“I did it for our sake. There might be something in that Grimoire that can stop Katherine. You know me, Imogene. You know I wouldn’t have done something like this without a good reason.” I was starting to feel really small. This was like being shouted at by my mom, and it wasn’t like I could argue her point. I had put her between a rock and a hard place, but I needed her to back me on this. I needed her to understand why I’d taken the Grimoire, but my mind was all over the place, with all this Wade stuff.
She sighed tensely. “While I’m sure that’s true, I have a great deal to contemplate. However, there’s a somewhat larger issue to contend with first: the curse on Wade. That’s another reason I brought you here. I didn’t want to alarm your friends in the infirmary. You see, I’ve already searched him for the cursed object, and it’s not on him. I would have been able to discover it with the spell I performed.”
“I don’t understand.” I just hoped she had a solution in mind. I had to know Wade would be okay, or I didn’t know if I could bring myself to get to work on the Grimoire. My head would be too messed up to focus.
“What I’m saying is, the cursed object is not on him.” She paused. “Do you remember me mentioning that it could work through proximity?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“So, the hex may not be coming from Wade at all.” She got up, her expression uncertain. “What if… Perhaps it could be… There is only one way to find out.” She stopped beside me and moved her hands across me in counter-clockwise circles. Her hands lit up with shimmering silver light tinged with sparks of bronze.
“What are you doing?” I tried not to flinch as the sparks rained down on my skin, tiny pulses rippling underneath.
“Checking something,” she replied nervously. “Ipsum revelare. Occulta revelando. Videtur quod non possit revelare.” Imogene repeated the spell she’d used back in the infirmary, only, this time, I was the subject.
I was about to ask what she was checking for, when the pendant around my neck became scorching hot. I scrabbled for it, desperate to get it away from my bare skin, sucking air through my teeth at the sudden pain. It felt like molten lava had just been dropped directly onto my chest, right where Imogene’s gift rested against me.
“That evil wretch!” Imogene bit out. With her eyes wide in panic, she snatched the pendant away from my neck and threw it into the air. Blinding bolts of light shot out of her palms, hitting the pendant head-on. The light seeped into the plated metal, and the gemstones that had brought me such comfort exploded outward, disintegrating the pendant in a storm of spiraling sparks. They sank to the ground in a snow-like flurry. I stared at the fragments as they melted away.
“Imogene…?”
Her chest heaved with the exertion of what she’d just done. To be honest, I still wasn’t sure what she’d just done, exactly, but I knew I wasn’t getting my pendant back anytime soon.
“I’m so sorry, Harley,” she rasped, leaning against the back of her chair. “I didn’t give you the pendant cursed, I swear it to you. I had nothing to do with this.”
“What do you mean?”
“Someone must have hexed it.” She frowned in thought. “Though, it would’ve had to have been someone who could get close to you. A cultist, perhaps? Or one of the security magicals under the influence of those pills?”
“No… Katherine did this.” Her name dripped from my tongue, wrapped in venom. She must have hexed it, somehow, during our last encounter in Tartarus. I’d gotten close enough to her, for sure. She couldn’t have hexed it during my time on Eris Island, because the pendant had been disguised as a different necklace, but there was every chance she’d managed to send her evil toward me while I was distracted by Erebus. I’d been wearing the pendant then, and Katherine had promised to hurt my friends first, to make me suffer. Maybe this was what she’d meant. Maybe she’d gone right for the jugular, affecting Wade first because she knew it would hurt me the most.
It made me think suddenly about the Chains of Truth. How had Wade managed to get past them with that hex on him when we’d gained entry into the New York Coven? He’d promised to defend my life, after all, and then gone ahead and tried to murder me.
Maybe because he’d been transferred to an astral plane, the hex hadn’t gone with him? Or maybe the spectral trio only dealt with each individual’s personal truths, soul-deep honesty rather than added spells and hexes that didn’t affect their true nature.
Perhaps because I’d been the one wearing the pendant and he’d been far enough away from me, they hadn’t noticed anything strange with Wade? It had only started to get really bad after our encounter with the chains, so maybe it had slipped under the radar, as it wasn’t working at full capacity at that point.
Or maybe Katherine had orchestrated it so that the hex hid from powerful things and beings, like those that protected the hidden coven entrance, in case they tried to stop it?
Whatever the answer was, the chains hadn’t prevented him from entering. And the latter speculation made the most sense to me. The only reason Imogene had been able to find the hex was because she’d been given a heads-up that there was something going on, which had allowed her to pinpoint the problem with a hex-searching spell.
“I should’ve known she would attempt something like this. Her influence is everywhere, like a virus.” Imogene shook her head, her face twisting up in a grimace of anger. I wanted to delve further into her emotional turmoil, but she was wearing her blocker bracelet. Still, I didn’t need my Empathy to read the fury on her face. It was a reflection of my own expression.
“You couldn’t have known,” I replied. “It was only a matter of time before she tried to get to me. I should have been warier. I should’ve been looking over my shoulder, checking everything.”
“It’s just proving impossible to get one step ahead of her. And every time she gets away with something, it riles me up even more.” A muscle twitched in her jaw, her teeth gritted. “I thought it was simply Levi’s pride that had led him to keep Echidna’s theft a secret, but now I’m not so sure. Now, I’m growing ever more certain that his mind has been affected by Delirium, as have the minds of the security magicals.”
“Delirium?” I hadn’t heard of that before.
“Chemical-based magic that alters the mind, forged from ancient herbalism.”
“You think that’s what’s affecting everyone?”
She nodded. “I’m looking into it as we speak.”
“Are you about ready to knock Katherine’s head off her shoulders, too?” I held her angry gaze.
She chuckled bitterly. “I reached that point a long while ago.”
“Well then, it’s good we’ve got a chance of stopping Katherine now, even if I took it in a slightly illegal way.” I offered her a shy smile. Imogene was probably still pissed with me over stealing this book, but I was sure she’d soften up once I explained why in more detail. “We can put an end to her reign of terror, once and for all. End her influence and her power.”
Imogene narrowed her eyes. “You mean the Grimoire?”
“Bingo.”
“From what I’ve read of that book, it only has a handful of spells in it, and nothing capable of destroying someone like Katherine.” She sounded doubtful, but I was about to give her a huge dose of hope. One hundred mils of it, stat.
I shook my head. “Those are only the pages that ordinary people can see.”
“I’m sorry to sound ignorant, but I don’t follow.” Imogene looked puzzled.
“I really hate to toot my own horn, but I’m not exactly an ‘ordinary person.’ You know how it was meant to be super secured and everything?”
Imogene nodded. “I was just about to ask you about that. It should have been almost impossible for you to get close to it, with New York’s heightened security measures.”
“Almost impossible.” I grinned at her. “I had the Merlin bloodline on my side. See, my dad had integrated some crazy stuff into the coven itself, and it showed me the way to th
e Grimoire. It took me through a secret entrance, older than the current coven, and directed me straight to it. Like, I could feel it, right here in my chest—an inner compass kind of deal. It led us to a door that my dad charmed. I put my palm on it, and the door opened. Even the case it was in, inside the main room, disintegrated right under my hands, like it wanted me to take it.”
Imogene’s eyes widened. “How peculiar.”
“That’s not the weirdest part,” I replied. “As it turns out, I’m the only one who can actually read it and perform spells from it, even though it’s not finished. I had a slight accident with it a while back, so I already knew I could read from it, but the magnetic pull of it only made me more sure of what I could do. Plus, there are supposed to be extra pages in this thing—hidden spells. I haven’t had the chance to look yet, but I’m hopeful we’ll find what we need inside here.”
“I had heard the rumors,” Imogene murmured, peering curiously at the book. “Can you show it to me? Maybe I can help you figure it out. I’ve studied a lot of Grimoires in my time, many of them written by magicals as powerful as your parents.”
I laid the Grimoire on the table, figuring I needed all the help I could get. Even though this wasn’t any ordinary Grimoire, there had to be similarities with other powerful Grimoires that Imogene might have seen. I flipped it open to the first page and glanced back over my shoulder as Imogene’s eyes flitted across the words.
“What’s that symbol at the top? Does it mean anything to you?” Imogene asked. “It looks vaguely familiar. A voodoo symbol, if I’m not mistaken. Although, it has been a long time since I’ve had to study their magic. I may be wrong.”
“This one?” I reached out nervously and brushed my hand across an inky emblem in the top right-hand corner. It reminded me a lot of the Veve of Erzulie that had led us to Marie Laveau’s lily garden. I hadn’t noticed it the first time I’d looked through this book, but then I’d been a little preoccupied with not summoning Erebus and accidentally killing Santana. The page morphed immediately, revealing a palimpsest beneath the top leaf. As far as I could tell, it was just a jumble of words and drawings, making no sense whatsoever. The etchings swirled across the page, unreadable even to me. Then again, part of me didn’t want to be able to read it in front of Imogene. I wanted to break this code by myself, when I had time to figure out how to decipher it.
“My goodness… I guess the rumors were true.” Imogene stepped away from me. “And you are certain you can read from this? You’ve done so before?”
I nodded. “Yeah, it happened by accident, but I know I can do it again.”
“Katherine has made several attempts to steal this and have it destroyed. If she discovers it has been taken, she will stop at nothing to find you and it, especially now that it’s in the hands of someone who can actually read the spells.” She looked on edge, which wasn’t exactly what I’d wanted. I’d hoped to comfort her, not freak her out. “Just when I thought this couldn’t get any worse. Dealing with New York and Katherine is not my idea of a good time, but at least you had a decent reason. I can’t deny that.”
“I’ll look through this until I find something I can use against Katherine, and I’ll guard it with my life,” I promised. It wouldn’t be long before news got out that the Grimoire was missing, which meant we were dealing with another ticking clock, right over my head in particular. I had to end Katherine before she could get to me. Even if I didn’t sleep for the next week, I’d do it.
“The Merlins’ Grimoire has always been something of a mystery for magical society, but I didn’t fully understand until I laid eyes upon it, just now,” Imogene said. “It’s a lot of pressure on your shoulders, Harley, but you may be the only one who can help us now.”
I grimaced. “I had a feeling you might say that.”
“I understand why you had to steal this,” she replied. “I’ll keep your secret for as long as I’m able. New York won’t be given the chance to accuse you. You have my word on that.”
My heart soared with relief. “Thank you, Imogene.”
“All of this will come right in the end.” She cast me a nervous smile. “Now, go check on Wade. You’ll likely find him greatly changed, now that the cursed object has been destroyed. And don’t let Finch out of your sight. We’re on thin enough ice as it is, and we have too much trouble to contend with already.”
“You can count on me.”
She sighed, placing her hand on my shoulder. “It is a big ask, even if you feel ready. I just hope you won’t have to sacrifice too much to see this to fruition. I don’t want to see you destroyed in the process of destroying Katherine.”
I grinned and closed the book, holding it tight to my chest again. “Oh, believe me, she has no idea what’s coming for her.”
Forty
Jacob
I sat opposite Suri in the quarantine room. She looked nervous, her knuckles white around a coffee cup. I couldn’t blame her. She’d been stuck in here for ages while all kinds of crazy raged on next door.
“What happened in there?” she asked.
“Harley came back,” I replied. “Her boyfriend, Wade, had gone a little mad. So, we had to deal with that. He seems to be feeling better now, though. Krieger has him connected up to a bunch of wires so they can make sure he’s not going to go bonkers again.”
“What do you mean, ‘mad’?”
“He tried to kill Harley, but it was all just some hex. I guess they managed to find the cursed object, because he hasn’t tried to kill her again since she came back from Imogene’s office.” I shrugged, still worried about Harley. She’d been hit hard by Wade’s violent outburst. And just because he hadn’t tried to lunge at her again didn’t mean he was fully fixed.
Suri gasped. “He tried to kill her?”
“Yeah, but I’m sure they’ll kiss and make up. It wasn’t really Wade doing those things, so they’ll probably work through it.”
“That’s awful,” she said quietly. “To be attacked by someone you love? That’s horrible. She must’ve been so scared.”
I nodded. “She’s tough, though. She’ll pull through it.”
“I wish I could meet her.”
“Me, too. I’d introduce you, but I don’t want to add to her stress right now.” I glanced at her shyly. “And, anyway, I’ve been looking forward to spending some time alone with you. Even if it’s just to get you up to speed on all the crazy stuff that goes on around here.”
“So, this isn’t unusual?” A small smile played upon her lips.
I shrugged. “Nope, not really. This is kind of a slow day, by SDC standards.”
She laughed. “Are you trying to put me off this place, Jacob?”
“If you’re still here, and you’re not running for the hills, I’m guessing nothing could put you off.” I grinned at her, watching her big eyes sparkle with mischief. This girl was truly remarkable. After everything she’d seen and heard, she should’ve been begging to leave, but she wasn’t. She wasn’t scared; she wasn’t intimidated. She was just taking it all in stride. And that was way cool in my book.
“Not that I get much of a choice in the matter,” Suri replied, her voice tinged with sadness. “They’re going to wipe my memory, anyway, aren’t they?”
I held her gaze. “I’m still trying to figure something out so I can make sure you walk out of here with all your memories intact. I’d go and speak to Imogene right now, but I don’t know if she’d be up for any negotiating at the moment. She’s mega stressed. Even more stressed now that Harley is back, and she’s brought that book with her.”
“Book?”
I shook my head. “Long story. Basically, she’s stolen this powerful, magical spell book from a high-security coven, and everyone’s crapping themselves over what might happen to her because of it. I’m guessing Imogene will lie for her, but she’s a by-the-rules sort of magical. Which is another reason I’m not sure how to talk to her about you. I need to spin it right, which means I need a little more time. But
I will speak to Imogene, I promise.”
Suri smiled. “Take as long as you need. I don’t mind hiding here for a while, as long as I get to stay.” She traced her fingertip around the rim of her coffee cup. It looked like a nervous tic. “I meant what I said earlier, you know? About you and me. It’s like you said, I would’ve run for the hills by now if I wasn’t totally into this whole ‘magical world’ stuff and everything that comes with it. Plus, I feel like there’s still a lot more about you that I want to get to know.”
Oh my God… “Yeah, me too.” I kept it cool, even though my heart was hammering.
“The last guy I crushed on was the captain of the high school football team, and he was an absolute scumbag. He ghosted me like nobody’s business. Or maybe he zombied me—he kept coming back, out of nowhere, making me think he still liked me.”
I tried not to get jealous. “I’m not too good with dating terms.”
She chuckled. “Ghosting is disappearing completely. To zombie is to ghost someone and then keep coming back—you know, like they were dead, and they came back to life to make your life miserable? Romero-style.”
“You’re so cool,” I blurted out. “You’re probably the only girl I can think of who would drop Romero into conversation.”
“Dawn of the Dead is a masterpiece. What can I say?” She narrowed her eyes. “The original, not the remake—naturally.”
“Naturally.” I grinned from ear to ear.
“Anyway, you’re different from him in so many ways. You’re sweet. I doubt you’d drop off the face of the earth, which is always nice to know,” she said, smiling. “Plus, you’re a friggin’ wizard who can jump to anyplace you want to go, which is insanely cool. I can only imagine what kind of things you do for fun, and what places you go to. Paris? No problem. Hawaii? No sweat. Rio? Absolutely.”
“I don’t really do any of that,” I admitted.
Harley Merlin 7: Harley Merlin and the Detector Fix Page 33