and missing you.”
Still buzzing off being able to see him and hold him again, I sat down, and Wade and Finch joined me. I reached out to put my hand on Wade’s, but he moved it away and lifted his cup instead, taking a sip of his coffee. It was a bit odd, but I guessed he hadn’t seen me try and reach out for him. Embarrassing, yeah, but nothing I couldn’t shake off. I was about to dive into my line of questioning, when I felt a curious emotion drifting toward me, from Wade. There was a wave of relief and happiness, but there was a hint of something else—an emotion I couldn’t figure out. It was somewhere between disappointment and annoyance, but it was too small to properly home in on. Subtly, I sent out a more powerful wave of Empathy, to try and get a better read on his emotions. Fine tendrils of hurt, disappointment, and annoyance came flooding back, those feelings almost lost in the larger current of relief and happiness. Clearly, he was peeved that we’d up and left the way we had, back at the SDC, but he was trying really hard not to show it.
“Is something wrong?” I decided to give him the opportunity to get his grievances out in the open.
He shrugged. “Not at all.”
“Did you forget that I can read your emotions?”
He looked sheepish. “Ah… yeah, I suppose I did for a minute there.”
“What’s up?”
“Nothing.” He shook his head slowly. “I’m just being stupid. I guess I was a little irked by the way you guys just left us, that’s all.”
“And avoided Levi’s wrath,” Finch pointed out.
“I know, I know. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you got out when you did, but I just… I wish I could’ve gone with you. It’s been crap without you.” Wade sighed, visibly shrugging off his sullen mood. “Like I said, I’m being stupid. I know you didn’t have a choice, or you’d just be in the same situation as Santana, Isadora, and Alton. How did you get the Atomic Cuffs off, anyway?” He glanced down at my wrists in surprise, as if he still expected them to be there, like two vastly inconvenient bracelets.
I smiled anxiously. “I can break them with my Chaos if I concentrate hard enough.”
Wade gave a low whistle. “Impressive. Not that you weren’t already impressive.” He paused. “Let’s just hope Levi doesn’t find out about that, or he might skip protocol and lock you in a Bestiary box, and I don’t want that to happen.”
“I’d like to clap some on him, believe me.” I grimaced at the thought of Emperor Levi on his golden throne at the SDC.
“We going to get on with this, or what?” Finch cast a glance back at the café door.
I sat down opposite Wade and fixed my gaze on him. “How did you know we’d be here?”
He chuckled. “A little mouse told me.”
“You knew it was me?! I mean, it wasn’t me. Finch has a Morph friend, and I saw through her eyes.”
“Ah, I was wondering how you did it.” He smiled, and finally reached out to take my hand. “It’s pretty rare for an outside creature to get into the SDC. I figured that, if it was somehow you, you’d hear me say I was coming here and you’d show up. It’s a relief to see you alive. It really, really is.” He finally took my hand gently and lifted it to his lips. My body flushed at his touch, to the point where I wished Finch wasn’t here, eyeballing us both like a mother hen.
“It’s good to see you alive, too, with Levi running wild. Speaking of which, what’s been going on at the SDC?” I jumped straight into it, knowing we didn’t have much time to waste. Finch had been right about that. “I heard a couple of things, but I’m still hazy on the details.”
Wade quickly brought Finch and me up to speed on what had been happening inside the SDC, and how they were still trying to get Santana, Isadora, and Alton out of the cells. He explained all of Levi’s new crackdowns, and how he was intent on finding us, but they had no leads as of yet. That was good to hear, as I didn’t want the Smiths getting dragged into this, nor did I want Kenzie and her family getting trapped in our web. I wanted her on board, but not at the expense of her family’s safety. When he was finished telling us about the latest goings-on at Levi HQ, I told him about where we’d been, and our plan to go after my parents’ Grimoire, to get the “find hidden things” spell and use it to seek out Katherine and rescue Echidna.
“That’s
why we need your help, and that’s why I was hoping you’d be here,” I said, coming to the end of my recap.
Wade smiled. “What do you need me for? You’ve got Finch, haven’t you?” He was teasing me, and I probably deserved it.
I chuckled. “Please don’t be mad at me about leaving the way I did. I didn’t exactly have a choice.”
“I know, but you literally vanished into thin air without a word.” There was a note of genuine hurt in his voice. “We’ve all been worried sick, especially with Levi’s security team on your tail. I had no idea where you were, or if you were even alive. None of us did.”
“It was a snap decision,” I replied. “Like, as fast as it takes to open a portal and drag someone through it fast. It was the only way we could keep things going with our Katherine mission, given Levi’s obsession with keeping me under lock and key. He’s made it clear he doesn’t want us involved, but if we don’t stay on track, we’ll lose any advantage we might have.” I softened my defensive tone. “I would’ve taken you with me, if I’d known I was going somewhere.”
Wade nodded. “I’d probably have pushed you through the portal if we had to do it again. I just… was worried.” He squeezed my hand. “And, of course, I’ll absolutely help you. No way on earth I wouldn’t.”
“Hate to throw a wrench in this sweet little therapy session, but it can’t just be the three of us,” Finch chimed in. “We need someone with National Council links. Someone who can help us get the good stuff—the actual intel on how to get into the New York Coven without setting off a bunch of alarms, so we can snatch dear old Papa’s Grimoire.”
Wade tapped his chin. “I hate to agree, but Finch is right. We’re sort of working with a skeleton crew now that Levi is watching everyone, and Santana is locked up, so we can’t use her Orishas for duplicates. Plus, security is heightened all over the magical world now that Katherine has advanced past the third ritual. All the defenses that the covens are already using have been magnified, even without them knowing about Echidna, which makes things even harder, since we’ll need eyes and ears in every important organization in the magical world. And, right now, we just don’t have the manpower to do that.”
Harley Merlin 7: Harley Merlin and the Detector Fix Page 8