“If Katherine wins, my future won’t exist. None of ours will.” I held his face in my hands. “But, if we defeat her, then I might have enough brownie points to buy my way out of Purgatory.”
“But why should you have to buy your way out of Purgatory? You shouldn’t be in this position in the first place,” he said sharply.
“What’s up with you, Wade? What’s with the attitude?” I had to put it bluntly. Beating around the bush wasn’t going to get us anywhere.
He turned his face away. “I’m pissed because I’m putting myself at risk here, while you’re making friends with your murderous psychopath of a half-brother. The guy who, newsflash, tried to kill you not that long ago. How can you even think of him as trustworthy? As far as I’m concerned, he hasn’t proven jack. He looks like the same old Finch from where I’m standing, and I’m not too eager to charge into New York with someone like him. If he screws us over, then we’re not just looking at a life sentence in Purgatory, we’re looking at Katherine coming down on us and taking the one thing that might stop her. Have you even thought about that? Have you even thought that Finch might be a huge, elaborate ploy to get close to her one weakness?”
I stared at him, my blood pounding. I knew he was in a foul mood, but I hadn’t expected a tirade. He had every right to be conflicted about Finch, given his history, but he didn’t have the right to come at me like that. Despite appearances, I still had my concerns about Finch. Not just him, but all of this. Wade was supposed to be helping me, not making me feel about the size of a gnat. And yeah, maybe he didn’t mean everything he was saying, but that didn’t stop his words from hurting.
“I—” A loud buzzing cut me off. Tearing my eyes away from Wade’s angry face, I reached into my pocket and took out my burner cell. Jacob’s name flashed up. Sliding the answer button, I put it to my ear. “Jake? What’s up?”
In the space of a five-minute phone call, Wade’s harsh words paled into insignificance. Somehow, Katherine had managed to move the goal posts again, without us even realizing.
Twenty-Two
Harley
“Everything okay?” Finch stared at me with ketchup smeared across his mouth, like a dime-store Joker. The smile on Garrett’s face died the moment he saw me. Evidently, my own face was giving just about everything away, and I didn’t care. Anger shot through me like a thousand pinpricks, and I couldn’t do anything to push it down. Way to ruin the mood, Merlin.
I put the phone back in my pocket and tried not to lose control. “Nope.”
“What’s going on?” Wade peered at me with concerned eyes, his previous anger gone.
“Echidna is dead. Katherine completed the fourth ritual.” I sucked in a furious breath. “Naima laid a trap for Jacob, and he ended up in Lux’s otherworld by himself. He followed some human girl that Naima snatched to lure him there. Isadora had to portal in and save him, so it must have been a pretty near miss with Katherine. Anyway, said human girl is now in the SDC’s infirmary, just to make things extra freaking messy. One bit of good news, though—it means Isadora is out of jail. Turns out, Levi needed her to get Jacob back, and they brokered some kind of deal. So there’s that.” I balled my hands into fists and fought to calm my racing mind, using some of the Euphoria techniques to clear my thoughts of all the bad, violent, punchy stuff.
Garrett snorted. “Levi’s brain is going to fall out of his head when he finds out there’s a human in the SDC.”
“What, like your girlfriend?” Finch snapped back. Man, that boy just couldn’t help himself. Even when he was trying to build bridges with his old friend, he just had to go and say something like that.
“She’s different.” Garrett took such a violent bite of his sandwich that I could’ve sworn he was picturing it as Finch’s head. The two of them had a long way to go, to get back to some sort of friendship. Not that it mattered right now what state their relationship was in. This news had put us at about one minute to midnight on Katherine’s doomsday clock. If I’d thought we were running out of time before, this had made things a million times worse.
“It’s not like we weren’t expecting something like that to happen,” Wade said, taking me by surprise. I’d thought his attitude had gone away, but here it was again, rearing its ugly head. I sensed the same angry agitation that had been there before. Where is this coming from, Crowley?
“Hello? Earth calling Wade. Katherine has just completed the fourth ritual, which means there’s only one to go before she becomes a Child of freaking Chaos.” I tried to rein in my anger. It wasn’t entirely directed at him, and I hated that I was unleashing it all at him. I guessed I was still harboring a little bitterness about the things he’d said.
“We had a feeling she might get the fourth ritual over with before we could do anything to stop her,” Finch cut in. “So, right now, we just need to focus on mambo number five. She might not even get that far if we get the Grimoire and find something juicy inside. A tantalizing tidbit, if you will.”
“Did they say anything else?” Garrett asked. “What are the others doing while we’re out here risking our asses?”
“Krieger and Jacob are getting back to work on the magical detector, though I think Jacob’s a little shaken up. He just faced Katherine on his own, so of course he is.” I took a steady breath. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy thoughts. “Anyway, they’re getting some of the preceptors involved to speed things up. Krieger’s also eager to figure out what’s going on with O’Halloran and the security magicals—they’re still acting weird. So he’s going to look into that. They shouldn’t be blindly following Levi in all this Echidna secrecy. Not that her being stolen matters now. We missed that friggin’ boat.”
“We just need to focus on our mission.” Finch wiped the ketchup from his mouth. “Bitesize chunks, remember?”
I nodded slowly. “We need a good entry strategy into New York, so let’s hope Remington has something for us. I’m not wasting any more time standing around here eating while Katherine is on her way to completing the last ritual. You think she’s resting on her laurels? No, she isn’t.”
As if beckoned by my fury, my phone suddenly buzzed in my pocket. Plucking it out, I caught sight of the caller ID and swiped the answer button. Remington had put his number into the phone before we left so he could call us back to his office as quickly as possible.
I stared out at the fountain, but I couldn’t find any peace in it anymore. Once again, Katherine had ruined it. “Tell me you’ve got good news.”
* * *
We crept back through the secret doorway into Remington’s office, only to find a full house sitting and standing around his desk. Isadora, Louella, Dylan, and Tatyana looked up at us in surprise as we entered, but Remington simply took it in stride. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he put a really heavy bookshelf in front of that doorway, once we were gone.
“What… What are you doing here?” I was already a chaotic mass of emotions, and seeing them had me teetering over the edge of a full-blown meltdown. They had to be fuming with me, after I’d abandoned them in the coven. Wade had made his feelings about it pretty clear, so they had to be feeling the same. However, they weren’t looking at me with any anger, and I couldn’t feel any animosity coming off them. Instead, I sensed only relief, and anxiety, and happiness.
“We wanted to come and see you.” Tatyana smiled at me. A rare enough sight as it was, and a welcome one.
Dylan nodded. “We couldn’t let you go off without a farewell party. No balloons, sadly. They would’ve made us stand out a bit.”
I laughed. “But how did you get out of the SDC?”
“We’re not under coven arrest.” Louella beamed.
“So you really are out for good?” I glanced at Isadora, unbelievably happy that she was here.
Isadora nodded. “It was part of my deal with Levi. I told him I wouldn’t be caged in the coven like an animal, and he was so desperate that he agreed.”
“Plus, Isadora and I go way back,
so I thought she might be useful in this meeting,” Remington added.
“You called them?” I didn’t quite know what else to say.
“I did. I thought we could use some fresh eyes on this.” He gestured for the four of us newcomers to sit before continuing. “With the stakes as high as they are, now that Katherine is way ahead of the curve, you’ll need all the help you can get to sneak into the New York Coven. Hence, I called for the cavalry.”
I sank down into one of the armchairs. “Does this mean you couldn’t find us a way around security?”
“Not exactly.” Remington rubbed his tattooed neck. “You have the door-opening spell, but you’ll need a full, updated plan of the building itself to navigate it without running into trouble. The layout of the New York Coven used to change every month, but they’ve altered it, so it now changes every week, as an extra security measure.”
Finch grunted. “Extra annoying, you mean.”
“It is annoying, but it’s the facts,” Remington replied. “Plus, as of this morning, it’s been warded against Portal Openers, too. New York somehow found out about Jacob and Isadora being on the scene, and they know of their connection to you, Harley. So, they’ve decided to kick it up a notch, old-school, with magic that is hardly ever used, given the rarity of that particular ability.”
“Does that mean they know we’re planning to steal the Grimoire?” My stomach sank like a rock.
Remington shook his head. “Not necessarily. It just means they’re taking precautions, with you being a fugitive and all. They’re covering all bases.”
“That stuff actually exists?” Garrett chimed in. “Anti-Portal-Opening stuff? I wouldn’t have thought anyone would bother, since there aren’t many of them around.”
Dylan nodded. “Yeah, that’s pretty niche, right?”
“I’ve never heard of anything like it,” Wade added, his tone still sour. “You sure they’re not just spouting this crap to put Harley off?”
Remington and Isadora exchanged a knowing glance. “Isadora, do you want to take this one?”
“I might as well, since I was the one who created the damn thing.” She paced the floor in front of Remington’s fireplace. “Years ago, I wrote a spell, for security purposes, which would help keep out Portal Openers. It wasn’t clear, back then, how many of us were still in existence, and I knew that not all magicals, even Portal Openers, were necessarily good. Elan, for example—Jacob’s dad. At that time, he was working for Katherine, and he was one of the ones who tried to steal the Merlin Grimoire. New York secretly asked for my help and, naturally, I obliged. I never thought they’d use it against me, though I suppose I should’ve expected it. Covens don’t change. They look out for themselves above anything else.”
I guessed, after everything that had gone on at the SDC recently, she wasn’t about to change her mind about covens. She hated them, as a rule. And now, she probably hated them even more. The SDC had turned against her, with Levi locking her up. And the leaders at New York were now using Isadora’s own spell against her. I had to admit, she’d kind of had a point about them.
“So, how do we get in if we can’t portal in?” Wade pressed.
“You’ll have to go in the old-fashioned way,” Remington replied.
“What, through the front door?” Finch gaped at Remington as if he’d lost his marbles.
“No, not through the front door. Through a back door, which you’ll have to locate.” Remington took some papers off his desk and handed them over to me, not that I had a clue what to do with them. Geography had never been my strong suit. I couldn’t tell my Idaho from my Utah.
Finch glanced at Tatyana and Dylan, a mischievous smile on his lips. “How come djinn boy didn’t come with you? He’s never one to miss out on a party. Did Levi finally have the guts to lock that dog up?”
“Watch who you’re calling a dog,” Dylan shot back.
“Is that what happened? Did Levi lock Raffe up?” I hated to think of any of my friends in one of those cells. The memory of how Adley ended up was still pretty raw in my mind.
Dylan shook his head. “Nah, he wouldn’t dare. But Raffe’s not doing too good, man. He’s losing it. You can see him fighting this thing he’s got in him, but nobody knows if he’s winning or losing anymore. Everyone’s worried he’s just going to go full beast mode, where the djinn takes over and does something to Raffe that he won’t be able to fix.”
“Like what?” I didn’t want to think about the horrible possibilities.
Dylan shrugged. “That’s the problem. We don’t know.”
“What about Santana? Can’t she help him?”
Tatyana pursed her lips. “Levi still has her in the cells. Alton, too. Pending yet another ‘review.’ I think Levi is just using it as a way to torment them some more.”
Louella nodded. “Astrid is spending half of her time with them, to keep them company, but the rest of the time, she’s monitoring the internet and CCTV for signs of the cult in action. I’ve been helping her as best I can, but technology isn’t really my thing. I’m more of a books and essays type of girl.”
We were in a stressful limbo right now, while Katherine was gaining ground as if she was taking a walk in the freaking park. It didn’t seem fair that we were struggling at every hurdle, while she was breezing from ritual to ritual. But bitching about it wasn’t going to get me anywhere. Life wasn’t fair. And good didn’t always triumph over evil. Those were the stark, bitter-to-swallow facts.
I glanced down at the New York Coven plans, trying to make sense of them. “So, if we follow these, we’ll be able to reach the Grimoire without being detected?”
“That’s about the size of it, yes,” Remington replied. “Stick to this, and you hopefully can’t go wrong in terms of getting to the book. As for the Grimoire itself, I doubt you’ll have any trouble reading it, given your bloodline and what you told me about your abilities. You just need to make sure you aren’t spotted or caught when you actually reach the book. I can’t factor that in and put it on those plans for you, I’m afraid. It’s something you’ll have to deal with when you’re there, and you can see the security for yourself. There may be guards and wards—we just don’t know.”
Isadora cast me a sad look. “There’s nothing else we can do, given the circumstances. Levi won’t be reasoned with. He’s too scared. He won’t relinquish any extra information, and he sure as heck won’t lift a finger to help you do this.”
You don’t say. Levi was a dangerous liability, and he was fast becoming a thorn in everyone’s side. He could have done so much more to stop Katherine from completing the fourth ritual, but he’d just tried to save his own ass instead. In my head, he was the lowest of the low.
“Speaking of the devil, I’m going to make one last effort regarding Levi, as I promised,” Remington said. “I’ve already set the ball rolling on taking the secrecy issue up with the California Mage Council. I’m due to meet with them shortly, to discuss everything. They need to know that Echidna is gone, and Katherine has completed the fourth ritual, and they need to know that Levi has kept it quiet. We might’ve been able to do something if more people had known, and he took that chance away from us. Now, we need all the covens involved. Levi doesn’t get to dictate that, and he’s going to know about it.”
“He’s blinded by his stupid pride,” Isadora added. “He wants the SDC to bring down Katherine, exclusively, for nothing more than glory and fame. He doesn’t care about the consequences of his actions.”
“But what about this stuff with the National Council and the president?” Wade asked, his tone less frosty. He made a good point. If they knew about all of this, and they were keeping quiet too, then it wasn’t just Levi acting like a prize idiot.
Remington frowned. “I keep wondering about that, and it still doesn’t make a single scrap of sense. If the National Council and the president know about Echidna and have agreed to keep the Mage Councils and the directors in the dark, then there’s something really fishy
going on here. I said it before, I’ll say it again.”
“Can you make some headway with that?” Isadora asked.
“I’ll do what I can.”
“You’re the only one who can,” I reminded him. “Isadora and the rest of the SDC keep getting threatened with Purgatory if they go against Levi. He won’t stop droning on about it, according to Jacob. Which means that none of these guys can say a word about it. Only you can.” It was a massive cause for concern. I’d have liked to have dealt with it myself, but I was too busy with Katherine to be able to bring that asshat down. “And someone needs to stop him from getting in our way.”
Isadora smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll handle the stuck-up jerk. I’ll make sure he stays out of your way, at the very least.”
“Then it’s in good hands.” I smiled back at her, feeling pride flow away from her in comforting waves. She believed in me, and that was exactly what I needed.
“There’s one more thing,” Remington interjected.
I struggled not to roll my eyes. “What now? A troll? A dragon? A floor made of molten lava?”
He chuckled. “No need to be facetious. It’s not actually about New York on this occasion.” I offered him an apologetic look, and he continued. “We know some people are fleeing the covens already. If the entire magical world finds out about Echidna, it may give some magicals a reason to join Katherine, to make sure they’re on what they believe is the winning side, if or when she ascends as a Child of Chaos. Again, not many people know about the rituals, but they may fear that Katherine intends to release a horde of Purge beasts or unleash a Purge plague that she’s sucked out of Echidna, or something equally terrifying. They’ll put two and two together and make twenty. Magicals aren’t perfect. They’re still mostly human creatures, and their instincts are to survive, at all costs. Some might see survival as a retention of magic, by staying by Katherine’s side.”
Harley Merlin 7: Harley Merlin and the Detector Fix Page 18